with all this talk about current draw i decided to check the amperage in my 502b with a xm-l t6 drop in from manafont. it's the generic one. i don't know what driver is used. it puts out about 1.5 amps on high so i guess that the emitter isn't even being pushed that hard. of course i am using a fandyfire protected 18650 so i imagine that the battery isn't cranking enough juice. i have some tenergy protected 18650's on order right now so i guess that should help. what else do you guys do to a new light to get the juice flowing?
try the tenergies and if that doesn't get it cranking go to a callies kustom IMR cell..my kd drop in pulled about 3.1a from a flame and about 3.7 from the Callies IMR cell..should be the same for you're drop-in..and if that doesn't do it replace the driver with the nangj 2800 kd one..I have several of those and they're a great 4$ upgrade..
decided to test just the drop in itsself(outside the host) and found that it was measuring about 2.3a on high. i put it back into the 502b host and got the same reading. maybe i was getting the smaller reading on an old battery. can't remember. anyway, 2.3a is enough for me. although this t6 drop in lights up the garage across the street really well, it doesn't project a beam at all. it's just a really smooth flood. i know this type emitter doesn't throw like an xr-e but i should at least get a hot spot right? a wall test at three feet shows a funky looking "hot spot" that is about a foot and a half in diameter. is this right? the reflector is screwed all the way down on the emitter/pill. the reflector is made for an xr-e. doesn't have the smaller hole like i see in the branded drop in reflectors. my thought was to bore the hole out so the emitter is more inside the reflector. thoughts?
Does your 502b have a tab at the positive end of the battery tube ? Mine had one and I realized this could increase the resistance. I knocked it off with a screwdriver and hammer and this gave me 0.5 more amps instantly.
i don't know what tab you are referring to. the only thing the positive side of the battery touches is the spring in the center of the circuit board. since i get the same reading with the drop in in or out of the host, i would say i don't have any resistence issues with the host. the only issue i think i have now is this super flood beam. to amend my earlier post, the reflector isn't that the hole isn't small enough for the emitter, but that it isn't large enough to fully swallow the emitter base. the reflector just seems to rest on the top of the reflector base so that it isn't fully seated as should be. i don't know that for a fact though because this is my first t6 emmiter.
You can see the tab I'm talking about in this photo I found on the net. I understand this isn't the case with yours.
P60 format is a bit narrow for XM-L. Although 502B is one of the most widely opening P60 host the tests also have shown that even the height of the bezel affects the light output of the drop-in. Though, you say your sample has low amperage on the tail so only internal resistance of the batteries or driver setting (different sense resistor etc) seems to be the case. My stock MC-E light had a really wide range of amperage, only a guess with the battery quality, charge voltage, heat etc. AMC7135 type drivers usually are more efficient and stable.
i thought that may have been what you were talking about. some 502b hosts have that weird ring thing and i heard it gave nothing but problems. i think i may have found my problem with the beam patern. the isolation disk that was put on at the factory is just thick paper with an adhesive backing. i saw that the solder points were starting to wear through the paper so i peeled it of to replace with a plastic isolation disk. the emitter isn't genuine cree. it just says xm-l on the base. i've heard problems with emitters that are not genuine cree. guess a guess. i have someone that is in love with this light and i think i'm going to just get my money out of it and buy a genuine ultrafire drop in module. they had this one listed as generic on the manafont website but i just thought that it was a no name drop in, not a no name emitter.
The beam on the left is a properly focused smooth (SMO) reflector. The beam on the far right has a Orange Peal (OP) reflector. You can get a much brighter hot spot(corona) by using a SMO reflector and focusing the reflector. You do this by turning the reflector in and out until you find the sweet spot. The plastic isolation disc you added may be to thick to let the reflector get close enough to the emitter dome to focus or maybe it needs to be screwed out further by adding a second isolation disc. More important is you want a smooth reflector if you are looking for the brightest hotspot. The beam in the middle is an XPG with a SMO reflector. The outer beams are XMLs.
