I ordered it along with some XM-L P60 dropins 
. It says "back-ordered" to my order too.
I built a C8 XM-L my own and it gets hot in 3 minutes, while my MTE SF-15 P7 doesn't heat that fast. Ok XM-L gives more lumens but I were expecting somewhat better heat behaviour but it still heats. Maybe it outputs the junction temperature easier, who knows :)
I'm assuming at 40-60 minutes you can bake pizzia with one of these ...Does Kaidomain sell an easy bake oven that attaches to the xml ?
Any user fiddled mod have probably better heatsinking thatn cheap stock flashlights. That's why your modded torch heats up quickly. Chances are you did it right and the reward is better heat transfer so you feel it. A p7 that doesen't warm up considerably in a smallish host driven at 2,8A probably means the heatsinking is somehow disrupted... The emitter is probably sweating hard...
There were some various reports from heat with XM-L in p60 hosts from mildly warm to very hot all drawing around 2,8A at tailcap.
All other things being equal, the XM-L will produce rather less heat than the P7. Since most of the current designs seem to be using P7/MC-E drivers, all other things probably are equal.
The big deal about the XM-L is that you get more light and less heat for a given amount of energy put in. At least until you drive it at the maximum it can take which seems to be up to 4A in properly heatsinked ones though Cree only specify 3A.
Thanks for making me feel like I've done something right :) There is evidently more light and the body heats up really uniformly, so I guess you are right about the heat transfer.
I hope to try driving an XM-L with 4A soon. My SST-50 driver from DX is on the way. SacredFire NF-009 looked a good host for such application as the pill screws to the barrel.
I like your choice, i hope you will not have any issues istalling that driver. Looks quite tall.
I still keep another host (a TR1200 body with a reflector set) at hand. The reflector set I got has a deep and wide driver space. But as like the P60 drop -ins WF-500 style 52mm Drop-ins have a contact point just at the edges of the reflector. Maybe I'll need to support the contact with some alu foil like we all do to our p60's.
I wonder how occasional flashlight uneducated folk fare with not properly heatsinked high current flashlights in p60 hosts like the 20usd MCE 501B flashlights from DX. I bet those go into failure more often than not.
I have got finally my C8 XM-L. Well, I can do what I want, it only draws 1,6 amps.
First I cleaned all the threads. Then I dismanteled everything and reflowed all four solder connections on the wires. The resistance in the switch is closed to none. Put back in the driver to the pill and added two blops of solder to that. Mesured the current, again 1,6 amps. Desperated, I changed the driver board. I used the 8x AMC7135 from KD. I mesured the current, still 1,6 amps. WTF?
I compared the light output against my 5 x R2, which draws 2,4 Amps. Surprice, apart the 5 xR2 throws clearly better, the C8 is just a little bit less bright. Both, outside in the yard and indoor at ceiling bounce the difference is noticeable. But it's not so dramatic, as I thought it would be with this low current. Temperature mesurement at the hottest point (on the head where the fins are) was 35°C after 15 min on high, at an ambient temp of 26°C. Now I'm puzzled.
Any ideas, what's wrong here?
My guess would be the multimeter's leads. Over about 1.4A, the resistance in the leads starts to play a big role. I upgraded mine to the 18 AWG leads from DX and get more realistic readings. I want to do something like Don does where he takes 16 gauge wire and sticks it directly in the DMM sockets. A big piece of solid wire like that ought to have very little resistance.
I'm actually looking for the 6mm2 stuff (12 gauge) which is what we use here for wiring up power circuits in houses. It isn't awfully flexible though. I know I have a few metres of it somewhere.
That gouge is overkill, regular but quality leads shorted to 4 inch long work fine.
And are a lot easier to handle.
The leads on my DMM are quite thick. This can't be the problem, because the reading of the 5 x R2 drop-in is within the expected range and probably correct (2,4 amps). Could the LED be the culprit?
Could be the leads to the LED. The leads they include with the driver are pretty thin (if you used those). I have some phone wire I use that is thicker (and a lot harder to solder onto those tiny pads).
I reused those which came with the light. They seem to be a bit thicker than others used for Q5 lights for example.
Maybe the discharge rate of your cells are not so good anymore. You did not mention what cells you tried. Were the same from that 5xR2?
Yes, I tried that. I tested different cells. All results were in the same range (+/- 0,1 amp)
Hi,
Can somebody confirms that this flashlight is current regulated? What is the current at 4.2V, 3.5V and 3V? or at least something in addition to 4.2V?
Thanks a lot!