[Review] KDLITKER P6-TRI Triple XP-E P60 Dropin

The dropin was sent to me by Kaidomain for review.
Here's the product's link: KDLITKER P6-TRI


The product comes in a simple film canister.



The dropin is packaged in a resealable plastic bag.



The dropin is quite unique.
It comes with an all brass construction and a triple TIR optic.
The manufacturer allows the user to individually select the installed XP-E emitters (White / Neutral White / Warm White / Red / Green / Blue / Amber / Royal Blue).



Overall, the dropin is nicely machined with no visual artifacts.



As with all P60 dropins, there is a dual spring design in order to ensure good +/- contact.
The driver contains 3 transistors - one for each individual channel.



The driver is held in place by a retaining ring.



There is also a retaining ring in the front of the dropin.
By removing it, the user has access to the triple TIR lens and the triple XP-E board.
Notice that my color choices were: Royal Blue, Green, Red




User Interface

The dropin has a basic UI with mode memory.
A tap initiates a mode change which follows this pattern:
LED1 (High) > LED1 (Low) > LED2 (High) > LED2 (Low) > LED3 (High) > LED3 (Low)

The cutoff voltage is set at 2.7V, while the emitters start blinking from 2.9V and downwards.
Unfortunately, the driver can't run on all three channels simultaneously, so only one emitter can be lit up.


Performance

I used my RDTech DPS5020 PSU to precisely measure the current draw of each mode.
Here's my results.

Royal Blue (High): 1.21A


Royal Blue (Low): 0.02A


Green (High): 1.26A


Green (Low): 0.02A


Red (High): 1.20A


Red (Low): 0.04A


The manufacturer's details indicate that the driver is Constant Current.
Unfortunately, my tests can't confirm the claims, at least with an 1S input.
Here's the Royal Blue emitter tested - though all of the emitters should follow the same curve :



What's left to do is check the performance under 8.4V and see if CC is indeed existent at this voltage.
My tests should arrive shortly.

Wall Beamshots

Thanks to the TIR lens, the dropin creates a uniform beam with a discrete hotspot.

Royal Blue (High)


Green (High)


Red (High)


Overall the dropin is very good.
Its build quality ensures good thermal management and the user selectable XP-Es is what's making it stand out.
Though, I would like to see a driver that could pull a CC on an 1S input.

Ummm, with an I-V curve like that (looks like simple resistance, not regulated in any way whatsoever), I don’t quite think I’d trust the specs which claim

3V - 9V ( 1 or 2 x 18650 / 3 x CR123 )

unless you want the poor XP-Es to go poof.

And “thermal management”?!? Mmmmmm, I don’t think so…

I was initially thinking, “Ooh, a WW triple in a drop in! Woohoo!!”, but nope.

:weary:

Thanks for the review bilakos10! Do you know if it's possible to get the driver only (without buying the whole dropin) from Kaidomain? I tried to ask Ban from Kaidomain but didn't get any answer so far.

Thanks bilakos10!
I see that the mcpcb is a standard KD. How they solved the problem with a thin MCPCB and a long legs in the optics. The picture doesn’t show this too well. More photos are welcome.

Hi bilakos10

Thank you for the review.

Hope you will enjoy with the new KDLITKER P60 Drop-in.

Ban

Hi Ban, can you please tell me if it's possible to buy the driver separately from the entire dropin? Thank you!

Hi Lux-Perpetua

OKay. Let me post the sales link asap.

Thank you

Ban

I don’t know about TIR hole size in this p60 but is it possible to use other white led with more efficiency? Would be nice if it can use white xp-l hi or xp-g3 or whaterver combine with color xp-e2.

Hi desmondkun

You can let me know what is the LED options do you prefer.

I can add more options in that.

Thank you

Ban

Hi @BanL, any chance to sell this as blank shell?

Thanks :wink: I’ll ask you when I order it.

Finally -
Awesome
I’m a railway employee so with these I can use my P60 lights as signaling lights.
What’s the output like?
is the low mode more of a medium??
They should fit just fine in solarforce lights wouldn’t they??
Thanks

Too bad. Any hope of one that will allow that?

There is a driver for the XM-L Color led on KD, also available in MtnElectronics (the led is out of stock at ME). I have no idea if a triple led PCB could be adapted to run with that driver.

I bought two of the Kdlitker triple amber P60s recently, to use in 2-cell Solarforce L2series lights.
This: http://kaidomain.com/KDLITKER-P6-TRI-Triple-Cree-XP-E2-Amber-590nm-800-Lumens-3V-9V-5-Mode-P60-Drop-in?search=P6-TRI

The one I’ve used more often — about an hour total — now has one dead LED.
I’ve emailed KD about returning/replacing it.
The other 2 LEDs light up normally.

I don’t know what “CDM-2500 circuit inside” means.

Won’t try taking it apart to find the problem until I know whether KD will replace it.

Any thoughts welcome, about what might have gone wrong.

it would help to see the inside part of the driver board to assume if its regulated or not

My guess is that the malfunctioning emitter was not properly reflowed to the PCB and after heating up the connection just broke.

If that’s the case, reflowing the emitter once again would solve your problem.

often enough the thermal connection is faulty and the LED dies

This drop-in use Carclo - compatible optics ?
What’s diameter of brass cylinder in middle part ?
Can you make photos of disassembled drop-in ?

Great review. I’ve just received one of these in Red, Blue, and Amber.

Given the fairly low current <1.5A, is it still worth foil wrapping this P60 drop-in?