I’ve been looking for a 20700/21700 P60 host since the batteries came out. On 11-06-20 I ordered 4 and on 11-27-20 they arrived. Each box double wrapped in bubble wrap and then the four boxes placed in a bubble wrap lined envelope. The boxes are very much like the old SolarForce boxes. Each light had a spare bag with; a tail o-ring, lanyard, green glowing replacement boot and a blue 6” by 6” optic wipe. Here is the link and my disclaimer. I paid for these myself and have had no contact with the company. http://kaidomain.com/KDLITKER-E6-21700-P60-Flashlight-Host-Black
The host has a new tail cap which was a must given the greater battery diameter. However the switch area in about 2mm’s smaller in diameter leaving out the McClicky option. Under the dropin compartment is a shelf much like the original Surefire. Just small enough to block all 20700/21700 batteries but just big enough to allow an 18650 to slide through. The 2nd big heart ache is that the head uses it’s own thread pitch, much tighter than the original. However the bezel threads are the same as the original and the lens is coated. Finish is a good deep anodizing. Texture is a little smoother than I like. It does tail stand. The extra 2.6mm diameter is a little noticeable the rest of the dimensions is a close feel to the style.
I weighted down a host to the bottom of the pool for 48 hours when they arrived. Opened and found no water inside. Overall better than what I expected. These host will replace ones I want much longer run times. Samsung 50E/G batteries only over my old standard Sanyo NCR18650GA. Dropins will be 3-12 7138 chips.
I run XP-G2 2-mode on 3-7138’s doing 1.15 amps at 100% An XP-L2 HD with 10-7138’s from Randy at Pflexpro at 3.8 amps. Also from Pflexpro a 12-7138 chip XHP-50.2 3v running 4.5 amps at 100%. These three dropins get the most use. All low enough not to cook parts or get too warm with the host.
I picked up two of these. I am pretty happy with the quality. I too wish the texturing was more aggressive. They are really only marginally larger than a regular P60 host. Being able to build an inexpensive, durable, and easily upgradable/configurable light in 21700 form factor is nice. Put a Luxeon V 4K in there, give it an amp and you have a 450ish lumen light with almost 5 hours of battery life!
Yeh, like I said quite a few times here, my first EDC was a ’502 with 1-mode driver (1.05A or 1.40A, forgot) that put out modest light but lasted nigh forever with “normal” use before needing a top-up.
Almost double that with a high-cap 21, and it’ll go beyond forever unless you get lost in a cave or something.
It’s a Surefire clone like the 100 other clones that once populated the market. It’s a pretty good clone however, just two notches below SolarForce. Undersized switch pocket and non universal head threads being its two strikes. Convoy made a clone that wasn’t a clone. They called theirs the 502b which has a few differences.
Reviving an older post. I’ve got the Kaidomain E6 21700 and was looking at improving the thermal side of things using the P60 drop ins. I’m using it mainly with an XHP50.2 drop in. I’ve seen people use aluminium foil around the drop in, but I’m not so keen on that idea…. in case it somehow migrates south and shorts out the battery positive to the host shell.
I measured inside the E6 21700 (where the drop in sits), it’s not anodised and is 22.50mm in diameter. The reflector on the XHP50.2 drop in is 21.75mm- so there’s a 0.375mm gap between the drop in and host shell.
I came across copper self adhesive tap, that’s electrically conductive on both sides, but I’m unsure on how well it would conduct thermally? (Given there’s adhesive involved.)
I searched for thermal putty and found some that’s very expensive and not easy to obtain in Australia. There are also some thermal sheet materials (made from gel) that are supposed to be somewhat conformable- but they’re also expensive.
I then started looking at thermal pads- they’re designed to go between heatsinks and electronic components. They’re somewhat compressible, which will hopefully mean one could be cut to suit and then squeezed between the reflector and host shell. I found some in 0.5mm thickness which I’m hoping will fit nicely into the 0.375mm gap. I’m going to give that a try as well as using some decent heat sink compound between the brass pill and aluminium reflector.
I use strips cut from a soda can, 24 ounce cans if thicker strips needed. It’s usually 1-2 layers and there not going anywhere when snugly screwed into the pocket. Twisting in the same direction as the strips are in while pushing down helps to keep the strips from wanting to slip. As the twisting action is done to keep the strips tightly wound. Cut the strip too long and trim until it’s snug. I’ve got a couple in so tight I had to press them upside down on a table to get them in. Under 6 amps and I’ve not had any heat transfer issues.
Yes, I wasn’t planning on using a permanent adhesive/ glue. More something that would mould to the shape and stay in that pliable state.
A “thermal gap filler” is probably a better description. A few companies make them and they’re supposed to not set hard like an adhesive.
Something along like this https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/products/thermal-management-materials/thermal-gap-fillers.html . If you could line the host shell with something the filler would release from and then mould the drop in to fit perfectly…
Aluminum foil is a bit of a PITA for me. I splurged and ordered from 0.1mm copper foil off amazon . Works great. Seems like 1.5-2 wraps is all my malkoffs need.
The heatsink pad turned up and it actually is a gel/ putty in 0.5mm sheet form- not an impregnated type material. It’s playdough like and can be moulded into any shape once the plastic sheets on each side have been removed.
So I wrapped the drop in and then wiggled it into the host. That resulted in the putty pooling around the host body so I just pushed it in around the drop in with my finger.
The stuff is:
Thermalright Thermal Conductive Silicone Pads, 12.8W/mk 85x45x0.5mm Gray Non Conductive Heat Resistance High Temperature Resistance (85x45x0.5mm)
There’s enough to do at least two drop ins. It’s probably going to be interesting (messy) when I want to remove it!
I took the LED off the drop in (prior to doing the above) and found only ~ 50% of the star covered with the adhesive they’d used. So cleaned it up and redid that with normal heatsink compound - given the reflector holds the LED firmly in place- along with the threads on the alloy reflector.
tbh - I probably wouldn’t worry too much. I have used the coke can aluminium sheets on mine. But I’m not sure it is really needed. But the are very easy to add and don’t prevent you quickly switching out p60 modules.
At the end of the day, If they get hot, they will likely sag in performance. But in real world use for most reasonable setups I doubt it is much of a real issue. The pill & reflector make for a reasonable heatsink and while not the most efficient path, it will transfer heat to the body still. It might not have the thermal properties of something like a Convoy M1 or M2 host with integrated shelf. But you are probably getting similar cooling as you would when compared to smaller torches such as the Convoy S2+ or many 14500 lights. This means, you should be able to run some pretty good setups trouble free in a p60.
I generally have Qlite drivers in most of my p60’s. 2.8 amps for the Nichia 219s and 3.04a for the XP-L’s. Performance with the larger reflector means they out throw most tube lights and they don’t suffer with heat or sag. In fact the Nichia 219 in my p60 runs more stable at 2.8amp than the same LED in a Convoy M2 running the 3.04amp version of the driver. The M2 does produce more lumens, but they are about equal on throw and the M2 gets physically hot and sags more.
I measured the tail cap current with the XHP50.2 and it was drawing 5 Amps, holding the drop in by hand (while testing it) also showed there was substantial heat being generated. When I was using it the head and body of the host weren’t warming up much at all- unlike my other flashlights that have the LED/ driver in direct contact with the body. That was why I wanted to do something to improve the cooling.
The stupid bit is I fitted the thermal pad yesterday and then remembered about the thermal camera I’ve got. I wish I’d thought of that prior to adding the thermal pad. I used the flashlight last night and there is definitely more heat being transferred to the head/ body- just going by feel compared to using it prior to the mod.
Some pics (if they want to work):
The lack of heatsink adhesive on the drop in under the XHP50.2
The thermal pad “putty” applied
Pics after the thermal pad was applied (from turned off to around 6 minutes on high.) The flashlight is lying on a ceramic floor tile.
Prior to turning on
40 seconds
2 minutes
6 minutes
