Today I built an S2 shorty with a triple XP-E2.
I’m finding that XP-E2 is best for smaller cell lights such as 18350 and 14500 because of their lower current draw and more manageable heat output compared to XPG, XPL and 219C. Maybe not a walking the dog light, but for handy illumination tasks such as searching under things and poking around in a dark corner, the XP-E2 can’t be beat.
Because of their better heat management, XP-E2 triples can be run longer without getting smoking hot in 30 seconds, so I don’t bother with modes. Direct drive is perfectly suited to this set up.
Since I won’t be needing room for a driver, I just fill the pill with copper. Extra thermal mass is always good.
I got solder in the threads for the retaining ring, so I’ll just be soldering the contact board in place.
Here’s my thermal management set up.
Brass pill filled with copper
Aluminum spacer.
Copper disc. (I tried 2 discs, but impeded body tube from completely screwing in to the head)
Copper triple noctigon board with 3 x XP-E2 0D and
Carlco optic.
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Soldered the neg. 20AWG teflon wire directly to the pill and brought the pos. through the contact board to connect with the spring.
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With a high drain purple Efest 18350 I’m getting 4.2A at the tail which is exactly the same reading I get from my 14500 light with triple XP-E2 “Torch” emitters. I can easily run it for 2 minutes without scorching heat issues. Two minutes is a lot of time to look for whatever your looking for, and 4.2A is a pretty conservative draw.
Don’t be fooled though. This set up puts out a lot of light.
Since I’m running this torch DD, I modified the tail to accept a fwd. clicky switch. Having the option of a soft momentary on is really nice.