Pre flash problem on L2P and Intl Outdoor Drop-in

I wonder if anyone can help. I have a Intl Outdoor P60 (neutral) drop-in - 2.5A, in a 2012 Solarforce L2P host. I just noticed than when I switch through modes (forward clicky) I get a pre-flash on low.

Also, the low is very low - I’m pretty certain it isn’t the 5% or 3% advertised, but that’s fine. I would just like to get rid of the pre-flash, which is beginning to irritate me. Any thoughts?

What do you mean by "pre-flash"? I'm guessing you're talking about it flashing on high and then going to low?

Yes - I get a higher brightness going from mid to low - very short high “flash” before going into low mode.

Then you need to replace the driver.

Damn! Only just bought it a month or so ago, and haven’t really used it at all until last weekend. Ah well, I’ll have to live with it I guess.
I was hoping it might be the switch.

Thanks scaru.

I have a Yezl zoomie that does exactly the same thing. It doesn’t bother me to much. I will not change the driver unless it goes poof.

Hey Woody, probably an unrelated question, but did you find it difficult to screw the head tightly to the body with that dropin? I had to cut a curl off my large spring in order to get my head to fit the body without a gap. Havnt had any problems as of yet. Just curious.

Don’t remember having problems. I did get a new reflector for it from Hank, after problems with ringiness, and the new one doesn’t have the little washer at the bottom, which apparently isn’t a problem. I’ll have a better look.

edit>> No, it fits fine - screws all the way (and wrapped with some tin-foil).

Oh, good! Just wondering ij anyone else had that little quirk. The other thing I found W mine (3 amp) is when it gets hot it wont change modes till it cools. I cant say Im the happiest w this drop in but it is pretty decent.

Yeah, I think it’s had a few changes since it was first highly recommended here.

Woody, my IO dropin does exactly the same thing. I was also surprised by the low low mode, I guess it's about 1 lumen.

Don't know if it's intended to be that way, but at least I can tell you that yours isn't the only one of that kind.

I’ve bought several of these dropins for lights I’ve been building. One of them also has a low so low its just enough to read a book and keep that night vision. It’s a 2.5 amp NW model, it reads 0.02 amps on low. Most of the 3.0-2.5 amps models I get 0.06-0.08 amps on low.

before you replace the driver. Poor cells can cause erratic performance.

My IO dropin works perfectly, it is from the 1st batch though.

Do you guys 3amp dropins not switch modes when too hot as well?

Yep, as I understand it the reason is the heat causes the LED to be less efficient and then it won't light up on the lower modes.

Shotdog, P60 hosts handle heat poorly, have you done anything to improve heatsinking? If you haven’t using soda can strips is effective:

One of mine also had some problems mode changing, and it was due to having too much pressure from the battery to driver, as you mentioned you can’t get the head fully screwed down? I had the same issue, however by using the above method you can lose the outer retaining brass spring which is what is causing that problem. Mine have worked fine since.

Dont worry about it !

One of my drop ins does that , its still alive , and its been over a year … [ maybe 2 or more actually - lost track of time a bit ]
Anyhow , if it should die , plenty of replacement drivers to chose from …

I’m sure the battery is OK - tried it with Keeppower & Eagletac 3100mAh cells. It’s no big deal - the lower low is a reasonable trade off. I’m certainly not going to swap drivers unless it dies (not least because I don’t have the skill (yet).