I've had this light for 4 or 5 years, I think it uses a 5-watt Luxeon bulb. It throws a very wide and very yellowish beam.
The Clickie died on it, and a month or so ago Pelican sent me a new tailcap to replace it. Problem is, they don't make the tailcaps in silver anymore, just in black, so you can see what I now have.
What would you do to upgrade this flashlight? I think it cost me $75 back in 2005, so I hate to just keep it like this.
Oh, and the reason I posted here is that 18650 batteries will not fit in it, it has to use CR123 batteries only.
Alternatively, drop the black tailcap in a strong solution of sodium hydroxide. (Drain cleaner. Paint stripper. Lye). Wait till the colour matches then rinse it for several hours. Wear gloves and eye protection.
But it'd be easier to get the guts out of the black switch and into the grey switch. Looks like Pelican's customer service is pretty good. I'd email them and ask how to gut the black switch so you can put the guts into the grey one.
I'd hope they gave you a useful answer. One nice thing about most US companies is that they will bend over backwards to help. I've had some amazingly helpful answers from a couple of US companies lately - hope you do too.
Since the original is pretty much unuseable, It would not hurt to do whatever is necessary to get the switch out. Then I'm hoping that I can buy a different Clickie that would fit the Pelican tailcap, rather than try to swap the clickie that is in the black tail cap into the silver one.
Are clickies a universal size? Does anyone know which one I should buy for the Pelican tailcap?
In regards to the emitter unit, I swapped an XM-L drop-in that I have in an Ultrafire 501, and it looks like a very good fit, but the spring on the back extends about 2mm less than the one you see in the photo above when installed. I didn't want to turn the light on and see if it works, because I would have been powering the 18650 XM-L drop-in with 2 CR123's. That's a no-no, correct? Didn't want to fry the XM-L that I have only had for about a week.
Somehow I keep thinking that I should be able to have a brighter-than-original Pelican for about $20 if I can find a good CR123 drop in and clickie that works. Maybe I'm wrong about that, hopefully someone will read this that has upgraded a Pelican before.
A weird idea but it might be doeable. Try to gut teh silver one and mod the internal with the QTC wonder material Don is acquiring for BLF enthusiasts. Youll get a variable output twistie if done properly...
Well, good news, I have an updated (but still ugly two-toned) Pelican M6
I had a Thrunite XM-L single-mode drop-in (3-9v) ordered from Lighthound for my Solarforce body. It came today, and with just a little effort I made it work with 2xCR123 in the Pelican. I had to remove the big spring from the body, and I had to wrap the drop-in with Alum foil to keep it from being too loose in the body of the M6 and rattling around.
The light gets fairly warm, but not too hot to handle by any means; a good hand warmer on a cold night. Standard CR123's don't blow up, do they? The Thrunite drop-in (http://www.lighthound.com/ThruNite-Cree-XM-L-drop-in-for-SureFire-and-others-3--9-Volts_p_3799.html) definitely draws more power than the XM-L that came with my 501B from ebay.
But dang, what a huge improvement in light that thing now has. It still is more of a floody than a thrower, but soooo bright.
All I have to do now is work at getting a new clicky in the original tailcap, and I will have a nice looking as well as bright Pelican.
If you have more than one CR123A then they can blow up and make the light into a pipe bomb (usually when one cell is depleted first causing the other cell to reverse charge it).
Interesting account from 5 years ago; which is probably about the age of my light (well, except for the drop-in).
Also nice to know that the Pelican body held up.
Seems like a lot of folks here run there lights to the point where they are almost too hot to handle. Since the dropin I have is rated for 3-9 volts, is the major concern a too-fast discharge of the batteries?
I'd much rather be holding the Pelican if this happened than my Solarforce or Ultrafire 501. The Pelicn is built like a tank in comparison to the other two.
It doesn't matter that it was five year ago, it happens regularly. And you don't _want_ it to hold up, it will just create a blast with bigger force: If the body is weak, there is only a "venting with flame", if the body is strong then it becomes a pipe bomb. Also "I've now seen atleast 3 blown Pelican M6's." doesn't sound that good.
Here is another incident with a Surefire 9Z and Surefire batteries: http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=951360
Sees like most of the examples I've seen with this has been unattended lights...
Not sure I understand the chemistry of how that happened. My Pelican has been sitting with 2 Streamlight CR123's in if for years in a nightstand. Sounds like unattended lights are more likely to blow than overheated ones.
Try freezing the tailcap for a couple hours, that might help loosen the adhesive. If not boil and freeze a couple times and the adhesive it is sure to fail.
