My opinion is that the side switch with tail switch will make the light longer and more difficult to find driver for the host to mod. And when I use it and turn on-off often it need to switch position in hand to switch modes which is not very comfortable. I like my L6 at this way 
but when I turn that on I use it for longer time.
So I like the only tail switch version more. And a removable tactical ring would be nice as on bigger brothers but this time with single cell tube.
Swib, measure it again when the cells are low. It’ll surprise you.
On a regulated Buck circuit, the driver will pull what it needs to maintain the current, so with a nice pair of high discharge cells charged up good the initial current will be low, but as they drop it will rise in the effort to maintain the constant current. Seems counter intuitive to me that the weaker cell is required to give more.
By the same token, if you use a lesser pair of cells the tail current reading will be higher as the driver hits them hard making the required regulation.
I have noticed that actually Dale, and now I see why. It explains why the cells drain so fast even while they are sharing the load.
Thanks so much to both of you. I have seen the light! 
:sunglasses:
Now if high drain 26350’s become a thing, I will do the same to my L2 like we talked about earlier and I won’t feel so much like a thread hijacker. 
I think the increased current for weaker cells makes sense in terms of voltage. As the cell weaken, the cell's voltage output drops, so more current is needed in order to maintain constant power.
Boost drivers have the same isssue in terms of efficiency, but I think they are generally less efficient than bucks.
I'm sure there's costs/complications involved here as well - throw more costs in parts and design, and could get efficiency up, like with using CoilCraft inductors.
Ah, but…
For me, a simple layman hack, aren’t we worried about heat in the Li-ion cell? Overheating could damage it and put it in a loop that could be catastrophic, right? So why, when the cell is weak, are we pulling even more out of it? Wouldn’t that be, like, wrong?
Me, I like carrying the big load first, so when I get tired I don’t have to shoulder such horrific burdens. But that’s just what I learned being 135 lbs and carrying building materials for 22 years. Start strong, finish strong. Gotta have enough left to cash the check on Friday, ya know?
You'd have to look at the #'s, whether heat is gonna come into play. There's certainly a limit that should be imposed on amps - depends how many amps to begin with, when LVP cuts in, etc. I know I've seen this behavior on drivers - think the discharge tests Budda did on the Manker U21 (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/40159). For turbo mode after the step-down, it does a pretty steady 1,200 lumens off a single cell, and during that time though it's not shown, the voltage is probably dropping and amps is goin up.
That's over 80 minutes steady of 1,200 lumens off a single cell - interesting...
Dang - wish my U21 wasn't busted, otherwise I'd check on a near drained cell to see what the amps drawn is.
In my C8 the Efest purple 18350’s don’t get too hot because the LVP in RMM’s driver kicks in after about 15 minutes of use on high.
Actually the external inductor is more efficient, than the coil craft.
Inductor:
The 22mm MTN-MAX is designed to be used with either an external inductor, standard SMD inductor, or a small Coilcraft SMD inductor. The external inductor is preferable if there is enough room in your pill for it. The external inductor offers slightly higher efficiency.
External ~15mm Height (Highest efficiency)
Standard ~4mm Height (Lowest efficiency, shortest)
Coilcraft SMD: ~6mm Height (Medium efficiency, highest cost)
But the Coil Craft SMD seems to deliver current smoother too, in my case, my XHP35 is running at 2.81 amp (using a 3 amp MtnMax driver with 4.25” of 24awg to choke the current down) at the emitter, I was blowing emitters with the External at that same current, but seems to be stable and reliable at 2.77?
Can someone help me telling me where I can find a driver for a L2 host. I just had a short trying to put one together
You can use any 17mm driver that you like.
If he has a last year version. But the 2016 version accepts 20mm driver.
I’m interested in getting a budget thrower to add to my light painting arsenal, mainly for “pencil beam” like aerial beam shots. I’d need the hotspot beam to be brighter than the L6, but with a less bright spill beam. I’m not interested in modding. Should I be looking at the L2, or C8, or wait for the proposed betterthanC8?
Just as a possibly stupid side question - why is the XP-G2 not an option for the L2 or C8?
The XP-G2 probably isn’t an option due to the considerably lower output level it produces. Granted, the beam would be tighter but at a huge lumens loss and as such, it probably wouldn’t be a good seller in comparison to the original options. The XP-G2 does indeed throw a nice tight beam in the C8 or L2, especially de-domed, but you’ll have trouble finding that option in a factory light. Also, the XP-G2 de-domed has a higher than normal Vf so it doesn’t perform at a peak level without a 2 series cell light and a Buck driver, at which point 5A or so really does do a nice job.
The L2 with an XP-L HI makes a very nice tight thrower. You should be able to get that as a factory option.
Thanks for the info. I’d be interested in how the XP-L HI versions of the C8 and L2 compare in lux/throw, can’t seem to find a comparison (maybe I’m not looking hard enough).
The XP-L HI is going to perform way better in the L2 than in the C8. The L2 has a much larger reflector, that’s going to make a lot of difference. Run time will be longer with the larger 26650 as well.
Should be able to get around 130-140Kcd from the C8 with a single cell and de-domed XP-G2 and some 900-1000 lumens…while the L2 will do significantly more (a single cell with XP-L HI simply outperforms the C8). For apples to apples, the C8 with a Buck driver and 2 cells pushing the de-domed XP-G2 can get up to around 160-170Kcd in some circles while I’ve had the L2 with a buck driver and 2 cells do 328.5Kcd from a de-domed XP-G2.
(looking for data on the L2 with XP-L HI, haven’t found it yet but really liked mine set up this way until just the other day when I modified it with the XHP-35 and 4 26350 cells)
Edit: Found info from Nov 12, 2015…“With an XP-L HI emitter on a 20mm Noctigon (binning unknown, it was on my bench) I’m seeing a first result (rested King Kong 4000mAh 26650) at 1476 lumens with 212.75Kcd.” So even with just a straight up XP-L HI in it, the lumens are close to 50% more and throw is quite higher as well. That should be an easy simple choice for a smallish big light with a fat cell for run time. Hard to beat this one, overall.
Curious here…what driver?
Thanks
Thanks for the information. I should have mentioned that I’m interested in the lux/throw in the off-the-shelf (not modded) versions.
I think led4power’s driver . LD-M2
led4power’s LD-2 modified for the occasion. I used the recommended 750kohm resistor on the left side of the 2 required for series cells, and a 250Kohm on the right hand one. I also changed the large 1Mohm main resistor to 2Mohm and made sure the sense resistor was 180ohm instead of the 150ohm they come with. And I used a higher grade 3 legged component at the pair of resistors for series configuration… don’t remember what it’s called at the moment but can get that info later if you need it.
For the moon set up I used a much higher resistance resistor to account for the 4 series configuration as well. Again though, I don’t remember (just woke up) right off the top of my head the exact one but I can also get that.
I didn’t know any of this or figure it out, Neven told me what to use and where to use it.
Then I potted the driver after testing it.
I didn’t have the required teeny tiny resistors so I used 1206 parts and stood them on their side to make them work, (this is on the cell configuration area but I did the same for the one that needed changing on the moon mode area as well) This might be problematic on a bay mount scenario but in this case my driver is piggybacked onto a larger stock driver board that I’m using for contact with the cell.
The LD-2 M2 is designed for high amp situations which this is not. (Well, mostly. I ended up with 3.13A to the XHP-35 which is over the top and I keep wondering if/when the emitter is gonna fry. I have a second copper disc under the DTP mcpcb so maybe that’ll help.) Also, running 4 of the 2000mAh 26350 cells, I figure they’ll sag and drop voltage fairly quickly so they won’t deliver the max current for long.
A beamshot from my Convoy L2 with XHP-35, in a light rain, shot with my new Canon S90 that I got from Jared. Thanks man, watch for the flip flop…
