Hi, I was thinking about making a drop in for a Solarforce L2P. I am new to all of this, and have had a heck of a time trying to figure it all out. I currently run the XM-L2 U2 drop in from solarforce in OP reflector. I would like to get/make one that has more throw, and possibly more of a cool white color. This would be my main light for walking out of the woods, and I want one that can reach out. I carry 2 lights, so I would have one with more spill as well.
What has been hard is that there is so much info, it is hard to quickly weed thru it all. Can anyone make any recommendations? I know there are a ton of good drop in’s, but I would like to make one that is reasonable in price. I would want a 4 mode light. Can anyone make any suggestions? Any good sources for parts? Thanks for any input.
I have an L2T and the Solarforce XP-L dropin, so I believe I have a reasonably good idea of your current setup. I built a XP-L HI dropin that, naturally, out-throws the XP-L dropin. FWIW, I claim it out-throws a couple of 300 meter flashlights I own including the Sportac XP-L HI dropin.
The XP-L HI v3 2B emitter I used came from http://www.mtnelectronics.com, but they are out of stock right now. They have XP-L HI v2 1A and XP-L HI v2 3C emitters, which aren't quite as efficient as, but should suffice. The 1A version will be cooler than the 3C. This is the 1A emitter that works in a P60. I used a 3 Amp Qlite driver with the guppydrv firmware.
I substituted a Solarforce smooth reflector for the reflector included in the above item because the base of the Solarforce reflector was easier for work me to work with. The Solarforce reflector offered more clearance from the emitter wires.
If your "blank" P60 doesn't come with one of these spacer/insulators, then get one.
Richard at http://www.mtnelectronics.com will put it all together for $5.50. I've a good deal of experience with electronics, but I've only just begun experimenting with custom flashlights. In this short time http://www.mtnelectronics.com is the place I look to first. I've gone to http://www.kaidomain.com and the Convoy store at aliexpress for some parts mtnelectronics didn't have, but I'm still waiting for delivery (both are in China).
XP-G2 with smooth reflector, or even an XP-E2. Put a 3A Qlite behind it and roll. If you want cool tint, don’t bother with the de-dome options. I’ve found that dedoming drops the tint far too much.
Hit up Mountain as Richard will have everything you need!
I actually bought one, which should arrive in a couple of days. Right now, I have a difficult time to compare one flashlight with the other. I build an IS but have no good way to calibrate it. All I can do is to have relative measurements. Any suggestions?
That’s the problem. I am not sure I am taking this hobby serious enough to spend serious money. An poor man’s solution exist?
BTW, Any link ti ANSI rated lights?
I just received the P60 with XPL-Hi from Kaidomain. It works fine. For some reason, I only got about 1.25A at the battery side. The Lumen value that I measure is about 450 lm. Note that this is very conservative (uncalibrated, surely below the actually lumen value) and has the flashlight loss. The LED is not bad. The only question is why it only draws such low battery current.
The reason that I had asked if you would report back when you received it, was that I have heard this one time before in a PM from another member.
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Here is what he said:
“Tried the drop in, only pulls 1.22 amps on high.
Even tried with 2 cr123’s , even less amps.
So, Time to contact them, I notice now, they do not list amperage, could have sworn it listed 2.5 amps before but maybe not.”
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He had pointed this drop in out to me, but PMed me before I had ordered one, so that was good thing.
I checked the KD webpage after his PM and they ‘Do Not’ list a Current for this drop in, so I think that it’s probably not defective, just none too strong. - That’s a real Bummer
Sorry - That’s all that I know about it.
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So - I Bit the Bullet and ordered a Custom build from Richard (RMM) at Mountain Electronics, because I just know that will be good.
More money for sure, but I really think that’s it’s gonna be the real deal from Richard.
I am glad that someone else had the same observations as me. At 1.2x A, 450 lm is not too bad considering my IS is totally uncalibrated and other losses. (I think it also shows my IS “calibaration” is not too off :laughing:. It may also worth to drop a notes to KD, though.
Overall, I like KD much better than GB. I still haven’t receive my C8 from GB ordered on July 30/31. This order from KD was placed on 08/25 and have already arrived.
I’m the one who got this KD drop in XP-L HI a few weeks back and was bummed at the low amperage, I contacted them and they were very nice and basically said, different products/units have different outputs.
My response/complaint was “You advertised it as 1600 lumens in description and there is no way this drop in can do that with the low amperage, and you do not list amperage as you do on most other products”
I asked them to change the description, they have yet to do that.
They offered a full refund if I returned it and of course it will cost more than the cost to return it, so I said thanks but no.
I have not filed a complaint as the parts are worth the money spent and I believe they intentionally did not put a good driver in the drop in order to cut down on burnt up/overheated emitters due to P60’s not having any real heat sinking.
The other products I got in the same order were good, a C12 XP-L Hi and a screw in brass pill with XP-L HI. But I must warn, the threads on that Screw in pill only work on the KD flashlights, I must have 15 other C8’s and they will not thread into any of them, bummer.
I will attempt to look at the driver in the P60 for possible mods next week, it is soldered on there pretty good, so it is going to take some heat to get it loose.
Later,
Keith
