Strange Kaidomain U2 Drop-in

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Today i received the U2 drop-in from Kaidomain.

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=11254

I put it in a 504b body and i try it. It don't seems to be muche brighter than my other XML drop in drived at 1.5 A so i take my DMM and i measure. Result: 1,6 A on High (battery at 4.0v). It is supposed to be at least 2,5 A

From Foy review i read 2.7A so something goes wrong. I noticed also a flickering on LOW. I open it and i discover that the emitter is different from the one Foy received (White not black).

Now, who is the guilty: DMM, Battery, Circuit bord, emitter??

I asked Foy some picture of the back of the drop-in to see if the circuit board is the same. Let's see if i discover what happen.

2

Hi,

I have the same blue 18650 (only one - was part of an order) and I measure on the XM-L LED T6 of Kaidoamin 2,67A (battery 4,12V).

The battery shouldn't be the bad thing of your measurement.

Maybe it's not the DMM, but the testleads - have you ever measure more than 2A with them?

My original testleads of my DMM were also bad - I measure only 1,7A on the manafont XM-L Kaidomain drop-In (with an 4,19V Samsung 18650). I build a new cable (take two bananaplugs and and old cable of my carhifi (2x 4mm²) - now I measure 2,98A with a full 18650.

3

Batteries would be my guess at this time ... THe BRC is notorious for low current ... The blue one ?

4

Here's some pictures of mine . . .

As I took these I remembered the issues I had when I first got this drop-in. It has been in my EDC L2P almost the entire time I've had it but if I screw the reflector down all the way the flashlight will not power up at all. I unscrewed it and it has been a gem of a light. If anybody is by me when I turn it on at work, I get questions.

Tail cap draw in grey Solarforce L2P

AW IC 2900 - 2.70/1.16/.11 (high/medium/low)

Solarforce 2400 - 2.80/1.20/.11

TrustFire flame 2400 - 2.70/1.16/.11

Panasonic unprotected - 2.80/1.20/.12

hopethishelpsFoy

5

The testleads are the original one from Fluke but i think i never measure more than 2 A on a flashlight. Anyone buy new quality cable? Where?

Maybe you're right. I ordered two "flames" from DX. Now i have only to wait 1 month...

Thanks again Foy. The emitter has a different plate (white instead of black) but i hope is the right one. My circuit board has SG PCB write on it but again i hope it make no difference in output.

6

Seems that your DMM only reads up to 2000mA, maybe time for a upgrade :)

7

I tried with another DMM.. Same result. The fluke was protected (a fuse will break if the reading is over 2A) that's why i think that the problem are batteries or testleads.

8

Top up the batteries and try with new leads, if you have another DMM you could also try and measure how much the voltage drops.

9

Thats a nice bright dropin but the LED fell right off the board on one of mine.

10

Test it with another cable (maybe a friend has a multimeter and you can use his testleads).

If not: Use a thicker cable (I use one of my carhifi components).

11

Ok. Drop-in is dead... After half an hour of use outside go off and doesn't turn on. Probably was faulty. Now i understand the flickering and the low amperage. I sent an RMA request to KD. Cross the fingers...