Hi guys are there any good xm-l2 drop ins yet ? i’ve been looking around and they all seem to be under powered, e.g the new Solarforce ones are only 2A at full power
Drop In Host
XM-L2 U2-4C LED
7135 2.8A Driver
7135 Chips
How to add 7135 chips to a driver board
How to add copper braid to springs
Aren’t the ALXM drop-ins from IO supposed to be good?
http://intl-outdoor.com/xml2-p60-dropin-module-alxm2-p-740.html
Foy’s review: Review: "ALXM" P60 Drop-In from Int'l Outdoor Store
Aluminum pill is actually better than a brass pill for thermal conductivity
Copper is best, unless you have tons of money then get one made out of pure silver…
*Brass pill
one from int-outdoor is the same one from FT…just ain’t gonna wait a month to get it
Good info, but I think he just wanted to buy one.
I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
The ability of the heat to conduct thru a material...copper is MUCH better than aluminum, and aluminum is better than brass.
Silver is better than all of em...but silver is crazy expensive...thus unless you are crazy rich...you ain't getting a silver pill :D
rojos posted a link to a pill from intl-outdoor, the pill the P60 drop in is made in, is the same as the DIY pill from fasttech and the needed emitter, driver, and extra chips if you want them
Sorry i forgot to add, standard p60 host.
I know how to build one but i just want a plug and play one… 
They have a nice 10W one at fasttech...well it is 1 mode, on/off though and XM-L :(
And this one is 2A as well
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1605/10001085/1292200-ultrafire-xm-l2-lamp-cover-for-802b501bl2
Looks like the only way to get what you are looking for is to "make" one how you want it...wish I could help more
'ALXM' is nothing to do with aluminum (unless it refers to the MCPCB, which I doubt, else there would be a CUXM listed right alongside it by now, which IOS hasn't bothered to put out yet even though they have their own line of Cu MCPCBs), it has a brass pill like all other kit-style P60 dropins.
Way back when I had a Ultrafire XM-L P60 dropin, back before the XML2s had filtered down to more everyday stuff. I think the driver was 2.5A but had off-time memory which is generally nicer to use than the typical Nanjg-based on-time memory. It was not bad at all, all things considered. They're now using XML2 and as far as I can tell the same driver.
Cheers guys, looks like i’ll be making my own
Whoah...that KD one is pretty nice! 5 mode, wait...2.5A, is that 7*7135 [2450mA..hmm], and it's not breaking the bank..not bad! (looking at the images, it doesn't have any chips on the spring side...wonder if "truth in advertising" is an issue
It is not a 7135 driver. Completely different species.
Old not very good picture, it's currently installed in my pseudo-UV light (de-domed & de-phosphored XML2) and I ain't taking it out again:
It's got an amtel somethin' somethin' on it heh
Nope..that says Atmel..hahaha
Is this something you learned recently?
actually yes
I always believed the brass pill was better than aluminum…I was wrong, go figure
Well, thermal conductivity isn’t all there is to a pill. Depending on the situation, Brass can be better than Aluminum or Copper.
Brass is easier to work with than aluminum. The fact that you can solder directly to it makes it more flexible for DIY. You can’t solder direct to aluminum without special techniques, and that makes an aluminum pill kind of useless unless it has a built in retaining ring or adapter for the driver.
Copper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. Brass and Aluminum can maintain excellent electrical conductivity without special finishes applied to the surface. Raw copper, depending on the environment, can form a thick electrically resistive oxide layer reducing electrical conductivity or sometimes cutting it off entirely. That’s why, for certain applications, copper needs to be electroplated.
Well when you solder the emitter directly to the copper, that oxide layer should be eliminated (I make sure I scrub the pad down with rubbing alcohol before I try to reflow), and thus pulls more of the heat away faster spreading it over a larger surface area, then on to aluminum or brass, aluminum would be better at pulling it away from the larger surface area than brass would (not counting the reduced efficiency of epoxy/RTV between the emitter base and the pill itself) but I’m not a scientist so I am only speculating
and yes, I 100% agree the ability to solder on brass over aluminum IS a huge bonus!
I am just thinking along the lines of heatsinking not “electrical conductivity” as well
Is brass cheaper than aluminum? (in a raw material standpoint)
not arguing with you, just trying to make sense of it all, I am a “beginner” DIY’er so I respect your comments and wisdom
I think the best thing is to not over think it. Most DIY pills are brass and they work fine. Unless you’re going to drive your lights super hard for long stretches of time, there’s no real need to go out of your way to get an aluminum or a copper pill.
The biggest problem with budget light pills isn’t that they are made of brass, it’s that too many of them are not flat. The mounting surface on some budget pills are absolutely awful, and that does more to limit thermal performance than anything else.