First Gen XM-L drop-in just went to half brightness.... possible cause?

[jondotcom]

This was one of the first batch of drop-ins with xm-l (5-mode) and it was through kaidomain.

Today I was running on a single 18650 in my l2x and had it on for about 15 mins. I noticed later in the day when putting it away that it wasn't bright, so I compared it with my DX xm-l and confirmed the KD one is messed up. All the modes work, but it's only 1/2 as bright as usual. I did change the battery so it's not that. When I noticed it the light was already cooled down.

Should I try changing the driver, or just pitch it and start over? I really liked it because it was crazy nuts bright, and made my supposed 450lumen xm-l from DX look dim (until today).

Cheers!

 

[51coronet]

Re: First Gen KD XM-L drop-in just went to half brightness.... possible cause?

sounds like the driver took a dive. 5 dollar or so fix. KD has a 3amp driver that is 100% regulated. I purchased a few and so far it works great. Low mode is extra low which is nice. Follow the soldering instructions on the website. They sent me instructions that were wrong but the website has current instructions.

 

[chetvaldes]

Maybe check the current draw- if it's normal, then I would suspect you may have fried the emitter.