SolarForce RED p60 drop-in! (plus an XM-L drop-in)

I noticed that Lighthound now sells Solarforce drop-ins in red, blue, and green colors. The red appears to be an XR-E (hello Cree rings! lol). The web page info stated that this dropin is an R2 bin. I had my doubts about that, but when I received it and fired it up, WOW I have no doubts this is an R2. This sucker's bright! I didn't know they made a red led that could be this bright; I guess the last time I'd seen one was in the 4Sevens RGB, and that wasn't nearly this bright.

I have no idea what I'll do with this thing, but it's pretty wild and there's a fun factor there. I guess I could try it at night and see if it's any better for preserving night vision than a comparable 200 lumen white light. Also, this may be a fun light to bust out for Halloween this year, to give that special "hellish" red lighting effect! :devil:



As for the XM-L dropin... also very good. It's the single mode, 3.7 to 8.4 volt model. Pretty good focus, maybe a hint of a slightly darker area in the center of the hotspot, but not objectionable. Great tint. (I don't think I've had a Solarforce module yet that had a bad tint, unlike some other popular brands here... cough!) Hard to go wrong considering it's only a little over 20 bucks or so.


Gotta love the P60 host format... easy upgrades for cheap money!!

Hi Stress Test, I'm thinking of getting one of the red Solarforce LEDs also. But I can't find any info on the wavelength range. Question: is it truly red, or is is orange-red?

Stress_Test said:

I have no idea what I'll do with this thing, but it's pretty wild and there's a fun factor there.

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Try using it to 'see through' tinted windows.

I went camping earlier this year, due to sea turtles we could only use red lights. My red headlamp lights were pretty dim. I was thinking about getting a red lens. It sounds like these emitters might be a better answer.

nice! thanks for sharing that, so you're specifically referring to: "Solar Force LC-1 Red Drop-In for L2 Flashlight, Single Mode?"

The red xpe is 625nm red last I checked, not the deep red that a lot of people crave but still red in my eyes, VinhNyugen makes an even brighter xpe red dropin.
Nailbender makes an sst90 red dropin oo: that'd be intense.

I have a phatlight red led on order, can handle 13amps at 3 volts Dtr sells these in the marketplace

CarpentryHero said:

The red xpe is 625nm red last I checked, not the deep red that a lot of people crave but still red in my eyes, VinhNyugen makes an even brighter xpe red dropin.
Nailbender makes an sst90 red dropin oo: that'd be intense.

I have a phatlight red led on order, can handle 13amps at 3 volts Dtr sells these in the marketplace

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Thanks for that ! However, according to the Night Vision forum, we should be looking at 650nm+ to preserve night vision?

kzb said:

Thanks for that ! However, according to the Night Vision forum, we should be looking at 650nm+ to preserve night vision?

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does wavelength even matter with regards to night vision? i'm a newb to that whole aspect so i may be wrong, but i'd think as long as it's low intensity it should be fine, you know?

Yeah, 640-680nm is the deep red for nightvision. The 625nm does work better than regular light, and at low levels at night works well. I haven't seen a dropin in 660nm range, as the few emitters in that red are 1 watt or less (that I've found)

kzb said:

Hi Stress Test, I'm thinking of getting one of the red Solarforce LEDs also. But I can't find any info on the wavelength range. Question: is it truly red, or is is orange-red?

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Don't know the wavelength, but it looks pretty red to me! It looks like Lighthound has added some specs. Go here lighthound(dot)com/Solar-Force-LC-1-Red-Drop-In-for-L2-Flashlight-Single-Mode-_p_3968.html

Dave H said:

I went camping earlier this year, due to sea turtles we could only use red lights. My red headlamp lights were pretty dim. I was thinking about getting a red lens. It sounds like these emitters might be a better answer.

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The specs from the page above say 225 lumen, and I believe it.

tobrien said:

nice! thanks for sharing that, so you're specifically referring to: "Solar Force LC-1 Red Drop-In for L2 Flashlight, Single Mode?"

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Yup.

CarpentryHero said:

The red xpe is 625nm red last I checked, not the deep red that a lot of people crave but still red in my eyes, VinhNyugen makes an even brighter xpe red dropin.
Nailbender makes an sst90 red dropin oo: that'd be intense.

I have a phatlight red led on order, can handle 13amps at 3 volts Dtr sells these in the marketplace

Click to expand...

These are stated to be XR-E emitters, and based on the appearance I think they are. Can't say what the wavelength is though.

Page four of this data sheet from Cree gives the nm ratin of the red

http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/C...d Modules/XLamp/Data and Binning/XLampXPE.pdf

Hopefully that link works alright, as for the brightness, check the tailcap amperage, the Solarforce dropin is competitively bright for the red.

Illumination supply sells the red xpe

https://illuminationsupply.com/cree...1.html?zenid=c0ca84d9c1ad42e06f2bde0d4532a51f


I ended up buying three different red xpe dropins and one that's not an xpe but kept up somewhat for brightness. The brightest of the four was made by VinhNyugen

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...hnguyen54-Cree-Green-Red-Blue-P60-D26-Drop-in

2.1amps of awesome

The solarforce Dropin is this one:
http://www.solarforceflashlight-sales.com/product_detail.php?t=RB&s=29&id=38

I have it. It is an red XR-E. It should be a P4 binning as stated on the solarforce-Sales website. It is not a ba dropin and you will preserve night vision IMO. I'm not sure if it is really 225 Lumens. I think it is lower. but I'm not sure. The color is read but not so deep red I have when I use a Surefire Red Filter if I remember correctly.

So is it an XR-E or an XP-E? I had a look at the Cree website, and the XR-E apparently does not have a red option. Blue and green yes, red no.

The XP-E has numerous colour variants, including red (620-630nm) and red-orange (610-620nm).

Second question then, how do we know if Solarforce have fitted the red, or the red-orange emitter?

kzb said:

So is it an XR-E or an XP-E? I had a look at the Cree website, and the XR-E apparently does not have a red option. Blue and green yes, red no.

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The Solarforce Dropin with red LED light is has an LED with "XR-E" housing. It may be an XR-C not XR-E. The LED looks very similar in comparsion to an XR-E R2 LED. The only difference is the chip is red. I have this dropin, therefore I'm sure it is no XP-E!

The xre is 620nm according to led supply

http://www.ledsupply.com/creexre.php

Thats less red than the xpe though not visibly noticeable 5-10 nm difference is miner if you ask me

xrc is 620nm too

The LED used in the Solarforce Dropin is exactly this one pictured on this site:

http://www.ledsupply.com/creexrc-r.php

For the price the dropin is not bad. But if I use a red Surefire Filter with a white LED flashlight the red is much more deep red in comparsion to the Solarforce Dropin. But at least a Surefire filter costs more thant twice of a Solarfore ropin with red LED.

Confusing isn't it?! When they say "620nm" in reality there is a range. Cree have the range of 10nm on their data sheets, so I wonder if "620nm" is the peak wavelength, so we have a range of 615-625nm, or if ledsupply.com just pick on one of the numbers on the cree datasheet range to print?

I received my red dropin from lighthound yesterday and it seems pretty bright. It is not the deep red as mentioned by some. I am curious what results I might expect if I were to add a surefire filter to the red dropin. Would I lose a lot of brightness? Would using a white LED produce more output through a red filter or a red LED since it is red already? I'm new to the red lights any info would be appreciated?

Side question does the surefire filter screw on/ slide on?

You will not loose too much brightness, IMO only a little. Even with red Surefire Filter I'd say it is bright.

The Surefire Filter FM35 and F26 fits on i.e. Solarforce L2 bezels or all Surefire P60 lights. I only have the FM35 not the F26.

On this thread you can see a FM35 on a Surefire G2 light:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?270934-Show-your-filters

The quality of the SF filters is great, and you can flip the filter up. This is perfect if you use a flashlight with white LED and you can use red and white light without changing the flashlight.

Dave H said:

I received my red dropin from lighthound yesterday and it seems pretty bright. It is not the deep red as mentioned by some. I am curious what results I might expect if I were to add a surefire filter to the red dropin. Would I lose a lot of brightness? Would using a white LED produce more output through a red filter or a red LED since it is red already? I'm new to the red lights any info would be appreciated?

Side question does the surefire filter screw on/ slide on?

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Id be interested to know how the red filter works on a red led too, the E series filters slide on, the other dropin size I'm not sure