Interest in a low output LF d26 drop in

hello everyone. I've been looking for a quality low output incan. Things like small maglites do not have very nice beams as we all know. Even my es9 drop in is far too bright for some things like navigating a dark house at night. Sure I could use the low mode of an led but then I'd be using an led which I really don't like as much. I never knew incans could be so amazing until I came here and now that's all I use:laughing: so I contacted Mark at LF and asked him if he could mix and match some of his already made products together. Specifically the bulb from the ho-e1r put into a d26 LA. This would give 50 bulb lumens on a single li ion. A good 18650 should give 2+ hours of runtime. He responded telling me he's interested and could special make me a minimum of 3 at $20 a piece. Now I can buy three for myself because I'm sure they'll be great and it's only a few dollars more than any of their pre-made ones anyway. But I thought I'd ask here if anyone else is interested in getting one or more of these. I honestly have no idea how to do a group buy and it doesn't have to be anything official. I don't even want to make any profit. Also I have no affiliation with lumens factory besides liking their products and great customer service

The yellowish is the problem. I want a nice white output but with less of it. Not to mention it's very inefficien. LF already said they'll make it. I'm just seeing if anyone else is interested as its not something in their normal lineup. Thank you for the advice though

Funny enough, I just ordered a HO-E1R and a Redilast 16650 for an E2E. It's been some time now that I've wished Lumens Factory offered a low lumen D26 3.7V lamp assembly.

If he's willing to do a run, I'll commit to a minimum of five LAs. Please keep us posted. Thanks.

Sure. He's already willing to do a run with only a minimum of 3 total so by myself I would've been enough. Great you want a few too. I just figured if he was going to make a special run I'd help get more for the run. How well probably do it is each person orders how many they want then he could do the run. I mean I could get them all then sell them out to people but I'm not looking to make anything and it would up the expense for everyone as I would then have to ship them out to people and I'm in Canada. So I figure I'll five it a week or so then we can each throw some money to mark and they'll start the run
Ps how is the ho-e1r?

The HO-E1R is still in transist; I'm guessing it may arrive late next week. I would think the same bulb powered by a 3400mah 18650 should give 4+ hours of runtime.

It's almost an amp draw so Ya runtime will be good possibly 4h but I think it will go yellow along time before that. I think one of new hybrid batteries will give just as good of good runtime. You can really only get the full potential from those 3400 mah cells in low draw LED's with a low vf or stacked with a buck driver. All that extra capacity comes at lower voltage that incans can't really use. Even 2.5 hours of good bright light would be really good. A 9v 50 lumen or so bulb would be even better but then they'd need to create a new bulb. That's asking a bit much!

9v 50 Lumen ? You've pretty much described a normal PR flashlight bulb. They'll bat around that average once you get them up to that voltage.

That's a pretty sweet deal. Even if you bought all 3 yourself, you're going to want that many spares. Those kinds of bulbs can burn out fast from what I recall.
What doesn't make sense to me, is if LF module are anything like the D26's I've owned, the bulb assembly unscrews from the reflector assembly. I don't see why he can't just sell you one reflector and multiple lamps to save a few bucks.

I wonder who else knows you can fine focus a D26.

It sucks that you missed out on the AW Incan Drivers, you wouldn't even be asking this question.
I've been running one it my D26 EDC for years. Get plenty of run time, controllable output, and I haven't burnt a bulb since I got it.

I would've loved to have gotten the incan driver. LF glues the reflector to the pill. I believe surefire does as well. The cheap assemblies from dx you can unscrew the reflector. What do you mean those type bulbs burn out fast? I've had pretty good luck with my assemblies. P91 burnt out pretty fast but 2ximr will do that

Oh ok, didn't know that, I've only owned cheap ebay special lamps.
They worked great, tho.

I feel I spoke to soon. Now that I think about it, I've only ever burned out one, but vaguely recall not having it very long.
I know I've been running the same bulb since 2010 when I got the driver and it was my only EDC that whole time.
Ah, I guess you'll find out. Always good to have spares anyway.

I wonder why they bother gluing them ?
I've read that in some situations they was a better thermal connection to the reflector, but they can do that without glue.
I find it handy that you can unscrew mine. I can fine tune my focus, and it means it's easier to mod.
I figure I could easily solder in a new bulb. I still have my old burnt unit, one day I'm probably going to try putting in a 1499 or 1749.

I've tried unscrewing my dx assembly. It just makes the beam ringy. It perfect screwed all the way down. And I like it too and they're way cheaper but I like LF as well. 4x the price but whiter output too and more options

I was happy with the looks of mine, just it was 10watts, and maybe only gave me 8 in practice.

Yeah, you don't get a lot of focus range. Just a bit of fine tuning. Mine is backed off a touch.

I'm willing to bet that issue with the Fivemega Turbo head, where some D26's don't focus well, would not be an issue with my lamp as I could probably tune it.

Whe can ask if Andrew will make another run softstarts , I'll would take two at least!! , the best solution for incan lights.
You can open a feeler thread and maybe AW will make these again if 50 or 100 can be sold here.

vicv said:

The yellowish is the problem.

Click to expand...

New 3D M*gs come with bi-pin bulbs and you can use in Sunlight D26 (if you have one) when powering by single 18650

Ya if I had one my problems would be solved. You should make another run:twothumbs. I'd buy a couple

If you were handy with the soldering iron as I am, you could install one of those 3D bulbs into a D26 assembly.
Assuming of course you had one of the cheap units with removable reflectors.

I do have one of those cheap LAs. It's in my edc right now. But I have no soldering skill. I don't even have an iron

In lieu of the slick FM Sunlight, you can screw the aforementioned DX lamp assembly apart and solder one of those sweet new Maglite bulbs in. This what I have been doing with their P60's atleast. I've been getting some really smooth defocused beams with both the 3 and 6 cell bulbs.

At ~.8A thats 3 to 4 hours off an 18650!

What would you do. Twist the old bulb out and solder the new bulbs pins to the pins sticking out?

My process is as such: I try to bend the inner spring out of the way and sneak the soldering iron in to the pins while the pill is secured with a pair of "helping hands". I use a 30 watt iron. I wrap the bulb in masking tape so that it can be gripped with a pair of pliers and pulled out when hot. Often I'll end up accidentally desoldering the inner spring anyways, but sometimes I get away with it. I clear out the holes by heating them up and poking them with a needle. Insert new bulb to desired height and heat the pins, adding solder if necessary. Bend the inner spring back and or solder it back on and viola!