KL4 LED Replacement

pryan

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
46
My KL4 has a bit of a cat-urine tint to it. What sort of Lux V is in my KL4? What might be a suitable replacement for it? Does anyone have any instructions for disassembling and reassembling a KL4 head?

And while I'm asking, what are the specs on the regulator circuit? What sort of voltages and currents will the regulator accept and dish out to the LED? What batteries can I use on a KL4?

Thanks,
Patrick
 

Chop

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 22, 2003
Messages
3,635
Location
Louisiana
The bin of the Lux in your KL4 is unknown. Surefire does not share that information with us. If you don't like the color, go with something else. I would suggest a W bin with a color like WO, XO, X1, or something like that. If you like bluish, HID type light, you could go for a YO.

There's a guy on ebay selling VV1T's right now. That's an alright bin. In fact, I think Wayne at the Sandwiche Shoppe is selling a V bin 5W too. The V's aren't as bright as W's, as far as binning goes, but it should be an improvement over what you have now, in terms of color anyway.

To replace the LED, you'll need to break the seal on the head. Don't mess with the bezel ring. You have no reason to be in there. Once you break the seal and separate the two halves, you can slowly pull the circuit away from the sink that the emitter is attached to. You'll see two screws. Remove these screws and remove the sink. The only thing holding the emitter in place is some thermal compound and the soldered leads. Desolder the emitter and replace it with the new one.

As for overdriving the circuit, I'd leave the alone. Stock bias is around 660mA and the KL4 has enough trouble dealing with the heat generated at this bias as it is.

If you decide to mod the KL4 with a Lux III to run with a single li-ion cell, like a Pila 168S, then you can just solder a 1 ohm resistor in parallel with the existing .33 ohm (I think) current sense resistor. This will get you about 1A to the Lux III. DO NOT run this mod on 2X123, you'll see smoke. Running this setup on a single 123 will get you about 500mA to the Lux. This will get you a good side spill, much better throw and better runtime.
 

McGizmo

Flashaholic
Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
17,290
Location
Maui
pyran,
If the tint bothers you, replace the LED but bear in mind that there is a good chance that the new LED will not be as bright, IMHO. Many of the 5W's that have the warmer greenish tints often lux out higher than the cooler tints. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif
 
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