K2 emitter in Surefire KL4 head by ARC mania

It is just a little light configured like a TW4. It has the TW4 configuration of a Surefire KL4 head and a CR123A body. The difference in the internal parts. What set this light apart from other lights are the replaced converter and a new Lumileds K2 emitter.






CPF member ARC mania has crafted a beautiful little can to house an MJ07 converter. He has seamlessly integrated the can to fit the body of the KL4 head. On top of the head sits the soon to be in production, white beam, K2 emitter.

Specs from Lumileds information about the K2 emitter.

More specific about the K2 emitter information from Lumileds includes:

• Highest operating temperature 185 degrees C
• Up to 60 lm/watt at 350mA
• Highest drive currents- up to 1500mA
• 9 degree C/W thermal resistance
• Highest lumen maintenance- 50,000 hours life at 1000mA with 70% lumen maintenance



This emitter/converter mod looks good. I'm really impressed with the first-class job of combining the K2 with one of his hand-made converters; the finished drop-in look professionally installed. The converter fits the custom can/heat sink seamlessly. Since the drop-in is installed inside the light it is too bad people cannot see and appreciate the quality installation.









I understand that this is quite a job to mount the can and converter in a Surefire head. When I talked to ARC mania on the phone he relayed that the Surefire head, while very well built on the outside, has uneven tolerances internally. ARC mania went to the extra trouble to make sure his custom made the K2 module fit precisely at the focal point of the KL4 head. If the emitter wasn't focused the sharp beam of the light wouldn't exist. ARC mania carefully adjusted the converter-can to focus the emitter in the reflector. The finished piece has a very nice spot, smaller secondary beam and surrounding spill beam. There is no donut ring beam after 4 ½"; that is impressive. It is a solid beam after that. The extra step of focusing the beam was well worth the effort.

The K2 emitter is fed power through ARC mania's nicely designed MJ07 boost converter pushing 1100mA through the emitter. It is clean, straight, sharp and cool looking. This completed module is supplied with 3V of power so it would work nicely with a CR123A, RCR123A (3V) or two AA/NiMH batteries. If you want to see what the K2 module looks like in a Surefire L4 you'll have to wait; it is being made now. For now you'll have to wait. Beggars, like me, can't be choosy!

The mod couldn't be easier. I put a CR123A battery in my Vital Gear FB1 body, screwed the modified head on then the light was ready to play with. The whole light is a basic, EDC, light that from head to toe looks good. The precise internal parts and the K2 emitter make the light perform as good as it looks.

Great job, ARC mania. I couldn't have done better myself…really!

Here are more pictures.

This picture is the configuration for 2xAA alkaline or NiMH batteries using the DSpeck Universal Battery Holder (UBH.)



Here are some photos with a couple of beam shots for comparison. The camera has the white balance custom set by me using a photo gray card. The balance is set for sunlight. The orange trees are approximately 25 feet away. I aimed the beams at one little orange near the top of one tree about 12 feet above the ground.

The KL4/K2 head. The K2 beam looks more like a Lux III than a Lux V beam. The little flood reflector of the KL4 head with the K2 have been converted to a throw beam. As for the U2 beam is doesn't look normal. I've adjusted the focus of the emitter and doctored the Lux V emitter for a more focused spot beam.



The Surefire L2 light. This is a stock light and closest I have to the L4 light. To make the KL4/K2 a small sacrifice has to be made; the stock emitter and converter had to be sent to Japan and swapped out for the new converter and K2 emitter. I'll have to get a new KL4 head later. Until I replace my L4 body with a new KL4 head all I have is my L2 light. The beam from the L2 is very close to the beam pattern of my old KL4 head.

For the fun of it I threw in a LongBow Mini light. It has been modified with a Turbo Head, Downboy 917 and a UX1J emitter.



Finally, here is a picture of the currently popular Fenix L1P V.2.5 and the Elektrolumens XM-3 for comparisons.

Does the TW4 with K2 installed get as hot as the regular TW4. I stopped carrying mine because it just gets too hot.

Great Pics Thanks

TrueBlue,
Those are some very nice pics, nice lights too!
Did the orange survive?

Surprisingly the light is cooler than the stock head by a couple of degrees. That is good. It is about 5 degrees cooler. I did a temperature test with a digital thermometer on both the head and the converter.

As for the orange it has a little tan on one side.

Trueblue,

How many lights with K2's do you have? How's the tint on them?

I've got one K2 so my sampling of the K2 lights are very poor to close to nothing. I hope to soon have double the sampling rate...two emitter! Then I'll be getting somewhere!

Nice info and pics. Great mod(s).

Was there some treatment to the lens of the K2-head? It looks different ...
bernie

Nope, Bernie, it is the stock K4.

Everything is stock on the front end of the light. It is probably the angle of the lighting that makes it look different. I'll take another picture of the three heads and well see if they still look the same.

I meant the lens of the KL4 (not the LED) ... looks clearer somehow on the middle one ...
bk

I had my sip of coffee now and REALLY read what you asked. The brain is starting to work. I've edited the pre-coffee sip. Let me get another picture of the heads and we can all look closer. Hmmm, coffee!

This is a picture of four KL4 heads. One and two have Lux III emitters, the third is the K4 emitter and finally a Lux V emitter. There are slight variations of texturing in all the reflectors but they are all Surefire reflectors. Just the emitters are different.

Thanx TrueBlue!
bernie

Don't thank me- ARC mania did it. I'm glad everyone appreciates the mod he did.

I'm just adding pictures of the K2 can before it was added to the KL4 head.

Wow! That mod gives new meaning to the phrase "pocket rocket". Hopefully, the K2 will be available to the general public soon.

grnamin said:

Wow! That mod gives new meaning to the phrase "pocket rocket".

Hopefully, the K2 will be available to the general public soon.

Click to expand...

Yeah TB i was gonna ask how you got one, I didn't think they were out. VDG

I think it will be a while, maybe a year, before the K2 really gets to the public in mass. When the first K2 emitters are introducted April of 2006 the emitter will be rare and the majority of emitter will be in 'better' people's hands. Eventually the lower mass of people will get the K2 much later.

Don't give up on the Lux I, III and V emitters yet. The are a proven, reliable, refined design that can give the K2 a run for its money. I take that back. The Luxeons would still be cheaper for a long time. Don't wait for the K2 emitter and keep using the Luxeon emitters.

Thanks for posting this great report. Very interesting reading!

ronhall74 said:

The K2 looks nice, but when will it be available??? Maybe never! In the horserace of LEDs I would bet on a horse, not the unicorn. Bet on Cree having something better and a lot sooner than the K2.

Thanks,

Ron

Click to expand...

Ron, care to share?

Adam

Mike has made a KL4 head with a K2 emitter that runs on the Surefire L4 body. Using an SDC1000 buck converter the drop-on head is a simple mod.




It couldn't be easier to do. Simply take off your KL4 head off the L4 body and twist on the new head. The mod even works with a two brightness switch on the tail.




The cans for both the 3V and 6V heads are identical. The cans that hold the very small converter and act as a heat sink for the head is perfectly crafted. The module is so well made it looks like it was built for the head. It couldn't be a more professional looking build.

Hats off to Mike and this great mod!