E1E LED Mod? drop in?

Meltdown

Enlightened
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Apr 30, 2008
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I just uncovered 3 of these in a box in storage. weeeeee! but they have the pathetic weak 15 lumen incan heads. Really love to get these on a RCR123 diet pushing on an LED of some kind.

????
 
thanks Gunner. anyone know of any brand/style of LED heads compatible for swap on an E1E?

the dropin Koala has looks great but it's 65bucks. yowie.
 
http://www.opticshq.com/page/Optics/PROD/Flashlights/FL-TLS-TX1
http://www.opticshq.com/page/Optics/PROD/Flashlights/FL-TLS-TX2

A search on CPF will lead to several reviews of these products. Also check the Marketplace for the OpticsHQ CPF discount.

The Marketplace actually has the TX2 head available for slightly less than you'd pay from OpticsHQ even after various discounts:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=179780

If the price is too rich and you are not 100% wedded to an LED upgrade, you might consider the Lumens Factory high output E1 incandescent lamp:

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2835

Net output will probably be about 60 lumens out of the front of the flashlight.
 
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Beside the OpticsHQ and Rebel drop-in already listed, there are the Surefire KL1 head with Luxeon3 and a narrow beam with next to no spill, the KX2 head with Cree, more light (45 to 60 ish on single RCR123 versus the KL1 30 lumens) in both single output and dual output versions, and the new Cree E2DL head with far less than 120L on a single RCR123. The Cree heads have a newer optic with a nice strong beam and more spill than the older KL1. I really like the beam from the new optic.

What I do is run an SSC modified L1 head direct drive head off an RCR123 in the E1 body for a 150-ish lumen output. It is not regulated, but efficient (no driver losses) and bright! I then put a McE2S two-level tailcap switch on it for a low level that I use most of the time anyway. The resistor in the switch is not as efficient as a good driver-controlled low, but efficient enough. It lasts a Loooong time on low, especially with a very high ohm resistor (for a low-low), it approaches or possibly passes the efficiency of some drivers. It is dead simple and reliable and still puts out a decent level of light with a primary CR123 for a long running reliable survival light.

I just uncovered 3 of these in a box in storage. weeeeee! but they have the pathetic weak 15 lumen incan heads. Really love to get these on a RCR123 diet pushing on an LED of some kind.

????
 
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thanks Justin and Blind. i did a number of searches and couldn't find squat. d-oh!

must be the way I'm wording my search phrases
 
Blindasabat,

What McE2S switch resistor value do you use with your SSC-modified L1 head?

When I use the OpticsHQ E2 head on a single-cell E1L body, even a 60 ohm resistance isn't enough to give a good low-low. I do get an excellent low level using a 60 ohm resistor on a KL4 head from an L4.
 
Different drivers react differently to resistors. I don't have enough experience to know how or why as I usually just use my DD L1 heads. Maybe the OpticsHQ head is trying hard to pull more amps even with the resistor in place.
I made resistored mods for the Fenix P1 and Amilite Neo T3 that worked well with 20 Ohms, but did need 40+ ohms for a really low low.
I have 22 and 30 Ohm. I want 60, but haven't gotten one yet. My 30 gives me around 2-5 Lumens. ~2 with CR123, ~3-4 with 3.0V RCR123, and ~5-7L with RCR123.
My 22 ohm gives me more like 10-20 lumens on low with RCR123, but that SSC L1 is a little brighter than the other.

Blindasabat,

What McE2S switch resistor value do you use with your SSC-modified L1 head?

When I use the OpticsHQ E2 head on a single-cell E1L body, even a 60 ohm resistance isn't enough to give a good low-low. I do get an excellent low level using a 60 ohm resistor on a KL4 head from an L4.
 
thanks Gunner. anyone know of any brand/style of LED heads compatible for swap on an E1E?

the dropin Koala has looks great but it's 65bucks. yowie.

Its actually 62 via paypal cash, this includes international shipping to any where in this world. Shipping to the US plus packaging itself is already close to 10 bucks. Approx 12 bucks to europe. Each of the tower takes 3-4 hours to build from scratch includes soldering the components to a empty circuit board. The tower also goes through 3 seperate epoxy stages. This does not include testing, design and research. I wont discuss about the cost but i dont think manual low volume production come any cheaper. I should stop here, since i dont have anymore to sell and sorry for running off topic.
 
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