Gen 1 Surefire L1 mod ideas?

[Stillphoto]

So I just snagged what looks to be a great condition oldschool square bodied original head L1 from the 'bay. Been jonesing for one of those for a long time.

I want to make it bright. Real bright. So that others that have a working knowledge of lights say that's pretty bright for its size. Preferably I'd like it to run on a rechargeable cell, maybe for 45 minutes or so on high, and who knows what on a more usable low.

I could go to Milky and have it modded into the "Tradesman" configuration that I had discussed with him (involves an MCE and a cut down optic).

I want there to be a bit of throw to it, not a throw monster, but not as floody as, say, my Malkoff m30f.

Any realistic ideas? Am I nuts for thinking it's possible?

 

[Stillphoto]

Guess so haha

 

[souptree]

Sounds like a fun project. Those old L1s are super hosts. I wish I had kept mine!!

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Get Milky to install a High CRI emitter, don't bother with ubber high brightness, it will only kill your batteries faster and turn your light into a hot solder.

 

[mudman cj]

If you're set on an MC-E for shear lumens output but don't want it floody, you could have him use an IMS-20 reflector. He would be the authority on this, but I think that would give more throw than the optic. You're not going to get a lot of throw with an MC-E given the size constraint. You could even run it off of a KL4 circuit if you don't want a low setting to save some $$. Milky has a treasure trove of SF circuits at his disposal.

 

[Stillphoto]

Hey guys thanks for the ideas!

I'm not really set on any particular emitter at this point, that was just the last I had discussed with Scott back in November. Plus I'm open to any of CPF's mad scientists work, though Scott certain has lots of experience in this form factor.

To be honest, I have my share of high cri lights (I personally modded my gladius with a high cri neutral, and had darkzero mod my edc U60 with a warm high cri, and then I also have a sundrop). So who knows...

I already have one of Mac's sst-50 based lights, but it's currently disassembled while the body is out for anodizing. So maybe something based on one of those leds. Damn, now I know where all my money has gone.

 

[Chrontius]

Gah, you were the guy that outbid me! I was hoping to snag that for under $50 until you came along. -_-

Edit: I was going to try an XP-G R5 or S2 in it, probably on the stock driver at stock current levels.

 

[Stillphoto]

It's ok Chrontius, when I first saw it I thought it was never going to stay low, and I actually bid with a proxy system (to keep from inflating the price), so someone else got it up into the $86 dollar range. It was more than I wanted to spend for sure, but I figure I can stop buying lights any time...right? haha

 

[tx101]

I just finished modding my L1 Gen 1

Nothing too fancy, a K2 TFFC and a McR18 driven with the
stock driver
Huge improvement over the original emitter and optic

Best part is both emitter and the reflector are a straight swap.

 

[MarNav1]

Well I have several versions of the infamous ML1, I would recommend any of them but it sounds like you want more than that. RCR will require boring of course. I'm sure you and Scott can come up with something.

 

[Stillphoto]

Got it yesterday and wow, what a great form factor / body style.

Now what to do..