New A19 Cree XR-E 1x123 from the Shoppe

[mateen]

The GD825 is a buck/boost which means it can either boost a 3.0V (primary) or buck a 4.2V (rechargeable) to drive the Cree safely. I think Wayne mentioned that 6.0V was not recommended as being too high of voltage for some parts on the board.

So you'll get the same brightness on either a single primary or li-ion, and you'll risk damage on two cells of any type. If I understand right.

 

[tino_ale]

This is my understanding too. Rechargeable or not doesn't matter, just run it on a single cell.

The GD825 is a buck/boost which means it can either boost a 3.0V (primary) or buck a 4.2V (rechargeable) to drive the Cree safely. I think Wayne mentioned that 6.0V was not recommended as being too high of voltage for some parts on the board.

So you'll get the same brightness on either a single primary or li-ion, and you'll risk damage on two cells of any type. If I understand right.

 

[AndyTiedye]

Currently running on a 3.0V Li-Ion (the kind batteryspace sells as a safe
replacement for litihium primary CR123's).

I have 3.6V Li-Ions too (somewhere).

I presume there is nothing in the flashlight to protect against excess discharge,
but it's only a $3.29 battery anyway.

Where is the best place to get the 17500 batteries for the 1.5?

 

[Pumaman]

batteries here
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=140362
or from lighthound.com

 

[Codeman]

Currently running on a 3.0V Li-Ion (the kind batteryspace sells as a safe
replacement for litihium primary CR123's).

I have 3.6V Li-Ions too (somewhere).

I presume there is nothing in the flashlight to protect against excess discharge,
but it's only a $3.29 battery anyway.

Where is the best place to get the 17500 batteries for the 1.5?

If I remember correctly, low voltage cutoff is around 1.7V. That means you can safely run primary cells until the light shuts off. With LiIon cells, however, if you aren't using protected cells with a built-in LVC, you have to shut the light down yourself before the voltage drops below about 2.7V. Otherwise, you can over-discharge LiIon cells, and they then have a nasty habit of exploding and catching on fire when you then try to re-charge them.

 

[gregoryh]

thanks guys for the fantastic response complete with other options. This stuff is new to me so i guess I will sit back and look before I leap. I really appreciate the info.

gregoryh

 

[Telkin]

I just got mine today and it is very very bright however there is a substantial amount of dust/lint inside the lense that I would like to clean out. I've tried to unscrew the bezel ring with rubber gloves but to no avail. Does anyone have any advice? I know some of you here have installed a TI ring on it. Thanks!

On a side note, my light engine is labeled "GD750 XRE" isn't it supposed to be GD825?

Ken

 

[Kiessling]

Apply a more or less gentle amount of pressure on the bezel ring with your rubber glove (pressing it on the head) to reduce the friction on the threads and then turn. I do it like this and it works like a charm.
Pay attention not to touch the inside of the lens as the AR coating of the sapphire crystal is extremely fragile.
bernie

 

[dat2zip]

I just got mine today and it is very very bright however there is a substantial amount of dust/lint inside the lense that I would like to clean out. I've tried to unscrew the bezel ring with rubber gloves but to no avail. Does anyone have any advice? I know some of you here have installed a TI ring on it. Thanks!

On a side note, my light engine is labeled "GD750 XRE" isn't it supposed to be GD825?

Ken

Remove the Light engine and then the reflector. From there you can blow out from the inside and remove any dust/lint off the lens from the backside to clean it without removing the bezel/lens.

Yes, they are all GD825s. Sorry, it's mislabeled.

-Wayne

 

[Telkin]

I'm completely new at this so I'm not sure how to take out the LE so I did what Kiessling suggested and it worked like a charm, blew most of the dust out so now I'm all happy and enjoying my light thanks Wayne!

Ken

 

[Kiessling]

You can just screw out the LE from the backside of the head like a normal screw would screw out. The reflector then falls out and you can access the window from behind. Same about the AR coating applies, of course.

Like this you can swap LEs between deifferent Aleph lights (LE=Light Engine). This was more or less universal and an enormous modular concept with the Luxeon LEs but is more of a challenge with the Cree LEs as the Cree needs a different reflector design.

bernie

 

[monkeyboy]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (evil laugh) I've just received my Aleph xr-e (1xcr123) from the Shoppe

I put the Aleph head onto my Surefire E2L body and it fits perfectly and runs well on AW's 17670 (1600mAh) I get exactly 1hr 30 mins runtime until shutdown and it appears to maintain constant brightness throughout. This thing is very bright - noticibly brighter than my surefire L7 with WWOS luxeon V and it also appears to out-throw my SLPP.

Here are some pics:

 

[London Lad]

I am not knocking this great light but how many of you have managed (or needed) to centre the led in the reflector properly.

I have tried everything but whatever I try the metal ring round the led always pushes the reflector off centre as it makes contact with it.

I may try filing a very small flat on the rear of the reflector to give the led ring something to sit on but I dont want to spoil the focus.

 

[monkeyboy]

I managed to centre the LED in mine perfectly.

1) unscrew the driver assembly slightly by hand (anticlockwise).

2) the LED can be positioned by shaking the head.

3) Tighten the driver assembly (clockwise)

The LED doesn't go off centre when I tighten mine.

 

[easilyled]

Very nice. I did the same thing on an L4 body with AW's protected 17670.

A titanium bezel really rounds it off well.

Your runtime is amazing - I hope mine's the same.

Its a bit of a mystery though when there are runtimes of only 20 minutes or max. half an hour quoted on RCR123s.

I wonder why the runtime with the 17670 is about 3-4 times as long when
the capacity is about twice as much?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (evil laugh) I've just received my Aleph xr-e (1xcr123) from the Shoppe

I put the Aleph head onto my Surefire E2L body and it fits perfectly and runs well on AW's 17670 (1600mAh) I get exactly 1hr 30 mins runtime until shutdown and it appears to maintain constant brightness throughout. This thing is very bright - noticibly brighter than my surefire L7 with WWOS luxeon V and it also appears to out-throw my SLPP.

Here are some pics:

 

[paxxus]

I saw the same problem. I managed to center the LED as described here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1679255&postcount=96

 

[London Lad]

Thanks paxxus, I'll make a washer!

I have already tried an O ring to hold the reflector cantered but to no avail

 

[monkeyboy]

I wonder why the runtime with the 17670 is about 3-4 times as long when
the capacity is about twice as much?

I think the reason is mainly due to the fact that the capacity of RCR123 cells is usually overrated. If you look at Silverfox's tests the so called "800mAh" come out at little over 600mAh. I can't imagine "900mAh" cells are any better.

The rest can probably be explained with driver efficiency since the RCR123 will spend a higher percentage of its time at a lower voltage.

 

[NewBie]

I think the reason is mainly due to the fact that the capacity of RCR123 cells is usually overrated. If you look at Silverfox's tests the so called "800mAh" come out at little over 600mAh. I can't imagine "900mAh" cells are any better.

The rest can probably be explained with driver efficiency since the RCR123 will spend a higher percentage of its time at a lower voltage.

Additionally, at higher current draws, there is a lot of power wasted inside the RCR123- which applies to monkeyboy's second comment- the side effect of this is the cell voltage sags a lot, and the converter's efficiency also drops at lower input voltages. I recall seeing the 4.2V Li-Ion RCR123 cell sag to 3.2V or something like that, and heading south from there- really fast.

 

[ICUDoc]

London Lad

My Cree tries to be off-centre.
I get perfect centering by slowly screwing the light engine into the (horizontally-held) head while looking in through the lens and rotating the whole head using gravity to encourage the reflector to fall in the direction that minimises any gaps. Seems to work perfectly every time. Good luck with yours.