Questions about the SF KT2 Turbohead

[AntMan]

Hi all,
I'll be getting a SF KT2 for my 9P and is wondering

were i can get info about LED's for it?

And I've also got an extender for my 9P so it can have 4*CR123s

Is there other brighter options compared to the MN16?

But mainly focusing on the LED option so any info or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Superdave]

as for running 4 123's you are basically making a M4.. the MN60 and MN61 lamps are beasts.. but they suck batteries quick.

with the extender you can run 2 17670 rechargeables on the MN15 and MN16 lamps. That works out very well.


LED towers are hard to find, AW has a thread in the marketplace dealers section selling bare towers that you can use to make your own. You may be able to contact a modder like Milky to make you a tower as well.

 

[Justin Case]

Do a search on the forums for AW turbo tower, which addresses your interest in an LED option for yout KT2. There are many posts on the subject. The tower comes in kit form and you can buy it on the CPF Marketplace, Dealer's Corner (search for AW tower). Typical LEDs for the tower include the Seoul P4, various Luxeons, and even the Cree MC-E. The kit includes the aluminum tower/heat sink, center and outer springs, and ring terminal for ground. You need to supply the 24 ga wire, LED, 14mm driver board, and thermal epoxy. Assembly involves centering and gluing the LED on the tower, wiring up the driver, soldering the driver wires to the LED, and soldering the center spring to the driver.

 

[Kestrel]

Click on the link in my signature, I did a pretty extensive writeup on a SSC/P4 LED tower in a KT2 turbohead. I'm very pleased with the setup.:thumbsup:

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Hi all,
I'll be getting a SF KT2 for my 9P and is wondering

were i can get info about LED's for it?

And I've also got an extender for my 9P so it can have 4*CR123s

Is there other brighter options compared to the MN16?

But mainly focusing on the LED option so any info or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

You can use an AN19 extender to make a 4xCR123 or 2x17670 battery tube.

The Lumens Factory IMR-M3T is easily brighter than the MN16, but it can't be powered by 2x17670. 2x18650 would be required for it. You could run an MN61 on primaries though, this would be also brighter than the MN16.

No single-die LED can touch these lamp assemblies when it comes to throw and overall output. And any brighter LED would fry in the KT2, it was not designed to dissipate heat away from the emitter. These MN LED towers are very inneficient. If you want LED get a Malkoff or a KL5A, don't waste your money on a KT2 unless you want to take fully advantage of the incandescent lamp assemblies.

 

[Justin Case]

You can use an AN19 extender to make a 4xCR123 or 2x17670 battery tube.

The Lumens Factory IMR-M3T is easily brighter than the MN16, but it can't be powered by 2x17670. 2x18650 would be required for it. You could run an MN61 on primaries though, this would be also brighter than the MN16.

No single-die LED can touch these lamp assemblies when it comes to throw and overall output. And any brighter LED would fry in the KT2, it was not designed to dissipate heat away from the emitter. These MN LED towers are very inneficient. If you want LED get a Malkoff or a KL5A, don't waste your money on a KT2 unless you want to take fully advantage of the incandescent lamp assemblies.

I've run a quad-die MC-E in an LED turbo tower at 613mA nominal per core with no problems in a KT1/KT2 TH. I am unclear why you believe that the KT2 is "not designed to dissipate heat away from the emitter." The turbo tower stem is in full contact with the reflector opening and the entire KT2 head acts as a massive heat sink. The shock-absorbing KT4 TH is less capable in terms of heat sinking, but that's a different TH design vs the KT1/KT2.

I agree that that an LED tower won't have the throw of a high-output incandescent lamp assembly. I've seen this for a Seoul P4 U2 bin tower vs a SureFire N-62 LA in an SRTH. But the P4 tower is still no slouch. It'll have better throw than a Malkoff M60. Even my quad-die MC-E tower, with its larger die size, equals or exceeds an M60 in throw depending on which SF TH I use. As for brightness, my MC-E tower may not top out at 500 lumens, but it doesn't start quickly dropping in output immediately either. At the nominal 613mA per core drive current, I'd estimate an output of about 450 lumens. My P4 tower holds 95% of its original hot spot lux even after an hour of continuous operation.

Not sure why you also think the LED towers are inefficient. My N-62 LA draws 3.7A from 4x123A. My 2S2P MC-E tower draws 0.86A from 4x123A.

 

[Kestrel]

The following post is JC's thermocouple data of LED tower temperature measurements inside some of the SF KT Turboheads:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3013616&postcount=16
From this information, it looks as though heat is nothing to worry about. Data beats conjecture most any day of the week.:huh:

These MN LED towers are very inneficient.

My LED tower is the most efficient LED configuration of any of my SureFires.:shrug:

 

[Justin Case]

Those thermocouple measurements are probably somewhat pessimistic wrt tower temperature buildup. To conduct the test, I had to remove the THs from the flashlight body. Otherwise, the metal body could have added to the thermal mass for even better heat sinking.