SureFire KL4/L4 on 1 x 123 Cell

LEDBE
this_is_nascar

this_is_nascar

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Joined
Mar 29, 2002
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Location
Gloucester, New Jersey
To my surprise, the L4 bezel does rather nicely on an E1/E1E body. I'm getting at least 30-minutes of very usable light. My concerns are more with the LED itself. Does running the KL4 on 3-volts instead of the standard 6-volts damage the LED or shorten it's lifespan? I've searched quite a bit, but didn't find anything definative.
 
My experience with LED's in the electronics field (Motorola) always was if they were under-driven, they would last forever. The only trouble you ever got in was when you over-drove them. My educated guess would be that on anything under the recommended voltage, you turn the life to infinity or something close.
 
Nascar,
Is your light as bright as with 2 cells? If so, it must have a great regulator/booster in the head! Since the normal run time with 2 cells is 65 minutes and you get 30 minutes with one, it sounds like the converter is doing it's magic. If so, I don't think the LED would care as long as it is being fed correctly. Get a beam shot of both one and two cell (use the same settings) so we can check this out. A single cell 5W would be a really cool light!
 
Absolutely not as bright on 1-cell as with 2-cells, however it's still bright for its size. Brigtness in the 1-cell configuration is higher than the ARC LSH. I haven't had the chance to meter it yet, but it's visibly brighter, at the cost of runtime. Another nice feature is that is doesn't heat up hardly at all.
 
I think someone else commented that 3V wasn't enough to activate the regulation circuit so on 1-cell there is no regulation at all.
 
I recall that McGizmo showed that there was indeed voltage step-up sufficient to deliver some current to the LED. Full regulation and current delivery didn't occur when the input voltage was below 3.2 volts.
 
This configuration is looking very impressive to me. I've completed one full runtime test so far and am currently duplicating the test for accuracy. What I'm finding is a very rapid drop-off in the first minute, then a full-constant regulation for 20-23 minutes, then a very gradual drop-off in output for the next 45 minutes or so.
 
So far, the numbers are consistant. Here's what we have so far.

19:50 - 237
19:51 - 142
19:52 - 142
19:53 - 142
19:54 - 143
19:55 - 144
19:56 - 146
19:57 - 147
19:58 - 147
19:59 - 148
20:00 - 147
20:01 - 147
20:02 - 147
20:03 - 146
20:04 - 146
20:05 - 145
20:06 - 145
20:07 - 145
20:08 - 144
20:09 - 143
20:10 - 143
20:11 - 141
20:12 - 141
20:13 - 140
20:14 - 140
20:15 - 139
20:16 - 138
20:17 - 137
20:18 - 136
20:19 - 136
20:20 - 135
20:21 - 134
20:22 - 133
20:23 - 133
20:24 - 132
20:25 - 131
20:26 - 130
20:27 - 130
20:28 - 129
20:29 - 129
20:30 - 128
20:31 - 127
20:32 - 126
20:33 - 126
20:34 - 125
20:35 - 125
20:36 - 124
20:37 - 123
20:38 - 123
20:39 - 122
20:40 - 121
20:41 - 120
20:42 - 119
20:43 - 118
20:44 - 118
20:45 - 117
20:46 - 116
20:47 - 115
20:48 - 114
20:49 - 113
20:50 - 112 (1-hour mark)
20:51 - 111
20:52 - 109
20:53 - 109
20:54 - 108
20:55 - 107
20:56 - 106
20:57 - 105 (getting pretty bored)
20:58 - 104
20:59 - 103
21:00 - 102
21:01 - 101
21:02 - 100
21:03 - 099
21:04 - 099
21:05 - 098
21:06 - 097
21:07 - 096
21:08 - 096
21:09 - 095
21:10 - 094
21:11 - 094
21:12 - 093
21:13 - 093
21:14 - 092
21:15 - 092
21:16 - 091
21:17 - 091
21:18 - 090
21:19 - 089
21:20 - 089

I will end the test after the 1 hour and 30 minute mark.
 
Yes. Forget what the units of numbers mean, they are not important. All we're looking for in this test is if/when/how they change. The numbers represent the LM631 set on FC at 10x range. I have a white film canister inverted, resting on the light sensor base. The L4 + E1 light is sitting on the the canister and is not being moved or repositioned, so these numbers are real and measuring is consistant. I'm going to update the chart with the recent readings.
 
Can you put the KL4 on 2 Cell next to it for comparison /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
BTW, I have my KL4 head on my E1 right now and it is kinda cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
OK folks. I've posted my results after 1.5 hours of constant runtime. Both on the meter and to the eye, this KL4 + E1 1-cell configuration was brigter than my best ARC LSH-P at the end of the hour and a half.

In my opinion, this is an awesome EDC for those that don't care for the size of the 2 x 123 configuration. Yes, this is considerably less bright (1-cell vs 2-cell), however the fact that it remains brighter than an LSH-P for at least 1.5 hours is saying alot.
 
Total length is about 3.5 inches. Same as with the KL1. Using the clickie tail cap increases the length a bit.

I would be interested in the same test with a KL1 on it.
 
this is nascar,
Thanks, maybe I'll have to reconsider E1e/KL4. I won't ask
you to reconsider the A2. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Free said:
Total length is about 3.5 inches. Same as with the KL1. Using the clickie tail cap increases the length a bit.

I would be interested in the same test with a KL1 on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

The KL1/E1E test has already been performed sometime ago. Perform a search. I know I posted my findings awhile ago when the KL1 first came out. There's really no comparision though. The KL4/E1 combo kills the KL1/E1 combo in every aspect, if memory serves. The KL1 may run longer overall, however it's pretty useless after the 1.5 hour mark.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hoghead said:
this is nascar,
Thanks, maybe I'll have to reconsider E1e/KL4. I won't ask
you to reconsider the A2. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What about the A2? I have several of them that I use.
 
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