Talk me into emptying my wallet: new SF 9p + mods

Ello folks,

I quite often go on camping trips and for a few years have used either various maglites that peeps here seem love so much /sarcasm. Or some very high powered cycle lights a niterider dual and a cateye stadium. The bike lights I have are nice and bright 35w and a 80w equiv HID but not practical as you have a seperate battery and lamp. The mags are somewhat lacking in comparison. In order to make the mags more useful i got myself a 3w diamond buld for one of em and in my search ended up finding these forums which i feel is gonna end up costing us an arm and a leg.

My plans now are to mod one of the mags i have prob to a mag85 but i also fancy a tactical torch seeing as a 3d isnt exactly pocketable

I have my eyes set on a surefire 9p as there seems to be a wealth of mods about for em. But now i'm trying to figure out what to do. The option that seems most worthwhile is a 3w led head for it as 1h with an incandescant buld seems a bit low. Aside from the surefire heads available there are a couple of other options from bug out gear and emillion

So any imput on the differences in these led bulbs,

whether the 5w upgrades are worthwhile as i've read the 5w leds arent really much better than a good 3w one

the K2 emitters seem intresting and possibly overhyped too but i've only so far seen em being advertised for mags.

also i'm may end up with 2 surefires one incan as a high power 200+ lumens and put the mag modding on hold.

cheers all

Welcome to CPF soupdragon!

The 9P is a great light IMHO. Plenty bright. Get a KL3 also. So you can squeeze the remaining life out of your batteries after your incan lamp assemblies won't run. I usually get 30-60 minutes of regulation on spent cells. But then again YMMV.

My 9P kit(s) include; 9P, 2 SC1 spares carriers, extra P90 lamp, P91 lamp, Surefire holster, lanyard, KL3, 6P tube and tailcap, FM64 beamshaper (fits KL3 head only) and a A19 cell extender. The KL3+6P+A19 (I use the lanyard on this setup as the KL3 makes it top heavy) gets the spent cells from the incan 9P. The beamshaper is uglier than sin but makes the KL3 a good inclose light. With fresh cells the KL3 gets about 7 hours of regulated output. The KL3 can be run off of 2 cells for a more compact light.

I also have a Bugoutgear 3 Watt LED drop in module. But I think the KL3 is nicer. My version is all throw. Great for 20-150'. The latest KL3 variant is supposed to be more balanced in terms of throw and sidespill. I personaly like the all throw version better and use the beam shaper for a soft flood.

I don't think you will be disapointed!

By the way, CPF is an expensive place to spend your time in. You'll see! LOL

kelmo

I've mentioned this elsewhere a few times (sorry for the repeat), but one of my favorites is a 9P plus an A19 extender and P91 LA. You can feed it a pair of Pila 600S (or 168S) rechargeable batteries for "free" light.

cheers

The KL3 on a 9P is a great spotlight that will last 6-7 hours, but it's too narrow to be all that useful for most tasks. The KL5 on a 9P will be far more useful but will only last a couple of hours. The 9P with KL3 used to be my favorite light to play with, but the KL5 head is just so much better. Consider getting a two-stage switch to conserve juice when you don't need a bright light: http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/product_info.php?cPath=43&products_id=641

Bill D.

The 9P was my first SF light, you certainly wont be disapointed with it.

You can run it on two of AWs 17500s (see dealers thread) for free lumens.

Also it takes the KT2 turbo head, A19 extender if you wanted to run a 12v bulb in it, and of course as mentioned above the KL3 LED head.

You've got plenty of options to play around with once you get the basic light.

Compare to the rest of 3 cells SF such M3 and above, the SF 9P is much cheaper. For incan options, you can either replace with stock P90 lamp with P91 200 lumen lamp or get a KT2 better throw. For LED option you can get the KL3 or KL5.

Any combination is great. Enjoy your light.

a bit more info here

I also have a 9P/KL3 combination, and it is great. Plenty of runtime, bright, very white light...

Can't go wrong.

dragoman

Well I will throw in my part into the mix. For a great camp light I vote on the SF A2 Leds for most tasks and then the brighter incan when you need it. All in all a good light.

I have, and also like the 6P with an A19 on the KL3 this gives you the option of several different light configurations. Don't under estimate the value in being able to run rechargables in a light that gets a lot of use 123's can get expensive. I like the pilas with the AC/DC charger I can have one set of batteries on the charger in the truck and another set in the light.

Wonder why everyone wants to use my flashlights when we go camping?

Cheers all for the input I've stuck with a 9p for the body but after much trawling i've figured the KL3 head has too narrow a beam for what i would be using it for. I'm after a decent amount of spill rather than all throw.

So i've gone for a 3w module from emilion, it was a toss up between that and a G&P one. Its a shame the 5w G&P doesnt work on the 9p as it only has about 1.5-2hrs run time on a 6P. The and the kl5 is a bit expensive at the mo plus the colour wont match but thats just me being a tart

but i still have grand plans for a mag85 for when i want stupid amounts of brightness thou

Full marks soupdragon, sounds like you got up to speed pretty quickly....

Hi,

I was just wondering, would it be possible to use 3 Unprotected 123A Rechargeable batteries in the 9P with G&P G12 (12V) Xenon Lamp, and if so what would the runtime be?

I recon the P90 and P91 would ...??

Would it be possible to use P90 or P91 with 3 Protected 123A Rechargeable batteries or would they too go ...??

The AW's 17500, is that for useing the P90 or P91, and what is the runtime?

Thanks,

PA

protected R123's are 3V, so you could use 3 of them with both the P90 and P91 safely.

dragoman

^^ no

protected r123's are 3.7v nominal and 4.3v hot off the charger, it'll go poof

AW 17500's run the p90 and p91 lamps

total voltage:

- 3 x R123's = 12.6V, so when driving a 12V bulb only charge to 4.0V for a total of no more than 12V

total current should be below 2C:

- current goes through all 3 batteries, so when they have a Capacity of 800 mAh, both the G&P G120 and the M4 MN60 LOLA should be possible, because they are both below 1.6A

runtime is very short, more practical is a light with a P91 driven by two of AW's new protected 18650's

ptirmal said:

^^ no

protected r123's are 3.7v nominal and 4.3v hot off the charger, it'll go poof

AW 17500's run the p90 and p91 lamps

Click to expand...

Not all rechargables are 3.7v.....there are 3V protected lithiums available.....

Look at this thread:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/103334

dragoman

I've gone for a 3W led option so i dont have to worry about rechargables atm but how well do 2 Li-ion batteries drive a 9v bulb as with 7.4v it would be underdriven.

I'm guessing the reason for this is the 6v bulbs would just blow at that voltage

soupdragon said:

I've gone for a 3W led option so i dont have to worry about rechargables atm but how well do 2 Li-ion batteries drive a 9v bulb as with 7.4v it would be underdriven.

I'm guessing the reason for this is the 6v bulbs would just blow at that voltage

Click to expand...

Fresh off the charger, Li-Ions are at about 4.2v each = 8.4v total, which is pretty close to 9v. But you are right in that eventually the voltage will drop to 7.4v. But hey, you just charge 'em up again for "free" instead of dropping in more new primaries! I use a Wolf-Eyes D26 9v lamp in my Surefire 6p and (2) unprotected rcr123's. I also sometimes add (2) 1 cell extenders and (2) 17670's with this lamp and I can't tell a difference between the brightness of these setups vs. with 3 primaries. Hope this helps.

what kind of runtimes do you get with the Li-Ions vs primaries

I never did an official test, but I'd say about an hour on primaries, 35-40 minutes on 2xrcr123's. I just got the extenders to use 2x17670's but folks around here seem to say about an hour with that setup.

Your 9p incandescent options are:
9p + 3x123's (primaires)
9p + 2x17500's
9p + 1 extender + 2x17670's
9p + 1 extender + 12v lamp + 4x123's

Oh, and I know the thread is about 9p, but if you haven't bought it yet, the 6p configuration makes for lots of options on a 9v lamp and may be a good alternative:
6p + 9v lamp + 2xrcr123's
6p + 9v lamp + 1 extender + 3x123's
6p + 9v lamp + 1 extender + 2x17500's
6p + 9v lamp + 2 extenders + 2x17670's

With other lamps:
6p + 6v lamp + 2x123's
6p + 3.7v lamp + 17670
6p + 12v lamp + 2 extenders + 4x123's
6p + 12v lamp + 1 extender + 3xrcr123's (NOTE: some have instaflashed their LA's with this setup, so YMMV)