Aleph Two-Stage Switch for My L4?

Another CPFer is offering to sell me an Aleph two-stage clickie for my L4, to give me a low option. Not to doubt that other user at all, but can I have some other opinions on this switch for this use please? In particular, how low is the low, and is high output affected any by the switch?

Thanks,
Jeff.

First ... there is no Aleph 2-stage clicky. The Aleph tailcaps using the McE2S module are 2-stage twisties like the A2/L1/L2 SF-switches, but without a lockout function.
There are ways to modify a Z57 clicky to get 2-stage function which changes the user interface, but don't know anything about the reliability of those mods.

Talking about the McE2S ... the low level depends on the resistor used in the tailcap, and can go from very low to relatively bright, but it can never be that bright because it drops the driver of the head out of regulation to achieve a low level. It will not reduce the brightness on high level.

Using a resistor to have a low level is inefficient, yes. BUT ... it is a great way to make a 2-level light out of many existing one-level lights, and the runtime on low is still impressive, so the loss isn't that terrible. But it is there ... for example ... with a McLuxIII-PD you will get about 42h on low level on 1x123 battery with a regulated low level ... whereas the McE2S equipped lights generally do not go much beyond 20h of low level, if at all. Now ... this comparison is flawed in many ways as I don't have the data on the exact light that would be comparable to the McLuxIII-PD in my head right now ... but you get the point.

And yes, the McE2S 2-stage switches are being phased out now. Don (McGizmo) uses fully regulated 2 levels now, but not in E-Series lights ... beginning with the McLuxIII-PD his lights use the new "x2" Series of drivers by dat2zip with 2 fully regulated levels.

On a purely personal note though ... I think the McE2S was one of the milestones on CPF and still offers great potential for a lot of existing lights in the Aleph Series or other E-Series lights ... like the L4.

bernie

Bernie, thanks. I was quoting the PM sent to me as a two stage "clickie", but that user has since sent me another PM correcting to what you pointed out. A two stage switch like on the L1/L2, etc. is fine. Just want to make my L4 better for EDC.

Thanks for helping this relative newbie.

Jeff

Always welcome, Jeff

I should like to say that I have one of the 2-stage tailcaps that I run on either a E2E body+KL4, or Aleph 2-cell body with the KL4. Kiessling has given you a very well written and highly informative response and I congratulate him on that.

Recently my wife and I had a vacation where we camped about half of the time. She had a KL1 on the Aleph body powered by a protected 17670 rechargeable battery --- and used it mostly to read and walk to the bathroom area in camp sites. I used the E2E+KL4+protected 17670 in the same manner, except I used the low power to read with. Using the E2E clip, I put the light on my baseball cap bill for a headlamp use!

In my view, my E2E (or Aleph 2 cell body) + KL4 (which equals the L4) is one of the all-time most useful lights. With a 2-stage tailcap, it is outstanding.

Best of luck!

I bought the switch (from Kid9P), and am looking forward to it very much for my L4. But then wait, what will become of my new A2 !?

Jeff.

You will enjoy your new switch..

Only TrueBlue and Led Zeppelin could make a two stage clickie, and I don't think they sell them. I guess it is hard to make them, or maybe the quality was not good enough to put on a topnotch flashlight.

Here is a great page fromlighthound.com.
http://www.lighthound.com/info/tailcapbeamshots.htm
It gives beam shots of the different levels of light you can get with different levels of resistance in an Aleph tailcap.

The resistor boards that will fit in your Aleph tailcap are for sale at this website. http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/index.php