So I just put a Seoul P4 Cree in my KL3.... Meh.

So I swapped in a Seoul P4 Cree into my Surefire KL3. Waited a while, then fired it up. Only so-so. I dont' get it. If the Seoul P4 Cree can pump out up to 118 lumens at 350mah, and the KL3 sends 450mah to the emitter ( I believe ) why is the output only about 60-ish lumens if that on the ol' eyeball gauge? I puts out a nice beam though. has a nice soft hotspot. But I just don't get it. It should be smokin the original LuxIII. But its only "meh." I hope the Seoul hasn't been overhyped. :candle:

KL3 optic isn't made for P4.

The p4 needs to be raised into the reflectors for luxeons, maybe same goes for optics?

Did you raise the emitter with a copper slug?

That sounds like the led was damaged (too much heat) during the soldering process.

EngrPaul said:

Did you raise the emitter with a copper slug?

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I don't see how this should affect the lumen output, unless light is obviously being trapped inside the flashlight itself. Wouldn't the reflector being out of focus should only reduce throw, but turn out more or less the same results using a ceiling bounce test?

Beamshots?

No I didn't raise the emitter. The beam is actually very nice the way it is. But thats' not my point. My point is that the overall output is not as bright as I would've expected. I just took it out back to see what the dog was barking at, and it did a great job of finding the deer that was driving her nuts. Its definetly brighter, just not alot brighter like I'd hoped.

josean said:

That sounds like the led was damaged (too much heat) during the soldering process.

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I don't know how that would've happened, I was pretty careful.

If it's not as bright as expected, the run time must be fantastic.

Well the runtime should be the same since the regulater is delivering the same power to the emitter. I'm considering getting another one and trying again...

If first you don't succeed.....


send the "do overs" to Manzerick :lolsign:

KDOG3 said:

Well the runtime should be the same since the regulater is delivering the same power to the emitter. I'm considering getting another one and trying again...

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2xTrinity said:

I don't see how this should affect the lumen output, unless light is obviously being trapped inside the flashlight itself. Wouldn't the reflector being out of focus should only reduce throw, but turn out more or less the same results using a ceiling bounce test?

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Was he doing a ceiling bounce test? He might have much more spill than he realizes. Oops, let's stop talking about him behind his back, he doesn't like that.

A KL3 is pretty 'dim' in a sense (at 30 lumens), compared to some of the other Lux III lights pushed to 70 lumens. Even for the latter, the Cree based LEDs have shown marked difference. I would expect the jump in improvement for the KL3 to be quite distinct!

Maybe something went wrong somewhere.

I don't know how much current is going to the LED, but my batt draw for my old KL3 gen 2 was only 220 ma. Maybe at those levels, you won't expect miracles. I remember seeing some small keychain light Cree mods; I believe the improvements weren't as dramatic as a higher drive mod.

Although the higher it gets, the less efficient, I believe if its way too low you also won't be impressed.

i don't know, maybe the emitter was damaged during the installation. I have one of those Cree XRE reflectored drop-in modules from Litemania coming as well. I hope it lives up to the hype!

Hmmm, maybe I need to find out EXACTLY what the current draw of the new KL3s' actually is...

The four AAA mods I did were relatively low wattage applications, and they all doubled their output at all levels. I continually compared them while upgrading.

Err, the LED's light might not be making it outta the optic.

Arre you talking about lux or overall output? Brighter means better lux? Do you have any measurement tools? Lightmeter, DMM? If lightmeter, do you do bounce? At least lux?

Bill

KDOG3 said:

Hmmm, maybe I need to find out EXACTLY what the current draw of the new KL3s' actually is...

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That doesn't matter. You are comparing two LED's using the same drive current so the actual value is irrelevant.

Have you tried measuring output using a ceiling bounce test and a light meter? Your eyes perceive brightness on a logarithmic scale so while it may not appear that much brighter, you really won't be able to tell unless you can quantify it. The "quantifying" part is very important. Otherwise, it's purely subjective perception and not objective measurement.

the optic may be blocking some light as it was not made for the p4