Surefire L1 cree question.

I'm a knife knut who is now becoming a flashaholic (my poor wallet...).

I used to EDC a Surefire E2E and now I have a Surefire L1 Cree. I found out that I could fit my L1's head on to the E2E's body and emit a light that is brighter than L1's high output (on the L1 body).

My question is: is it okay for me to run the L1's head on an E2E body? Will that damage the L1 head in anyway? I assume the L1's head is designed for only one battery, so I'm concerned that two batteries might overload the L1 head. But I'm a flashlight newb, so that is why I'm asking you guys for advice.

thanks

Hi LongDistance, welcome to CPF.

I am pretty sure that Surefire lights are designed with a certain safety margin but I would not assume that any light can take twice its rated voltage without a big risk.

In your shoes I would not continue along that path.

I agree with Kilovolt, although you may want to hear from others more knowledgeable than I. From what I've read, probably no buck-down provision with these SF lights and at higher voltages you risk turning a nice instrument into a paperweight very quickly. Well, you could replace the head, but you get the drift...

You will smoke that emitter... Fast! I wouldn't do that again. I ran two cells to a Seoul P4 emitter once just to see what would happen. It got so hot so fast that i actually 'burned' myself. Not a bad burn, but the type where the skin gets shiny and numb. The same thing is happening with the LED in your L1's head.

The old KL1 head was interchangeable with both the single cell E1L and the two cell E2L so some heads are 1 and 2 cell compatible. Not sure what the rating of the L1 head is - if it is a KL1 head then you should be ok.

The L1 head is different from the KL-1 and KX-1 heads...

Hodsta said:

The old KL1 head was interchangeable with both the single cell E1L and the two cell E2L so some heads are 1 and 2 cell compatible. Not sure what the rating of the L1 head is - if it is a KL1 head then you should be ok.

Click to expand...

As JNewell said, the L1 does not use a KL1 or KX1 head. These heads have their regulation circuit in the head, whereas the L1 has the circuit in the body. Again, I'm amazed the L1's head still works after firing it up on two cells. How long did you have it on? How hot did it get?

Valpo Hawkeye said:

How long did you have it on? How hot did it get?

Click to expand...

I only had it on for a couple of seconds so I don't know how hot it will get. Since I'm taking you guys' warning, I will not be attaching my L1 cree head to the E2E body anymore. Thanks for the warning!

LongDistance said:

I only had it on for a couple of seconds so I don't know how hot it will get. Since I'm taking you guys' warning, I will not be attaching my L1 cree head to the E2E body anymore. Thanks for the warning!

Click to expand...

I applaud your willing to take a risk in any case. IMO that's how the coolest mods come about. Case and Point; M6 X-LOLA.