How to Maximize Performance In My Solarforce L2

I recently purchased a Solarforce L2 with the R2 Cree LED and consider it a great deal for less than $30. I am running it with an AW 18650 battery and the light is very bright by my relatively newbie standards.

But in the spirit of innovation and maximizing performance that is so evident in this forum I am wondering how to get even greater output from this light. Will a Malkoff M60 drop-in fit this light and increase output beyond what the R2 Cree can do? I am thinking of wanting to maximizing throw, although decent spill is a must as well. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

DX MC-E is ~380L on high, ~150L while pulling only ~500mah on low.

Malkoff M30 is ~225L, not certain what its current draw is though.

Add a 1x18650 cell extender and get a malkoff M60. That will get you a lot more run time and ~225L.

I'm really wanting to keep it the same length that it is now rather than doubling the length with an extension tube. And sorry, but I am not understanding what you were saying about the DX MC-E.

L = shorthand for lumens => 380 lumens on high, 150 lumens on low. Lumens is a measure of how much light there is in total from a flashlight.

Pulling 500 mA at low = It draws a current of 500 milliamperes (0.5 amperes) from the battery at the low setting.


This short definition is probably not a very good explanation. You'll find a much better explanation in the welcome mat. Happy modding

The solarforce is right up there with the best R2's

Yeah , want more , DX has a MC-E drop in [ Ive ordered one ] and Ive also ordered a second L2 for the drop in .

The only way to possibly get more is maybe with a driver swap , but the Solarforce already uses a good driver , mine pushes up to 1.2A on Hi ..

You cant expect much more than that ...

You have the best budget R2 available id say , try the MC-E drop in .

If your looking to get maximum throw with decent spill, forget
the MC-E. The MC-E will be all flood
Read THIS recent thread about the Malkoff M30/M60 vs Malkoff MC-E
Look at the beamshots posted by Bigchelis to give you an idea of
what the different Malkoff's can do

What I meant in my response to Kramer5150 was that I did not understand why he was mentioning the DX MC-E. I didn't get in my tired state late last night that he was suggesting the DX as a possible drop-in. Anyway, thanks everyone for the advice. I'm glad to know that I made a good purchase!

hey Mattole...

DX is actually and online retailer that sells budget electronics... and the pill that the other guys were referring to is this one... (remember... if you value your cash... u definitely should NOT click on this link... trust me....)

DX sku# 21037 edited....

oh.. and if u ever see KD... it's kaidomain (edited: not allowed to post links... but a simple google of that should get u right there.... ) (if you really hate having cash in your wallet... please go there too...)

KraZy

Hey thanks for the tempting links, Krazy89. There's always something more to buy in this hunger for light sticks.. We sure have come a long way from the pine pitch torch, eh?

kramer5150 said:

DX MC-E is ~380L on high, ~150L while pulling only ~500mah on low.

Malkoff M30 is ~225L, not certain what its current draw is though.

Add a 1x18650 cell extender and get a malkoff M60. That will get you a lot more run time and ~225L.

Click to expand...

Ops sorry, I was in hyper-abbreviate mode when I posted this.

Let me elaborate...

The DX MC-E P60 drop in module emits about 380 Lumens on high while only drawing around 1.65 amps of current. To put that into perspective a Malkoff M30 (a great drop in IMHO) emits around 225 Lumens but needs about 1.4 amps to get there.

On Low it emits 150 Lumens, which is VERY bright considering it only draws 500 milliamperes of current from the battery. To put that into perspective a romisen RC-N3-Q5 (another popular light here on CPF) emits about 140 Lumens, but it needs 700 milliamps of current draw in order to do so.

Basically IMHO the DX MC-E drop in is a very good module overall, capable of emitting a lot of light for not a lot of $$$. It is very efficient too (in terms of Lumens per ampere draw), emitting a lot of light while not drawing excessive amounts of current from the 18650 cell.

The thing that really separates the Malkoff modules from the rest is their build quality, stellar optical beam quality and customer service/support. They have a very robust thermal design that is patented by Gene and keeps the LED cool running. While other high current modules can suffer thermal performance set backs.

The MC-E drop-in from DX should give you a good amount more lumen in a floodier beam.

krazy89 said:

...http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21037 (i hope i'm allowed to post links??)...

Click to expand...

You can but somehow posting links to DX is advertising but posting to other stores is not.

Gunner12 said:

The MC-E drop-in from DX should give you a good amount more lumen in a floodier beam.



You can but somehow posting links to DX is advertising but posting to other stores is not.

Click to expand...

I always get around this by just posting the SKU number.... but yeah direct URL posting is a no-no.

thanks guys for clearing the whole posting links...

just don't understand how there's exceptions to rules... weird...

i edited my earlier post...

KraZy

I am tempted to purchase the DX MC-E, but have read that it can get extremely hot. Would this be true in the L2 body? Any idea how much runtime I might see with a single 18650?

Mattole said:

I am tempted to purchase the DX MC-E, but have read that it can get extremely hot. Would this be true in the L2 body? Any idea how much runtime I might see with a single 18650?

Click to expand...

The DX MC-E draws 1650mah on high and 500 mah on low. You can roughly ball-park the run time by dividing the 18650 capacity by either of these numbers.

trustfire 2400 mah...

2400mah / 1650 mah = 1.45 hours
But thats to a full cell dump, which is never safe to do. So it should do a little over an hour safely (estimate).

Yeah , some folks really hate DX KD , ?? and Ultrafire for some reason .

My ultrafires have been great so far , esp the batts .
Sure things break down , and Ive seen plenty of expensive lights break down , so ?? . My UF 502B R2 is fantastic , for $19 shipped

+ DX is supper busy , and before you flame me , Ive had stuff on order for over a month now / Drivers and Cree's .

KD is a tad more expensive , but they seem to be able to get stuff out a little faster than DX , + there are plenty of other places to shop , but for us folk in Oz , DX and KD are almost a God-send when compared to local ripoff merchants , and flea bay exploiters [ Not saying there are not reputable ?bay merchants ] , but there is nothing to compare when it comes to getting a fair deal on flashlights , batts and chargers .

DX and KD are keeping things real , and I wont knock em for that .
Im tired of 100 to 300% mark ups , thank you DX and KD .

Matt :wave:

A Malkoff M30 drop-in will fit in this light and will be well regulated using a 18650 battery. As you want to maximise throw, i would recommend buying a smooth reflector from Dereelight or Flashcrazy (in the CPF market place) which will increase the lux of the Solarforce P60 R2 drop-in module. The added lux will make the light seem brighter, due to the added lux in the hot spot while still retaining a decent spill. The other added benefit is that this is a cheap upgrade.

The M30 is an excellent module, however, it will not throw as well as the R2 smooth reflector option.

Enjoy!

How about the Dereelight P60 drop-ins? I see on their site that they have them with the smo reflector and an R2 upgrade. Would this be a way to maximize throw?

I have the Dereelight R2 with both OP and Smooth reflectors. They do have more throw than my Malkoff's. I love them all, work great. Its just a matter of how much "throw" you want. My ultimate thrower is of course the Tiablo A10, but for a pocket light with a drop in module Dereelight R2 SMO is very handy indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1MGK4KD_VU

This guy might have something worth seeing on the subject. I hear he plans on making more quickie videos now that the weather is starting to pretend to turn to global warming and warm up just a scosch.