What is the most powerful single 18650 flashlight ?

hello
any ideas ? P7 , MC-E or...something else in the near future ?
:candle:

Do you mean the brightest hotspot (thrower)? or total output such as a flood light? You need to be a little more specific in your question

what do you mean by "most powerful"? Highest Lumens? farthest throw? Power is Volt*Amps so are you looking for the most wattage consumed?

????

highest lumen, please help me choose one.
:twothumbs

French_Candle said:

highest lumen, please help me choose one.
:twothumbs

Click to expand...

The highest lumens out the front or emitter lumens???????

There is an SST 90 that can generate up and over 10A at the tail with a single IMR 18650 and you will get thousands of emitter lumens, while visible out the front lumens will be around 550 ish.

Out of the front .thank you. where can I buy a single 18650 SST 90 flashlight ???
:devil:

Nailbender has an IS Sphere built and Calibrated by MrGman and I have purchased over 5 Mag P7 builds and 3 P60 P7's from him. They are well made and I have had them all tested by MrGman, but now Nailbender can test for real out the front lumens too.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/239719

Nailbender is making 500~650 out the front in 6P hosts now, but make sure to get a regulated version and of course you have to run IMR 18650 cells or AW 2600mAh 18650 cells.


The hard part is deciding if you want an SST 50, SST 90, or P7 P60 drop-in.

Good luck,
bigC

so he builds the how light for you?
or would you still have to put the drop-ins into the body yourself?

You order a drop in off him, unscrew the head, put it in, and then put the head back on.

I think you need to answer the throw or flood question.
The MC-E dropin below is designed for 2 cell use , but similar single cell dropins are available and have similar throw characteristics.

Malkoff M30 :The output is 235+ lumens. It will easily illuminate objects at 350+ feet

Malkoff M60 MC-E: The output is 500+ lumens. Throw is typically limited to approximately 140+/- feet.

Check Malkoff website - his demo video and descriptions of his various dropin's characteristics are very helpful.

http://www.malkoffdevices.com/shop/dropin-mod-dropins-to-fit-surefire-c-1_14.html

So , flood or throw?

The Olight M20 Titanium Warrior is right up there,

Malkoff Devices MC-E P6- drop-in requires 2 cells so technically it doesn't count and Gene will not make direct drive MC-E or P7 drop-in anymore. The MC-E direct drive I had did 410 out the front with 4.5A of current at the tail and the Malkoff P7 P60 drop-in direct drive did 380ish out the front in MrGmans IS Sphere.


There is no other single 18650 cell flashlight or drop-in that has been tested brighter than what Nailbender has made.


Scott (milky) might be able to make you a 2.8A quad emitter light out of you existing Surefire lights, but his Quad emitter builds have not been tested yet.

I have the mentioned MTE SSC P7-C, it easily lights up 400+ feet away on my estate, so far you can see it's lit up the area but too far to see what there is there.
I have no idea of lumens(actual) quoted is 900, but others with much more experience than I(and a light meter) say around 550 ish.
tabetha

tabetha said:

I have the mentioned MTE SSC P7-C, it easily lights up 400+ feet away on my estate, so far you can see it's lit up the area but too far to see what there is there.
I have no idea of lumens(actual) quoted is 900, but others with much more experience than I(and a light meter) say around 550 ish.
tabetha

Click to expand...

You don't have to guesstimate,,,,MrGman tested one with an IMR 18650.

Due to the MTE SSC P7 being direct drive the lumens will continue to drop, drop, drop, untill your cell reaches 3.7v or you stop using it, but the heat also plays a huge role in why it drops in lumens soooo fast.


MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________478.5__,___3 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________416.8__,__30 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________471.0__,__60 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________467.3__,_120 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________422.4__,_180 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________390.7__,_240 sec_______,

ok, this is getting a little impractical.
losing almost 20% in 6 mins is just not good enough.

How about change the question?

Whats the highest output light (in lumens and/or throw), single 18650 light that can maintain its intensity till 50% for at least an hour?

How does that sound?

I think you're lookin' for the same thing as me, no drop-in (MALKOFF etc), no direct drive (DX/KD), reasonable pricing (no M20). Till now iv'e found 2 options: MG-PLI (back in stock soon) and possibly the upcoming 47's MC-E.

ps: the figures above show a loss of 18% in just 4 minutes

berry580 said:

ok, this is getting a little impractical.
losing almost 20% in 6 mins is just not good enough.

How about change the question?

Whats the highest output light (in lumens and/or throw), single 18650 light that can maintain its intensity till 50% for at least an hour?

How does that sound?

Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of is a 1D Mag P7 with a 2.5~2.8A regulated at the LED.

The 1D Mag P7 builds are usually run by a single IMR 18650 or AW 2600mAh 18650 cell.


You may think a 1D Mag P7 is too big (about the size of a Surefire M6), but it has the following...

• A single 18650 to operate
• Plenty of heatsink
• Solid foundation
• Can use IMR C cells for versatiliy
• Can put a 2.5~2.8A driver for stable output without the huge drop in lumens. The regulated versions are my favorate now and if I could choose I would have a P7 with a 2 ~2.4A driver as opposed to the higher current. Less heat makes them more efficient and I have found that even in a D size hosts the 3A of current or so is just too much heat.

I made this one i think its the brightest on 1 18650 a aw mir ssr 90 hi bin
got 4,9 amps should be 1500-1600 totle emiter out put.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-yy7MKwcs:candle:
looking for improvments so speak up.

JLumens said:

I made this one i think its the brightest on 1 18650 a aw mir ssr 90 hi bin
got 4,9 amps should be 1500-1600 totle emiter out put.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-yy7MKwcs:candle:
looking for improvments so speak up.

Click to expand...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/272300&page=3

I'd just like to say that mine would shine proudly next to Moddoo's Triple XP-G...for about 30 seconds before it limps away sweating from the heat.

An improvement would be to solder wires to the springs in order to reduce resistance. I'd watch the current carefully though, as too much current will cook your springs. I only have two(2) copper strands on my spring on the positive battery contact, and I'm getting 6.5A with fresh batteries.

bigchelis said:

Nailbender is making 500~650 out the front in 6P hosts now, but make sure to get a regulated version and of course you have to run IMR 18650 cells or AW 2600mAh 18650 cells.

Click to expand...

Why regulated?

I have such a dropin and ordered a direct drive one now. I asked Nailbender what was his brightest dropin, if it was SST50/SST90 direct drive on IMR cell, he explained the difference of the SST50 & SST90 to me and I went for the SST50, as the SST90 is all flood (although a tick brighter). So, I suppose my guess for direct drive was right?

I'm not an electronic specialist, I have an ElektroLumens EDC-MCE (which is direct drive) and it pulls 4A at the tail at the start with a fresh 18650/2600, which is more than a 2.800 mAh regulated would draw I suppose. I couldn't test with IMR, I only get the cells today.

You are right of course that the regulated one is a better choice, I preffer those as well as the higher draw at the start doesn't give you a big advantage in output, the light will heat up pretty fast just as the cell will drain and the output will decrease pretty soon as well, thermal problems included. I got that dropin (which should come to me today as well...) just for shock and awe, short bursts on fresh IMR cells to put a grin on my face.

The question in this thread was "maximum total output" as I understood it, regardless of all disadvantages. Recently I saw on TV about a guy who put a 1500HP engine with several compressors in his old TransAm. The result is slidng wheels still in 4th gear, exploding tyres and you need a driver with a sensitive right foot to be able to keep that car under control. In a test they reached over 400 km/h, you just have to risk your life. Conclusion : That car is probably the most powerfull in the world, but wouldn't win any race and only serves for show-off killing tyres. The same applies to our high-power small flashlights, you can use them normally on Low and Medium, but High is for show-off and nothing else.

Btw, what is actually the runtime of a regulated SST50 in a Surefire host on high? I don't think of batteries, but about heat, how long is it safe? I always turn down when I feel it getting hot, but I guess I could run it longer, I absolutely stay on the safe side, which is less than 3 minutes probably.

Does it really help to use foil or straps from softdrink-cans to wrap around the dropin to provide better thermal transfer? I read threads about how people try to give their dropins better heatsinking, but they never speak about the actual results of the operation...