Just ordered Solarforce L2r 500lm...

I'm having trouble beleiving that it can acheive anywhere near it's 500 lm rating on just two AA's. Any thoughts 'bout this would be great... thanks.

Who'd you order it from that is claiming 500 lumens...?

I'd say your wise to suspect that the lumens claim might be overrated.

That does sound impossible.

500 lumens from 2 AA cells? Not gonna happen.

Has to be from eBay.

Edit: Yep eBay. It's an MCE drop-in.

i'd stay away from eBay, the only place i've ordered from was this eBay store called hkequipment and even then they messed up my order, i ordered a cheap spiderfire host and they sent me an Ultrafire host, no biggie, it was the same thing in the end.

for solarforce, i'd highly recommend SBflashlights, i've ordered my L2 and assorted spares from them with zero problems, shipping was fast, responses to email were great too.

500 lumens from 2xAA, man, if its possible i want that! Maybe they were referring the to drop in and that it is capable of 500 lumens but i severely doubt that it would be OTF lumens.

I see no reason to stay away from e-bay. My experience is fast service, and quick response to any questions/issues. You should just check that the seller gets good feedback, and of course have some insight in what you are buying.

Are you sure it will run on 2xAA ??

Usually these things are 3-4.2v :thinking:

The L2R is a 2xAA flashlight that accepts P60 drop-ins. Its the MC-E drop-in that's rated at 500lumens on 1x18650. MrGMan tested the drop-in in a lab sphere and it could only produce about OTF 385lumens. That MC-E drop-in has no chance of producing 385lumens on 2xAA alkalines, Ni-mh or L91 Lithiums. Put 2x14500s Li-On in it and :duck: you'll have an Extra Crispy MC-E drop-in to go with the mash potatoes and coleslaw.

old4570 said:

Are you sure it will run on 2xAA ??

Usually these things are 3-4.2v :thinking:

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The one I found was from itc_shop and it stated 3-4.2v.

It won't work as the OP intended.
I think the only way it'll "work" is to use a single 14500 cell with a dummy AA cell.

hyperloop said:

i'd stay away from eBay, the only place i've ordered from was this eBay store called hkequipment and even then they messed up my order, i ordered a cheap spiderfire host and they sent me an Ultrafire host, no biggie, it was the same thing in the end.

for solarforce, i'd highly recommend SBflashlights, i've ordered my L2 and assorted spares from them with zero problems, shipping was fast, responses to email were great too.

500 lumens from 2xAA, man, if its possible i want that! Maybe they were referring the to drop in and that it is capable of 500 lumens but i severely doubt that it would be OTF lumens.

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I did the same mistake once, ordered an 'Titianium Solarforce L2' from hkequipment with ssc p4 drop-in...in the end i got a sand solarforce l2 with a free upgrade to a q5 which was 2mm off-center and didn't work awesome deal^^

+1. I have many positive flashlight purchases on Ebay, and several international transactions. I always check to see that the seller has good ratings.

jenskh said:

I see no reason to stay away from e-bay. My experience is fast service, and quick response to any questions/issues. You should just check that the seller gets good feedback, and of course have some insight in what you are buying.

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I think the 2 issues of quality of service from vendor's off of Ebay and truthfulness in advertising claims should be separated.

You can for the most part get what they are selling you in terms of actual equipment. Since there are a lot of substitute parts out there for these types of flashlights like spiderfire versus ultrafire as an excellent example, you may not get exactly what the picture showed you in "all" cases.

However when they make claims of what the equipment is possible of delivering that's a whole different story.

Telling you that the module is good to 500 lumens but not telling you it won't happen in a 2AA flashlight, if they are in fact advertising the 2 together as a complete "kit" is a problem you as the customer have to deal with.

Many of the ads tell you what the LED is capable of from the LED manufacturers claims and not what its real output is in the final product "as delivered". Most of the savvy flashoholics know that. So when claims of a 300 lumen Cree R2 in a Solarforce L2 host came out we found out that the bare LED driven with a DC powersupply on a good heat sink would measure that inside of an Integration sphere, but not through a reflector and glass lens off of 2 CR123 batteries. You might get 220 real out the front lumens, you might get 180. We all learned the difference of "bulb" lumens to OTF lumens and not to accept the lumens claims on these ads.

Also knowing battery limitations and current draws of various LED modules like the MC-E, most of us know that 2 AA's just aren't going to deliver enough total power in watts to support a MC-E's appetite to deliver 500 lumens.

Now the Malkoff MC-E that runs from 5 to 12 volts will run off of two of those 14500 type batteries and probably run for about 10 minutes and could give you 500 lumens at turn on. I don't know if that was the module they were offering, seriously doubt it but haven't seen the ad. And the Malkoff's do fit in the Solarforce Bezel/Heads. But if you are running some one elses direct drive high current drawing type MC-E that would in theory accept the 3.0V from 2 Alkalines, chances are if it did turn on it would be less than 250 lumens out the front at turn on and fading fast. If it is a direct drive then 2 of the 14500's would have excessive voltage and either damage it, or they too would sag and not deliver the power and possibly damage the batteries along with the LED.

So don't trust the advertising you see on various LED modules and flashlights sold on Ebay, but that doesn't mean that it won't show up in the mail.

Fusion_m8 said:

The L2R is a 2xAA flashlight that accepts P60 drop-ins. Its the MC-E drop-in that's rated at 500lumens on 1x18650. MrGMan tested the drop-in in a lab sphere and it could only produce about OTF 385lumens. That MC-E drop-in has no chance of producing 385lumens on 2xAA alkalines, Ni-mh or L91 Lithiums. Put 2x14500s Li-On in it and :duck: you'll have an Extra Crispy MC-E drop-in to go with the mash potatoes and coleslaw.

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Well, I was more or less hoping that if the claims were 500lm, maybe I could get a bit over 300 honest lumes OTF... but I guess we will see.

uz2busmc said:

Well, I was more or less hoping that if the claims were 500lm, maybe I could get a bit over 300 honest lumes OTF... but I guess we will see.

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Problem is , you need to be working within a certain voltage range , usually 3v to 4.2v for these drop ins .

3v is often a cut of point , and I have many lights that just wont even turn on @ 3v or under when designed to run 1x18650 .

Let us know how it goes though !

old4570 said:

Problem is , you need to be working within a certain voltage range , usually 3v to 4.2v for these drop ins .

3v is often a cut of point , and I have many lights that just wont even turn on @ 3v or under when designed to run 1x18650 .

Let us know how it goes though !

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I know bro, I understood what you said earlier, just figured I'd give it a shot. If the voltage is just too low, I'll order some rechargables and see what I got. What sucks is, I wanted the convenience of AA's. But ohwell.

uz2busmc said:

If the voltage is just too low, I'll order some rechargables and see what I got. What sucks is, I wanted the convenience of AA's. But ohwell.

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The problem is that the voltage of that drop-in is only 3-4.2v.

You are not going to be able to use any pair of rechargeable cells.

If you use 2 14500 (Li-Ion) cells, goes the circuit.

2 NiMh AA cells - not enough voltage.

I honestly have no idea why they are even selling that particular combination, since it's practically impossible for it to work "out of the box" with normal cells.

Maybe the 18650?... I'll figure it out or just reconfigure.

That drop-in would work with the voltage of any single LiCo based Li-Ion cell, it's the battery tube that is the limiting factor, since it's designed for AA cells.

If you want to use the MC-E drop-in with the L2-R, I think the only viable solution is to get a 14500 cell and use it with a dummy AA cell (AW sells them both).

The other solution, if you already have a P60 host for 17670/18650 cells, is to buy another drop-in for the L2-R that is actually geared for use with AA sells, like the 0.8-4.2v drop-ins that Solarforce and Dereelight make, and use the MC-E drop-in with the other host.

I use it with my Malkoff M30W - nice combination for my purposes.

-Trevor

You should look at the Solarforce Low voltage drop ins ..

0.8v - 4.2v Will run on a single AA if you want ...

I have one in my L2i , will run on anything within the voltage range that will fit in the body ..

With 2xAA should come in about 180Lumen

Ooops / Black Rose beat me to it !