latest light for IMR Cells?

I am waiting on an order from LightHound and decided to throw in a few of the IMR 16340 cells just to experiment with a little. I currently use standard Li-Ion cells nightly however have yet to try the higher current IMRs.

I read up on these as much as I could and understand they are not protected and have lower capacity. I just realized that I probably do not have a light that will take advantage of the single cell IMR and was hoping for a few suggestions of current performers.

Thus far I am thinking of the D-Mini VX-Ultra using a single cell 16340 body. I was also thinking of maybe the Solar Force single cell using the MCE drop in also with a single cell body. I know runtime is not good and heat is an issue however for a small back up light I usually only require a few moments of use each time.

Incandescent or LED really does not matter to me I am just hoping to get some good use from these cells. If I like them I may try the larger 18650 sizes or even multi cell applications.....just have to figure out the basics first.

I still have several incandescent options as well using my main duty light and some of the Lumens Factory IMR lamps. For now I will only be using the single cell 16340.

I was hoping to find a few single cell host in incandescents to make choices from as well as the D-Mini and solarforce single cell hosts. Any ideas of hosts to start out with for these IMR cells I have coming....thanks for the time.

I've just bought a nailbender "Linger Special" to go into a Solarforce L2m. It's a regulated 2.8A dropin, and would run (albeit not for long!) well on a IMR16340. I'm using it with a 18350, as the new (as of 2009) L2m bodies will take 18mm cells.

It's very floody and very bright. Mine has 1 4000k R4 and 1 5000k R4 XP-G in it. You can get more lumens with 6000K R5's, obviously.

If you want small and super bright, it's a very good option. You could also get one of Dave's SST-50 dropins set up for DD. The IMR Cell should be able to give closer to 3A, giving you 500-700 lumens, for about 10 mins

I knew I was most likely missing a few options and thanks for the information. I will have to look in to this and thanks again.

Robocop, they only have lower capacity at lower drain rates. At higher drains they actually have higher capacity. At any drain 1 amp or above the IMR16340 will have more capacity than an RCR123A cell. They lack a protection circuit because being a safer chemistry than the RCR123A cells, they don't need one. They are also slightly lighter weight, being about roughly in between the weight of a CR123A and an RCR123A (heaviest). They also have lower internal resistance, making lights, especially incans brighter.

The 2.8A and direct drive versions of these lights make good use of the high current capability of the IMR16340 cells (but watch out for heat build up if you run them on high for very long )

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/263156

I have a 2 mode DD on its way to me, I'm looking forward to dazzling myself (and every one else in the vicinity)

I just realized lumens factory still has the EO-4 drop in and found a few at LightHound. Seems like it would work however did not find much on it with a search.

Has anyone used the EO-4 in the solarforce L2M single cell host. I did read the EO-4 is a high drain lamp and it sounds good for the IMR cells. It would be nice if I could find a good incan as well as luxeon drop in.

I've always been into giving an LED way more voltage than it needs to run in direct drive. Once it drops out of regulation and runs in direct drive the brightness usually suffers, which is why I've always been a fan of running an LED off of two lithium ion batteries, instead of just one.

The same reason I've always preferred 2AA lights to 1AA and 3AAA lights to 2AAA. These lights with less cells may have a boost circuit, but it seems like brightness just always suffers at first and then especially later.

I just ordered the single cell lumaforce P60 host as well as the EO-4 lamps. I went ahead and got a few extra R2 drop-ins to play around with also. I would like to have a decent incan drop-in as well as a luxeon to swap around so I am still thinking about the suggestions given here.

I also just realized after reading some old threads that the E1E with the lumens factory EO-E1R runs well on the IMR cells. Just tried it and I was pretty impressed. This is nice as I have 3 of these lamps and all seem to run nice and strong with the IMRs.

Robocop said:

Has anyone used the EO-4 in the solarforce L2M single cell host.

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I have tried a LF HO-4 in a Solarforce L2.

The issue with it is that the spring of the drop-in sinks into the battery tube.
The light turns on, but it's I am not comfortable using it like that, so I use the HO-4 in my G2.

I would suspect the same would happen with the Solarforce L2M.

The Lumaforce lights look very similar to the Solarforce, so you might have the same issue.
Kestrel simply put a metal washer in the bottom of the area where the drop-in sits to keep it from falling in.

Thanks for the suggestions black rose and I will see how well it works later today.....my package should arrive within a few hours from now.

Robocop said:

I also just realized after reading some old threads that the E1E with the lumens factory EO-E1R runs well on the IMR cells. Just tried it and I was pretty impressed. This is nice as I have 3 of these lamps and all seem to run nice and strong with the IMRs.

Click to expand...

Yes, that is one of the best single cell pocket rocket combos! You got a great little incan pocket blaster there.

Black Rose said:

Kestrel simply put a metal washer in the bottom of the area where the drop-in sits to keep it from falling in.

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LOL, I was about to post to mention that I use a washer for this, and then read about 'my solution' just a few sentences later.



The washer I use is nearly-optimum, rather thin for a washer of this diameter. RC, I can see if I can dig up another one & mail it out to you if you'd like.

Thanks for the offer Kestrel however both lamps seem to work just fine and I do not believe any modding will be required. I do like this little combo and the lamps are nice and white for incandescent. I also really like the LC1 drop in and now have the ability to switch between incan and LED in the same host....thats what I was looking for originally.

I was suprised that the solarforce host came with an included single cell body as well as a 2 cell body that allowed also the use of an 18650 or 2- 123 cells. The host light was something like 12 dollars I believe so a pretty neat set up for low cost. The problem is that I ordered the 18650 extension thinking it would work and first I do not need it and secondly it did not fit anyway.

I have a 6P in my duty bag and may try this body as a spare if it works....if not it was a few dollars so no big loss. I like the form factor and the new IMR cells are pretty amazing as well. Thanks for the input as always...