Most Powerful LED in 6P on 2 CR123's?

N/Apower

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I have a Nailbender SST-50 driven at 2.8A, single-mode, 4500K.

Is this the most powerful P60 drop-in that will run on CR123A's?

I want something with SOME throw (SST-90's, MC-E, are out), and a tint no colder than about 5500. Preferably 4500-5000. Must be regulated, not DD.

Do I currently have the brightest drop in that meets my qualifiers?
 

RyanA

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If you want throw you'll probably want a more mundane emitter with a smaller chip size. Smooth reflector might help. I think a good setup might be an XP-G (good balance of efficacy and chip size) driven near 1.4 amps preferably with a buck driver. I can't off the top of my head think many buck drivers at that drive level though. I know there's a linear regulator out there, but on 2 CR123s it not too efficient, heat might be an issue. If you want max throw there's still the good ole R2.
 

N/Apower

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If you want throw you'll probably want a more mundane emitter with a smaller chip size. Smooth reflector might help. I think a good setup might be an XP-G (good balance of efficacy and chip size) driven near 1.4 amps preferably with a buck driver. I can't off the top of my head think many buck drivers at that drive level though. I know there's a linear regulator out there, but on 2 CR123s it not too efficient, heat might be an issue. If you want max throw there's still the good ole R2.

The throw of the SST-50 is fine. I want more total power with a similar beam-pattern (Large hot-spot, good spill).
 

N/Apower

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How do you feel about rechargables?

I don't like the idea. I checked out the Oveready tripple and decided against it. It seems like it would slaughter the battery and blow it up based on the warning "Don't run these down too low..." etc.

CR123's are a requirement for my criteria.

Economical? Not really.
Most effective? No

However, it's what I want, for better or worse.
 

RyanA

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Well you're already reaching over the bounds of what CR123 can comfortably do. To be honest you're probably asking enough from the cells right now to loose performance and runtime. From there on you'd need to look at heatsinking and efficacy improvements.

The overready is not bad honestly. Very good runtime for what it is. Before that I was using a 9 p with 3 IMRs and a WA1185 (incan 45watts) to achieve similar output. I really only felt safe using that thing about 5 minutes at a time before recharges.
 
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N/Apower

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Well you're already reaching over the bounds of what CR123 can comfortably do. To be honest you're probably asking enough from the cells right now to loose performance and runtime. From there on you'd need to look at heatsinking and efficacy improvements.

Awww :(

Well, the light gets hot fast, and I have a McClicky and a UCL lense to extract the last bit from it I can. I guess I will just be content :(
 

CarpentryHero

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I think you have the most powerful dropin that's safe on cr123's.
The Tri-V xpg with 1100 lumens, it drains the power out of the 123 cells so hard that they may explode.
:huh:

There's a silver-plated Quad one, that I read about, and it's capable but not safe to run on cr123's
The sst-50 is the powerful safe bet. The sst-90 is floodier, and similar lumen output on two cr123's
 

RyanA

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Well I forget what the efficacy of the SST50 is but I think I remember the MC-E and P7 being better at those drive levels in terms of efficacy. I think of the two the P7 is supposedly the better thrower. I could be wrong though. I'll look it up now.
 

RyanA

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Shoot, I dunno man. That's all I've got. If you ever feel the need to go rechargeable.:whistle:
 

N/Apower

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From what I understand, in a beam that is not all flood (SST-90), the Nailbender SST-50 I have (lates WJ bin, 4500K tint) with a LOP reflector driven by a 2.8A driver from Shiningbeam is the most powerful unit that can be run regulated in a 6P on CR123's.

That has left me with the host. I have had a UCL lense installed, and a Stainless bezel crown/ring (extra heat capacity?) installed.

I also replaced the tail-cap guts with the McClicky (Or rather, the people at Oveready did).

I have also researched batteries and found the Duracell Ultra CR123's to be the best able to handle current draw in the 2.5A range.

I am trying to get the most I can from the combo, and I think I have the best I can get in that regard. If anyone has any other ideas, shoot.
 

red02

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in a P60 size even a SST50 is pushing it due to heat considerations. You probably won't get much more output from SST90 anyway. The 50 is rated to 5A, and the 90 is rated to 9A. At 2.8A the SST50 is more likely to give you better output since the 90 is that much more demanding. Simply put: it doesn't pay to get the latter.
 

RyanA

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Well output at the same drive level with the SST90 might actually be slightly higher, since there is lower current density (larger chip to spread current over). You'd probably loose more throw however. It might not really be worth it, diminishing returns and all that.
 
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