Surefire 6p mod

Does anyone or can anyone mod a 6p with a 1w or 3w luxeon making it fit the origional head assembly? I love the compactness of this light and also have the KL3 LED head for it which makes this light enormous as well as the adapter for rechargeables! I was hoping someone could mod the head so I can keep the compactness of the 6p, have a bright LED (luxeon head) and a better runtime than the origional lamp ( 60 min at 65 lumens) -Frank

I tried to do that couple weeks ago, my plan is to use the reflector from a dead P60 and hide a resistor somewhere, then repackage everything, shouldn't be too hard for a newbie mobber like me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif...but school just started for me before I could do anything more than emptying out the old P60 reflector....may restart this project soon tho, just after I get settle down a bit.

ftumch33,
What is it that makes the light too big? The KL3 or the extension for the rechargeables. For one thing, the KL3 is the size that it is, because LEDs generate heat. You need a large surface area to dissipate this heat or you're stuck with an intermittent use flashlight. Simply modding the stock 6P head is possible, I've seen it on this forum. The question is, how long can it run before it burns up? Maybe only a few minutes. The KL3 can be left on for extended periods of time with no worries about the heat. If you want a relatively small bright LED package, my recommendation would be this. Stick with the KL3. If you want brighter with more throw, have it modded with a high dome luxeon and over driven to ~700mA. You won't believe the brightness or the throw. To keep it shorter, abandon the Surefire rechargeable solution. Switch to a single Pila 168S battery. It is the length of two CR123 batteries and you won't need to use an extension to power the KL3.

You can get the Pila battery and a charger for about $75 shipped via FedEx. While you're at it, you could spend an extra $18 and get the Pila 3.7v 80 lumen lamp. That way you could switch between the KL3 and the incandescent 80 lumen lamp while still using the same rechargeable battery. All of this without increasing the length of your 6P.

If you wind up getting the Pila 3.7v lamp. Make sure you tell them that you are going to be using the lamp in a Surefire and that you need the adapter spring.

Adapter spring? What adapter spring? I didn't know they supplied one. I just used the large spring from a burned out P60. Could have saved me the trouble. Chop, where did you get your Pila lamp assembly?

The Kl3 head as well as the surefire recharger kit makes the light too big.If I knew it was going to be that long with the recharger I would have bought a 9P. The LED in the KL3 head is nice but I feel surefire really doesn`t know hot to pick their LED`s well. It does have a bit of blue tint to it and my arc lsh-p is a bit brighter than the KL# head. I would have the KL3 head modded out but I wouldn`t know who could do it. I don`t have the tools or know-how (yet) to do it myself. I`ll try the pila rechargeable batteries first. As for the 80 lumen lamp...it would be much brighter than the surefire`s 60 lumen lamp but it would probably cut donw the run time as well. Thanks for the information chop. I`ll let you know how the pila batteries work out. -
Frank

The Kl3 head as well as the surefire recharger kit makes the light too big.If I knew it was going to be that long with the recharger I would have bought a 9P. The LED in the KL3 head is nice but I feel surefire really doesn`t know hot to pick their LED`s well. It does have a bit of blue tint to it and my arc lsh-p is a bit brighter than the KL3 head. I would have the KL3 head modded out but I wouldn`t know who could do it. I don`t have the tools or know-how (yet) to do it myself. I`ll try the pila rechargeable batteries first. As for the 80 lumen lamp...it would be much brighter than the surefire`s 60 lumen lamp but it would probably cut down the run time as well. Thanks for the information chop. I`ll let you know how the pila batteries work out. -
Frank

If all you wanted to do is swap the emitter out of the KL3, that can be a DIY mod. You need to remove the plastic retaining ring by using some heat to soften the epoxy. I used a pair of large needle nose wedged against the notches in the ring to unscrew it. Acetone also works but you need to make sure you hold the head down so the solvent doesn't get into the optic. I let it soak about ten minutes. Once you get the ring off, you can remove the Pyrex, optic spacer, and optic to expose the LED. If you need help, I can walk you through the process. It can be a pain if the epoxy holding the retaining ring is set in real good.

CM

I would have to purchase a new LED first. What other parts would I need? Wire? Heatsink? etc., etc. Where could I obtain a 3W or 5w Luxeon to swap out the one in the KL3?

You just need the LED. You do have soldering equipment I assume, with the knowledge on how to solder. A 5W Lux will be underdriven if you do a straight swap. 3W are still vaporware. 1W's are widely available from various sources like Wayne's sandwich shop or Elektrolumens. hotfoot I believe is selling Q3J high domes. Those are pretty good, at least the one's I've seen. Good luck.

CM

I do have a soldering iron somwhere and have soldered before. If I use a 5w luxeon, I assume I have to overdrive it?? Also, how do I identify the different types of luxeons and what do the letters and numbers stand for? (i.e. Q3J, what do these numbers and letters mean when representing a luxeon`s brightness and /or type?)-Frank

Frank,

You could expect about 40 minutes of runtime on the Pila batt. Remember, the Surefire lamp is a 6v and the Pila is a 3.7v. So, that's about 40 minutes of guilt free lumens (80 of them) as opposed to 60 minutes at 65 lumens or 20 minutes at 120 lumens. With the Surefire LA's it's also costing you $2.50+ a pop when the batts go dead.

As far as the luxeons go, the letters and numbers indicate the LED's bin rating. The Q represents the flux of the LED. The higher the letter, the brighter the LED. The "Q" flux is rated at ~30-40 lumens (I think) when driven to spec (350mA). The number refers to the color of the white light or the white light's tint. 1=green, 2=greenish/yellow, 3=white, 4=blueish, 5=purpleish. The 2's and 3's are good, in my experience. 2's tend to do a better job of cutting through the dark outdoors. The last number refers to the LEDs forward voltage. The lower the letter, the lower the forward voltage. I tend to try to stay with the lower vf's for a little more run time. "J" luxeons have a forward voltage of 3.27-3.51v. The big guy on the block these days, in the field of 1 watters, are the R2H's with a vf of 3.03-3.27v. They are really bright, have a tint on the warmer side (yellowish) and have a really low vf. I've tried a couple of these myself and they are great, but are hard to find and are relatively expensive. They are also subject to the luxeon lottery. The one you get, might not be so great, as my first one was. As a practical matter, the Q3J's are a great bargain at $10 a piece. I love these things. I've obtained about 8 of them recently and all were really nice. Really white color. Just about as bright as the R2H and seem to thrive on being overdriven.

OK, all of you guys that actually know what they're talking about, did I get anything wrong? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

CM,
I got my Pila LA from ESA. I just sent them an email telling them what I was going to be using the lamp for and they replied that they would make sure that the spring was included. I did this after reading a post somewhere. The poster said that he didn't get the spring and that Pila sent it to him after he asked for it. I just asked ahead of time.

wow, that`s alot of info to buy a luxeon! Thanks for the info. I`m leaving for Georgia in the morning and ~I`ll be back on sunday night so I`ll hit up the post again sunday to say hey. Thanks for the information again and talk to you soon. -Frank

Frank,
I'm not sure if CM is being modest or if he's not taking any work right now, but when it comes to modding these KL's, he's the MAN. I have two KL1's that he's gone through for me. LED upgrade and overdrive. Let me just say that, with those modded KL1's, my L4 doesn't get much use outdoors. They're great. Very bright with lots of throw.