Wave of Makai 6V XM-L lights

[DTF]

I just got my Makai and dont wanna have to buy batts, all the time .....so rechargeing will save me money .........
.

I use my Makai every day and it's still on the first set of primary batteries, after more than a month. I find it much easier to just go ahead and buy a box of 50 high quality 123A batteries (at 50, you get a good discount) and forget about the hassles of recharging. I fully expect to get well more than a year of use from the box of 50.

I back up the use of primaries by using a good battery checker, so I know what the status is of the batteries before taking them to the field.

[djdawg]

Food for thought here ...........Thanks for your input.
Its not like I dont have any SF batts ............I just wanted to save them and use rechargeables.

[bright light]

Djdawg. If you have the 6v LE in your Makai, use 2 primaries as this LE is optimized for that. While Don's 6v will happily do the 4.2v on a fresh 17670, the performance may not be what you have paid for.

Hi. I can understand that the run time will be longer with primaries, but are you also saying that the flashlight will be Brighter? I always thought the voltage governed this and two AW's have far greater voltage than two 3v primaries. But I'm not an expert

[BenChiew]

The brightnest will be the same as it is regulated till it falls below a certain voltage. The RCR have only half the juice as compared to a primary. Fancy paying nearly $600 for the light and have only half hour usage. LOL

[bright light]

The brightnest will be the same as it is regulated till it falls below a certain voltage. The RCR have only half the juice as compared to a primary. Fancy paying nearly $600 for the light and have only half hour usage. LOL

Well you learn something everyday.

[djdawg]

[QUOTE][/Q The RCR have only half the juice as compared to a primary. UOTE]

I was under the impression that the RCR had more juice and would run a light longer.
Pretty sure thats what Ive been reading.

[BenChiew]

Unless you are talking about the 18650 which packs 3400mA, then it has more than a primary.
But RCR123 (16340), it only have 750mA. Even double stacked, it just have higher voltage. The juice stays the same.

I think the primary is 1500mA.

[BenChiew]

Don. In the original posting, you indicated that the 6V XML Makai is driven at 1400mA, are you driving it the same for a 6V XML Haiku?

[McGizmo]

Don. In the original posting, you indicated that the 6V XML Makai is driven at 1400mA, are you driving it the same for a 6V XML Haiku?

I was cutting back on the current with the 6V LE when I was building with the XP-G LED but when I switched to the XM-L I kept the converter "stock" with the factory provided sense resistor which drives the light at high somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200-1400 mA. I keep it stock on the few Haiku XM-L 6V lights I have built as well. I consider high on these lights as a turbo mode and hope folks don't run them on high for long periods and especially set down, out of hand.

[BenChiew]

Thanks Don. That was good information.
So for those having the 6V Haiku, make sure you use the high sparingly. I guess it is not such a big issue for the larger Makai head.

[biglights]

Email sent! Thanks Don.

.

[DaFABRICATA]

The Makai head showed up today!
What a beauty! Great beam from the XM-L!

I do have one question. I noticed what looked like a haze on the inside of the window. After cleaning with a micro-fiber clothe and reinstalling, it still looks the same. It is only noticable when the light is on and the beam shines through it, otherwise it looks completely clear. Is this due the the thickness of the window? None of the other Aleph III heads have this on their windows but they are also thinner with an AR coating on one side... Anyway, just interested

Thanks!

[KuanR]

Hey Tim,

When I got my makai, I had the same question. Don said it's because of the thickness of the saphhire lens that causes the corona when the light is on

[DaFABRICATA]

Hey Tim,

When I got my makai, I had the same question. Don said it's because of the thickness of the saphhire lens that causes the corona when the light is on

Thank for clearing that up for me Ryan!

[McGizmo]

Yeah, the sapphire crystals are not water clear and the thick Makai window as well as the SunDrop sapphire lens will show what I guess are inclusions and imperfections within when subject to a strong light source.

[easilyled]

Yeah, the sapphire crystals are not water clear and the thick Makai window as well as the SunDrop sapphire lens will show what I guess are inclusions and imperfections within when subject to a strong light source.

I had assumed (incorrectly it seems) that the haze had something to do with the larger hole in the reflector of the Makai and the way the light reflects into the window.

Like De-Fab, I also noted that the haze does not occur in the Aleph-3 heads which are very similar and also take 3mm thick sapphire lenses. (The Aleph-3 reflector is slightly different from the Makai reflector though)

[McGizmo]

I had assumed (incorrectly it seems) that the haze had something to do with the larger hole in the reflector of the Makai and the way the light reflects into the window.

Like De-Fab, I also noted that the haze does not occur in the Aleph-3 heads which are very similar and also take 3mm thick sapphire lenses. (The Aleph-3 reflector is slightly different from the Makai reflector though)

You are probably right about the reflector involved and how it affects the light as it enters the window. I don't have an Aleph 3 with a sapphire window so I can't make note of it. Mine all have the stock glass windows. I do have a HD 45 with a sapphire window and it doesn't have the same image from the side as the Makai does. Whatever the cause, it is common to every Makai I have built.

[easilyled]

You are probably right about the reflector involved and how it affects the light as it enters the window. I don't have an Aleph 3 with a sapphire window so I can't make note of it. Mine all have the stock glass windows. I do have a HD 45 with a sapphire window and it doesn't have the same image from the side as the Makai does. Whatever the cause, it is common to every Makai I have built.

I have just tried a Makai reflector in an Aleph-3 head with an ordinary anti-reflective glass lens and the apparent "haze" on the glass window is there.

Once replaced with a conventional McR38 and its no longer there.

So it does appear to be the Makai reflector itself that causes this phenomenon.

[jd1911]

email sent

[jd1911]

Don,
Got it today...very, very nice. Thank you for the speedy order processing!
JD

[fyrstormer]

I have just tried a Makai reflector in an Aleph-3 head with an ordinary anti-reflective glass lens and the apparent "haze" on the glass window is there.

Once replaced with a conventional McR38 and its no longer there.

So it does appear to be the Makai reflector itself that causes this phenomenon.

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the Makai reflector and the "standard" McR38?

[easilyled]

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the Makai reflector and the "standard" McR38?

Don may correct me if I'm mistaken but I believe that the Makai reflector is like a McR38 that's had the led-end filed down a little. So the Makai would be a little shorter from window-end to led-end and the hole which the led protrudes through is wider. This also alters its focal length.

I have a hunch that this re-design is due to the fact that the later light-engines that Don uses for his current generation of lights have emitters that sit more flush in the heat-sink compared to the Aleph light-engines that were used for the original Aleph-3 lights (for example, those obtained by the SandwichShoppe in the past). The emitters of the original L.Es sat higher relative to the top of the heat-sink so that they'd protrude further into the McR38.

[rwilliam68]

Email sent for Makai head and new clip.

[Robone]

What is the lux on the Makai 6v XM-l ? I read elsewhere that it is 18500 but wasn't sure if this is for the xp-g or the 6v xml.

[easilyled]

Reviving an old thread because I have discovered that by pairing an XPL-Hi Aleph L.E made by "datiled" with the Makai reflector, that it creates an excellent beam with a hotspot of far more intensity (at least twice) than with the original XM-L2 L.E, even though the overall output is just as bright and the beam quality is just as good in my opinion.

I don't know if you have any Makai lights left, Don, but if you do, then its well worth considering making a few XPL-Hi L.Es to go with them .... and it would be well worth purchasing them for a beautiful custom Ti thrower with a very long throwing beam.

The Datiled L.E is driven at 1.52A on high so its hardly driven any higher than your previous 6V Makai L.Es which I believe were driven at ~1.4A.

[McGizmo]

The XPG2 and 119V light engines I build also have very tight and concentrated beams in the Makai reflector. Is the die in the XPL smaller than the XPG2? I have a full plate with all of the options I presently offer so am not anxious to add more inventory and expense. I still offer the Makai and with the HIVE converter, it can be host to a reasonably powerful light engine driven by a RCR123 or 14500 Li-Ion in smaller power pak than the 2x123. The Makai is not a common request though.

[easilyled]

The XPG2 and 119V light engines I build also have very tight and concentrated beams in the Makai reflector. Is the die in the XPL smaller than the XPG2? I have a full plate with all of the options I presently offer so am not anxious to add more inventory and expense. I still offer the Makai and with the HIVE converter, it can be host to a reasonably powerful light engine driven by a RCR123 or 14500 Li-Ion in smaller power pak than the 2x123. The Makai is not a common request though.

No, the die in the XPL-Hi is the same size as the XM-L2 die, but the XPL-Hi is factory dedomed with a nice color temperature of your choice unlike the ugly yellow-green cast created when a user tries to dedome. (you can choose a whole range of color temperatures ranging from warm to cool, depending on your preference.

The factory dedomed XPL-Hi is collimated much tighter by the reflector than an equivalent domed emitter.

I found it interesting that datiLED's XPL-HI L.E works particularly well with the Makai reflector, but not so well with the older McR38s used in Aleph3s. The Makai reflector focuses it perfectly.

Compared to an XP-G2, the XPL-HI's beam will be at least as tight but with quite a lot more overall output (similar to the most efficient XM-L2s). I just thought that it was an interesting observation to pass on for what its worth.

[thenikjones]

Is the 6V Makai still available? I saw a comment that the driver was discontinued.

[desert.snake]

I am also interested in this question. If this is really the case, then I have one familiar engineer.

[McGizmo]

Is the 6V Makai still available? I saw a comment that the driver was discontinued.

Thanks for catching this! Yes, I am out of the 6V converters and based on how slow they were moving the last couple years I am not going to invest in another run. I have a Makai with the 2x123 pak using a HIVE converter and 16650 Li-Ion battery and really like the four levels of output. When the 2x123 paks are sold out I am not sure whether I will have another run of them done or not.