Zebralight, AA, and XM-L am I dreaming?

I'm a Zebralight fan. Their AA lights are just amazing. I am not that knowledgeable but can't help wondering if they will put an XM-L into the AA side-switch body (like the SC51 lights).

- Is that possible at all?
- If yes, what sort of real lumens and runtime (40-45 min is fine with me) can we expect?
- Does XM-L come in neutral / warm?

yes it's possible. but practical? probably not

correct me if i'm wrong but xm-l has no efficiency benefits over xp-g at below 300 lumens (probably more)

AA doesn't have enough juice to crank out 300 lumens for a practical amount of runtime

It's physically possible, but I don't think it will come close to meeting your expectations.
If it was driven to a level that would make you prefer the output over an XP-G, then the runtime will be terrible.
And an AA doesn't do very well at higher drive levels and the output would probably sag quickly.
Now, if you put a 14500 in there, you could get alot of output. But at 750mah capacity, it's still not going to last very long on high. Maybe 20-30 minutes would be a fair guess, depending on how hard it was driven.
However, I don't know how hot it might get under those conditions with a 14500 a higher drive levels. Probably pretty damn hot.

There is some discussion about this in this thread too. I would love to see it, but am not holding my breath. More likely the much anticipated SC600 (or whatever...) will be the smallest and largest format they offer the XM-L in.

If the Thrunite 1A exists I don't see why they couldn't do a zebralight. Give it the voltage range to use a 14500 and it'll blow away an xpg of the same tint

Zebralight just replied to one of my questions saying that they will soon be releasing a 4x AA light that uses an XM-L led.

CarpentryHero said:

If the Thrunite 1A exists I don't see why they couldn't do a zebralight. Give it the voltage range to use a 14500 and it'll blow away an xpg of the same tint

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yes, the Thrunite 1A uses XM-L, but it's not much different than zebra: :shrug:

Neutron 1A Specs (XM-L):
0.09lumens (100hrs) -> 9 lumens (34hrs) -> 50 lumens (6hrs) -> 105 lumens (2.2hrs)
Turbo Mode: 145 Lumens (??? hrs)

The Zebralight with the XP-G can do 2.4 hrs at 100lm, 39hrs at 8lm.

I know, that's why I wonder why they won't do it.
I'd like to see zebralight stay current with there technology, if they decide to selectively upgrade that's cool but there dragging behind

I'm a Zebralight Fan: The Latest from Lillian at Z/L. is that they will offering a series of 'lights in High CRI. Wow!...and quote,

Hi John,

Yes, we have plans to release a 'c' series, high CRI versions of some (if not most) of our current offerings. We've tried high CRI LEDs from Cree, Lumileds, and Soul Semicondutor, and like the Lumileds ones the most (4000K, 85 CRI). We have to redesign the optical portion of the lights in order to fit the Lumileds LEDs. The production of the first 'c' light, the SC51c, will start in late June.



Best Regards,

Lillian Xu

How about that? I hope the SC60 (1x18650) gets the nod: I can understand the greater sales potential of a AA 'light but fingers crossed for an SC60C.

Thank you Lillian.

single AA with XML is definitely not practical, even with 14500. I honestly dont see the point of it. but different strokes for different folks i guess. although I probably will never buy one, unless they used a high CRI XML LOL. I enjoy seeing makers come out with new products.
but I doubt makers will ever push the XML hard with a single AA. too many idiot users out there that might hurt themself, or the light. maybe resulting in lawsuits :shakehead or many warranty issues.


high CRI zebralights??
I love zebralight, by far my favorite chinese manufactered lights. hehhe

looks like they dont want to go with Cree's high CRI LED which is 3000k. would of been much easier for them, but very understandable since many people are turned off by true warm tints. would be interesting to see the tint on these lumileds.

thanks for the heads up Sparky!

skyfire said:

single AA with XML is definitely not practical, even with 14500. I honestly dont see the point of it. but different strokes for different folks i guess. although I probably will never buy one, unless they used a high CRI XML LOL. I enjoy seeing makers come out with new products.
but I doubt makers will ever push the XML hard with a single AA. too many idiot users out there that might hurt themself, or the light. maybe resulting in lawsuits :shakehead or many warranty issues.


high CRI zebralights??
I love zebralight, by far my favorite chinese manufactered lights. hehhe

looks like they dont want to go with Cree's high CRI LED which is 3000k. would of been much easier for them, but very understandable since many people are turned off by true warm tints. would be interesting to see the tint on these lumileds.

thanks for the heads up Sparky!

Click to expand...

I think the tint should be very close to the W. they already have; 4,000 - 4,200K.: It really is a beautiful tint and maybe that's part of the plan i.e. to not stray too far from a tint that most folk find very attractive, indeed - I know I do!

I can't wait!!

So these will be Rebel's, I assume? Now I've got to go find those datasheets, never looked at any except Luminous, Cree, and Nichia...

That sounds awesome. I wonder if it will affect the price much?

srfreddy said:

So these will be Rebel's, I assume? Now I've got to go find those datasheets, never looked at any except Luminous, Cree, and Nichia...

Click to expand...

Lillian has, as far as I understand it, more or less settled on Lumileds.

Overclocker said:

yes it's possible. but practical? probably not

correct me if i'm wrong but xm-l has no efficiency benefits over xp-g at below 300 lumens (probably more)

AA doesn't have enough juice to crank out 300 lumens for a practical amount of runtime

Click to expand...

The XM-L is a considerably more efficient led than the XP-G. At 1 W the XP-G R5 will give about 132 lumens while XM-L T6 will give about 153 lumens. At 2 W which is still an OK power from an AA the XP-G R5 will give 207 lumens while the XM-L T6 will give 276 lumens. That is an increase in efficiency of around 33%. So I would definitely go for a Zebralight with a XM-L.

jenskh said:

The XM-L is a considerably more efficient led than the XP-G. At 1 W the XP-G R5 will give about 132 lumens while XM-L T6 will give about 153 lumens. At 2 W which is still an OK power from an AA the XP-G R5 will give 207 lumens while the XM-L T6 will give 276 lumens. That is an increase in efficiency of around 33%. So I would definitely go for a Zebralight with a XM-L.

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I don't have time to go data-mining right now, but I'm going to partially dispute that. The XML will have a lower vf, yes....but I don't think its that drastic.

And the Rebel High CRI 4500k are rated 190 lumens at 700ma.

I have to say that I don't see the benefit of the change. The XP-G is plenty floody with nice throw for job it's asked to do. Putting a XM-L led in there is going to make it even more floody - so if that is what you are looking for it would be fine.

There may be some efficiency benefits because of the lower Vf. It think average at a 350mA drive is about 3.2v for the xpg and 2.9-3.0 for the xml. But this doesn't mean that the driver would be able to produce any more current to make the light brighter. A 350mA drive is a 350mA drive, the XML may be using less Watt-hours at 350mA but it's still the same drive current. So, the comment on minimal gains in luminous efficiency is still accurate. Don't forget it's current which drives LED brightness, not voltage. An LED is still just a diode and as such has very low electrical resistance but drops a certain voltage across it's terminals.

My point is that you will generate less heat with the XML, probably get slightly better battery life, but I would not count on a brighter light - especially from a single AA.

XML T6 puts out 149 lumens, XPG S2 148. The Thrunites are a great example of what Zebralight should do-even higher output, and a super floody beam. Lowering the moonlight mode and raising the PWM on that level would be nice too. I'll probably end up getting the Thrunite, and an XML Zebra headlamp/ High CRI, not sure yet.

I have picked my numbers from the data sheets from CREE. The XML gives considerable more light output for the same drive current, and it requires lower vf.
The data sheets says that the XPG requires 3 V to be driven with 350 mA, while the XML requires less than 2.8.
It is a strange theory that is implied above that the current drawn form the AA battery is independent on the required voltage for the led.

jenskh said:

It is a strange theory that is implied above that the current drawn form the AA battery is independent on the required voltage for the led.

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I think you are reading what I said incorrectly. I said that the LED driver board is designed to drive the LED at a certain current. That drive current will be the same regardless of the LED in place. If the Vf of the LED is lower than the overall drain from the battery should be LESS, but that doesn't mean the LED is being driven harder or brighter just because it has a lower Vf.