Durability of Solarforce P60 drop in + Dropin recommendation

Hi guys, I own a Surefire C2 and use a $12 ebay Solarforce R2 (XRE ??) dropin in it.

Today, in the process for changing the C2's bezel, the Solarforce dropin flew out because of its spring and my incompetence, and it dropped 30 cm onto my fairly solid wooden table.

Right now the damn thing isn't turning on. I was suspecting whether it's the surefire tailcap playing up, as they're known to be not foolproof. So I used the multimeter's 'stick' to connect the negative side of the battery and the flashlight body to see whether flashlight would like up and ........ it didn't. I checked the battery, they hold charge fine at 3.8-3.95V

Guys, I haven't really been too much of a wholehearted flashaholic since I started work, so I can make newbie mistakes. But what are the chances that the dropin would become damaged and no longer function because of that 30 cm (max) drop??

If its not the dropin, then what else could it be? And how can I make those verifications?

Last but not least, at this point in time, I've pretty much made up my mind to buy a Nailbender dropin. However i can only choose to buy one. Assuming I mostly use one (1) 18650 and occasionally use two (2) 18650 for extended runtime, what's the best option?

So yeah, help please.

It is very likley that a solder weld could have broke somewhere or numerous other things. Obviously I can't say 100% for sure but that's where I'm putting my money.

As far as the NB drop-in, you wont be dissapointed. First, a question to your question. How do you carry your flashlight? Pocket, sheath, bookbag, etc?

My advice is to drop the extention and just carry a second battery with you. You can throw the extra battery in your bookbag, tool box, etc. They make little delrin, aluminum or titanium tubes that fit on keychains that also hold batteries. Or if you carry on a sheath/holster, you can get a little side saddle rig made of kydex like this:



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Hello, thanks for your thoughts.

The light is for the house, not mission critical or anything of the like. It lives on top of my computer box, so no carrying around in the flashaholic sense. I mostly use 1x18650 since it's so much more portable, but I just only like to have the 2x18650 there as an option should it provide substantial gains (either in terms of runtime or efficiency).

What's the bezel that you're using on your C2? It looks pretty good.

No problem.

One thing you have to realize is drop ins are configured for maximum performance for the voltage range they are programmed for. So to clarify, if you have the driver configured to handle the voltage of 2 batteries, the performance will likley be lacking when only ran off one battery.

Only other thing you could do is get a set of 18350 cells and run both of those in the "18650" configuration then when you need that extra run time you can throw the extender on and run 2 18650s. This way you always have the voltage of 2 rechargables.

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Sounds like a solder joint or trace on the circuit board broke. I would consider reflowing all the solder joints and also ordering a new drop in. I keep drop ins that I've swapped out just for such "emergency" and testing use. Since it was your light engine that fell out, there's where the problem is. Repair or replace.

What host is in that pic?

Thanks for the suggestion. I've used 2x16340 configurations before, they're hopeless when compared to 1x18650. The charge level they hold is significantly lower. Any idea how does 18350 fair compared to 16340? Also, do they come in the 'protected' flavour?

mikesantor said:

No problem.

One thing you have to realize is drop ins are configured for maximum performance for the voltage range they are programmed for. So to clarify, if you have the driver configured to handle the voltage of 2 batteries, the performance will likley be lacking when only ran off one battery.

Only other thing you could do is get a set of 18350 cells and run both of those in the "18650" configuration then when you need that extra run time you can throw the extender on and run 2 18650s. This way you always have the voltage of 2 rechargables.

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Click to expand...

How do you 'reflow' the solder joints of a dropin? Any guides as to how to do it?

Thanks.

HotWire said:

Sounds like a solder joint or trace on the circuit board broke. I would consider reflowing all the solder joints and also ordering a new drop in. I keep drop ins that I've swapped out just for such "emergency" and testing use. Since it was your light engine that fell out, there's where the problem is. Repair or replace.

Click to expand...

Why don't you just get a 2.8-4.2v or what ever drop-in and run an 18650?

I'm only seeing AW 18350's in 700mah IMR?

It's because I have an extension tube that allows me to use 2x18650, so I want the option to remain. I understanding running 1x18650 on one that'll also support 2x18650 will run at a lower efficiency. But the thing is, how much is the efficiency lower by..?

Any runtime/output graph available for comparison?