New Lumens Factory M Series LED conversion option

For the last two years I've been trying to get my hands on an affordable and durable Surefire M-Series weapon light LED conversion option which could continue to grow as LED's improve. TNVC has been selling a third party(TLS) product for a few years but it did not use the CREE XML and it does not have the ability to be upgraded for a small cost as LED's continue to mature. The Surefire LED module is well over $200 and again, the Surefire option can't grow with the technology.

I put out a few feelers to a some of the more reputable manufactures in the last year and most only wanted to come up with a drop in LED bulb assembly that would be a compromise design which would work in the Surefire bezel which would cost about $100 and would still not fully utilize the reflector.

I finally was able to reach Mark, the owner of Lumens Factory, and he agreed to take on the project with the intentions of designing a complete conversion head for under $100 and could be upgraded in the future for about half of the cost of a complete new conversion head.

Here's what Mark came up with using my input:

· Material used for the bezel body: 7075-T6 Aerospace Grade Aluminum
· Coating used for the bezel body: Mil-Spec HA3, Tactical Flat Black
· Lens: Extra Thick 4mm High Temperature Resistant Tempered Glass Lens
· Module completely potted with 3M potting material and 3M heat dissipating products.
· Improved Thickness Dual Contact Springs
· Total Weight: 71g (Head Unit with Module)
· Run Time on 3 x CR123a Primary Cells: 60 minutes on full output continuous.
· Compatible with Surefire® 1.62" Diffuser, Lens Cover, and Filters.

Click to expand...

You can take a look at the full website here:
http://www.lumensfactory.com/mini_turbo_head.php

As LED's continue to improve Mark will be offering new drop in modules for the head assembly so you'll be able to keep the lamp module up to date without having to buy the entire assembly each time.

So here's a set of comparison photos shot at the same ISO and F stop settings from the same position:
The control with no light

The factory Surefire Incan

The Lumens Factory Single Mode

The Lumens Factory 3 Mode Low

The Lumens Factory 3 Mode Medium

The Lumens Factory 3 Mode High


To cycle through the three modes I squeezed and released the pressure switch on my weapon lights.

I put a few hundred rounds down range with the single mode and the three mode modules. I did not have any problems with the light system while firing or after firing. I also did some drop tests and had no problems.

Enjoy,
Wes

PS: While I helped develop this product I am not an employee of Lumens Factory and I will not be getting paid or earning any royalties from this product. I work in the LE field and I worked with Mark to develop this product because I, along with several of my co-workers, were in need of some modern light upgrade options at an affordable price. Getting an affordable product on the market that will help me and my co-workers is payment enough!

Norm, I changed the two images that you asked me to host elsewhere. When I read "hotlinking" I was thinking of an image with an embedded URL link that opens with a click on the image. Sorry for the confusion.

Wes

Nice! I hope these will be offered in HA-III grey or olive for us M3/M4 users.

Does the three-mode module have noticeable PWM? I'm fairly sensitive to PWM and would go for the single mode if PWM were bad enough. Also, can the pill be removed from the reflector?

Post deleted.

Take a look at the lumens factory page he linked to. LF D36 dropins, which they had for a few years now, just not in XM-L versions, go into the mini turbo head.
I like the design.

Eric

Wes, did you know that nailbender had a D36 dropin that would fit M3 heads?

eg1977 said:

Wes, did you know that nailbender had a D36 dropin that would fit M3 heads?

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I spoke with Nailbender on several occasions by email about a year to year and a half ago and he was in the midst of dealing with some changes that seemed to have him tied up enough that some of his products were unavailable and he wasn't sure if or when he would get the time to backfill the stock. At the time, I seem to remember that he only offered a drop in bulb that would replace the incan bulb, which was a bit of a compromise as it could not fully utilize the incan reflector. In addition, what you got from Nailbender for you dollar didn't seem to be as much as what Mark was able to provide in this package.

The Lumens Factory design is intended to maximize efficient use of the LED's output to provide a good balance between longer throw while still having a good amount of spill to illuminate rooms in low light building searches and active shooter response dynamic room clearing.

Wes

Justin Case said:

What is the aspect of this design that allows for upgradability? Are the LED and driver both housed in an easily removable pill? Is the reflector also removable?

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Eric242 said:

Take a look at the lumens factory page he linked to. LF D36 dropins, which they had for a few years now, just not in XM-L versions, go into the mini turbo head.
I like the design.

Eric

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Eric pretty much covered it, the LED and properly matched reflector assembly is available to swap out with the included single or three mode assembly. You can swap out in the future as well as Mark will be able to continue to offer new matched LED and reflector designs as new LED'S are released.

Make sense?

Wes

Wangstang said:

I spoke with Nailbender on several occasions by email about a year to year and a half ago and he was in the midst of dealing with some changes that seemed to have him tied up enough that some of his products were unavailable and he wasn't sure if or when he would get the time to backfill the stock. At the time, I seem to remember that he only offered a drop in bulb that would replace the incan bulb, which was a bit of a compromise as it could not fully utilize the incan reflector. In addition, what you got from Nailbender for you dollar didn't seem to be as much as what Mark was able to provide in this package.

The Lumens Factory design is intended to maximize efficient use of the LED's output to provide a good balance between longer throw while still having a good amount of spill to illuminate rooms in low light building searches and active shooter response dynamic room clearing.

Wes

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

The nailbender option comes with a new reflector (smooth or orange peel).

Post deleted.

Hi Guys,

Just decide to drop in to answer some questions.

The pill are not removable, it never have been removable in our products.
But the module is designed to be removable which are common in our designs, so we can make new modules when new LED are available or something like warm tint versions which are planned.

I noticed many people mentioning Nailbender and his products.
To my knowledge, the designs and concepts are completely different.
Our goal is to make a simple plug and play product that the user can simply switch the head unit and be ready to go.
We are also very concerned about customers to have the ability to revert back to the stock SF configuration of the lights with minimal modding and disassembly. Which has been a prime design of all our products.

We have been and are just trying to make good products at reasonable price for the market.
I simply heard the suggestion from Wesley and made a product based on his needs and what I think will be a good design.


If anyone have questions about the product, please feel free to drop a line here or email us directly through the LF website.


Cheers,

Mark

Wow! There are even a few dedicated threads about guys wishing for a similar head. From what I understand what they (and I myself) desire:

1. Same external diameter as M3 head for use with filters and maximum compatibility and aesthetics with M-series bodies.

2. Remove the shock-isolating foam and the extra length of head that the foam takes-up so you not only get more overall output, but make the head more compact AND get a significantly wider angle of spill, close to what a Malkoff M61 might get -appreciated for its excellent and wide spill. You also get MUCH better heat-dissipation dependant on point 3 below:

3. Try to make reflector/pill/emitter/spring into one self-contained module so they can be swapped in/out of the head just like a P60 drop-in. The difference being that the drop-in will have to be inserted by the front by removing lens-retainting/glass and not from the back of the head. This is to ensure that there is enough contact area at the back of the reflector/pill of the module to ensure best thermal transfer from module to head to body. Try to make it as close to SF reflector shape for best compatibility so perhaps even Nailbender's D36 drop-ins will work.

4. The contradiction to the above is that NailBender currently does not need have any drop-ins that run efficiently on two or more li-ions (in which all M-series bodies are at least 3-CR123 in length or 2x li-ion in voltage). NB's electronics are all constant current and dump the extra battery's energy away as wasted heat. He might have circuits that can do that in future though but for now, he doesn't. So I'm hoping for reasonably efficient modules/circuits which can run off two or three li-ions. (UPDATE/NOTE: This paragragraph above is true as of October 2012 when NB only had a 3.6-16V 2.2A constant current, single level driver for multi-li-ion setups. He now has two new and different specification drivers which could behave differently from the old one.)

5. This final requirement is optional as it might be more tricky than the rest to implement but if the head/modules can be made backwards compatible enough to even accept Malkoff tower modules or even the old MN10/MN11/LF HO-M3 etc Lamp Assemblies, that would be fantastic! Perhaps the pill of the LED modules can be shaped in such a way that once unscrewed from the reflector, a tower/lamp-assembly can simply be inserted in its place?

If all the above can be done, then I've no doubt that lots of M-series owners will buy such a head because not only can they continue to use incan lamp assemblies (although without shock-isolation), but they can use Nailbender modules, Lumens Factory D36-drop-ins, DX drop-ins, Malkoff MD10 tower and whatever else is out there all while having superior heat-sinking, more overall lumens and much wider spill too while allowing them to use their existing flip-up diffusers and filters. Hope that doesn't sound too ambitious.

Oh and if all the above can be done, I'd gladly pay $80 to $100 for such a head even without LED pill/module.

Post deleted.

M Series Mini Turbo Head (Tactical Single Mode)
(7.2V-18V Regulated Input, Constant Output)


What happens under 7.2V?
Does the light cease to function?, or does it give a useable decline in light?

Justin Case said:

Is it a confirmed fact that Nailbender's drivers "dump the extra battery's energy as wasted heat"? For example, his sales thread for his XP-E and XP-G D36 products state an input voltage range of 3.6V to 18V. That sounds to me like he is using a buck driver, which certainly does not dump the extra battery energy as waste heat. Also, a constant current driver does not necessarily mean dumping extra battery energy as waste heat. Perhaps you are thinking of a linear driver.

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Hi yes it's confirmed that adding an extra battery in series does not add runtime and only results in more heat being produced. See my communications with Dave page 21 of his D36 sales thread here (Oct 20th posts): http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...vailable-(For-Surefire-Pila-Wolf-Eyes)/page21. At the time, he had no P60/D36 drop-ins which get more runtime from more li-ion cells in series. HOWEVER, now that you brought up the point, I've gone back to look at the thread and Dave seems to have two new multi-cell drivers listed. At the time I posted, there was only a 3.6-16V 2.2A single level driver. Perhaps you could ask him if those new drivers are constant power and draw lower current as input voltage increases like Malkoff/other units do. I'd be interested to know too!

Note: I'll update my earlier post to reflect that as of October 2012, my paragraph you quoted was correct, but that I'm not sure about the two new drivers he has now.

Rat6P said:

M Series Mini Turbo Head (Tactical Single Mode)
(7.2V-18V Regulated Input, Constant Output)


What happens under 7.2V?
Does the light cease to function?, or does it give a useable decline in light?

Click to expand...

I'd like to know as well! I've also got a few more questions of my own too:

1. I take it the first generation 6-13V D36 drop-ins won't fit into the new D36 M-series mini turbohead?
2. Will there be a HA-Natural version coming out to suit the M-series bodies?
3. What's the estimated runtime of the 2nd generation XM-L D36 modules on medium and high modes on CR123 primaries as well as 2 or 3 18650 cells of a common capacity rating?
4. This one could be considered a bit improper, but in case I buy the reflector module and find the tint not to my liking, does the construction of the module enable easy DIY modding/swapping of emitter without damaging reflector/driver etc or has it been sealed hard like the Malkoff drop-ins?

Justin Case said:

So it's just an M3 shell with a D36 drop-in? I don't really see what is substantially different functionally vs. the Nailbender product.

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I have 3 D36 dropins from Nailbender as well. Depending on the design of the Lumens Factory head, heatsinking might be much better (with LF). But that remains to be seen if the innards of the head are designed to match the outside of the D36 module.

I too am curious about a HA-natural offering of the head.

Eric

About the questions:

What happens under 7.2V?
The module will function with a minimum voltage of 6V, under 7V the light will have reduced output. The reduced output should be very useable even when it is at 50% of optimum output.

Fleabag's questions:

1. Yes, the first generation D36 modules will fit and so will all the incandescent modules that we have available.
2. Nope, got really tired with all the people whining about matching the specific shade of the light that people own in the past when we offered the Natural HA. Kinda got fed up.
3. I will have to go bck to the office on Monday to give you the runtimes, I don't want to go with memory on these things.
4. The modules are completely potted with 3M compound to ensure good heat dissipation, shock resisence and durability. So dissassembly would be very hard.
We are also preparing for 90-CRI Warm Tint versions.

Thanks.

Mark

Mark@LF said:

1. Yes, the first generation D36 modules will fit and so will all the incandescent modules that we have available.

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Cool! So maybe there's a higher chance that the stock SF reflector from M3 heads can be placed into the LF mini turbohead and used with a Malkoff MD10 tower module! I personally haven't bought the MD10 because it's not available in warm tints but just pointing this out for others to try out.

Mark@LF said:

2. Nope, got really tired with all the people whining about matching the specific shade of the light that people own in the past when we offered the Natural HA. Kinda got fed up.

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Awww man... Guess I'm a victim here... I've got the C3, M4, M3, M6, Leef bodies and even a Megallennium all in natural HA and despite all the mis-matches, they all look fine enough to me. Still wish you guys would consider some kind of HA... I'm not one of the picky ones when it comes to HA matching I guess.

Mark@LF said:

We are also preparing for 90-CRI Warm Tint versions.

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Sounds good! I'd also like to propose 80+ CRI Warm White of 3700K or lower. My experience has taught me that CCT counts more than a 10+ difference in CRI out in the wilderness and that the added efficiency of a 80+ CRI emitter makes a bigger difference!

I'll likely buy these heads anyway! Keep us updated on battery runtimes please! Thanks Mark!

Thanks for the answer
Forgot to say that these look nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those beam shots are great......Is the SF incan a MN10 or MN11?
The lamp modules look nice n chunky too.

Regarding the HA shade matching snobs - I can understand your frustration. I have your P7 Seraph on a SF L6 digital body and couldn't care less about the 2 tone. It still looks great and more importantly, it works.

I know what I'm getting for Xmas now.

Out of interest would the Reflector module by itself fit into a SF M3 head/bezel?