L4 Lumamax LED Upgrade?

Michael J. Spangler · Mar 1, 2020

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if there is a drop in upgrade or new head for a Surefire L4 Lumamax (120 lumen) on the market?
I love this light but it's a little lacking in output for the amount of juice it burns.
By modern standards my E2D which is a 500 lumen model (older) blows it out of the water with the same batteries.
I figured there must be some upgrades available
Thank you!

nbp · Mar 1, 2020

The L4 has a sealed head, so there is no drop-ins for it. Any mods to that light will require more in depth changes to the electronics, emitter etc. You could LEGO a different head on it but the head is most of the price of the light so you may as well just get another light to supplement the L4 you already have in my opinion.

Beamhead · Mar 1, 2020

I modded several with old school luxeons and one with a cree back in the day. There used to be a thread about taking the head apart but it may be lost now. If you get it open I am sure some of the new LED's would work.

Post#2 is a good guide. HTH

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...-help-recieved&p=867554&viewfull=1#post867554

Michael J. Spangler · Mar 1, 2020

Beamhead said:
I modded several with old school luxeons and one with a cree back in the day. There used to be a thread about taking the head apart but it may be lost now. If you get it open I am sure some of the new LED's would work.

Post#2 is a good guide. HTH

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...-help-recieved&p=867554&viewfull=1#post867554

thanks guys!

NotRegulated · Mar 1, 2020

I also have an original Surefire L4. I just ordered a Lumensfactory E series LED head for it.
The KL1 or KL4 will work. Both have the same electronics. They just have a different look.
You can pick your your LED color option (Cool White, Neutral or Warm) and HA3 color (Black or Natural).
I ordered the 2.7-9v to run 2xCR123's.

NotRegulated · Mar 1, 2020

deleted

marcdilnutt · Mar 2, 2020

I modded one myself back in the day. It was a pig to open and required sealing the head in a baggie before boiling it to soften the thread lock, I then needed two strap wrenches to open it up! I replaced the led with a different one with a huge die (I can't remember what exactly) and was very impressed with the wall of light that resulted. It's pretty dim by today's standards though.

Sent from my [null] using Tapatalk

sween1911 · Mar 2, 2020

Isn't there a Malkoff head which screws onto an L4/E2 body that lets you run Malkoff drop-ins? I don't recall the part numbers or specs right now.

thermal guy · Mar 2, 2020

It's the VME head. Screws on to any E series's head and can run some pretty high lumen Malkoff Dropins.

nbp · Mar 2, 2020

Keep in mind the L4 body was designed for CR123s so you are limited as what cells you can use. It's been a while since I had one - I can't recall but you might be able to fit a 17670 in it.

Icarus · Mar 28, 2020

A protected AW 17650 will fit if you still have some. Maybe also other brands might fit too (like the Eagletac protected 17650). If not, 16650 definitely will.

Icarus · Mar 28, 2020

As for upgrading the KL4 head I think it isn't worth the effort since Lumensfactory has several e-series heads with modern LEDs and electronics (KL1, KL4 & Teardrop).

1996alnl2 · Nov 1, 2020

Keep your KL4 head and put it away safely somewhere, It's a gem and some day you will go back to it.
Order a Lumens Factory E-series head in NA finish with a Nichia LED of choice, I chose the 4000K..screw it onto your L4 body. It will look like a stock Surefire L4 but the color retention and output will blow you away and the best part is it works great with KeepPower rechargeable 16650 cells.

thermal guy · Nov 2, 2020

Yep 16650 work great in two cell surefires. Much more capacity then 17650's.

marcdilnutt · Nov 3, 2020

thermal guy said:
Yep 16650 work great in two cell surefires. Much more capacity then 17650's.

That doesn't make sense to me. Surely, all other things being equal, a 17650 should have more capacity than a 16650 as it is physically larger. What am I missing?

Sent from my [null] using Tapatalk

thermal guy · Nov 3, 2020

A 17650 should/could have more capacity but sadly no. They are not very popular or used as much so there hasn't been much work to up there capacity. The 16650 is much much more popular and therefore, has been increased over the years to surpass the bigger 17650.

Helenawe · Nov 5, 2020

I have a 6P with a Malkoff M61. I use a Sanyo 16650 and get over two hours run time. That is much better than than any RCR 123s that I have tried. Since the M61L draws half the power or less I would think you should get very good run time.

L4 Lumamax LED Upgrade?

Michael J. Spangler

Newly Enlightened

nbp

Flashaholic

Beamhead

Flashlight Enthusiast

Michael J. Spangler

Newly Enlightened

NotRegulated

Flashlight Enthusiast

NotRegulated

Flashlight Enthusiast

marcdilnutt

Enlightened

sween1911

Flashlight Enthusiast

thermal guy

Flashaholic

nbp

Flashaholic

Icarus

Flashlight Enthusiast

Icarus

Flashlight Enthusiast

1996alnl2

Newly Enlightened

thermal guy

Flashaholic

marcdilnutt

Enlightened

thermal guy

Flashaholic

Helenawe

Newly Enlightened

Similar threads

Latest posts