# First XM-L experience - blinding success



## Techjunkie (Dec 18, 2010)

*First XM-L experiences, 9+ lights, 5A+, Photos!*

First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-18-2010 01:56 PM GMT

:edit: new photos in post 25

Just received a CREE XM-L T6 on 16mm star. Turns out the light I meant it for needed a 14mm star. Far be it from me to keep from experimenting while I wait for a 14mm star source to appear...

I popped it into a light with a very deep and narrow SMO reflector meant only for an XR-E. With the stock 1A hii/low driver, I was pleased with the way the narrow reflector turned the larger emitter surface into brighter spill, but I was underwhelmed with the spot. That's no surprise considering the surface brightness at that drive current.

Sacrificing the driver in that torch for this little experiment, I dug it out and converted it to direct drive. In this torch, I use one of those red, protected UltraFire 22600 Li-Ion cells that fits so nicely in place of most 3AAA carriers with a little spring trimming.

Measured at the tail, from that 22600 battery, the XM-L pulled 4.5A! Afraid to cook it, I used it in short bursts at first, then longer, maybe 20 seconds... no blue! The head got warm after a little use.

When I have more time to experiment and see if it reaches thermal runaway after more use, I will. My point is, I'm pretty impressed with the current the XM-L can handle without insta-blue. I might have to re-think the drivers in all the projects I have planned for XM-L.

*Re: First XM-L experience - blinding success*
Written by *richpalm* on 12-18-2010 02:13 PM GMT

Did you get the star from a U.S. supplier?

Rich

*Re: First XM-L experience - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-18-2010 04:43 PM GMT

No, China. Got it off eBay. Seller was the first place I saw with them in stock, on star and shipping immediately.



richpalm said:


> Did you get the star from a U.S. supplier?
> 
> Rich



*Re: First XM-L experience - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-21-2010 09:37 PM GMT

Received 7 more XML on 20mm star this evening. Fished them out of the trash, actually. My well intentioned son thought he was throwing out the "junk mail" and in went several holiday cards and a little padded yellow envelope which I'd been waiting for / planning for since this Spring. Murphy's law I guess. I'm glad I bothered to ask him what he did with the mail he took in before tomorrow. Anyway...

These XML are nothing short of amazing. I put a new T6 into my SacredFire V-65C in place of the SST-50 that I had modified it with earlier. In direct drive from an IMR18650, from the tailcap, I measured up to 5.7A draw as the XML heated up, and it did not turn blue. The tail cap and KD fwd swith offer more resistance than my DMM, so realistically, I'm overdriving the emitter a bit less but WOW! This thing has much lower Vf than the SST did and man is it bright! Knowing that it dealt with this abuse this easily, I'm inclined to think that no matter what your driver solution was, you can safely replace any SST-50 with an XML and the XML will handle whatever you were throwing at the SST. In the case of Direct Drive, the lower Vf of the XML will let it perform better than the SST-50. With regulated current at 4.5A, it's a crapshoot, although my money is on the XML appearing brighter because of higher surface brightness and a smaller spot in the same reflector.

*Re: First XM-L experience - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *jasonck08* on 12-21-2010 10:41 PM GMT

Very cool. When I get my XML's I'll be sacraficing one or two of them by trying different drive currents. The first drive current I'll try will probably be 4.2A (2.8A + 1.4A driver). I'll mount it on a CPU heatsink and then rig up my lux meter, and run it for a while and see how it does. My guess is that with sufficient heatsinking ~4A will be do-able. Oh and yes the vF of XML's is very low. Lower than XP-G's.

XML @ 3A has a vF of 3.33v. XPG @ 1.5A has a vF of 3.54v.

*Re: First XM-L experience - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Walterk* on 12-22-2010 01:36 PM GMT

:naughty: New excitement in Led-world! Great! Thx for sharing.

*Re: First XM-L experience - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-23-2010 12:37 AM GMT

I swapped out the XR-E for an XM-L T5 in my LED Wholesalers 3AA light from Amazon that I'd already converted to aspheric with the 50mm DX lens I've used before. (It beat the pants of the KD Q5 Asperhic combo.) Unfortunately, there are components of this light that are fine for direct driving an XR-E to the edge from 3 duraloops (~1.7A at the tail), but they cannot handle current much higher without adding significant resistance. Hampered by the wimpy springs in the battery carrier and probably also by the reverse click switch (which I cannot figure out how to remove), the XM-L T5 only pulls ~2.2-2.4A in this setup. At that current, I'm certainly not generating anywhere near the surface brightness of the T6s at >4A in the other two lights, but here's what really impressed me:

The XM-L T5 50mm aspheric at 2.2-2.4A was almost a dead match for the SST-90 aspheric at 7-9A that I compared it to. They both lit up a bare tree top 450ft away with the same level of brightness. The KD Q5 52mm Aspheric kit was a close 2nd, but had a much, much smaller lit area.

The SST-90 put out a lot more lumens and projected a much larger square die image using the same lens, but takes a LOT more power to do it. I can't wait to see what an XM-L aspheric at 4-5A will look like.

*Re: First XM-L experiences - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-24-2010 02:19 AM GMT

Did my first XM-L mag mod while babysitting a hard drive restore. The hard drive didn't come out so well, but as for the flashlight, I've outdone myself. I'll put a link to the quickie build thread here, but for now, here's some pics of this new one and everything else I've XM-L'd above:

























(Led Wholesaler 3AA light on the left above is no longer aspheric. Pic of new config in post 25 below.)

*Re: First XM-L experiences - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *KevinL* on 12-24-2010 09:15 AM GMT

Nice heatsink. Where'd you get it?
*Re: First XM-L experiences - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-24-2010 01:33 PM GMT



KevinL said:


> Nice heatsink. Where'd you get it?


It's homemade from some 35mm T6061 stock that I had Jesus Hernandez tune down to the Mag D ID. I had to hone the inside of the mag tube a bit and hand drill and tap holes for the star screws and wires. It's homemade from some 35mm T6061 stock that I had Jesus Hernandez tune down to the Mag D ID. I had to hone the inside of the mag tube a bit and hand drill and tap holes for the star screws and wires.

*Re: First XM-L experiences - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 12-26-2010 10:47 PM GMT

I have to say, I'm really impressed with the XM-L. It's hella bright at any drive current from 2A-6A, and it's also a dream to focus compared to the SST-50. I just converted two more of my modded lights from SST-50 to XM-L. It was a one for one swap. No driver changes, no focus changes, just perfect plug and play upgrade.

I then spent all night tuning the focus on my one remaining SST-50 thower, trying to get it's hotspot just as perfect as the XM-L lights. It was a real challenge.

Now for my next act, I'll be building a tirple neutral SST-50 light with the three 4500K SST-50s that I've just liberated...

*Re: First XM-L experiences - 5A+ - blinding success*
Written by *KevinL* on 12-27-2010 12:37 AM GMT

Can't wait for my XM-L's to get here. I have three earmarked for a triple build 
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-07-2011 09:47 PM GMT

I just finished installing the last of my initial batch of XM-L emitters. That's 9 lights modded with them so far. I have one more on the way and then I'm done for a while until inspiration strikes again. I'm guessing it would have to be a multi XM-L project 'cause at this point I think I've exhausted every idea I had for this LED.

This one went into a blue Mag 2D with an aspheric lens.

I had originally intended to follow the dual DX 20330 driver formula again as I did with the Rebel felector build, and even went so far as to wire up some new ones and bench tested everything. This time, I'm using a T5 bin instead of T6. Before final assembly, I wanted to see how hard three well rested AccuPower Evolution LSD NiMH C cells would directly drive the XM-L T5. I've run the T6 to over 5A on an AW IMR18650 and to near 6A on a single IMR 22650 battery from BatterySpace in a modded 3AAA light (the UF C308). (I prefer these new cells to the protected LiCo 22600's I was using previously at 4A+.)

Much to my delight, the three NiMH C cells pushed the lower bin T5 to 5.7A, tested with a fluke clamp meter. The two DX drivers and the D sized LiFePO4 cells would have regulated the current to 5A. The higher current of this direct drive formula will crank up the surface brightness and I'll save the LiFePO4 batteries and drivers for other projects.

A quick comparison of this new build to my other Mag aspherics (one SST-90, one KD kit) proves this was a project worth doing. The intensity of the XM-L die image is noticbly stronger than that of the SST-90 although smaller, and trounces the XR-E driven by the KD module. (I think it's time to update or retire that one.) Surface brightness on this overdriven XM-L rivals that of overdriven XR-Es. *This new emitter is phenominal in almost every category: low Vf, total lumens, surface brightness, thermal performance. CREE has outdone themselves*. Uniformity of color from spot to spill is this LED's only weakness as far as I can tell.

For my last planned XM-L mod, I'm very much looking forward to replacing the de-domed SST-50 driven by an LiMn 22650 in my modded "SacredFire NF-08" flood to throw zoom light. Don't laugh, that one sounds like a piece of garbage 3AAA light, but it's a perfect compact size for an IMR 22650 and it's head is narrower than 18650 lights in the same category. It makes one stealthy and powerful pocket rocket with the SST-50, that odd battery and a KD forward switch. I'm sure it will be much more impressive with an XM-L and hopefully run a bit cooler too (the SST-50 got so hot at 6A, I had to add regulation for 4.2A).

When I get a chance, I'll photo document all my XM-L projects to date and eventually grab some beam shots. For now, here's a list of what has worked well so far:

1) Aurora SH-032 mirror polished stainless 18650 light. I swapped the 20mm OP reflector for an SMO one from KD (had to buy a 10 pack) and I modded a DX 8.4V hi-lo-strobe driver for 2A output and drive it with two IMR 16340 batteries. This is a real pocket rocket. The projet was intended for an XP-G, and even had one in it temporarily, but the XP-G couldn't handle the current. At 2A, the XM-L heats up the SS body enough to keep me from changing the configuration it to drive it harder. What's REALLY nice is how it blows away the keychain MC-E lights I built a year or two ago, with brighter flood and a nice round (and very big) spot, even though it runs at 2/3 the power. 20mm SMO creates low spot to spill ratio with uniform color.

2) UF C8-A1 direct drive T6 bin with AW IMR 18650 and KD fwd switch. Insanely bright at 5A+. C8 SMO reflector projects bigger spot than larger diameter reflectors, but still very well defined, perfectly round spot. Color from spot to spill varies greatly. Spot halo appears creamy vanilla, spill appears purplish.

3) SacredFire V-65C. 53mm wide 45mm deep SMO reflector rivals the Mag Rebel reflector. One AW IMR18650 direct drives to 5A+ with KD fwd. switch. Color from spot to spill varies greatly. Spot halo appears creamy vanilla, spill appears purplish.

4) 3AA light from Amazon with KD SST-50 52mm SMO reflector and 52mm glass lens. Higher current 3AA carrier and 3 Duraloops drives across stock switch to 2.5A. SST-50 reflector is shallower than rebel and casts a larger hotspot than even the narrower C8 reflector. Creates rings at edge of spill, but still very pleasant beam pattern. Color from spot to spill varies greatly. Spot halo appears creamy vanilla, spill appears purplish.

5) UltraFire C308 with KD switch and LiMn 22650 battery drives T6 bin to 5.7A. Narrow and deep SMO reflector casts very bright spill with low spot to spill ratio, but still very well defined and narrow spot. Color uniformity from spot to spill is excellent.

6) Mag 2D, Rebel reflector at full length with cam removed, 2 DX20330 drivers and 2 LiFePO4 D cells regulate T6 bin to 5A output. Rebel reflector puts best spot yet on this emitter. Color from spot to spill varies greatly. Slight spot halo appears creamy vanilla, spill appears purplish.

7) Mag 1C cut down w/tail clicke, T6 bin, 4.2A regulator and 1 BatterySpace IMR 26650. Rebel reflector at full length with cam removed. Appears exactly as 2D above. Difference between 4.2A drive current and 5A drive current barely noticible with these identical reflectors.

8) Mag 3C with Rebel reflector cut higher up, with T6 bin emitter positioned slightly higher. 2 DX 20330 drivers and 2 Sony 26650VT batteries regulate T6 bin current at 5A. Higher emitter positioning creates smaller spot with more spot halo before spill. Color from spot to spill varies greatly. Spot halo appears creamy vanilla, spill appears purplish.

9) The blue Mag 2D from this post. 3 AccuEvolution LSD NiMH C cells direct drive the T5 bin emitter to 5.7A. The DX Aspheric focuses the LED die quite nicely and outperforms the KD aspheric. Surface brightness appears to rival overdriven XR-Es in aspherics.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *johnnyl* on 01-07-2011 10:02 PM GMT

I have my xml t6 on order. I also ordered a few different driver, but after reading this, I might direct drive off an 18650. Should blow my buddy's p7 away.
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *HarryN* on 01-08-2011 01:16 AM GMT

Wow - you are just cranking on those projects. I am just curious - have you considered just buying them from etgtech.com in Los Angeles ? If you call them, they will mount most LEDs on stars for about 50 cents. I have had great luck with them over the past 5 years, in fact I think all of my Cree stuff has come from them.
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Walterk* on 01-08-2011 03:39 PM GMT

Do you happen to know if the dome is glass/quartz or a plastic?
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *350xfire* on 01-08-2011 03:51 PM GMT

This is cool. I just ordered 3 from DX. They seem to have recently added them to their web page. Looking forward to messing with them.
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *csshih* on 01-08-2011 04:10 PM GMT



Walterk said:


> Do you happen to know if the dome is glass/quartz or a plastic?


optical grade silicone. optical grade silicone.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Walterk* on 01-09-2011 06:30 AM GMT

There is silicone between dome and phosphor, but I have doubt the dome is silicone.

Silicone is especially known as flexible and heatresistant?

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *PCC* on 01-09-2011 01:09 PM GMT

It's a gummy dome that has a firmer texture than SSC gummy domes. It's definitely not glass.
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-09-2011 05:13 PM GMT

The XR-E was quartz, I think. These seem to be gummyish when touched, but not so much as the XP-G, which you can de-dome with a fingernail. I haven't de-domed an XM-L yet, and for the moment, don't plan to.

Today, I changed the aspheric on my KD XR-E Q5 kit and replaced it with the DX aspheric which concentrates the beam more. That definitely improved the throw of the XR-E aspheric, casting a smaller, brighter die. My initial impression is that even with the matched aspherics, the surface brightness of the XM-L was greater than that of the KD Q5 kit driven from 3 C NiMH. I don't know the actual drive current of that XR-E module and didn't take tailcap measurements, but I recall reading in LuxLuthor's aspheric LED comparison that it drove the XR-E harder than others in his shootout. My point is, I still stand by my statement that the XM-L surface brightness rivals the XR-E, which is a claim that I'd never make for any other LED.

Right now all my aspheric Mag's cells are charging. I plan to make a head to head comparison when they're done and will eventually take some beamshots and photos of the lights. Unfortunately, my wife's camera is going out for flash repair tomorrow and the batteries aren't done charging yet.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-09-2011 08:19 PM GMT



Rookie mistake. Just loaded the three AccuEvo C cells hot off the charger without allowing them to rest and 

I expected some blue-ing first, but nope... just light, then  I can see some carbon around the bond wires. They must have popped like a fuse. I never thought three NiMH cells would do that when the single IMR cells didn't.

If I had any more, I'd have replaced it already. Looks like I've got to order more XM-L. 
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *richpalm* on 01-09-2011 09:11 PM GMT



HarryN said:


> Wow - you are just cranking on those projects. I am just curious - have you considered just buying them from etgtech.com in Los Angeles ? If you call them, they will mount most LEDs on stars for about 50 cents. I have had great luck with them over the past 5 years, in fact I think all of my Cree stuff has come from them.


There is nothing on their site at all about ordering or how to do it. There is nothing on their site at all about ordering or how to do it.

Rich

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *PCC* on 01-10-2011 09:21 AM GMT



> Rookie mistake. Just loaded the three AccuEvo C cells hot off the charger without allowing them to rest and
> 
> I expected some blue-ing first, but nope... just light, then  I can see some carbon around the bond wires. They must have popped like a fuse. I never thought three NiMH cells would do that when the single IMR cells didn't.


Yesterday, I gave bigchelis a 2D Mag that I put an XM-L into, direct drive, and we got blue after two seconds from it on 3 NiMH C cells that were not fresh off the charger. On 3 alkaline C cells we got 2A at the tailcap. I believe that the IMRs will sag just enough to avoid the XM-L turning blue, but, the C cells won't sag enough to prevent it. Sorry to hear that your XM-L lost its life for the cause. Yesterday, I gave bigchelis a 2D Mag that I put an XM-L into, direct drive, and we got blue after two seconds from it on 3 NiMH C cells that were not fresh off the charger. On 3 alkaline C cells we got 2A at the tailcap. I believe that the IMRs will sag just enough to avoid the XM-L turning blue, but, the C cells won't sag enough to prevent it. Sorry to hear that your XM-L lost its life for the cause.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-11-2011 09:51 PM GMT

I took some photos of the flashlights I modded with XM-L tonight and grabbed some stopped-down beamshots to try to give an impression of what kind of spot-spill ratio and spot-focus each produces. I'm not thrilled with the results as far as photo documentation goes, but it's better than nothing.

Camera settings used a 1/80th sec. shutter speed, which dimmed things considerably, but kept the hotspot from washing out in most of the photos. Other settings were F3.5, ISO800, WB5200K. Camera and lights were 30ft from target brick wall. 

Mostly, I'm thrilled to have used a variety of different batteries and drivers and reflectors and be pleased with all the results. Each light is unique and has it's own unique virtues.

Last two on the right in the photos below are lights #6 and #8 from post 13 above.











For beamshots of the two mentioned above, checkout the build thread https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/305723&p=3651248#post3651248here

---------------------

Single IMR cell lights with deep SMO reflectors. First on left is regulated to 4.2A to keep the BatterySpace 4AH IMR 26650 from killing the LED through the Judco forward switch. Last three are (update follows) 3.4A single mode, 3.4A/0.5A High/Low, and 3.8A/0.5A High/Low, in that order.

From left to right these are #7, #3, #2 and #5 from post 13 above:











Beamshots next. Remember, these are purposely dimmed to show the shape of the hotspot and the separation from hotspot to halo to spill.

To give an appreciation of how stoppd down these photos are and how bright these hotspots are, here's a shot of beloved SSC-P7 C bin in a 53mm MOP reflector at 2.8A using the same settings: 






In the following photos, notice the tint of the spill on the whitle wall oven up close, compared to the hotspot halo in each:

#7 (Mag 1C, Rebel reflector, 4.2A drive current):






#3 (SacredFire V-65C):






#2 (UltraFire C8-A1):






#5 (UltraFire C308):






The light below is #1 from post 13 above:






Beamshot of light #1 (20mm deep SMO, 2A drive):






------------------------

Light on the left in photos below is #4 from post 13, LED Wholesaler's 3AA light with KD SST-50 reflector and 52mm glass lens:











Beamshot from #4 (XM-L in KD SST-50 52mm SMO):






----------------

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *superpila* on 01-13-2011 06:52 AM GMT

I just modified the Loongsun LX-9012 (sku 47173 on DX) replacing the SST-50 with an XM-L T6 on the same 20mm star, diligently mounted over a thin layer of artic silver. Initially I had gotten this flashlight because I wanted a cheap thrower to play with. The building quality is quite good but I was somehow disappointed by the sst-50, which was not as bright as I was expecting (at least the one I got in this flashlight), regardless benefiting from a real 5A driver. In the end, some of my much smaller R2 models seemed to throw more than this huge flashlight, and all of my multi-led setup were brighter, and even my all-times fav, the Eagletac T20C2 Mk2 with its R5, didn't look much worse on the brightness end. In the end, I found no use for this item, because it was neither my furthest thrower, nor my brightest flashlight, but it's definitely one of the largest.

Men, the XM-L took it to new life. It's easily 2 times brighter than before and throws MUCH further, thanks to the smaller die I guess. Also heath management on this body seems to work really well and even after 15 minutes of continuous usage at max it seems like the led is working properly and I see no problems in the tint whatsoever. The T20C Mk2 compared to it looks like a matchstick now!  

It's definitely a mod I recommend to anyone. I'll try to take beamshots later.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *skunknuts79* on 01-16-2011 05:49 PM GMT

Sweet work!

What is the light on the right in the 2nd and 3rd to last pics.?

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-16-2011 10:07 PM GMT



skunknuts79 said:


> Sweet work!
> 
> What is the light on the right in the 2nd and 3rd to last pics.?


It's the UltraFire MCU-C88. It's a pretty unique XR-E thrower with three modes that runs from a 3xAA pack. I had hoped a D sized cell would fit, but it doesn't and there's no chance for boring it to D size. I replaced the carrier with half of a modded 3s2p carrier from an RoV light that makes for lower resistance. It's the UltraFire MCU-C88. It's a pretty unique XR-E thrower with three modes that runs from a 3xAA pack. I had hoped a D sized cell would fit, but it doesn't and there's no chance for boring it to D size. I replaced the carrier with half of a modded 3s2p carrier from an RoV light that makes for lower resistance.

Here's a beamshot taken with the same settings:





*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *overdog* on 01-17-2011 09:14 AM GMT

Hello Techjunkie,

very nice modified lights here, I will order some 2AAA light and try 22600 batteries, thank you for the idea!

...the Ultrafire MCU-C88 is the first light I modified with an XML-T6- I bought this one also with the idea to put in a D-size battery or a 26650 battery, but none of them fitted- but this one is a real heavy thrower, so three weeks ago I decided to changed the emitter for a T6 and put in an IMR 26500: almost same throw as with original emitter but heavy heavy bright at about 4,8Ah... One of my absolute favourite lights this time- and for 4,8Ah to my mind much brighter than SST-50 or SST-90 at same amperage...

Best regards,
Steffen.
*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, Photos!*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 01-17-2011 11:21 AM GMT



overdog said:


> Hello Techjunkie,
> 
> very nice modified lights here, I will order some 2AAA light and try 22600 batteries, thank you for the idea!
> 
> ...


Steffen, Steffen,

I was tempted to do the same. I'm sure I'd love it with an XM-L, but I have been fighting all urge to replace the XR-E in the MCU-C88, because I think it might be the most perfect and unique XR-E light I've ever owned. That's probably the reason that it's also one of only two XR-E lights bigger than a 1*16340 left in my collection that hasn't had the XR-E replaced with something else.

Your observation is the same as mine - at 4.8A, nothing touches the brightness of the XM-L, Phatlight or otherwise.











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*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *HarryN* on 01-18-2011 06:26 PM GMT



richpalm said:


> There is nothing on their site at all about ordering or how to do it.
> 
> Rich


Hi, you are right. They are sort of old fashion in that way - you have to call them, talk to a person, give them a CC number, and they just do it and send them to you. It's sort of disorienting for people like me that are used to web ordering, but it works. In their minds, it is so common for them to do much more elaborate custom stuff that mouning and LED on a star hardly seems "custom" to them. Hi, you are right. They are sort of old fashion in that way - you have to call them, talk to a person, give them a CC number, and they just do it and send them to you. It's sort of disorienting for people like me that are used to web ordering, but it works. In their minds, it is so common for them to do much more elaborate custom stuff that mouning and LED on a star hardly seems "custom" to them.

They were actually one of Cree's first US distributors, and are listed on Cree's web site. I credit them with really helping Cree to enter the hobby / small user market, as they are very "bin friendly".

I have only purchased maybe 3 -4 models of Cree leds from them on stars though, so I don't know all of the options. I do know for example that they had MC-E versions with both parallel and series wiring options for stars.

*Re: First XM-L experiences, 9 lights, 5A+, blinding success*
Written by *Techjunkie* on 02-16-2011 10:07 PM GMT

I gave #2 and #5 (the two on the right in the pic below) the two-mode treatment, with high mode at 3.4A and 3.8A, respectively (and low modes 500-525mA) to prolong runtime and spare the battery from unnecessary abuse. #3 (2nd on left in pic below) also got the regulator treatment - set it to 3.4A single mode before being gifted with the battery and a charger. Truely one of my favorite lights of all time - a real pocket rocket.




Add 

To fit a regulator stack in the standard 16.7mm PCB area, I stacked a 1050mA 15mm board with edges filed atop a common 2.8A multi-mode regulator board like so:






(on the 3.4A ones, one AMC7135 chip is disabled)

Also, add three more lights to the list...

There's this one using DX 3.5A SST-50 5-mode driver and 2*26650 cells:






build thread here.

There's the one on the right in this pic, using 5-mode PWM driver and IMR16340:






...it used to be modded with an MC-E as described here. Now it's got an XM-L and an SMO reflector. Compared to it's MC-E mate:
















And finally...

My SmallSun ZY-666, formerly direct driving a 4P MC-E from 3 AccuEvolution LSD NiHM C cells. It kept the batteries and upgraded OP reflector with base, but donted it's MC-E to a triple build in the works and got the two-mode XM-L treatment. (High 3.4A, low 500mA):
















Beamshot is identical in every way to the modded 3C RoV light above. Compared to the MC-E in the same reflector, it's much brigther and of course, no hint of donut in the middle of the hotspot. Compared to an MC-E in the 53mm version of the same reflector with base, it's hotspot is still more intense, despite being much larger.


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## Techjunkie (Dec 18, 2010)

Thread reconstructed from Google cache and Deja Vu. Thanks to Tandem!


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