I have an old surefire with an upgraded drop in lamp I got quite a while ago. I've used it for years and have recently noticed discoloration in the light emitted. I also then noticed what appears to be a small burn mark on the actual LED diode.

I can get pics up sometime later tonight if anybody is interested.

Thanks for any info or related discussion.





You can clearly see that the diode is cooked lol. The lamp has no markings or numbers of any kind. It was only like a 300 lumen lamp but that was quite bright back when I origionally bought it. The lamp was being used in a Surefire P6 btw

You can.  Usually if they get too hot they turn blue-ish in color as it burns off the phosphorus (maybe?  I don't know exactly what they are coated with).  If they get too much voltage they will just die.  Odds are, yours got a little cooked in some way.  But heck, run it till it dies then put in a new drop in.  They aren't that much money and if it is older, upgrading to a more recently made drop in will be a huge improvement in output.

Yeah I figured that. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new lamp then....or trying to dig out the original for now.

I'd love to see your pics.

Usually an LED is heat damaged when driven at a high level for extended periods(like turned on accidentally in a backpack) , or when the LED has insufficient heatsinking. It would be interesting to see what your dropin looks like. Do you have any idea what amperage the LED is being driven at?

I'll get pics up.

I'm not sure about the lamp specs anymore. It was one I got from TNVC like 5 years ago. I'll pull out the lamp and get pics of it also.

This light/lamp had been being used extensively for the last 5 years as a night patrol duty light. So it's seen it fair share of use. I should have taken a pic of the beat to shit surefire light itself lol

That looks like an old XR-E emitter.  You will be doing yourself a huge favor upgrading to a drop-in with an XP-G2 emitter.  They are worlds ahead of the XR-E's as far as output.  Shell out a few bills on a new one and you will be doing good.

Wow, that's definitely not supposed to happen. If you can get a picture from the back where the smaller center spring is attached we might be able to determine the driver used and what current it was being run at -I'm guessing its probably above the 1 amp maximum that XR-E was rated for. You might also unscrew the reflector and see if the MCPCB the LED is attached to is actually making good contact with the brass pill - there should be some sort of thermal adhesive holding the board down so that it can actually move heat away from the diode.

If it's the one TVNC sells, it's an XRE @ 750 or 1000ma( i forgot which). I haven't seen the driver personally, just remember it being discussed here before.

Is your dropin single mode, and is that what you want? Would you rather have a small hotspot like you have now, or a larger hotspot with more spill?

If need be, I or someone else could easily put one together to your specs. Are you running 2 cr123s in your light?

Yes I'm using 2 cr123s. Usually surefire or battery station brand.

You guys are speaking Chinese to me about all this lol.

I'll break the lamp down later today and get more pics of everything.

I prefer a nice sold beam on light rather than a wide spill. I do lots of large building searching and like to be able to project light down long hallways and see stuff at a distance.

My Surfire 6P body and head still works fine it's just nicely worn lol. I would like to probably just buy a new drop in lamp. Any good recommendations?

Eta- yeah this current lamp is single mode. I prefer single mode. I have a small streamlight single AAA pocket light that I use for small tasks. The surefire is my main heavy duty light ...and of course I have my weapon light(TLR1 HL) for when it's getting serious.

here's a couple options for single output, 6v capable dropins.

Cree xpg: http://www.lighthound.com/Solar-Force-LC-XPG-Cree-R5-Single-Mode-Drop-In_p_3610.html

Cree XPL: http://www.lighthound.com/Solar-Force-Cree-LC-XML2-V3-Drop-In-27--9-Volts--Single-Mode_p_4412.html (This is one of Cree's newest LEDs)

Just make sure the dropin you get is rated for 6 volts, not just 4.2 as some are. You CAN run 2 cr123's on a 4.2 volt rated dropin for a little while but the driver is shedding a good amount of current, which produces plenty of unwanted heat.

The other good thing about these dropins is the ability to run rechargeables; RCR123s (16340s) which are 4.2volts each, or primary 123s, which are 3 volts apiece.

Your old XR-E LED (before it turned crispy,) was probably putting out between 160-200 lumens, a new XP-G2 dropin will put out between 260-325 lumens at the same current. For a reliable and quality drop-in my go to is always Malkoff, you get a nicely machined hefty brass body that helps with heat sinking, the electronics are all potted to protect them from shock, recoil, etc. and its made here in the US.

+1.  

You can buy cheaper Chinese dropins which work ok, but they are not something I would bet my life on.  The Malkoff Dropins are about the best out there.

Will these drop ins not cook themselves if used for a while?

I need something that could last a while. Think of searching a huge very dark building. I sometimes use my light for hours at a time. Is there anything that you guys know of that would be good for that?

I have read reviews on here about the Malkoff(not sure if spelled right). I'll look into these.

An LED that is not over driven and that is given adequate heat sinking should run for tens of thousands of hours (between three to four years actually,) which is one of the reasons Malkoff gives a lifetime warranty on their products. There are a number of simple steps and upgrades manufacturers can take to improve the heat sinking of their drop-ins so you should be wary of the super cheap drop-ins which will likely suffer from relatively high thermal resistance.  

No matter what drop-in you choose there are steps you can take to improve heat sinking. First off -do not put the drop-in into a polymer flashlight, Nitrolon and plastic are relatively poor conductors and will almost serve to insulate the LED reducing both efficiency and lifetime. Second, ensure a good thermal path between the drop-in and the body of the light -you've got an extra five ounces or so of aluminum just sitting there so why not put it to work dissipating some heat? Wrapping the drop-in with copper tape or aluminum foil until it fits snugly in the light works wonders, you can also use a cut up a soda can- just use steel wool or fine sand paper to remove the epoxy resin coating.

Malkoff is the answer without getting into custom triple/quad LED units.

What old Surefire is this used in ? If its Nitrolon (G series) you may have a heat issue with long runtimes

In a surefire 6P. It's all metal.