A Leslie Wong Blog

I got a nice Black Friday deal on a JETBeam RRT-0 flashlight
from the people at LightJunction.com. I read bondr006’s great review on Candlepowerforums and it looked like a really nice little light. The main feature of the JETBeam RRT series is the ability to adjust the brightness to different levels by turning the Rapid Response Control Ring at the base of the head.

The RRT-0 is also versatile because it can use 3.0V CR123 primary batteries, 16340 3.7V rechargeable Lithium batteries, 1.5V AA primary batteries, 1.2V AA rechargeable batteries and 14500 rechargeable Lithium batteries. The latter three require the AA extender, which adds a little more than a .6 inch (16 mm) to the 3.8 inches (97 mm) length.

I have a JETBeam Jet-I Pro I.B.S. flashlight, which is slightly smaller in size. The RRT-0 is a little larger in diameter because it can take CR123 batteries and a little longer, because of the rotary switch built into the body. I can also set a “lower” low level output on my Jet-I Pro. The RRT-0 also lacks a strobe mode – which I would probably only use if I was lost in the mountains at night needing air rescue. But I could always use the forward clicky switch for signaling.

JETBeam claims an output of 240 lumens. I have not seen independent confirmation of these numbers, but my RRT-0 (with the SMO reflector) certainly looks close to my Malkoff M60 drop-in. In laymen terms, Surefire describes 200 lumens as ten times the light of a big two-D-cell flashlight. For a flashlight this size, the JETBeam RRT-0 puts out a lot of light.

From JETBeam:

Model: RRT-0
Specially designed for Military, Law Enforcement, Self-defense, Hunting, Search & Rescue and Outdoorsman
The Rapid Response Control Ring allows the user to easily select different brightness level
Five levels of brightness to choose
Optional low / lower low mode
Stainless steel rapid response control ring, very reliable and durable
Stainless steel bezels protect the head and tail cap from drops and impacts
Stainless steel crenulated bezel can be used as a glass breaker or defensive tool
CREE R2 LED,
Max output reaches 240 lumens with an effective range of 200 meters
New dual curve reflector specially designed for CREE LED, which allows for better beam quality, efficiency and throw capability
Newly designed high efficiency broad voltage drive circuit
Compatible with both CR123 and RCR123 rechargeable Li-ion batteries
Floating positive end, designed for better contact
Built-in intelligent Li-ion rechargeable batteries protection circuit
Tailstand
Impact-resistant accords with US MIL-STD-810F
IPX 8 standard waterproof

Using AA Battery
High Mode 180 Lumens, 45 min
Daily Mode 50 Lumens, 5 hours
Mid Mode 25 Lumens, 10 hours
Low Mode 10 Lumens, 15 hours
Lower Low Mode 1 Lumen, 80 hours

When I built my Roar of the Pelican, a Maglight 2D flashlight modified to be really bright, I used two cheap 3AA to 1D adapters. I needed 6 AA NiMH batteries to make 7.2 V to power the bi-pin incandescent bulb.

I’d read warnings about some cheap battery adapters not being able to handle the high current, so I bought the beautifully engineered Fivemega 6AA to 2D adapter.

The negative end of the adapter fits inside the spring in the Maglite tail cap. The adapter also has a charging jack that takes a 5 mm coaxial DC power plug, so the pack doesn’t have to be disassembled to charge the batteries. Besides 6AA to 2D adapter, Fivemega makes a 9AA to 3D adapter and 3AA to 1D adapter, among other flashaholic things.

In late 2007, I bought a couple of Ultrafire C2 flashlights. They were nicely made for an inexpensive flashlight and they used Cree XR-E LEDs (P4 bin).

Last fall, I modded one of my C2s with a Seoul Semiconductors Z-Power LED P7. The P7 is a quad die LED. I made it direct drive running off a single Li-Ion 18650 battery. There were mods that could be made for a circuit board to drive the P7 but I was too lazy to make one.

I recently found a 3-Mode Regulated Circuit Board for Cree MC-E and SSC P7 LEDs (SKU 1217) sold by Shiningbeam.com that advertises an output current of 2500 mA on high. It has only three modes: high, medium and low. The 17mm diameter of the board is a direct fit in many pills, including a lot of P60s and the Ultrafire C2. I used one of the boards to improve a DealExtreme P60 MC-E drop-in.

I had another of the Shiningbeam boards and a quad die Cree MC-E LED, so I decided to put them in my other Ultrafire C2.

I soldered the LED to a trimmed down DealExtreme Star Connection and Heatsink for Cree MC-E LED Emitters – Parallel (SKU 16545). I’m not sure why they call it a parallel board, because each die is separately addressable with the connections on the board. I soldered all the anodes together and all the cathodes together, so it would run in parallel.

With a fully charged Li-Ion 2400 mAh battery, I measured the current at a little over 2700 mA through the tailcap. After five minutes, the flashlight was hot, but not so hot that I couldn’t touch it. It also dimmed slightly from initial turn-on but it is still brighter than my P60 MC-E mod.

With a McClicky switch in the tailcap, this is a really nice, bright flashlight now.

I was a little disappointed with my DealExtreme Cree MC-E P60 drop-in (SKU 21037). The specs say that on high, it should be pulling 2800ma and putting out 410 lumens. I measured 1.67A on high with a Li-Ion 18650 battery. But for $23.49 USD, I couldn’t complain too much.

I saw that Shiningbeam.com has a 3-Mode Regulated Circuit Board for Cree MC-E and SSC P7 LEDs (SKU 1217). Their specs say the output current is 2500mA on high. I thought I’d try it as a replacement for the circuit board in my DX drop-in.

It was an easy replacement since the Shiningbeam circuit board diameter is the same 17mm as the DX drop-in board. I am using it in a bored Surefire 6P body with the Surefire 6P bezel and a Solarforce L2-S4 tailcap.

The drop-in was a little loose. I had been using a Malkoff Beryllium-Copper spring washer, but it didn’t work too well this board. I cut one turn of a P60 drop-in spring and it creates a 1mm gap between the bezel and the body, but it works. I also had to put a longer spring on the circuit board because without it, the battery was loose.

After I wired it up, I measured 2.39A on full power with the same battery, so it’s a worthwhile replacement. I don’t have the means to measure the light output except for the current draw but it is much brighter than the stock DX MC-E drop-in – though it still doesn’t look as bright as my direct drive P7 in my Ultrafire C2.

The other nice thing is the Shiningbeam board has Low-Medium-High modes as opposed to the High-Low-Strobe on the stock DX.

The current high lumen output LEDs use multiple chips on a single die. The Seoul Semiconductor Z-Power LED P7 and the Cree XLamp® MC-E LED are two examples that are in popular use by flashlight modders.

I recently bought a DealExtreme Cree MC-E LED 3-Mode Drop-in Module ($23.49 USD) for my Surefire 6P flashlight (the 6P body is bored to work with a single 18650 battery).

The DealExtreme P60 size drop-in works with 2.7V~4.2V – a single Li-Ion 18650 battery, single RCR123A battery or CR123A battery. There is also a not too low level mode and annoying strobe mode. In the Surefire 6P host (about 5.2″ long – 13.2 cm), the DealExtreme Cree MC-E drop-in is an extremely bright flashlight in a small package. There is an extensive list of similar sized flashlights that use P60 size drop-ins in this Candlepowerforums.com thread.

DealExtreme seems optimistic in their description of the MC-E drop-in brightness as 410 lumens. It has more flood and less of a hot spot than the Malkoff M30. For comparison, my Malkoff Devices M30 output is rated at a realistic 235 lumens. My SSC P7 mod, inspired by jirik_cz, gives me the feeling that I am seeing everything. If not for the $125 USD cost, I would be all over the Malkoff M60 MC-E.

In my flickr set below, there are beamshots comparing the Cree MC-E, Cree XR-E and SSC P7. I centered the beam of each light on the scrawny tree against the fence. This flickr slide show has larger versions of the images below and more clearly show the differences in the beams.

I recently bought a Solarforce L2m flashlight host (head assembly, battery tube and tail switch assembly). The L2m is only 4.5″ long (~115 mm).

The head assembly is designed for a Surefire P60-sized drop-in. Fizz753 over at Candlepowerforums.com has compiled a very complete and up-to-date list of LED drop-ins.

I used one of my modded Cree XR-E (Q5 bin) LED drop-ins with a DealExtreme 16-Mode 3W 3.7V 7135 Circuit Board (SKU 7612) stuck in it.

Power is provided by a single protected Li-Ion RCR123A 3.7V battery. This 16340 size battery gives about 30 minutes on full with the 7612 board. I haven’t measured the current out of the board, but the specs say 1000 ma, so the output, according to Cree (Cree® XLamp® XR-E LED Data Sheet – PDF), is probably about 180-200 lm.

The next mod I made was replacing the reverse clicky switch with a McClicky switch. The last thing I’ll probably do is replace the crenelated ring on the head with a plain one.

When I bought my first SureFire 6P flashlight, I found that the Malkoff M60 was one of the best P60 LED drop-ins.

I like the beam profile produced by the optic in the Malkoff M60, a hot spot with useful spill. The disadvantage of the Malkoff M60 – for me – is its single mode. I do not need 100% brightness all the time – lower levels of light are sometimes more useful.

One of my favorite flashlight mods is using the DealExtreme 16-Mode 3W 3.7V 7135 Circuit Board for Cree and SSC Emitters (SKU 7612). I like this circuit board because one of the groups has only low-mid-high, with no strobe. I’ve modded my Lumapower D-Mini, an Ultrafire C2 and a few P60 drop-ins with this board.

The modes are in three groups:

1. Low (10%) – Mid (35%) – High (100%) – Strobe – SOS
2. Low (10%) – Mid (35%) – High (100%)
3. Low (10%) – Mid (35%) – High (100%) – Special Police Type Strobe – Slow Strobe (3Hz) – Super Slow Strobe (1Hz) – SOS

I recently bought a Surefire 6P flashlight body that was bored to accept a larger diameter 18650 battery. I thought the DX 7612 would be a good mod for a Malkoff M60. The main problem was getting up the nerve to try to mod the Malkoff M60 because of the possibly destroying a $55 drop-in, but I decided to try it.

The sealing material used around the circuit board and LED in the M60 is called potting. The rear of the drop-in is sealed with this material. I thought it would be a hard material but I found the it was actually soft and rubbery. I used a jeweler’s screwdriver as a chisel to start removing it. As I got close to the circuit board, I used a little lacquer thinner to soften the black sealing material. When I removed all the potting from the top of the board, I used some more lacquer thinner to soften the material in the gaps in the side. After removing the solder, I was able to pry up the circuit board and remove it.

The diameter of the DX 7612 board is about 17mm. The Malkoff had about 16.5mm diameter space for the board, so I used a Dremel sanding band to reduce the diameter of the 7612.

As I disassembled the Malkoff, the robust design was easy to see. When I desoldered the Malkoff circuit board from the housing, I could tell from the way it retained the heat (because of its mass), how well it would work as a heat sink inside the flashlight body.

With the DX 7612 on high and an 18650 battery, the modded Malkoff output looks pretty much the same as the stock Malkoff M60 on high with two RCR123s. I haven’t taken any measurements, but the specs for the 7612 says it puts out 1000ma @ 3.7v, and since I didn’t move the LED or the optic, it seems like my modded Malkoff M60 is just like the stock one but with different levels.

My favorite flashlight is my JETBeam JET-I PRO I.B.S. As I wrote in this post, “The push button tail cap switch is a “reverse” click type, i.e., the switch will make or break contact after it clicks. I prefer the “tactical” or forward click switch – a forward click switch will allow a half press of the switch to turn on a flashlight.”

I wasn’t able to find a forward click switch until I saw that BatteryJunction.com had a Forward Tactical Click Upgrade Switch For LumaPower M1-XRE, LM31, LM33, LM301, LM303 on sale for $7.50 USD.

The contact spring on the LumaPower switch was a little too long, so I soldered on a shorter one. The switch’s circuit board was a snug press fit over the threads in the JETBeam tail cap. Switching modes now only requires a half press.

My latest flashlight is the JETBeam Jet-I Pro I.B.S. V1. It uses a single AA size battery to power a Cree XR-E 7090 LED (Q5 bin). The JETBeam Jet-I Pro I.B.S. came with a lanyard, removable clip, spare tail cap, two spare o-rings and a warranty card.

BugOutGearUSA.com, where I purchased my Jet-I Pro I.B.S. for $64.95 USD, now lists a Jet-I Pro I.B.S. 2.0. From what I’ve read, the 2.0 is only cosmetically different.

According to JETBeam specs, the lens is sapphire crystal and the body is T6061 T6 aluminum with a type III hard anodized finish. The dimensions: Bezel diameter – 25mm, Tail diameter – 19mm, Overall length – 100mm, while the weight is 50g.

The push button tail cap switch is a “reverse” click type, i.e., the switch will make or break contact after it clicks. I prefer the “tactical” or forward click switch – a forward click switch will allow a half press of the switch to turn on a flashlight.

I tried fitting two forward click switches – one that I removed from my LumaPower D-Mini Digital and a McClicky switch. Neither fit. Unable to find a forward click switch, I settled for replacing the black tail cap with a glow-in-the-dark silicone tail cap.

Because the Jet-I Pro flashlight will accept an input voltage of up to 4.2V, it can use a rechargeable 3.7V 14500 Lithium battery. The Lithium battery gives a not insignificant 100 more lumens when compared to a 1.5V Alkaline AA battery or a 1.2V rechargeable NiMH.

The main attraction of the Jet-I Pro is the I.B.S. (Infinite Brightness Setting) technology. The I.B.S. circuit allows for three operating modes, A, B and C, each of which can be set at any output of ~2 to 225 lumens. Any mode can also be set to one of five strobe modes including 1Hz to 15Hz, warning signal, standby (flash once every 8 seconds), 100% SOS and 5% SOS.

When reading about programming the flashlight, it seems complicated. In practice, it’s relatively simple. BugOutGearUSA.com has a page with the Jetbeam I.B.S. User Interface Instructions.

Output & Runtime (from JETBeam):

AA Battery
Max Output: 130 Lumens, lasting for one hour;
High Output (Default Mode A): 110 Lumens, lasting for 75 min;
Low Output (Default Mode B): 20 Lumens, lasting for 3.5 hours;
Minimum Output: 2 Lumens, lasting for 45 hours;

Rechargeable lithium Battery
Max output: 225 lumens, lasting for half an hour;
High output (Default Mode A) 180 lumens, lasting for 45 min;
Low output (Default Mode B) 20 lumens, lasting for 8 hours;
Minimum Output: 2 lumens, lasting for 50 hours;

Compared to my modded LumaPower D-Mini Digital (Cree Q5, DX 7612, single RCR123 and McClicky) the Jet-I Pro wasn’t as bright. But the D-Mini’s reflector is smooth, is deeper and 50% larger in diameter. The JETBeam Jet-I Pro I.B.S. is a great flashlight for its size and versatility.