Upgrading My Dinotte XML-3 Light
09-17-19, 11:14 PM
#1
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Upgrading My Dinotte XML-3 Light
Having bought a second XML-3 last year to enjoy a nice bump from 1000 to 2100 lumen over the first one I bought in 2012, I started developing an itch for extra lumens for my helmet light. I recently remembered that Dinotte has a refurbishment program, so I'm sending my old 1000 lumen unit to upgrade it to the latest 2500 lumen internals. It is nice to have that upgrade option rather than relegating an old light to a spare parts drawer, particularly having several high capacity batteries.
10-02-19, 05:44 AM
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Burn-em Upus Icephaltus
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Having bought a second XML-3 last year to enjoy a nice bump from 1000 to 2100 lumen over the first one I bought in 2012, I started developing an itch for extra lumens for my helmet light. I recently remembered that Dinotte has a refurbishment program, so I'm sending my old 1000 lumen unit to upgrade it to the latest 2500 lumen internals. It is nice to have that upgrade option rather than relegating an old light to a spare parts drawer, particularly having several high capacity batteries.
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10-02-19, 08:31 AM
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Cost information: New light with battery $259 New light without battery $169 Upgrade light $75
From having read flashlight forums I know that the most recent CREE LED is the XM-L2. According to the CREE website it has a maximum output of 1198 lumens at 3A current. The 2500 lumen output for the 3 LED XML-3 light shows DiNotte is running them below the maximum and probably for good reason. One is heat dissipation and the other is run time. At 2500 lumens the battery lasts 2.5 hours. I needs a very good heat sink to keep from frying the LEDs.
I tried one of the inexpensive 5 XML-T6 bike lights offered by Banggood for under $40 including battery and charger. It was very bright, certainly equal to this 2500 lumens but the run time wasn't very impressive. Even running it onfour of the best available 18650 batteries (NCR/Panasonic 3,400 mAh) didn't give a very good run time. I decided I didn't need that much light in a suburban atmosphere. Maybe if I was using it off-road in a forest it would be different. The other factor was I hated dealing with a separate battery pack and the wires between the light and battery.
From having read flashlight forums I know that the most recent CREE LED is the XM-L2. According to the CREE website it has a maximum output of 1198 lumens at 3A current. The 2500 lumen output for the 3 LED XML-3 light shows DiNotte is running them below the maximum and probably for good reason. One is heat dissipation and the other is run time. At 2500 lumens the battery lasts 2.5 hours. I needs a very good heat sink to keep from frying the LEDs.
I tried one of the inexpensive 5 XML-T6 bike lights offered by Banggood for under $40 including battery and charger. It was very bright, certainly equal to this 2500 lumens but the run time wasn't very impressive. Even running it onfour of the best available 18650 batteries (NCR/Panasonic 3,400 mAh) didn't give a very good run time. I decided I didn't need that much light in a suburban atmosphere. Maybe if I was using it off-road in a forest it would be different. The other factor was I hated dealing with a separate battery pack and the wires between the light and battery.
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