New Convoy C8 – Clearly better

One thing to check is whether it still behaves that way without the tailcap on. Like, if you put a wire or something between the rear end of the battery and a non-anodized* part of the host (rear edge of the tube), is it able to forget the mode? If you leave it alone for a full minute, can it forget? In either case, it may be that the driver is discharging too slowly.

Also, you probably know this, but tap during the “buzz”.

Maybe I can get this 8x7135 driver tested today. It has two capacitors for some reason, and I suspect it might discharge slowly, which would make the button press window longer and make no-mem mode take longer to “forget”. (would be nice if the driver hardware would stop changing in unexpected ways)

* The “clear” hosts are actually anodized; they just have silver dye to make them look bare.

It’s really a matter of personal preference. Do you want it more throwy or more floody? I usually get a floody configuration and put DC-Fix on the lens to make it even more floody.

At a guess, the XP-L HI + SMO probably doubles the throw compared to XM-L2 + OP.

*goes off to test*

Okay, I’m getting 5432 cd on a 4x7135 driver with a NCR18650PF at 3.67V. I expect this light would probably get about 11,000 cd on a full battery with 8x7135 driver, or even more with a FET driver.

For comparison…

  • 4 kcd: Convoy S3 XM-L U2 @ 2.8A
  • 5.3 kcd: Convoy S2+ XP-L HI SMO @ 1.4A
  • 8 kcd: BLF A6 @ 5-6A
  • ~11 kcd: Convoy S2+ XP-L HI SMO @ 2.8A
  • ~24 kcd: Dale’s best throw-optimized BLF A6
  • 34.5 kcd: XinTD C8 V4 XM-L2 @ 3.04A
  • ~50 kcd: BLF X6v2 XP-L HI @ 5-6A
  • ~135 kcd: Tom E’s best C8 w/ de-domed XP-G2 @ 6A

So it occupies a solid middle ground between a traditional tube light and a C8. It gets 2-3X as much throw as a normal floody tube light, but moving up to a C8 will likely get you another 2X or 3X improvement.

Throw can be higher in a 18650 tube light, as Dale found, but it’s not easy. He had things totally maxed out with a custom optic. And a C8 can be pimped out quite a bit, but it requires very precise mods and turns into a pencil-thin beam.

So the question is… do you want 4-5 kcd or 11 kcd in your S2+? I think Simon will probably make it available both ways. Bigger numbers here aren’t necessarily better.

[quote=ToyKeeper]

Thanks for pointing out the silver dye. Unfortunately, I easily measure continuity both inside and outside the body, which usually indicates a lack of anodization. (On both Clear C8 and L6)

Well, that’s interesting. I have a clear C8 and clear S2+, and they both act the same as regular anodized lights… easy tailcap lockout by unscrewing a quarter turn, no current through the outer surface, etc. They’re also much harder to scratch than bare aluminum, and have a texture layer like very fine television static.

Click to embignify for great justice:



I used to work earlier on some CNC machine. Those marks are machining marks from the tool running through material.
Like on this picture:

Edit: After machining it can be remove by sandblast the product but this is another step in manufacturing which raise the cost a bit. But on blach convoys it is really hard to find those marks. So maybe only the clear ones skipped at sand blasting.

Exterior finishes all look the same between 1 original Clear L6 (that I gifted at Christmas) 2 new (this month) Clear L6’s, and 2 new Clear C8’s. Obviously some kind of finish. Just getting randon continuity on them. I thought I had lock out at tail cap, until I turned it a little more.

Your post made me wonder about what the ‘silver dye’ is made of.

I recognize the machining marks, but there’s a layer on top of that which acts like anodizing and gives it a sparkly satin texture. It’s not thick enough to completely hide the machine marks, so I’m guessing it’s probably type-II anodizing with a silver-colored dye. I’m not getting any continuity anywhere, except on the parts which normally wouldn’t have ano.

Truly bare aluminum has a different look and feel:

Aaah. Hmm.I need to buy a clear S2+ when available and examine it at work with microscope. Maybe scratch it at a not very visible point.

Maybe Convoy’s clear anodization is electrically conductive?

I don’t think there is a rule that states anodization has to be electrically insulated.

Maybe most are insulated and we just got used to it being that way.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem like a PVD coating. That stuff usually seems extremely smooth, like a mirror finish. Here’s my rainbow PVD Olight S-mini after months of EDC:


We did the same test. :slight_smile:

You must have a really thin or patchy coating on yours. On mine, the only place I could get continuity was directly on the lettering of Convoy’s logo. It looks like the logo printer burned through the coating.

This all started in the convoy l6 thread when it was discovered that the newest Protected Keeppower batteries were fatter and not fitting. I asked if it was a bad idea to hone the inside tube larger. But before I did on one of my 2, I checked and discovered continuity. My black one has no continuity. The latest Clear battery tube has inline “extrusion” markings instead of radial milling marks, as on the inital batches of clear L6’s. It appears some manufacturing changes have been made. The finish still looks perfectly fine, and matches my early clear version, that I gave away before testing. No visual clues as to finish quality.

Edit: The biggest concern is with using protected batteries, and if the wrap is worn or damaged & exposes the positive metal strip running up the side. Yikes!

Thanks ToyKeeper for the reply.

Tried as you suggested and I just can’t activate the “memory off” feature.

If I remember correctly, the first time I turned on the C8, “memory off” is active. I just turned on the memory and I can’t activate it (“memory off”) now.

Hi Lexel, message replied. Thanks & sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Nice pics TK! I did embignify and indeed found great justice. :smiley:

To “clear” up a few things for people…there is no silver dye.

Clear anodizing is literally the absence of any added dye.

What people are seeing as “silver” or a glittery/metalic surface is just light reflection. These hosts are media blasted after the initial CNC machining. This is done to smooth out the surface and soften or hide the machining marks. The media blasting process creates the blasted surface (TV snow) you are seeing and the light reflects off these tiny little craters in the metal. The black anodizing is thicker (HAIII) so you see little or none of these little marks in the finished product. On the clear as well as the lighter colors (red, blue, green) you will also see a bit of this “metallic effect” as those colors are (HAII) as the third coating to bring it to HAIII makes the color very dark.

Simon is doing a run of clear anodized S2+ now that are not going to be media blasted after machining. Those will look much more like the bare aluminum A6 you showed us. :+1: Many people (myself included) have asked for this. Some of us want to see those machining lines. When a light is well machined some of us want to see that craftsmanship not on every light of course. But it’s a nice new look to add to our collections. Depending on how well it turns out more clear ano lights may be skipping the media blasting process in favor of this more “raw” look.

Cheers!

I’ve never hard any reports of this before yours but I will pass this along to Simon. If there is every any concern of quality in any Convoy product please don’t hesitate to contact Simon directly through the Aliexpress store. Simon has expressed to me many times that he wants people to contact him directly any time there is an issue. He will always do his best to make things right.

I actually rather like the bead blast process look, but omitting that step won’t stop me from buying a clear anno light.

As far as the tube surface conductivity goes, I don’t see it as a big issue personally. I just assume all of my tubes are conductive and use my batteries accordingly.

If you have a protected cell with a damaged wrapper DO NOT USE IT regardless of the annodization. The tabs coming from the positive end tend to have sharp edges, and I would think they could scratch through the anno fairly easily if they can rattle inside the tube at all.

Also, don’t use ANY damaged wrapper cells in 2S lights, protected or not. If the top cell closest to the head has a damaged wrapper and touches the inside of the tube it will effectively short the bottom cell once the switch is pressed.

PVC heat shrink is cheap, if you have a damaged wrapper, cut it off and re-wrap with a new one. A little protection now can prevent a potential disaster later.

In a Titanium light or a full copper light, as well as Brass or Stainless Steel lights, there is always continuity. Not a deal breaker just a twist in the game that must be acknowledged and worked with.