?
I was running my light on turbo this morning and noticed that instead of gradually stepping down as normal, it blinked three times then stepped down quite a bit. I check battery V and it was reading 3.3 on an 18650GA.
Does anyone know what that means? It wasn’t running very hot at the time of blinking. I am guessing that it’s not able to get the juice it needs but would like someone to confirm.
The GA is a good high capacity cell but can’t deliver maximum current’s like some others. It probably got low enough that it sagged below that 3.3V when you hit Turbo… by the time you got it out and checked it , all appeared well.
I’ve had flashlights that pull over 20A from a single cell before this one, I’ve run down a cell intentionally and then checked it at several points after the fact…. it’s amazing how much they bounce back when given a bit of rest! Hit em with load again though, and the fall is even faster than before, a lot faster! But if you’re trying to completely discharge a cell to hit LVP, it’s pretty tough to get the light to shut down. Takes much longer than I would have thought.
I have one more interpretation of my D4 and I’ll be done, but I have to wait for some bits and pieces to get here… :smiling_imp:
Edit: I should add, when you have tons of mod stuff like I do, especially after buying all Justin’s kit last year, it’s easy to not put a price on the things you already have and not feel bad about a modded light. But when you do something different and have to purchase those bits and pieces, a $40 light gets expensive very rapidly! All the work I’ve already done set aside, the final version will be an $80+ light. (Shhhhh! Not showing the paperwork to the Boss Lady…. )
It means the voltage went below 3.0 V, so it triggered low-voltage protection.
High-capacity cells like the GA tend to have more voltage sag under high load, so they won’t last long on turbo before LVP kicks in. IIRC it’s better at that than a NCR18650A or NCR18650B, but not as good as a 30Q or VTC5/6.
I’m enjoying my light, 25% practical/75% grins and giggles. A run of 20700 tubes with a little more metal than bored out tubes might be a nice addition. As is the tube and battery are half the heat sink.
How do you fit a 20700 in the D4?
Will the upcoming Tesla cell be 21700 or 20700 btw? Have they decided yet?
Still waiting for my two green D4s… I started a bad habit, collecting flashlights in pairs.
Twice the cost but “two is one and one is none” or something like that.
There is a new 21700 out, by Sanyo I believe it was, but constant current is low at under 5A.
I bored the tube on my D4 with a lathe. 4523 lumens is pretty ridiculous in this small light, I’m waiting for my short tube to arrive with some different emitters and I’ll be stepping it down to the 18350 and more reasonable current draw/output numbers.
It was all an experiment to see where the max was… it’s kinda what I do.