Lumintop Tool AA - Quickie

Despite being confirmed, already:

LOW > MID > HIGH

Nice review, and thanks for the code!

thanks! very nice work capturing the PWM… I have added the Tool AA to the
List of Lights with PWM (and Constant Current lights with PWM like pulses, such as Zebralight)

MascaratumB, how is the PWM comparred to the Sofirn SF12 and SF10? I find the SF12 to be very slow and very bad (even audible). Lumintop doesn’t seem bad as I have never read anything really bad about it, but I’d like to know if they are close or the Lumintop is far better

Hum, can’t compare them until Monday as I don’t have the SF10 with me!
I can tell you that the LT Tool AA can be heard (at least with Sanyo 14500) on Low and Medium, if you put the hear reaaaally close to the head of the light! But can’t make the comparison bewteen those now, I’m sorry :frowning:

In a while I will post some comparisons with the Tool AA and the SF14 on the thread DOUBLE 1 AND ½ "REVIEW": Sofirn SP10A and Sofirn SF14 *[added night / distance shots].
PWM, night shots, distances…

EDIT : Posted DOUBLE 1 AND ½ "REVIEW": Sofirn SP10A and Sofirn SF14 *[added night / distance shots] - #19 by MascaratumB .
SF14, despite having PWM, is not audible. LT Tool AA, it is! SF10, as far as I remember, it is too, and PWM is slower, you’re right Persechini!

Yesterday and today I’m noticing my Tool AA is flickering on Low mode (other modes have no flicker)! It is not the “lines” of PWM, but real flickering of the light!

This is happening in 1 of my 14500 cells. I put another used 14500 battery and the effect disappeared, and also on a AA alkaline there was not flicker at all!

I don’t know (and can’t confirm today) if it is due to drop in battery voltage (the battery is unprotected and the Tool AA has no LVP).

I wonder if on a protected 14500 this would happen, or if it can have something to do with LVP.

And I wonder if there is anyone else with this kind of issue, under the same circumstances!
:+1:

I was asking a similar question a few posts ago.
It’s starting to look like Tool-AA should be used only with protected 14500. (or eneloop AA, or alkaline AA)

A-MAC, I hope you don’t mind if I post here some things on the Lumintop Tool AA :wink:

So, after my post yesterday, I made some experiences with the Tool AA!
As I mentioned, with a 14500 cell (Sanyo, unprotected), it was flickering on Low (not PWM, really flickering), but not on Medium nor on High. Also, those modes were not lower in brightness than usual.

By suggestion of jon_slider, today I measured the battery Voltage level and for my surprise I found that it is on 3.91V :open_mouth:
So, this is not a drained or depleted battery.

I also used it with other 2 Li-Ion (unprotected) batteries, one with 3.80V and another with 4.06V. It didn’t flicker with none of those 2 batteries. Also, it didn’t flicker with an AA alkaline nor with an AA Ni-MH battery I used.

I tried all the 5 batteries with the tail switch and with the magnetic tailcap, and it only flickered on that specific battery (so far). So, I’m getting a bit intrigued and don’t know what to think :person_facepalming:

Can it be something related to the battery and not with the flashlight itself?
Or can it be something related to the specific Voltage level (3.9V) that makes that flickering?

@ delusional: with this kind of situation, I’m not even sure anymore if being protected and unprotected has importance on these situations. Maybe it has on draining and protection, but flickerings and other behaviours…I ain’t sure…

In any case, I will use another battery on it to see how it performs (if it flickers again) and also because that flickering annoys me a bit. :rage:

Another thing I noticed was that using the magnetic tailcap (instead of the tail switch) increased the audible noise on Low and Medium modes (due to PWM), on 14500 and Ni-MH cells. On AA Alkaline, the noise is lower than on the other cells!

Just wanted to share what I’m having here and try to see how the ones from other members are performing! :+1:

No sir, not at all. More information is great. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks A-MAC :wink:

BTW, answering Persechini:

Here are some pictures from the Sofirn SF10 (Medium) > Lumintop Tool AA (Medium) > Sofirn SF14 (Medium).
Just to remember: Sofirn SF10 = PWM on ML, L, M modes; Tool AA = PWM on L and M; Sofirn SF14 = no PWM

Hope this answers your question :wink:

Thanks, it doesn’t look as bad as the SF10 driver

I want to do a driver swap on mine, I was hoping to find a FET 15mm for a good price but MTN charges 13$ even for a 2g part :frowning:

Whaaaa? 13$ ? Oh boy, I wanted to order some drivers and other things, but if the shipping prices rise according to the weight of the package…I may not be able to afford that!
I wanted to try one of their drivers on the Sofirn SF10 host, maybe with Crescendo firmware installed. Gotta see those prices, though…

Meanwhile, I took a photo of the Tool AA emitter and it was the firs time I saw this:

Can somebody please explain me what is/may be this on the plate and what does it serve for?
Thanks in advance :+1:

Thermistor?

A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is dependent on temperature

Thanks for the answer :slight_smile:

Hum, sorry for bringing back this thread, but I’ve been thinking to make a driver swap on my Tool AA, but I was hoping to leave the emitter as it is now (just unsoldering/soldering the wires).

I have one doubt, though! The “thermistor” it has on the emitter, can it provoke any kind of malfunctioning with the new driver? Is it supposed to work only with the stock driver?

Sorry, but my knowledge on this is at “zero level” so any input is welcome!!
Thanks in advance!!

I also wanted to know if anyone swap the driver for this yet?

I want to put FET 15mm dive in it but will not order on MTN just for this item (15$ shipping…)
When I’ll do it, I’ll post it here.
This AA Tool has great potential as a host :slight_smile:

I have one of those 15mm drivers (with Crescendo installed) on the way from MTN, and I may end up using it in this host!
As the original tint is not that good, I may swap the emitter too and put an XPL-HI U6-3A on this.
It should work nicely with the SMO reflector it has :sunglasses:

Please let us know if it works with this host. Maybe upgrading the mcpcb to copper as well?

I have XPL 3D on mine at the moment and don’t mind a little more output.