Talk about future projects and donation topic

It just might be impossible to make those things look cool. :person_facepalming:

Super handy though. I love my Zebralight headlamp.

Heck yea!! i’ll take 3 or 4 of those 3xAA lights…maybe mor, make great gifts too.

I’m not sure it would be cheap, I can imagine it being 30 dollar, structurally it is not unlike the Q8, 4 high power leds, and a battery tube for 3 cells (bored out for 3 cells with a rotating tailboard, my preference, or with battery carrier). One advantage: with 1A per led a DTP board is not needed.

1+ on the BLF headlamp but I’m guessing that Zebralight headlamp of yours is one of those tiny ones that don’t have big heatsink or cooling fins?
Btw there are plenty of those small ones.
The ones that doesn’t exist (what I know of) is a good big headlamp with a battery compartment at the back.

Mike C was looking for a good headlamp host in This thread.
I been searching too but I just ended up disappointed.

Quote for me in that thread.

Edit: 1+ on djozz 4 emitters 3xAAA light.

You joke, but we are not far from that. Current drone tech is there, just need work on the AI side.

Has BLF ever produced a small 10440 light? I know that I would be interested in a nice little 10440 light with a high cri led with ramping UI.

I like this idea. Is there an advantage to using a battery carrier over a drop in battery tube? I personally favor the simplicity and easier in the field battery swap of the battery tube.

Most people prefer a thicker light than a super long one.
When you need the cells in series, a battery carrier is the simplest and cheapest option compared to having a special rotating PCB and alignment pins.

The other options is to have all the cells in parallel and use a boost driver, but those are harder to make, rarer, and often less efficient than buck or DD.

I’d buy one, maybe even several. They’d make great gifts!

:+1: YES! Me too

Ehm……am I the only one longing and drooling for a BLF Q16 monster output light?

Cheers
Nico

I like the idea of the Q16, but with 4 xhp70.2 in it instead of 4 xhp35.

I put a xhp70 in a C8 sized OP reflector and really like the beam. It’s a bit throwy, but has great spill.

Puting the 70.2 in the SMO reflector of the Q8 should work well.

Currently you can get 10k lumen from the Q8 with SST40 emitters. We should aim higher than that even though we use the same 4 18650 cells. Maybe go for 5 amp each emitter at 4k lumen. That’s 20 amps at 6 volt (very doable) and 16k lumen.

That’s my kind of light, not 4 xhp35.

I would be in for sure! As long as we design in good heat management (like the Q8) so we can run on high for a while I would love to have this light. I love the 26,000 lumen from my Acebeam X45vn, but even though it was 15 degrees F. last night I had to shut it down after 2 minutes. That is a little frustrating.

Has BLF ever built a single 26650 light” My all time favorite out with the dog/trail hiking/general use light is my Supbeam K40Mvn. It has a super wide beam that transitions nicely into a very usable spill with a nice MTG2 tint.

I would love to have a nice single 26650 or double 26350 light with a beam profile like the K40m. I would not expect it to give me 3,200 lumen and 90k lux, just have a similar beam and I would be thrilled. Maybe similar in size to the Manker U21.

I am a big fan of single 26650 lights. They are a nice comfortable size to hold and carry in a pocket and the new 5500mA Shockli is getting close to two 18650’s. And when I need even more run time I carry an extra cell in a pocket. That is the great thing about a single cell light; it is so easy to quickly change cells in the field. Even in the dark! That is actually my pet peave with the K40m, battery carriers are so much more difficult to fumble with in the field.

I’ve always preferred 18650’s, but you make a convincing argument.

I always preferred 18650s too, but this review is changing my mind: Test/review of Shockli IMR26650 5500mAh (Black) 2017

I’ve read some of the postings from TA about automotive headlight leds. The problem with most aftermarket upgrades in lighting is that they usually are downgrades. Either they emit less light or they don’t collimate the beam into a shape that doesn’t blind oncoming drivers. But some of the newer Philips leds headlight leds have tiny leds that form a pointsource akin to a halogen’s filament. While a separate LED forms the lowbeam and uses a shield to keep from blinding oncoming traffic.

But, in my opinion, all of these lights still could use improvements. Improvements in brightness, cooling, maybe even drivers that allow for smoother transitions from low and and high beams. I think many bulbs use the same capsule but with different bases, so it would be good to have something that would work with many models of cars or trucks. I think a proper set of BLF engineered and tested headlights would be awesome.

I really doubt blf will venture into the car headlight market.

I’ve done successful upgrades on 9007 and H4 lights. I have a thread here on it.

There is one family of lights that’s really getting on my nerves.
Zebralights.
These have:

  • great quality
  • small size
  • top sustained output for the size
  • top runtime for the size
  • low max output
  • poor ui
  • high price

They are pretty much the only ones in that niche with DQG beating them on size and losing on most other features.
It was said before that Emisar lights are somewhat close. I don’t agree.
D4 is bigger, heavier, floodier yet has much lower sustained output.
D1 is much bigger, heavier and has much lower sustained output.
Some will probably point at FW3A, but it is bigger, floodier and has much lower sustained output too.

I long wondered what would it take to make a good Zebra-beating light and now it seems that all the pieces may be in place.
So I propose the following:

  • 2 emitter choices, XHP35 HI and XHP50.2
  • Schoki’s driver for 2000+ lm with XHP35 and 3500+ with XHP50.2, though that’s just turbo. The latter should easily do 1000+ until battery is empty. The former may be able to do it too.
  • side e-switch
  • 18350/18500/18650 battery tubes

For bonus points (and size reduction) it may be possible to use modern non-dtp MCPCBs and put some driver components on the LED board. Like Zebra, but better. :wink:

Overall, such light wouldn’t have low price, no chance of battling Emisar in this regard. But would offer qualities not available anywhere.

I don’t mind the Zebralight UI, especially after using it for a bit. It works, but it’s not nearly as cool or flexible as ramping.

I physically feel the heft and quality of its manufacture, but after owning an Emisar D4, I don’t know if I’d spend the money for a Zebralight today. I seriously doubt it.

I like the multi-thousand lumen capability of the newer lights, but I wonder if it’s really necessary (HERESY!!!). I’m careful with my lights but accidents happen, burns occur and things get melted with the high power. I use the turbo on my D4 only sparingly and mostly for showing off.

Don’t know where I’m going with this but it’s there for anyone’s consideration.