New Sofirn K6 – [NO LONGER ACTIVE]

Comments and questions added :wink:

NOTE

To the members that have already posted and that may post from now on, please do not update your previous posts if I already added the given suggestions.
You can “quote” yourselves on a new post and add the information there!

Or, if you want to update/edit the posts, please make a “EDIT” note so that I can easily spot what you’ve written recently!!

The only posts I wanted to be continuously updated/edited are posts #1 , #2 and #3, where emerging information is being added from the member’s posts or from other relevant things for the discussion/organization!

Sorry folks, but it is better for me to follow your suggestions this way! I hope you understand! :blush:
Thank you :nerd_face:

Let me show you why i think 7 is best:

It uses almost all of the front surface, without dramatic cutting of the cups.
So no dramatic petals in the spill and decent throw.

(Yeah, i photoshopped it myself, couldn’t find a suitable picture…)

The difficulty with XHP LEDs is the voltage.
You’ll need expensive buck or boost drivers.
The .2 versions of these LEDs have some serious tint shift issues in aluminium reflectors.
You need more complicated battery contact boards too.

I don’t know what Sofirn wants to make, but it looks like a simple 1S4P battery set up, they’re thinking of 6 LEDs.
So why not 7? :slight_smile:
Either way, you don’t have to have a buck or boost driver to drive multiple LEDs in parallel.

I do hope they will choose a current limited FET driver though.

But this light would be awesome with 219C, but the beam pattern and tint shift problems would be better with TIR optics.
If they want to go for BIG output, they should use the new Luxeon V LEDs, have them run on 4.5 Amperes each, which means 31.5 Amperes in total, divided by 4 batteries is 7.875 (let’s say 8) Amperes per 18650.
Shouldn’t be a problem. :slight_smile:

Luxeon V is quite good in regular aluminum reflectors.
And with their low Vf (forward voltage) you can run them current regulated for a good part of the battery charge, unlike with FET DD drivers (which is why i don’t like DD drivers, they’re actually not even drivers…)

understand this:
FET DD driver lights usually have high Vf LEDs like XP-L and XP-G2, because they don’t draw too much current on a freshly charged cell.
Batteries and low Vf LEDs can get into trouble with DD drivers, unless you use lossy springs and thin wires, which is just a lame solution.

I don’t know if Sofirn is into driver design, but it’s only a few more parts from and FET DD driver to a FET regulated driver.
Probably they want a LED board with all LEDs in parallel config, only need two fat wires (16 or 18 AWG should do).
But i’m no driver expert either…

With 7x Luxeon V it is quite possible to reach 14000 Lumen (before optics) on freshly charged (high drain!) cells.

Here’s a good example. DQG Tiny 26650. Even though it’s TIR

Thanks.
But the DQG leaves a lot of space unused.

I should have looked harder though :person_facepalming:

That’s from Sofirn store on AliExpress…
So they have the reflector already. :+1:
The one with 8 LEDs looks well spaced too.
You could run LEDs in pairs or fours with that.

With 8x Luxeon V it’s easy to get 8000 lumen, regulated for the most part of the battery charge.
Turbo could be 16000 lumen. :stuck_out_tongue:

Hmmm… Quite nice i.m.o.

(searched for “8T6”)

why not what looks like the acebeam x80 configuration?
Look at Acebeam X80 25,000 Lumen Flashlight Review - YouTube
Created by scannerguy1968

There’s not much left of the reflector cups, and with those big LEDs, it’s flood only.
But if that’s what you want, sure.

I also vote for 7 as most efficient reflector or TIR lens usage. Then don’t need to push every led so hard and they can work more efficient.

And I think battery carrier is better than fixed tube because it is easier to mod 2S2P and replace the leds with 6V ones

Thank you Sofirn for the opportunity to make suggestions.

The BLF Q8 UI is too complex. Three weeks with the Q8 and I still need to refer to the documentation. I’m about ready to reflash a cut down version of the firmware.

The K6 is a better balance between complexity and flexibility. I especially like the side switch battery indicator. The lack of strobes is another plus.

I’d like to see a 90+ CRI 4500K option.

Batteries should be 18650 or 26650. I don’t want to invest in another battery size.

4x 18650 is a bit too fat. How about 2 x 26650 in parallel? An oval cylinder battery tube might be easier to hold.

Is a single emitter possible? If it is I would prefer a single emitter in a flood pattern.

Hi there and a Happy 2018 for all of you :wink:
Thanks for the suggestions, only today I had the opportunity to update the post #2 with your words! If I missed something important, please let me know. :+1:

There are some things that are “shorter” others that are longer on the suggestions, because it is hard to understand if I cut the text in pieces. So I copy and paste more text!
Tracy Wan and Cissy are probably following this thread, so despite the texts are being “cut” they are able to see what is being said along the thread.

I don’t know (yet) if there is a deadline to give the suggestions. So, feel free to give your contribution here!

Also, please remember this if you want to update your posts :wink:

Next updates, if needed, will probably arrive later today or tomorrow!
Best regards to all! :+1:

Yes, please, for the love of God and all that’s Holy, NO STROBES.

I believe Sofirn got a reel (or more) of XP-L emitters and wants to put 'em to good use. You know, the ones used in their recent C8F. Other emitter types could also be utilized, of course, but I think they'd like XP-L setup for the main breed.

Proposed emitter setup: 7 units, all regular circular reflectors, center plus six surrounding. No reflector bastardization with great use of available area. Sort of what Jerommel said:

I like properly designed regulated drivers, a great driver allows for better product customization. My take is for a boost driver with 7S emitter output voltage window (at least up to 28V) and 3S/4S input voltage, with 4S_18650 and 3S_21700 battery carriers. Driver can be designed to detect battery carrier type and adjust battery input voltage cut-off accordingly: down to ≈11V for 4S and down to ≈8V for 3S, for example.

Since all is in series current losses are minimized, allowing both high efficiency and the possibility to implement a ludicrous beam mode by pumping ≈6A to all XP-L emitters in series. For high bin XP-Ls this would mean 14Kilolumens before stepdown (or fire :-D in the forest).

Cherry on the cake is the ability to (factory) switch emitters with minimum to no driver reconfiguration.

Cheers

Comments added :wink:

If they agree with 7 emitters, please remind them to change the name to K7! :smiley:

Suggestion added :wink:

Let me preface this by saying I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m still working on fully understanding how different LED’s create different patterns of light. That said…

Would it be possible to make a light with Jerommel’s 7 LED configuration and have the center LED be a thrower, and the six surrounding LED’s be floods? Perhaps with independent control of them. Or is this a bad idea given the way lights get used in the real world?

Not knowing much about the issue you asked about, I will not add your question right now, to allow some CONCISE discussion!
If or when a conclusion is reached and there is a “final” thought/answer on this, I will add it on post #2! Is this ok for you Lazy-R-us?
Otherwise, if there is no discussion, I’ll add your question as it is on the mentioned post :wink:

By all means, add my suggestion if and when it makes sense. I’m not too proud to be the guy who asks silly questions - especially if they occasionally turn out to cause interesting discussions that are educational.