New Sofirn K6 – [NO LONGER ACTIVE]

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.

The problem with more than one size parabola (like when you want a larger centre reflector) is that the depth of the cupus are not the same (the centre one will be deeper).
I think Sofirn wants to use one single LED board for the multiple LEDs.

Then why not buy the Haikelight ?

I want to repeat the benefits of 8 LEDs.
You can split it into 2×4 or 4×2, which is better when you have a sense resistor before the FET.
(again, i’m no expert at this, but i think it’s a valid point)
The Voltage drop over the sense resistor will be significant with 7 or 8 LEDs in parallel on 1 single FET.
But maybe that’s just a matter of making the sense resistor 7 or 8 times smaller, but when you satrt out with 0.01 Ohm, you’ll end up with something like 0.00115 Ohm, which is possibly lower than the PCB traces and / or LED wires…

In Jeromel’s example, the center LED will actually be the floodiest, as it will have most of the sides cut out, thus making it the shallower reflector pit. For the center LED to be throwier the center pit would ideally be deeper and not have the sides cut. At that point I start thinking it will look weird.

So far I think I like the idea of TIR optics best, non-intersected reflectors second.

As for number of emitters, we have to remember it is also a matter of price, and the number 6 might have been reached as a production cost limit. If not, well, than I’m all up for a K7 instead of a K6. K8 will sound weird for a product name, and K9, just don’t go there

I have a similar thing in my mind a few months now. But I will build thewhole flashlight for me. My idea is because I have 13 pcs 12V Luxeon MX Leds free from a friend to put them in a ring shape with OP S2+ reflectors and in the center I will use an L6 SMO reflector with XHP35 HI and I will be able to control them separately. 14 leds all and each put out about 2500 lumens :smiling_imp:

So many interesting ideas and I’m learning a lot about design and optics through the contributions.

I mentioned it before, but I wonder what Sofirn’s goal is for this particular light. Is it to compete with the BLF Q8 and ride the wave of its popularity? Is it going up against the Astrolux MF01 and learn from the mistakes it had? Is it an alternative to another 4x18650 light at a less expensive price point? I’m not in a hurry for an answer and maybe there’s no answer as of yet, but with all of the feedback in the Q8, MF01 and Haikelight threads, hopefully they can learn from the mistakes and produce another worthy light for us to buy. I’m hopefully optimistic based on the other Sofirn light I have.

Deal with the heat, have a nice and current UI (ramping?), make sure the switch works well and come in at a nice price and you’ll bound to be a winner.