[Review] 2018 Convoy L2 Sand (1 / 2 x 26650, XP-L HI) - Outdoor Beamshots Added with OSRAM White Flat 1mm^2

I like the L2 look and function 1s/2s but 2.8 mA for such a big guy in 2018 :person_facepalming:

On the plus side, the light can sustain full regulation and low head temperature for its entire battery life.

Of course, being a flashaholic, there is no way I am keeping it stock - An A17DD-L should be in the way :slight_smile:
I was also going to swap the emitter for a cooler one, though I have started to like the extra warm tint in my throwers!

It seems unlikely that Convoy is using a linear driver with a light that can be converted between 1s and 2s. Especially since they had been using a buck driver.

I just received mine not long ago and it’s my throwiest light by a bit. Mine also clocked in around 900 lumens with my rudimentary tests.
I like the full-size of this thing so I’m gonna try the route of stacking on more sense resistors to reach around 4.5A to the emitter. If that’s not satisfactory then I guess FET it is.

Do you know where the sense resistor is located?
I might try to stack some resistors as well!

Using the “shine flashlight thru a portable fan’s blades” method, I do not detect any PWM on the Convoy L2 (I have the older Silver version) — I think this is one of the few Convoys that do not use PWM for the lower brightness modes (unlike the Convoy S2+/C8 “old firmware” which has relatively slow PWM, or the new firmware Biscotti that also uses faster PWM; or I think even the Convoy L6 uses PWM for its lower modes)

I measured only around 2.4A tailcap current on High mode for my Convoy L2 (I got the warm-white 4500K tint XP-L Hi version) — mine appears a bit low compared to yours…

Perform spring bypasses on both springs and tighten the brass retaining rings.

In most of my reviews I bypass the springs before I take my final current measurements.

The sense resistors should be at the base of the black wire on the driver. This thread should be of use.
HKJ shared this photo:

I ordered a bunch of 0805 0.1R SMD resistors to stack. Stacking another R025 on top seemed to push towards 5.6A and make the driver very hot so we’ll see how far I can go.

I believe I have a dozen of 0805 0.1R resistors laying around from a similar mod I had done in my L6.
I might go the same route as you until my FET driver arrives!

Even though I have used magnets before, it never crossed my mind that Convoy would include them to deal with certain flat top batteries :slight_smile:

Thanks for pointing it out!

The be reason you don’t see PWM is because there’s an inductor in between the switcher transformer and LED. the inductor stores energy in a magnetic field. The inductor dumps stored energy into the circuit when the transistor is off, filtering the power sent to the emitter. PWM is still there, PWM is always there.

It doesn’t make sense (to me) that a linear regulator would be used anywhere near a flashlight. Linear regulators are less efficient and run hotter. Linear regulators are more difficult to control digitally. With a switcher, the processor drives the power mosfet directly. Lower parts count, less heat, longer battery life. What’s not to like?

Thats my $.02.

Cheers

Any idea on the diameter of the tube? Wondering if the liitokala 26650s will fit.

i have liitokala 26650 5000mAh and they fit fine.

Thanks for the explanation!
(though I’m not sure I fully understand it…)

Anyway, so PWM is there but it’s not visible due to the inductor filtering the power sent to the emitter.
Pardon my next question, is this considered “good” or not that good?

Mine arrived today. Build quality of this light is great, I was extremely pleased with. The matte anodizing is very nice and itself provides quite a nice grip aside from the knurling.

Today I went ahead and stacked two R100 resistors on top of the R020 sense resistor.
The current was bumped to 3.5A which is quite convincing, yet nowhere near where I would like it to be :slight_smile:

Aw that is a little low. Is that with bypassed springs also?

Yep that’s with bypasses.
By stacking the resistors I theoretically decreased the resistance by 25% and got 20% of actual current increase.
Keep in mind that the LD25 in my L2 came with an R020 resistor by default, not with an R025 like the LD29s.

My L2 from GB 1 year ago have different driver it should be LD29 but not the same as Jtm94 any idea how to pump the current ?

Should be this one?
!!