The NEW Sofirn C8F Triple XP-L W2 w/side e-switch

What! Are you pulling my leg?

Nope

Cool! I wonder what these bad boys can do in a BLF GT. Just swapped the sense resistor to bump up the output. :smiley:

As I understand it the gains on this one are minimal, I don’t know if it’ll be a good thing here, as in the XP-G3, so I wouldn’t get too excited about it until some testing can be done.

The GT was set to deliver optimal performance from the 35 in High, the double click to Turbo gave right at the peak performance before the fall off. Tweaking it for more power is just gaining heat, not output, and reducing the life of the emitter. This is one factory light that was set up by modders, there really wasn’t a lot that could be done by way of improvements as it was built in from the get go…

I was assuming the new 35.2 made its peak power at a higher amperage like the 50.2 and 70.2. Something like 3A to 3.5A. Alas, it does not seem so impressive.

I saw a number of 4% better lumens output to current draw, not really much at all but more efficient all the same. Until some folks get hands on experience there’s just really no way to know what the new 35 will do. Possibly more current, somewhat higher output, which would be fine, but at the same time the flip chip technology has shown us odd tint in the beam and less potential for throw… and they’re even more difficult to remove the dome from with good result.

Update: Here’s the announcement I got…

Enabled Sofirn c8f 18650 at room temperature (26C degrees) in 990Lm mode. After 20 minutes, the temperature of the head reached 58C degrees. Honestly I hoped that Sofirn would stop at 50C, but alas.

Anyway to get switch LED to stay on?

Without to much modding?

No. You would have to completely get rid of all battery indicator stuff and rewire the switch to the driver.

Hello guys,

Sorry for reviving this thread. I bought that flashlight Sofirn C8F on AliExpress a few years back. It worked OK, but light usually got less bright as battery charge dropped. I recently removed the battery to recharge and placed it back fully charged verified, but the flashlight no longer works, does not react on pressing the side button, and there’s no tail button like in new versions. Tried 2 other 18650 charged batteries - still doesn’t work.

Not sure what the model version is, it say SF18F262 on the front cap with glass. What has likely happen to it, any way to test, is there anything I can do to revive it? If the driver is burnt, why this happen at replacing the battery, and where to get the new driver, which driver model would you suggest?

Maybe locked out? 4 fast clicks from off.

No, it doesn’t change anything.

Do those batteries work in other lights?

1, make sure the tubes are all tightened both front and back.

2, make sure the tailswitch is on.

3, make sure it’s unlocked.

For storage, I do everything: lock it out, turn the tailswitch off, unscrew it a bit for further physical lockout. Drove me crazy ’til I remembered my entire checklist.

The batteries work fine in another Sofirn LED light. In my C8F there is no tailswitch (at all). The batteries are pressed tightly into the other contact end by the end flange. Both end flanges are tighten. The flashlight doesn’t react on the side button at all. I tried another end flange with a tailswitch from Sofirn C8A flashlight, and it still doesn’t work. Should I get a replacement driver, which model, and where from? I see some C8F drivers are available on Aliexpress?

Old one with XP-Gs?

Last resort. “Disassemble” everything. Separate head/tube/tail. Check the retaining ring on the driver, make sure it’s tight. If you can, loosen it, jiggle the driver, retighten. Reassemble all 3 pieces tightly.

Something evidently “happened” between taking out the cells, and putting them back in.

I’ve had lights that needed all pieces to screwed together really tightly, else there wouldn’t be contact.

You can troubleshoot the tail cap by using a jumper wire from the battery negative to the bare aluminum battery tube. Press the wire and battery down into the tube. See if it works. If so, your have a bad connection in your tail cap.

Do you hear the click of the button? If not, the rubber button might not be pressing down in the right spot. You can unscrew the ring and take out the rubber button and poke it directly to hear it click.

One of the leds might have burnt out, but I think the other 2 should still light up.

You can also check for dirt or corrosion on the spring/contact ends. Make sure its clean.

If it really seems like the driver went out you would need the 17mm C8F 18650 driver. I’m not sure they still offer it for sale. Hopefully you can find one.

The 21700 model uses a bigger 20mm driver so it won’t fit. Sofirn offers this one, but not the smaller one on their AliExpress store. You might try contacting them directly through the store to see if they have the 18650 version driver.

Getting less bright as voltage drops is normal for a FET style driver. So no big deal on that.

The only thing I can think of that would caused the driver to go out at a battery change is if you accidentally put the battery in backwards, it might have fried a component on the driver (assuming it doesn’t have reverse polarity protection).

Yep, thats good to do also.

Thank you, will try all that. Certainly I put the battery initially the right way. Once it didn’t work, I tried to put the battery backwards too with no luck either. :slight_smile: The side button seems to click very well, and it was not affected in any way by removing the battery, worked before that without a glitch.