Noctigon Meteor M43 official sales and discussion thread

Just ordered this light with Nichia 219. It is suppose to replace my TM06.

I’m very excited to get it ! Since I’ve looked at this light for a very long time. But had no reason to buy it. But now when my tm06 is acting weird, I have a reason, :smiley:

Cool Red! Now you can mail me the TM06 and I’ll dissect it. :smiley: lol

Haha :smiley: I could.
But it would be fun taking it apart myself and try to mod it somehow.
Not sure how though, and what to mod it with :person_facepalming:

What would you do with it? :laughing:

Nitecore likes to use a clear plastic insert in the head, it supports the driver and switch board and is problematic when it comes to modding. I’ve replaced the emitters in one of those and saw gains, perhaps a bump to the driver output… a serious mod to get a lot more output is quite a bit trickier. But still fun to attempt especially if you get a nice result. :wink:

I guess, more specifically, if I had one that I was playing with I’d probably slice the domes off some Samsung LH351D’s and resistor mod the driver to see what kind of output and focus gains I could get. Better tint, more lumens, more throw… well, and the obvious larger wires, spring bypasses…

Curious what y’all think about this…

I modified my M43 long ago, it once did 12,000 lumens but I think is only making around 10,000 now with the emitters having taken a beating. Pretty sure I have XP-L HI’s in it and an FET driver. I happen to have recently acquired some of the new Samsung emitters, both in 5000K 80 CRI which is a U6 power bin and in 5000K 70 CRI at the W6 power bin. I put 4 of the new W6 binned Samsungs in my Emisar D4S and it is doing just over 7200 lumens. So, what if I swapped out the HI’s in my M43 for these new Samsungs? Wonder what it would do?

I mean, if I can get the M43 to get the same out-the-front lumens as the D4S is showing (from each emitter) then it should be, hypothetically, capable of 21,600 lumens, right?

Theoretically, yes. However, you would be pushing a lot of current through it, a lot more than say your XPL HIs since they have a lower forward voltage, especially the 80CRI one.

That means you have to beef up your connections to handle that massive current.

Other than that, I would calculate the amount of lumens you could get out of the R70 LH351D to be about:

12k lumens = 1000 lumen per emitter
1000 lumens x 1,10 efficiency factor of optics = 1100 LED lumens needed to reach 12 000 lumens with optics

1100 lumens/emitter = 12,6W of power

12,6W of power XPL HI= 1100 lumens XPL HI = 1450 lumens Samsung LH351D R70

1450 lumens LH351D x 12 = 17400 lumens

17400 LED lumens = 15 800 total lumens

So you would get 15 800 lumens out of it, a 31% boost without doing anything.

HOWEVER, since the forward voltage of the R70 LH351D is lower than the XPLHI, and even lower in the case of the R80 LH351D. Meaning you would push more current out of it, about 600mA/emitter. Meaning an additionnal 7,2A.

This is what you would get with a FET:

3,6V Forward V XPL-HI = 1100 lumens XPL HI
3,6V Forward V R70 LH351D = 1600 lumens

1600 lumens x 12 = 19200 lumens.

The 80CRI version can push even more current, and with 4 cells, you have more headroom to push even more power to get to say 21k lumens as you said.

Let’s take another look at the D4S for a moment. 4 XP-L HI emitters net what in that light? Around 5000 lumens? And I was seeing about 6423 from the 80 CRI Samsungs. Then I got the W2 Samsungs and am now seeing 7348. Output win goes to the 70CRI W6 bin. Same 5000K tint. Not sure where you got it that the Vf was lower on the 80 CRI emitter than the 70 CRI variant. In a light it proves out to be opposite. In the ordering specifications both of these rate the Voltage binning at the generic F4, neither specify F2 or H2, so in hand there’s no real way to see that one has an advantage in forward Voltage over the other.

That’s why I said, if I can get 12 of these to perform in the M43 in the same manner of the D4S, then output would be insane! The 4 in the D4S are from a single 20650 cell, the 12 in the M43 would use 4 Samsung 30Q’s. A slight power supply advantage to the M43. (1 cell per 3 emitters vs 1 cell per 4)

I don’t like doing paper math on lights, I like building them to SEE what they can do. :smiley: I’ve tested lights with different cells WAY too much to believe in the paperwork. Crazy when a cell gives more amperage in a light, but less lumens than a “weaker” cell, but I’ve seen it a lot. FWIW, I’m not the only one to have noticed this.

I’m not in it for the science of it all, to me this is a pass-time hobby. Solitaire if you will. lol

I’m just saying that usually, higher CRI emitters have lower forward voltages and can therefore be pushed to higher current levels. However, efficiency does drop a lot when doing this, so lumen output might actually be lower.

The 90CRI does have a considerably lower forward voltage in the datasheet, but it is less efficient in that regard.

I just charged the 30Q’s, tested it. My M43 is, as of this moment, making 9108 lumens.

Um, by merely wiping off the contact pad on the “driver” it now shows 10,246.5 lumens. Funny how that Norgel gets off the threads and onto the contacts… so this 10,246.5 reading comes after the first reading, and the subsequent wiping down with my T shirt.

And just to show what a good contact cleaning can do, DeOxit Gold netted me 11,074 lumens.

Keep em clean people! Keep em clean! :smiley: (as if I myself do that. lol)

Yes. I did it a while back, but mine runs Andúril. :partying_face:

I piggybacked a TA driver onto a depopulated Meteor driver.

Probably, but I wasn’t into lighted switches back then so I didn’t pursue it.

Instead of my method, you might look into a correct-diameter driver from Lexel.

I just tested my two m43 lights with the TA tube…

M43 xp-g2 s4 3d. 6200 lumen @ 5 sec

M43vn xpl dedome. 9520 lumen @ 5 sec

It sounds like you’re in it precisely for the science. Running numbers on paper is good for theoretical purposes, but actually doing it for real to see what happens is science. It’s great fun. :slight_smile:

So can we still call you Dr. Frankendale?

I think you just made someone in Russia cry.

Lol , I did that right after I got my M43… UI was too complex for me. What I’m contemplating now is rebuilding it wit 4 drivers…a Master carrying Anduril and 3 slaves such that each triple board is run by it’s own driver . With the W2 binned Samsung this should prove interesting…

Where should I say I got my Doctorate in Frankenology TK? BLFU?

I know, I know, but I still have (and love!) a stock Meteor running UI 3. :smiley:

:cry: :cry:

BTW as I remember , driver of M43 could be modded to 12A(10klm with xpl hi) vs. 8A in stock.

Well, my M43 doesn’t particularly like being pushed really really hard. :wink:

I rebuilt it today, used 12 of the Samsung LH351D W2 5000K emitters on 2 Noctigon triple MCPCB and 2 SinkPAD triple MCPCB. I used 20ga Teflon leads direct from the battery contact to the positive on each of 4 boards, then ran a 20 ga Turnigy lead to the neg on each board from each of 4 SIR800DP MOSFET’s. One FET+1 driver is complete and has Anduril, the other 3 driver boards are only populated with an FET and an 7135 chip, with 26ga Teflon wires running signal to each component.

It’s been a chore to pull off, but I think the switch is not accurate enough for Anduril, it’s hit or miss getting functionality. But, with fresh or semi-fresh 30Q cells I’ve seen 16,732.5 lumens and 16,801.5 lumens in the box. The light doesn’t like this, runs 5 seconds and shuts off. So it needs work but I’m tired and not wanting to work on it any more today. :stuck_out_tongue:

Ah as expected. There is something limiting the current somewhere. You need some thicker 18GA wire somewhere.

Are the springs bypassed? Not really going to help too much with the Intl Outdoor springs, but every mV helps at such high power levels.