There’s a guy adamant on Twitter that Vinh has been in two movies
Has anyone got their replacement head for the ill-fated XP-L yet?
I received my SST-20-W40H ROT66 a few days ago. Excellent and pleasant tint, but I think it is of 7x7135 because its output is pretty close to the 219B version when both driven by 100% 1x7135 + 100% Nx7135 (level 3 of mode-set 4).
Alright, just checked with Fireflies. SST-20-W40H is of 7x7135, while the cool white SST-20 is of 14x7135.
That’s different than what Jacky told me, so it’ll be interesting to see what shows up.
I can’t open my 6500K ROT66
Maybe you can switch to the mode-set #4, level 3 (moonlight is level 0) and measure its lumen number. Should be > 1400 lm if 14x7135 are used.
The main problem of the bump is that pretty much all carriers have onl spring loaded one side
Now if we want to fit different cell lenghts like from unprotected to protected the springs need to be relatively long
Also Copper alloy springs reduce their leght by time a bit as they are not as flexible as steel, but they are needed for the current
If flat top cells make a bump problem an easy fic is solder blobbed batteries, but this is not a bike light under normal use a bump is very unlikely
It is possible to glue some foam on the tail of the carrier if its not getting pressed enough to the front,
Astrolux MF02 has that problem one one batch the outer contact ring does not maker proper contact on some lights due to production tolerances
The carrier uses 3 rods and yes one of them carriers battery + 2 carry ground, this was decided early in the design process to get on both sides battery + availiable
Is it sst20 or xpl hi 6500??
With barely 67 mm space between positive contact plate and fully compressed spring I don’t know any protected 18650 which fits. Is there any at all?
I don’t think a solder blob will help in the long term, it will rather wear out the spring and the problem will recur somewhat later.
If this springs reduce their length over time I foresee more bump problems in future. They are simply too short - or the wrong selection at all.
It seems the only decent solution to the bump problem is adding a capacitor to keep the driver powered up when the batteries loose contact in a bump. This way the light still turns off in a bump, but it turns back on at the same level instead of resetting to “off”.
Did you take lumen measurements compared with the 219B? How does the tint compare with 219B or any 5A/5D Cree tint flashlights? Maukka tested the SST-20-W 4000k 95CRI from Kaidomain to have some greenish tint.
About 5% more lumens if compared with the 219B.
I’m not answering the specific tint question because I don’t have a spectrophotometer to analyze the spectrum. I’m satisfied with it though.
However these two ROT66’s I newly received both have the bump problem. They got reset when hit at the tailcap or shaken more quickly. Adding an additional plastic disk between the battery carrier and the tailcap can fix this and increase 10%+ Turbo output (well, poor contact), however I don’t like such a poor idea, so I’m returning them to Fireflies and asking for replacements.
Just an FYI Mike, it seems Sofirn have listened and their new version of the Q8 does include a chunky buffer capacitor. There is some information about this on Djozz’s Sofirn Q8 thread.
e.g. Sofirn Q8 group buy (gb closed, but try PM to Sofirn for discount) - #389 by ImA4Wheelr
Quite why this is so difficult to comprehend, and seems to be so resisted, by other designers, is a mystery to me. Just as selecting decent springs or simply making the battery compartment fit properly seems to be a lost art.
Puzzled why this thing needs a cell/battery carrier which just adds a load of complexity and potential problems for a basic parallel cell arrangement.
Many more contact surfaces in the current path, and bits to go wrong, in design, manufacture/assembly, and in service. Added cost, mass and volume too.
And complication when changing cells.
Edit: Trying to tug them out, perhaps with some fabric ribbons to help, if you remembered to tuck them behind when loading, or bash them out, or insert fingernails, penknife etc and damage the wrapper. Whilst tugging the springs sideways and further compromising their weak performance. If a plastic spacer put at the button end to prevent reverse polarity, even more difficult.
Edit2: If suffering poor performance and suspecting excessive resistance in the current path, well, there are so many places to suspect, look at, and try to fettle, good luck trying. Unless it’s just a hobby to muck about with.
Instead of faffing about with a carrier, just unscrew, drop out old cells, drop in new. run a finger around the top to check they are all the correct way up. Close.
The simple SRK/Q8 etc. arrangement is tried and tested. It also suffers bump disconnection because the contact ring in the head is solid, not spring loaded. But that is easily avoided with suitable circuit design.
Out of curiosity, what happens if you do this?
- Loosen the battery tube at least a full turn or two.
- Tighten the tailcap as far as it’ll go.
- Tighten the battery tube.
And if that doesn’t work, flip the battery tube around. I think it looks better backward anyway.
On mine, the parts can actually tighten more than necessary. When I tighten the tailcap first, then the tube, the only thing which stops it from turning farther is that the battery carrier is pressed firmly against the driver’s retaining ring. It’s so tight that the spring doesn’t even matter; there is no room to move either way.
Anyway, if it just needs a bit more thickness inside the tailcap, perhaps a printed copy of the UI cheatsheet would make a good spacer? Or perhaps a 3D puffy bubble sticker of a firefly.
Firefly puffy sticker you say?
Will stock them at my flashlight modding store…
I just got a reply from Jacky regarding the tint bin:
It is SST-20-W40H-A120-J4402(J4-VH-FA3 . The color is yellow , not great
Given this one is FA3 tint, it should be between 4000k-4250k and a good chance of being below the BBL. The one being sold at Kaidomain, which Maukka tested is FB4 tint, which is completely above the BBL and looks at least as good as the 219C according to Maukka; so I wonder why Jacky thinks it looks “not great”.
He described it as yellow, not green or orange. So he probably thinks the CCT is “not great”, not the tint. 4000K looks pretty yellow compared to the 219B model.
Here are three 219B lights at 92CRI… 5000K, 4700K, and 4000K. With one’s eye accustomed to 5000K lighting, 4000K looks pretty yellow:
[quote=ToyKeeper]
Out of curiosity, what happens if you do this?
- Loosen the battery tube at least a full turn or two.
- Tighten the tailcap as far as it’ll go.
- Tighten the battery tube./quote]
Not addressing the root cause, which has been discussed for a long long time and fixed long ago. But ignored by the usual suspects.
It’s not even something that you can fix in firmware.
Not surprised DEL has been offline for ages, it is getting rather boring around here as far as
hardware development is concerned . I.e. zilch.
There are only so many ways to connect e.g. some 7135s and a FET, with an MCU. Perhaps with some flashy extra lighting in the head, rather than the tail.
Led4Power being the honourable exception, please support him.
But still, useful advice for those suffering. It might help. This is the difficulty with “direct drive” i.e. just crowbarring a FET between the cell and the LED, with all the losses in between. Then let your cell transfer characteristic, state of charge, LED transfer characteristic, metalwork rubbishness, switch resistance, driver FET choice and adequacy of wiring and MCPCB thermal path, optical wonderfulness, and on, and on, deliver an outcome, for, maybe, 30 seconds or a minute, whilst you measure it, ready for the big reveal.
Personally I prefer more practical things that run for many hours at useful light levels efficiently, at sensible cost.
The more elegant the better. Style, ergonomics, materials and UI are important.
But maybe I’m in the wrong forum…
You may be onto something here.
The general culture on BLF is less about ranting from the sidelines, and more about diving in to fix things ourselves. If you want something, build it.