I got my C8F after 5 weeks of shipping, maybe it got lost, but I have it now so let’s gets started.
The driver retaining ring had a very small amount of glue and came loose with a bit of force from snap ring pliers.
The driver is 21mm and is composed of 2 boards soldered together.
Here’s a closer look at the components.
The back of the switch had a little bit of glue holding it in place. I was able to push it out from behind with a little pressure.
I only had it for an hour, so I have more testing to do to figure out the switch circuit and measure the candela.
Output was below spec with about 2300 lumen on a 30Q and 2600 lumen on the stock Sofirn 21700. This was measured on my Texas_Ace Lumen Tube calibrated with one of Maukka’s calibration lights. Amp draws were made using a heavy wire an a Uni-T UT210E clamp meter. The 3 measurements are: turn on, 20 seconds and 30 seconds.
Parasitic drain was a very low 77 micro amps. No issues with that. The Sofirn battery measured 28-32 milliohms internal resistance on my Miboxer C8-12 charger.
Candela is 33kcd or 363 meters.
I’ll post up a link for a clear switch cover as soon as I find one. Update: See post 14 below Also, l left out the switch cover dimensions for the bottom sealing lip, it’s 1mm thick. I could not find any company offering this size.
My general impression is really good. The light feels good in the hand and I would definitely buy it in a 26650 version if Sofirn chose to make it. The 5700K color is quite nice even though I prefer cool white. I’m going to keep the 5700K as I see no need to change it.
I’m not a fan of the stepped modes due to the one click on and press/hold for off, but I really like the ramping mode. It gives you one click on/off. True, the ramping speed is a bit fast on the low end and a bit slow on the bright end, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I usually set it at about 500 to 1000 lumen and occasionally dbl click to turbo. I like it and don’t see a need to swap the driver.
I’m hoping we can figure out if there is a component on the driver that can be swapped out to improve performance. Maybe the FET?
I’m also going to try and rig up a constant light under the switch while retaining the stock battery indicator lights. More on that later.
I’ll add updates soon.
One other thing to add is that my battery has a dent in the negative electrode. I’m guessing the box was dropped on the tail end and the batteries weight fully compressed the spring and the solder blob from the bypass wire dented it. It seemed to charge up fine at 3A without getting warm. This dent makes me uncomfortable about using the battery, though. Do you think I should get it replaced?
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