[♛ FreemeGB] Fireflies PL47 Gen II 4*XP-L/ Nichia/ SST20 Hi CRI 21700 Right Angle Flashlight - ENDED

That sure was a lot for such a simple question.
I was looking for “I have not received mine yet as well.”
What’s going on Tom Tom? Bad day?
Best wishes buddy, hope things get better for you. I have prayed for you already.

When I unscrew the battery tube a little to lock out the light a very brief and tiny red flash occurs from something near the centre of the lens. Can anyone explain this phenomenon?

HONDARIDER

My order is with yours. I received this notice:

from USPS

Red aux LEDS indicate a low battery on all FireFlies models. ToyKeeper could explain it better but basically They blip as you cut power. If you hold turning the tube or tailcap at the point where the torch barely gets any current, just before lockout, the red may actually stay on because it’s reading low current. I should say voltage, not current. The red aux indicate low battery voltage. That’s all, it’s a good design.

I also ordered the E07 from Neal with red aux LEDs. Interestingly, red is not an option when ordering directly from FireFlies. Is it an exclusive for Neal’s site?

On Nov 19 I got a notice saying: Your item was picked up by a shipping partner at 10:07 pm on November 18, 2018 in FREMONT, CA 94538. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date.

Nothing since. I ordered SST-20 also, if that has anything to do with it.

My Gray E07 ordered from Neal hasn’t shipped yet. I expected when I placed the order that Neal would not be getting a shipment of units from FireFlies until after they’ve shipped out the first batch of their own orders.

Mine is on the way. I ordered the Nichia 219B version. I have a Samsung 50E 21700 but reading back through this thread, it doesn’t seem to fit well. Does anyone have a recommendation on a 21700 battery to use in it that’s suitable for the 219B.

Many thanks for the illuminating replies- I am always impressed with the breadth of knowledge available here.

My PL47, not ordered through this group buy, showed that it landed in Denver Colorado, then went to Chicago, and now it’s off the grid again with no guesstimate as to when it should be here. But hey, it’s active anyway! lol

I tried using the Sofirn 4000mAh 21700 (this came with the Sofirn C8F 21700 bundled kit, as Sofirn cannot ship bare batteries to my country) on my Fireflies PL47 and they fit, although it’s a relatively tight fit…

Same here, no issues with Sofirn 21700 on mine. Got black SST-20 4000K.

Two more observations, look carefully, at around the 4 o’clock position, and I think I see a green wire trapped between the edge of the driver and the head. Also displacing the driver sideways. Maybe even a black wire as well.

I don’t see any witness marks on the driver or tail PCB contact rings, where the ends of the tube should have been making firm contact. Perhaps the torch is too new for these to have developed yet.

These witness marks were useful to study the poor contact problems of the first batch Q8, and might also be useful to study for those with PL47 issues. In the Q8, some went so far as to try inserting a ring of solid copper wire, to improve marginal contacts, and/or smoothing the uneven surface of the first Q8 tubes using e.g. some fine grit sandpaper on a flat piece of glass.

Ideally the witness marks should be even, and continuous over the full circumference, once developed.

Also consider simply measuring the length of the tube, the length of your cell, then the compressed length of each spring (that’s the tricky one), and do the calculation.

I still don’t like the look of the soldering of the springs to the PCBs, I see little evidence that the solder has wetted, or that there is sufficient quantity.

PS:, my apologies to the forum for being even grumpier than usual, and taking it out on some of you. Yes, I have been having to cope with a truly stressful situation for many months. But that’s no excuse.

Thank you for being so patient and tolerant.

Complaining at 1k posts, most do a giveaway! Lol call it like you see it Tom tom!

See post 1382. The black lights and the gold lights have different tube dimensions.

As it’s my first multiemiter TIR flashlight I’m not sure how optics should look like so I’m just gonna post this pic and you tell me.

Like I said - my first quad flashlight and actually first with semi-clear optics. The beam is nice and even so not a real-life issue. Was just wondering if it looks simmilar in D4/D4S.

Well, then I guess the quality of Fireflies flashlight really needs some extra attention as other manufacturers already rised the bar in this price point in the fit and finish department.
Can’t have it all. Innovative, well made, inexpensive. Choose two :smiling_imp:

Mine arrived today and I’m in love! This light is way more compact than I could imagine. The fit and finish are perfect and the optics look just as good as my D4.

The output on the Nichia version puts out much more lumens than I could ever need for my application (work). The tint…… absolutely beautiful!

I was waiting for this light to arrive before buying the E07, now that I have this light in hand I’m definitely picking the E07 up.

But, I understand Vinh will be putting Oslons in the E07, so I will likely purchase one from him. :+1:

Also, the button seems fine to me…

.003” (76 microns) would be a large tolerance even for mil spec thick hard anodising. More likely 50 microns at most.

Ordinary cosmetic coloured anodising would be no more than 25 microns thick. (that’s just .001”), and probably much thinner, even as thin as 5 microns. And by some early accounts, it is on the thin/soft side.

Then, the rule of thumb is that the anodising thickness is 50:50 build-up vs. reduction of the metal. I.e. if looking at the inside diameter of a tube, even a top-notch mil spec thick hard anodise might result in no more than 76 microns overall reduction, compared with the thinnest cosmetic treatment. That’s an improbable absolute most, and that’s being generous.

https://metalfinishingsltd.co.uk/articles/anodising-dimensions/

0.4mm actual difference ? That’s an order of magnitude worse than even my most worst case 0.07 mm estimate. So no, this theory doesn’t work. It does not explain the large difference in dimensions being reported.

I would suggest that these were two separate batches of tubes, machined slightly differently (I could also speculate why, but am trying to stick to only the facts and data that are beginning to build here, as precise people begin to receive theirs, and maybe post more photos).

Then anodised as separate batches (the colour dying is the second process (followed by the sealing) after the actual anodising, so no reason why a single run of tubes and other pieces etc. could not have all been machined in one run, then run through the treatment process simultaneously, with only the secondary dying and sealing different, as the final steps.

More flexible too, when you are only offering pre-orders, and not sure what the proportion of the two colour choices (nor emitters) will turn out to be.

Initial photos showed a hybrid colour scheme, black head and tail, champagne tube, which would have solved any colour mis-match issues, but turned out not to be popular.

Really not being negative here, just trying to reach out to FF to help them consider some basic stuff, and maybe make a few suggestions to those already with them, or on order.

Isn’t that why FF are offering BLF these first things first, to “kickstart” a run, shake out the bugs, get some revenue, hopefully generate a good buzz ? I’d hope they are in the mood to listen, and learn, and react swiftly, though it might seem a bit overwhelming to them at the moment. If so there could be a great future ahead.

It’s only their second attempt, after all. This is still recoverable.