I could use some help, but I’m sorely lacking on details…
I picked up an L6 from Banggood for a friend along with a couple 5000mAh Efest 26650’s. When it arrived it acted really strange (like an erratic buzzing strobe) and I came to the conclusion that a wire was barely shorting on the bottom of the reflector. I got that fixed and it was working great.
I handed it over to my buddy today and he went to use it tonight and it worked great for a couple minutes. Then he claimed it got stuck on strobe. He says it’s very consistent and bright, not the sporadic behavior I noticed before. Batteries are charged up and he says everything is tightened down.
I plan to meet up with him tomorrow to check it out. Any thoughts so I can hit the ground running? It all sounds pretty strange to me.
Any chance the white plastic centering ring was missing? Had one missing on one of my L6's. Also, I covered the + and - solder joints on the star with kapton tape just to make sure there would be no contact with the reflector to mess things up.
Thanks for the tips, guys. Unfortunately I don’t have any kapton right now, I really need to pick some up. I did ask him to try removing the reflector completely and he said that didn’t make any difference. I’ll see when I have it in my hands.
For the stock driver, does it memorize strobe? Or does it reset after a power disconnect?
Doesn't memorize strobe after power cut, it goes to the next highest setting before strobe was activated.
If it was on low, then strobe activated, then power cut, then power on again, it would be now at medium.
Could be a driver or side switch problem, or maybe it's doing the erratic strobe thing thinking battery is low as I know the L6 has a low battery warning. If that is the case, could be a loose retaining ring in the tail cap or the secret ring on the battery tube itself not being fully tightened and restricting current flow.
New Convoy L6 XHP70.2 (SMO) or Thorfire S70s (xhp 70, OP) ?
Who sees the best in the beam distance ? thorfire 680m (specs) = HEAD 74mm convoy old and new 200-500m (specs) = HEAD 75mm
I had thorphire s70s but did not see 680m. Otherwise I was very pleased. A very good flashlight.
SMO convoy l6 will have more throw depending on how hard both leds are driven. The claimed throw in meters is just a calculation. To really see something well lit most people half the calculated throw for real world throw.
The Convoy L6 XHP70.2 (SMO) is definitely going to have the better throw distance. My tests show an easy 60 meter gain by swapping the reflector from OP to SMO on a stock light.
The 680m spec is pure BS. So is the lumens on both lights. Unfortunately, I forgot to measure the stock throw on my S70S before I started modding it.
The older Convoy L6 XHP70 (OP) and the S70S XHP70 (OP) pretty much have the same stock throw distance of 480-500 meters.
The lumens on the S70S are about 2900 to 3000. The original Convoy lumens are a tad lower at 2800 to 2900.
So they are very similar, virtually identical, in their stock form. With the Convoy L6 using a 70.2 and a Smo reflector, it should have a nice increase in throw. At least 60 meters.
BTW, I did take a stock S70S and swap the driver to a FET design. This bumped up the lumens to about 4,700 and increased the throw to 707 meters. A very nice increase.
My L6 with FET driver, 70.2 (5,000 lumen) and SMO measures about 830 meters. Based on several other peoples measurements after slicing the dome off of the 70.2, I predict my light would extend its throw to about 1,100 meters.
I don’t like the UI or the crazy high parasitic drain on the stock S70S driver (or stock L6 UI for that matter) nor do I like the overall look of it or feel in my hand. I think the L6 is definitely the better light.
My measurements from around 10 Convoy L6 XHP70 OP version are between 3000-3400 lumens.
I also measured around 6-7 stock S70S and they are between 3700 and 4100 lumens.
So XHP led OP versions: L6 has better look and more grippier feel in hand, but Thorfire has better output and more accessories and better UI.
I did not measured L6 XHP70.2 yet.
Just my fully n dded two hotrods but that is not even close to stock.
Our integrating spheres don’t seem to be measuring the same. You’ve got the big round type integrating sphere, right? Maybe the tube type spheres don’t scale up well?
Did you measure about 4.6A to 5.1A on both stock lights depending on the battery?
I have a 4” lumentube. Tried with around 250 flashlights.
I measured 4.5A in L6-s and 5A in S70S-s. I only tried CW S70S but tried NW and CW L6. NW tends to be at around 3200 lumens because it is one bin lower led. CW is around 3400-3500
I had the Thorfire s70s. I sold it for buying astrolux mf04.
Now I’ve ordered the 6500k Convoy L6 new. I know the distance to see Thorfire, so after convoy L6 I test it and tell you if she sees bigger distance or not.
I hope I made a wise choice and I hope to see a little better in the distance.
Does anyone know how to operate? Level 1 How many lumens? Level 2? Level 3?
At Thorfire I liked that I included a moonlight mode with 1 lumen.
Okay, so we are similar in amp draw tests. I wonder why your Lumen Tube reads a bit higher than mine. I have Maukka’s CW calibration light and I adjusted my discs at the sensor to match the test light output.
Is your Lumen Tube from Texas_Ace with the multiple diffusers inside or is it of a different construction design?
The biggest upgrade you can do for the L6 is to change the driver to a ramping FET based driver. Then you’ll have a super low moonlight as well as be able to turn it on and off by the side switch and have much higher output which gives even more throw. With ramping you can adjust to any brightness level you want. Your not limited to the preset levels.
I’m not good at making changes. And I do not have the necessary equipment.
If I want bigger power and bigger distance, then I’ll buy the future Astrolux MF04s (mf04 am already)
(stock driver)
