Sounds like they are sticking with an 18650 cell and keeping the shallow driver pocket.
I don’t know why they are bothering to update this light, they’re not really improving anything. Its just the old light with a driver change, and an odd size so no one will use it for a host.
I’m sure Convoy will like this news, the C8 and M1 are proven products that have this part of the market mostly covered. The new version of the S2+ with the 21700 body is almost ready and Sofirn can’t be too far behind. Its going to be tough for Lucky Sun to sell the same old same old with all the shiny new stuff around.
@Lexel
I thought they wanted to go with a standart size 17mm driver. They said they have max 19,5mm but why would they use it (or do you need the extra space on the driver board)? Makes later modding more difficult.
Here the last drawings. Added less material on the inside and removed a little bit on on the lower finns.
I have seen what you were refering to djozz. Now it should be better. @Spartan
Most people and LS fear that the head is becomming to heavy. So we reduced the mass a bit. But we still have improved the heatpath.
I only hope that Lexel is not going for a 19,5mm driver. This would make later modding more complicated. I hope they will end up with a 17mm driver.
I like my D80’s and with some simple tweaks they can do some serious throw for their size, as has been discussed already. Here is the 2 that I got from the GB , with one being totally stock and the other one I modded with FET driver / XPL-HI 1A emitter (on Noctigon) , spring bypasses and did just a little bit of sanding on the bottom of the reflector and centering ring to get the focus dialed in.
Original D80 Left / Modded right,
Original D80 175 yards………
Modded D80 175 yards……….
Keeping this short and and sweet due to continuing frustration with BLF database problems.
If this gets through:
Try 5.
Nothing much wrong with the head as-is. Except for the driver diameter. Make it 17mm please.
Finning is over-rated and contributes little in a torch of this size, IMO. Thermal mass more useful for extending turbo operation,
Better to improve the thermal path to the tube, then hand, on mine it barely hangs on by two threads. Make that three or more and it will be improved. This should improve steady state operation i.e. allow higher continuous output without over heating.
Screw down the MCPCB to the shelf for decent thermal contact instead of just relying on bezel/oring/reflector/centring ring stack to apply pressure (which it doesn’t). I’d say re-engineer all that properly, but I doubt that’s under consideration.
Reduce the LED hole in the reflector to XPL size and apply light orange peel to the flat portion, and a little way into the parabola to smooth the worst of the beam artefacts when trying alternative LEDs.
This short reflector is clever because the parabolic part (which generates the throw) is truncated to keep it short. It behaves like a deeper reflector, except for the wide spill.
An old Bistro driver is a safe inexpensive choice, but has limited firmware modding potential if using Attiny 25 and doesn’t move this forwards. Something like DEL’s FW3A driver with two banks of 7135 would be much more interesting to me, if the firmware could adapted for clickie operation instead of e-switch.
If also available (in 17mm) as a spare part I would have an immediate use for ten or more, to bring older torches up to date. This could be a steady seller, obsoleting Banggoods old imperfect offerings which are still the only easily available options for many of us.
Looking nice Lexel. 7135 X1 and X5. Sorry for doubting. Bistro is still a nice firmware and suits my preference for (relative) simplicity. Configure once, then just use.
I know 19.5mm is a stange size, I hoped for 20mm, but LS seems to max. that size without changes on the battery tube
but for Mods 17mm is for buck- or boostdrivers not ideal
I want to ask something about the Threads.
The old D80 has a very fine thread. You have to screw the tailcap really on. Not 1 or 2 turns. Would it be interesting to ask for something like this?
Still doesn’t make sense not to machine it to match the lens. The weight addition will be negligible. The machining time will be negligible. It’s a CNC, not a knee mill and the old step-and-cut.
The step-cut not only reduces the weight (even if just a little). It also should be sized to make a shelf for adding a spacer and optic for triples, quads, etc.
Weirder and weirder. Sounds like they really don’t want to do it with conventional dimensions. Or whoever is designing the head is inexperienced in the conventions, just trying to make it look OK on the CAD screen without considering the implications.
Not very mod-friendly, nor desirable as a host.
Suggestion: lay it out for 17mm, just add more ground ring around the edge to fit this thing, however it eventually turns out. Be it 19.2mm, or 20, or whatever, routed out to suit.
I like the hole in the middle, allows head spring bypass straight to LED + wire, in case they use an unsatisfactory spring. I would prefer that they retain the stud instead, it is electrically and mechanically superior to any spring.
Please do not bash on LS when it is not justified! They are hearing us and they are asking about things we discuss here.
The max driver size now is 19,2mm limited by the tube diameter. So it would be possible to go with 17-19,2mm for the driver (nothing is set in stone for now).
But they asked what people want and what makes sense. And to change the driver to 20mm they would have to make a new tube (slightly bigger).
We are talking about it and they check if it is possible and what it would cost. Also i asked if we could upgrade the threads.
Now they use a very fine one. Like most newer and better flashlights it would be nice to go with square threads. Less wear and less prone to damage if something like dirt comes on the threads.
The fine thread on the tail does not help with the loosening of the RH threaded switch PCB retaining ring, too easy to apply a great deal of pressure/friction at this interface. A coarser square-cut thread would be great. An LH threaded ring is also desirable, so that it tightens instead of loosening when the tail cap is removed.
This problem can happen straight away, or after a period of actual use. Never knowing whether the tail assembly is going to come apart, or just come loose and intermittent, each time you change the cell is not confidence-inspiring. My bodge was to thread-lock it together.
Masses of discussion on the original thread, maybe read it completely, in case there are some lessons to be learned there that may have been forgotten or never addressed.
Not bashing LS, but I have struggled with the non-standard driver cavity on mine. having had to file down an adapter PCB, and the driver, just to fit a 17mm one to replace the original. Tedious. Just saying.
Alternative would have been to solder copper wire around the edge of the driver to expand it, but that would have been mechanically and electrically poor.
Also be aware that the driver cavity is fully anodised, in fact everything is, except for the faces of the tube. There is no current path to the driver or tube, it is reliant on contact through the driver retaining ring. No problem, it works well as long as the retaining ring makes a good contact with the driver ground ring. But there are quite a few such critical interfaces in series in this torch, relying on perfect contact at each.
Other torches do things differently, e.g. masking off anodising to ensure solid contact through the tail/tube/head for the important -ve cell current path.
They are still in the design process, so dont overshoot if something is not right
Almost every light depends on the retaining ring for proper contact to the battery tube,
even if threads and driver resting ring are not anodized on the head the contact is not very reliable if retaining ring gets loose
using the head and tailcap retaining ring as direct contact needs for sure threads that are not in the same clockwise direction,
of course other lights have the tube always rest on an aluminum rim not the retaining rings itself are better because it eliminates the loosening problem
)
