Help with Olight S1R ~10 sec Turbo S runtime?

Hey everyone,

I’ve had my trusty EDC the Olight S1R for at least a couple of years now and ever since I’ve owned it I’ve noticed that Turbo S doesn’t actually work (ish). The S1R comes with an Olight brand 16340 (RCR123) designed (supposedly) for high current draw. The light has a high output of 300 lumens, Turbo output of 600 lumens and Turbo S output of 900 lumens.

Olight stated runtimes:
Turbo S 900 lumens 90 seconds ~ 300 lumens
Turbo 600 lumens 90 seconds ~ 300 lumens

I’ve repeatedly tested this and got the same result everytime: (fully charged, somewhat charged - even removed from light and fully charged with my miboxxer)
Turbo S 900 lumens 5-10 seconds ~ 300 lumens
Turbo 600 lumens 90(ish) seconds ~ 300 lumens

I’m pretty sure the S1R uses thermal regulation because the 600 lumen turbo mode appears to reach a certain temp before stepping down as it varies based on the ambient conditions.

There’s virtually no heat produced with only 5-10 seconds on Turbo S so it’s definitely not thermal regulation. Now that I’m a little more educated I’m thinking the problem must be that the cell is protected and it’s tripping the protection circuit when it tries to power 900 lumens?

Anyone got any thoughts as to how I could fix/test this?

I really like this little guy and I rarely use 900 lumens but I didn’t buy this particular model so that I could get a “momentary” Turbo mode!

Stock battery details:
550mAh 5C RCR123A Battery x 1

Mine does the same, Olight drives the cells hard and their cells seem prone to this failure. Unfortunately there’s no better replacement, since they use proprietary cells for their charge circuit.

cant it just be bad batteries ? it makes no sense it would be protected and trip that fast when it claims 90 seconds stepdown ?

maybe try with some other high drain like efest ?

That’s what I thought also, but the light has done this since I got it :cry:

give olight a call ? maybe its still under warranty ? def something is up, could be a faulty light from the start also idk…

lol when I read somewhere they have a 7 year warranty I was like hey, I should do something about this

Then Acebeam dropped their new triple emitter 16340 with 1800 lumens and I’m like… maybe i’ll just fix this problem another way :smiling_imp:

My S1R Baton II does the same on occassion, but I found a temporary fix: deep cleaning the electrical connections, especially at charging junction.

It seems that at the max level, the cells voltage sag plus any extra resistance will trip the low-voltage protection circuit in the driver. If it’s happening, sometimes just loosinging and reseating the head will be enough to improve the circuit path.

I’m hoping some de-oxit fixes it. I thought about sending it back for warranty, but it seems like a design flaw, not a problem with my sample.

Yeah I’ve done much testing using the twist off/on tail cap method. I’ll give it a shot cleaning any electrical connections but like I said earlier I was suspicious how well the charging system works and have done tests where I removed the cell and charged it fully in my charger which had the same disappointing results.

I’m very much with you on the warranty claim. To me it appears to be a design issue rather than a component issue

I have noticed that when running on a fresh CR 123 cell, the light does not have the same problem of stepping down early. I don’t have any high-drain 16340 to test out, but if the deoxit fails, my next step is replacing the O-Light batteries with another brand.

Are you using an RCR123 or a CR123? I believe the only difference is that one is disposable? If that’s the case, I’m fairly certain a CR123 (disposable) doesn’t provide the amperage to reach 900 lumens?

I haven’t tried this but in my previous 16340 EDC a Fenix PD25UE it had 300 lumens using a CR123 but an RCR123 (my understanding is that’s just another name for 16340?) turbo produces 550 lumens

In my testing with a CR123 primary cell, the light cycles to high and there is a perceptible brightness increase to turbo. I don’t have a light box, so I don’t know the actual lumen output, but it looks plenty bright and doesn’t step down quickly. I’m sure you’re right and it’s not hitting the peak levels, but its visibly close.

lol you’d think Olight with their crazy prices and insanely priced protected cell batteries could’ve made this one work out of the box…

goes to show you that even though I never second guess their quality, when they start innovating they’re still susceptible to the same issues as anyone else

All my S1R’s and S2R’s step down fast, the 90 secs is overall turbo runtime before the cell can’t power it up any more