Lumintop FW1A discussion and review

Yeah, that’s my concern about the FW1A too. There’s a good chance I’ll change the LED in mine, since Neal sent me a cool white one… and I’m thinking maybe LH351D if I can get it in a good bin. That should really cut down on how throwy it is. Or perhaps an old XM-L2, since those were also reasonably decent in a reflector and can handle full FET power. Or I think I might have an original XP-L 3D in a parts tray somewhere…

SST-20 would definitely be too throwy, but at least it’d have better tint than in the FW3A.

I will buy a couple when different colours are available. If it doesn’t happen then oh well, plenty of other lights out there.

Looks like Neal/Lumintop just added a couple more emitter options: xpl HD-1A and HI-7A. Still no Nichia. Waiting for the SS bezel but will probably order at least one with 7A even though I just purchased some separate boards from Kaidomain with that emitter!

Glad to hear how throwy this one is, won’t be an issue for me.

At the bottom of the drop-down menu....

It is listed but not able to be purchased, same as 7A was previously.

I have some 80CRI XP-L HDs and a few random 80CRI XML2’s in the 3500-4500K range as well. Thought about those already. Tint shift across the beam is keeping them at bay. The sliced SST20 has very little tint variation to my eyes. I’m waiting to place an order with Clemence for a quad e21a… maybe I’ll just do that now

This. I would stock up on a few if they kept the price reasonable.

I suspect this is because the Nichia 219C is known to have difficulties when run direct-drive with a FET. In a triple or quad it’s not usually so bad, though Emisar still uses a reduced-power firmware for it because otherwise too many people report problems when used with high-amp cells. In a single-emitter light though, it’s much easier to damage the LED by giving it too much power.

So I think they’re probably wanting a way to reduce the maximum power before attempting to sell a Nichia version.

I have a FW3A firmware build for Nichia 219B, with the maximum power set to 100% on the 8x7135 chips plus 50% on the FET. This is pretty safe, but may be lower than necessary. For a FW1A with 219C, I’m not sure what power level would be safe. I’m guessing the 219B build would probably be fine, but again perhaps a little too safe.

As far as I’m aware, the same thing could be a risk for SST-20 4000K 95CRI, but I don’t know if anyone has really tested it yet to find out. So if you’re using one of those, it’d be a good idea to stick with relatively low-amp cells to avoid potentially damaging the LED. Or just avoid turbo and set the ceiling to at least ten steps below turbo.

I have ready 351D 5000K 90CRI from AeD GB. Perfect tint (not rosy but what a heck) and it fits better in reflector then in triples. Plus since there are complaints about narrow bean from SST and i presume XPL, this fatboy will be the best option

shipping says in a few days... :)

TK, that is exactly the route I just went. I dropped in a 4000k LH351D 90 cri led. Still has some throw, but the spill is very useful. BTW, I am also running the code mod that has autolock. Can be disabled or incremented in 1 minute intervals. I love both changes.

I tried the FW1A today for biking. It was pretty decent.

Normally I use a triple with 10510 optic, which makes an elliptical beam. It does a great job of showing me what’s directly in front of me and what’s to the side for turns, and it mostly keeps the worst of the beam out of people’s eyes. But it doesn’t really reach far enough forward. So a throwy light was a nice change.

The FW1A’s extra throw was nice when going fast in a straight line, but not so great when turning or going slow. So I’ll have to put in a different LED or add some DC-Fix, and try it again. I found an XP-L 3D (with dome), so maybe that will work a little better than this XP-L HI 1A.

Okay, I put a XP-L HD 3D into this FW1A to see how it looks. At the 1x7135 level, this is what I measured:

Before (XP-L HI 1A):

  • 138.2 lm
  • 3120 cd
  • 22.58 cd/lm

After (XP-L HD 3D V6):

  • 151.9 lm
  • 1648 cd
  • 10.85 cd/lm

So it increased lumens to about 110% and cut throw to about 53%. It’s still a spot+spill beam pattern, but the spot is bigger as expected. It also increased the Cree rainbow effect, so the hotspot is relatively warm and the spill area is relatively cold.

Due to the way throw works, the estimated throw in meters on turbo is now about 76% of where it was originally. It went down from ~336-ish meters to ~255 m… or ~28 kcd to ~16 kcd. That’s not a huge amount higher than the FW3A’s 12.5 kcd, but it accomplishes this with a fraction as much power.

How long does it work on the max output? I guess longer than FW3A, but how much longer?

Just received my FW1A and I like the beam, I don’t think is too narrow. It’s not a big spill but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable for walking. If I need flood I have the FW3A, I prefer the FW1A to throw as much as possible

Measured 1400lm and 368m (34000cd) with VTC6 battery, impressive!!

Which emitter did you get?

Ordered 3D but received CW so I think 1A. I was going to put in it a Hi V2 5D anyway

It’s still a FET light designed to be as light weight as possible. Without cooling and on full turbo all 3 of my FWxA lights have a drastic step down within the first minute, as expected.

The sustainable level should be pretty similar to FW3A, but it throws a lot farther at that level.

As for the initial ramp-down, it probably happens a bit later and a bit slower, but I expect it’ll still be less than a minute. I probably should have measured that before modding it…

Thank you for even doing all that you do for us. :slight_smile: It does make me think when I pick up a light what to do after clicking it on. I have bistro, ramping two versions and Anduril at least two versions. Thanks.
Chris

I should have said for me because I can’t speak for other than myself. THANK YOU