Sofirn SC31B Step Down Malfunction

The high-to-medium thermal-management timed step-down does not seem to work on my new SP31B. Can someone else who owns this model check theirs to verify my observations?

I purchased a Sofirn SC31B during their recent Facebook promotion. It has four levels plus hidden strobe, last-level memory, USB charging, and a selectable button backlight. Very basic interface, a gift for a non-enthusiast friend.

Thermal management consists only of a timed step-down from high to medium at three minutes.

Upon receiving the light, I proceeded to verify the various functions. To check the step-down, I set the output to “high”, stood the light on its tail, and timed it with a stopwatch. There was no step-down at three minutes. After five minutes with no step-down, I decided to terminate the test, as it clearly did not work as described. When I picked up the light to turn it off, it was too hot to comfortably hold.

Luckily, Amazon has free return shipping.

Mine should be here by tomorrow, I can test it then.

Six minutes tail standing on high - no step down that I could see.

Step down works perfectly.

It’s a slow gradual decline over 2 minutes, not a hard step down that’s easy to see by eye

I’ll record a video using my lumen tube.

Hope you didn’t return the light yet because there’s nothing wrong with it.

No, haven’t returned it yet. I’m on travel for the next week, and won’t get a chance to re-test mine until I return.

Does your video show the step-down kick in at the 3-minute point?

Not the best quality as phone data is limited

His whole point was that the stepdowns is so gradual as to not be visible to the make eye.

I was asking if there is a visible discontinuity in his data at the specified three-minute point.

I did a simple ceiling bounce test with an Android light meter app. At 3 mins it does start a gradual stepdown according to the light meter app. It was not abrupt enough for me to see it with my eyes.

Same results here.

Test subject: Sofirn SC31B (tripod-mounted)
Battery: freshly-charged Olight 3400mAh
Meter: Norwood Director Model C, no slide, incident dome.

Analog meter needle began moving ever so slowly at 1:00.
At 3:17, it began stepping down at a 1Hz rate, just a fraction of a needle-width each second, but the movement was easily discernible on the meter dial. The change in brightness of the light on the wall, however, was NOT discernible to this human’s eye.
Stepping stopped at about 5:10.

~740 lux at the start of the test, ~690 at 3 minutes, and still dropping smoothly to ~320 at 5 minutes.

Here is something from their FB page and something I noticed on mine:
When you shut it off on Medium, it turns back on to High. Other modes come back on where you shut it off at (eco-eco, low-low, high-high) but for shutting it off on Medium it is med-high when turning it back on.

Anyone else notice this?

I hadn’t noticed but, yeah. Medium comes back on as high on mine.

Yep, sure does. Only on position 3 of the 4 mode cycle.

So, is the stepdown adequate? Does it keep temperature
a) dangerously burning hot
b) flashoholic-friendly hot
c) muggle-friendly hot

The mode memory always comes on in the last mode used on mine.

This, as most things in life, is subjective.
Just as some people can drink coffee screaming hot and others, like me, cannot, I will give my best guess.

b) flashoholic-friendly hot

Now if you candle stand it, you are asking for it, as all the heat is going to the plate and head but this is true of any LED light with decent power.
I would not give it to my mother, put it that way.

The B series is an impressive thrower but the muggle aspect is probably left out from this one.
Really wish they just offered both and gave it a new name.

Mine does the same thing .If you shut it off in medium it comes on in high .that's kind of odd but not something I'd get worked up over . I don't like the memory and would have made the light always start in low . The light also could stand a magnet in the tailcap.Seems like that flat tail is just begging for one .

The clips on these sofirns all need to be tossed up on the burner and baked for a couple minutes to get rid of the nasty shiny silver color .they turn a sexy shade of bronze in almost no time at all and look much much better than stock ..

also the random dumb labeling on these lights is totally unnecessary and unappealing. Yes Virginia the head of it might get hot ...it's a dang flashlight ..Is there any need for CE / RoHs and the picture of a trash can on these lights ? Seems like a huge waste of ink just to make the light uglier .

OTOH for $7 with a free battery... it's crazy great deal.... very nice of them to make these available to blf members .

The word malfunction in the title is not fair for a company that has done so much for this forum . i'm sure there are a hundred people here willing to give you your money back if you want to sell this light .

*** sorry Djozz .. I can't tell you how hot it gets . I don't ever torture test lights ,I don't really understand why people feel the need to check runtimes, heat .drop testing etc,etc etc,etc .. Seems like everyone on the planet thinks they are bob the product tester these days .

I can comfortably wrap my fingers around the head after it’s been on max mode for 10 minutes, and have no problems holding onto it.

It’s definitely warm, but it’s still cooler than an SP32v2 left on high, or one that’s had its turbo mode repeatedly engaged to bypass the timer and turn it into a pseudo hand warmer. :smiling_imp:

There are many household items (a kettle, cooking utensil, a hair dryer, or even hot water) that will scald before this thing does.