review: nitecore TM16 - final!

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
2

today i have some insights of that great light...

remember i did not like the reverse polarity protection?

(in fact it drove me crazy so it was the important thing i was doing after i did not manage to open the light)

it was a hard fight...

but i won (using a heatgun to soften the plastic did the job)

the contact board (i was right guessing a 4S arrangement of the cells)

despite mild force only little damage was done

now every cell has contact - but they sit a bit deep now (and some damage was done on this side too)

using rubberised gloves the bezel opened up at the end

the lens is hold/sealed within a C-shaped "O-ring"

the reflector is made of plastic...

the bright part!

the solder needed a lot of heat (i used flux core solder to alloy it)

the PTC (NTC?)

the MCPCB is made from alluminium and meassures 40x40x2 mm - it is NOT DTP (direct thermal path)

since i was not pleased with the centering i filed a bit off the stands (might be neccessary to work also on the MCPCB - i will see when i reassemble the light)

using a lot elbowgrease and a heatgun took me here (finally)

the base where the MCPCB sits is 3 mm thick

the electronics assembly is secured with this ring - it should be possible to tighten it farther down and compensate the missing reverse polatity pcastic

down there sits the contact board

i was "complaining" about the tilted switch... it can be mounted nicer ;)

the switch PCB

whis is soldered to the driver

after i desolderd that i got the whole assembly out of the tube...

the contact board in detail

the wires connection to the drivers backside (which actually facing forward when mounted)

question: what is LA----~~LB for?

another angle shows contacs for programming the MCU, the thermistor wires and switchboard

finally: the populated side of the driver:

R205 seems to be the sense resistor... ;)

i did not manage to get useful results on that ATR feature - it gets hot on high (50°C) for sure !

my observations lead me to the conclusion that the voltage on turbo is influencing the brigthness A LOT!

the different cells perform very different (might be the voltage sag?)

some raw numb3rs:

Battery ultraLOW LOW MID HIGH TURBO TURBO
prot. Panasonic NCR18650B 0.004 A 0.045 A 0.320 A 0.99 A 2.23 A
Sony US18650VT (pulls) 2,6 A
prot. Panasonic NCR18650B 3 Lm 377 Lm 867 Lm 2330 Lm 4050 Lm 12760 Lx@3m / 114.84 kLx
Sony US18650VT (pulls) 3 Lm 374 Lm 859 Lm 2325 Lm 4350 Lm 13230 Lx@3m / 119.07 kLx
LG 18650HE2 3 Lm 375 Lm 857 Lm 2305 Lm 4600 Lm 13860 Lx@3m / 124.74 kLx
ICR18650-22P (pulls) 4450 Lm
acebeam ARC18650NP-260A 4200 Lm
acebeam ARC18650H-250A 4850 Lm 15080 Lx@3m / 135.72 kLx
for comparison M43 XP-G2 dd X60 6500 TM06 K40M4D
same testrun 6400 Lm 6900 Lm 3800 Lm 4300 Lm

things to be updated on this post:

reassemble the light (modify maybe?)

make more meassurements to understand input voltage/Amps to Lumen OTF

take temperature measurements vs time

my conclusion (so far):

+ i like that light!

+ powerfull / useful / good size!

+ nitecore build quality

+ great UI

- can´t use the cells I want (without voiding warranty)

- plastic reflector (can´t say what is not as good as a metal one - but its plastic...)

update 27.7.2015:

i took some time and finished my review

plasitc reflectors leak some light i was told - so i tested that:

here you see the amount of light thats actually going thru and is lost!

ISO200 , 1/2 sec

measured Vf of the 4 LEDs (at the driver)

battery type lower low mid high turbo
old sony VT 4,11V 10,23 11,1 11,57 12,44 13,25
acebeam ARC18650H-250A 4,13V 10,22 11,1 11,56 12,46 13,78
Pana NCR18650B prot. 4.14V 13,18
acebeam ARC18650NP-260A prot. 4,12V 10,23 11,1 11,58 12,47 13,34
acebeam ARC18650NP-260A prot. 4,12V 0,003A 0,175A 0,414A 1,22A 2,43A

i think: the less the voltage of the cells drops under load, the higher is the Vf delivered to the LEDs on turbo - all other modes are well regulated

the numbers fit to my lumens i measured above....

next test:

i made a run with the floating LED-board - NO cooling NO heatsink!!!

after ~50 secs on high it had ~100°C and stepped down a lot (the thermistor works)

last test:

setup:

i took amperes between driver and MCPCB and (used x10 in the graph for a better display)

temperature was measured between 2 LEDs on a blackened field with the IR-thermometer ( swinging a bit and took highest reading)

"input"voltage from the 4S cells - because i think that voltage provided under load mostly affects what comes OTF

the fan of the pure copper heatsink ran on 12V

cells used: acebeam ARC18650NP-260A prot. with 4,05V at start without load

minute 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
FAN OFF stepdown turbo + FAN ON Light OFF
emitter ampere 2,2 2,15 2,125 2,095 2,065 2,035

2,005

 1,975 1,95 1,92 1,89 1,86 1,835 1,815 1,785 1,762 1,777 1,772 1,773 1,772 1,769 1,76 1,755 1,75 1,18 1,7 1,64 1,58 1,54 1,505 1,48 0
temperature MCPCB °C 20 25 25 25 26 26,5 27 27 27,5 28 28 28,5 28 28 28,5 28 31 33,5 36 37,5 40 41,5 43 44,5 47 40 35 33 31 30 28,5 25
voltage 4S under load 15,05 14,92 14,81 14,73 14,61 14,55 14,52 14,49 14,46 14,42 14,39 14,38 14,35 14,32 14,28 14,26 14,22 14,22 14,15 14,11 14,07 14,03 14,01 13,98 14,26 13,95 13,95 13,95 13,95 13,94 13,94 14,65
calculated cell voltage 3,76 3,73 3,70 3,68 3,65 3,64 3,63 3,62 3,62 3,61 3,60 3,60 3,59 3,58 3,57 3,57 3,56 3,56 3,54 3,53 3,52 3,51 3,50 3,50 3,57 3,49 3,49 3,49 3,49 3,49 3,49 3,66

as graph:

what I think to see:

  • with good cooling there is no stepdown the first 15 minutes - output Amps ran slowly down according to dropping input voltage
  • even with the fan switched off and heating up the Amps ran down according to dropping input voltage until the stepdown (to high) happened
  • after FAN ON and step back to turbo same picture...

3

Looking forward to more info!

4

thanks for the review.
quick questions….is there a step down from turbo? if so, how long?
to turn on and off light, does it require holding down the switch? or is it a simple quick click?
lastly, if possible, i would like to see a beam shot comparision with your k40m please.

5

stepdown: not measured yet
on/off: single short click to memory (long for ultralow or turbo from off)
beamshots will follow soon

6

How about an Old Lumens style post-review giveaway?
:money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face:

7

i did that already… (with a JM35, a nitecore sens AA and a kindire K1200S)

but i like this one too much :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Interesting, looks like the leds are all mounted on the same mcpcb, it might make modding a bit difficult if the reflector has a flat base.

I’ve been looking for a multi led thrower to mod with XPL HI, and this could be it. Will wait for part II of your review

9

I recieved a my TM16 (DHL baby!). I too really like it. I took it out for some night fishing, during which I intended to get some beamshots, but the fish were unrelenting. In the few breaks in action we had I pulled it out and delivered some daylight to the trusses and shoreline 200yds away even through the dense air. I also finally got to test out my UF-1504 (sliced dome xpg2 3A) which was a bit disapointing comparatively. Great for cruising and spotting buoys with very little spill hitting the boat, but not enough light to illuminate a large spot.

Anyway, I think I have a new best flashlight in my collection. :slight_smile:

10

if the baby ever again goes to sleep i can update post 1 :wink:
tiredashell

i also made a beamshotsession (470m and 200m) with 14 lights - also in progress to resize and make a post worth reading…

11

Were you able to confirm the 4000 lumens for the TM16?

12

see Post#1 :wink:

13

Thanks Max. WIll wait for your regulation results before deciding on one :stuck_out_tongue:

What does not having DTP mean for the TM16 then? Can someone explain that?

14

If there is one word to describe Nitecore flashlights it’s THIN.

15

Nice comprehensive strip down. The review needs an X rating.

16

Thanks for the great review! Great disassembling!

Definitely great flashlight. Just wish Nitecore to not take so much care for the weight of their products,which is important for the regular user,but possibly limiting the performance.

17

Awesome job !!! Thanks for the disassembling. :bigsmile:
thanks…thanks….and thanks…

18

Excellent review! Many thanks :slight_smile:

I stand waiting with the step - down :wink:

19

Many thanks for that…

Did you by chance had a k60 in that 14’s lights list?

20

unfortunately not :frowning:

not easy to get one for cheap …

21

Yeah I know…

k60 vs tm16 could be interesting maybe also a comparison with a sd75… I’m undecided for the tm16… Since the k60 claims more lumen (and I suspect they could go all with the spill since throw it’s similar) which is not a bad thing…

The driver efficiency seems better on k60 (if we just take the manufacturer specs) the low is lower, the max is higher… So it seems a better light in almost every situation… BUT acebeam reputation is… Hum… Don’t know… And I do not like their MAP attitude… So… Just taking into account the GB price and the unavailability of an equivalent good discount on k60….

Very undecided