You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72495
I just received mine today. stuck a fresh TF flame in it (4.22V). Only drew 1.96A on high... I used VC99, and I think the leads are supposed to be quite good. Am I doing something wrong maybe?
I'm wondering how consistent they are with their drivers.
I also have the Vichy VC99 and I use it with its original leads. They seem to be of good quality.
I get 3.2A with a TF@4.10v+ only if I there is a direct touch between the battery and the drop-in, as it is in the L2i.
With a 502B, which has a buffer between the battery and the head, I get only 2.5A best case (sometimes less).
Also, the current rises the more I press the battery towards the host head with the negative lead.
Excel DT9205A from Manafont with some wires (was founded in the closet :)) & TF@4.10 - approx. 3.1A, with original leads only 1.9A. Body is 504B (also from Manafont).
Seems like the same case as mine.
Also pay attention that not all batteries are created equally good. There was some slight differences noticed by out battery guru Old who did a nice roundup and taking two samples for each battery.
There are so many variables involved that it makes comparisons difficult. Battery brand, age, health, state of charge, driver, light body style/configuration, test lead length and guage, and meter quality/calibration are only some obvious ones. You can probably come up with more.
In one of my tests just changing the leads from the cheap standard ones to some jury rigged 10 guage leads made a difference of ~1.4A. I repeated the test 3 times to verify the results. In another test I switched between two supposedly identical AW 2600's with less than 5 cycles on either of them and repeatedly observerd a 200ma difference in tailcap current.
In my WF501A with a freshly charged trustfire 16340 it only pulls 1.7 amps on high, but it doesn't over heat to fast and it's very bright. All the others pull over 3 amps on high with freshly charged trustfire 18650s.
Not sure if I've already said hello, but in case I haven't, welcome to BLF.
By the way, I love your sigline. If I didn't mind getting beaten to death I could have used that line about 100 times today. I certainly said something like it inside my head many, many times.
Now that's an Ultra Fire I would like to own.
welcomeFoy
I got to tell you for 5 bucks and change plus the drop in it's pretty sweet.
Oh and Hi again, Don you saved me from having an emergency in my pants in the "Is this thing going to blow up in my pocket thread".
I checked again with 2 different fully charged batteries and measure 3 times each. Both batteries fully charged. Took the dropin out to factor out the body:
1) 1.85A, 1.88A, 1.90A
2) 1.76a, 1.75A, 1.78A
It seems my second battery is not as good. I've ordered a couple more TF flames. If those make no difference, which I suspect they will not, I guess it's a driver swap then. Now where's that thread on soldering...
Hmm... I probably need to replace my memory chip.
I measured again, and I could only get about 1.8A with either the VC99 leads or the DX leads.
16AWG leads gave about 3.2A with L2i, 2.7A with 502B.
Sorry for the erroneous data I posted previously.
Seems there were a couple posts about the newer batches of flames from DX not being able to supply the amps like the older ones. Has anyone verified this? Kragmutt, try yours with some thick short wires to the meter and let us know too. I want one of these drop ins in the future.
Dunno about the DX TF, I got mine from Manafont about a month ago (sent mid March) and they provide >3A to the MF XM-L drop-in.
Between 3.3 and 3A with fresh loaded 2900mAh 18650 AW.
measured with a Finest 201 Multimeter.
The KD Solarforce L2 Cree XML U2 1300 Lumen 5-Mode LED Flashlight measures 2.7A
Today the second UF XML drop-in arrived.
The same time as the Grey Solarforce L2P body.
Did already a tailcap measurement, with the redilast 2900 mAh, it draws almost 3.6A !
Mine was using 3,75A on high mode, but died after 2 days.
I think mine had a Driver issue, Manafont is sending me (after some discussion) a new one.
Here is the result without any battery sag :)
About 3.0 in an L2P. Measured 3.15 in my L2i. Eyeballing it, I guess it might look slightly brighter. Is it because the male threads on the L2i are on the tail cap, while the male tail cap threads on an L2P are on the body? I'll have to try it with another UF XM-L drop-in.
Foy
Got mine yesterday, gave 3,15 from fresh Trustfire 18650 flame in L2P. Brighter than my high voltage XML U2 with 2x18650.