I have a Convoy S2+ with 4 7135 drivers. It’s been great but recently I lent it to my wife and she had it on high for an hour or two while she did chores. She could hardly touch it after it was so hot. I got the 4 chip one because I thought it would be safe for her to use without it overheating like my brighter lights. Light seems ok just lucky battery didn’t burst. How can I find a light that won’t overheat so I can lend it to people? Do you know of ones with thermal regulation around the same price?
How hot do you think it got?
Too hot to hold, had to hold it by the lanyard. About the same as a seatbelt on a hot summer day when you can only touch it for a second.
That’s probably around 50C-55C.
So, too hot to hold, but not dangerous for the battery.
You could remove one of the 7135’s from the driver and that should do the trick.
Can you measure the current draw on high? Here's some info on how much current to expect with 4 chips:
(post 1324)
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/38724?page=44
Edit: All my S2+ lights have three chips. Just ran one on high for 35min, temp was 122F (laying on a table, no cooling).
I had a S2 with 4 7135’s and I never found it to get uncomfortably hot on high when it was in my hand. Did she lay it down when it was on and then tried to pick it up? I had a S2+ with 6 chips turn on accidentally when it was in my jacket and I sat on it. I didn’t realize it was on for probably 15 minutes or more and by that time it was so hot that I had to use my jacket to hold it to turn it off. Although my S2+ was a 2.1A light as opposed to the 1.4A light it never got too hot for me to hold when my hand acted as a heat sink.
It draws 1.4A on high which is what the specs say it should be. Just surprised that gets so hot after awhile. One reason I like my C8 so much is the extra mass really dissipates the heat better but it’s not as friendly in the pocket. Yes she had it laying down which is probably why it got so hot.
I too bought the 4x 7135, thinking it would be the highest without running too hot. I left it on a table for room lighting and found it got too hot to comfortably leave unattended. So maybe 4x is a bit too high.
The flashlight’s surface area is too small to dissipate even 5-6 watts of heat. Try teaching your wife to use modes. (At least it works with mine 
)
Most people don't realize that your hand actually cools a light dramatically when holding it .
I used to buy 6x 7135 s2 convoys and ran a pair of them continuously over a wide kitchen table on medium .
Kids would get a hold of them and naturally want more,more more light and turn them on high . They got way too hot to touch .
Lots of us have them since they went for $7 with coupons quite frequently not so long ago.
I find them perfect for power outages as tail-stand ceiling bounce lights, on medium.
Not sure how many 7135’s that is equivalent to, but definitely medium lights up a room effectively, preserves battery, and they don’t get hot.
Yep, i have several S2+ ’s and especially the 8x driver get really hot after approx 10 minutes, so thats not really strange.
Take a look at djozz tests
Any light will get much hotter not being held in your hand. All those blood vessels and fatty tissue makes for a great heat sink.
Very interesting test, so my setup runs about 60C at hottest which is still quite safe operating temperature. My graphics card runs at 75C all the time and never had issues. Out of curiosity what is a good budget 18650 which has enough mass to run at higher power levels without heat issues? I’ve been so obsessed with getting the smallest flashlight I didn’t consider the drawbacks. Guess it all depends on application.
Get a S2+ with 7135x3 (or x4) and biscotti firmware (or flash your S2 to same fw if you know how). Then set it to the mode where it goes 0.1, 1, 10, 50
That should be pretty conservative and there is no chance your wife or kid will be able to change it to a mode which goes to 100%
Alternatively get a light with thermal step-down. There are not many in the budget range. Emisar D1 is $35, it has configurable thermal regulation.
I have been running my convoy M2 at 1.5 amps for 45 minutes. Has not gone over 40c.
It don’t seam to be rising after this much time.
Edit. Just hit 45c at the 1 hour mark.
Maybe just us a larger host?
New Convoy S2+ with 8x7135 and biscotti driver is solution.
Wen I use light I set 100% output. When I am giving to someone else I set up 50% mode and it never gets too hot.
I have tested over 2 hours in room temperature.
yeah I didn’t notice my model does not have the biscotti driver, probably why it was such a good deal.
I fell in love with that yellow powder coat…