Sofirn SP70's have an uneven shelf, need others to check too.

Hi all,

I received a large order of SP70’s and one had half the led not working and the other only quarter.

- Is that just a bad batch of XHP70’s?

- Poorly reflowed?

  • Driver issue causing it?

Deciding what to ask Sofirn for in parts. I’d rather fix them than ask Sofirn for a refund, maybe I should be doing both. I am a supplier but not an authorized one so what do you guys think, should I be getting a refund? I usually fix faults but maybe I shouldn’t be putting up with it and always requesting refunds

UPDATE

All Sofirn SP70’s have an uneven shelf. They’re covering this issue by applying way too much thermal paste to make it look like it’s making good contact but it’s not. There’s enough paste for 3-4 SP70’s on one unit.

Received 3x more SP70’s to find 1pc wasn’t making contact. Decided to wipe off the other units thermal paste and check, they too had the same problem

I’m going to make a video applying my own paste to make it clear to them, this is terrible quality control.

Ignore my hand tremors. Just a video I sent to Sofirn to show the issue

I’d just reach out to Sofirn (rep’s right here on blf) and see what he/she could do.

sounds like bad leds, driver would not be causing that normally, if reflow job is bad they would not light up at all. or if shorted just blink once with every turn on.

Just had a 3rd XHP70.2 in another SP70 die, only half lit

sorry how does it have half or a quarter of the led not working? doesnt it only have 1 led in the light?

or are you saying you had 2 orders of sp70s, and in 1 batch, HALF the sp70s had defective leds, and in another batch, 1/4 of the sp70s had defective leds?? cuz thats a VERY high failure rate

An XHP70.2 has 4 dies, 2 of which are dead

oh! did not know that

Yes, xhp50.2 is same thing. And to OP - I recently reflowed an xhp50.2 to my EC01 and had the same issue with only half the LED lighting up, and it was ultimately bad reflow/ mcpcb being damaged. I’d say that’s the issue, because when I flowed the same xhp50 onto a different mcpcb (ft03) it works fine. That’d be my guess. Mcpcb or reflow issue

Probably a bad reflow.

ouch thats just bad, sounds like a faulty batch if so many… but that should go under warranty if they arrived like that, hope they can solve this quick.

Oh absolutely, no worries about getting it fixed.

Since the last 2pcs I’ve only sold approx 5 units so it’s been quite a high failure rate.

I’ll try reflowing it but I’ll get a replacement led and mcpcb anyway, maybe I’ll ask for a couple

Turns out the shelf isn’t flat, the mcpcb wobbles side to side.

Wiped the thermal paste off mcpcb and reinstalled it, this is how much contact its truly making.

I’m getting a bit annoyed at Sofirn’s lack of QC. Recently made a post about 10pcs SP40 and 2pcs SP70 with ano issues which they tried covering up. I received $30 compensation so that’s sorted but still….

As a dealer, at least they will take care of you. :+1: An unevenly milled shelf for THAT LIGHT is a pretty bad miss though :person_facepalming:

I was going to say that emitters that I’ve burned out usually failed starting at one side like yours did, and it was due to overpowering (overheating) them OR my bad solder job mounting them. The failed cooling with an uneven shelf explains the problem now in hindsight.

I have never received a bad light from Sofirn out of about 40 or so I’ve bought over the last three years. Of course, some of that stock I still have new in the box! So I’m now hoping it’s all in good shape when I get to it.

Still, for the value they give us… I’d guess they might have some QC slips occasionally like any company doing what they do. I am glad to know they will at least step up and take care of the problems when they do arise.

They’ll definitely sort it out but hope they’ll send a new unit and not just a replacement head since this is one of the units with the ano issue. I’d like to fix this unit but I don’t have the tools to level it

I was out making a demo video and was thinking “this jump from High to Turbo is tiny”, couple seconds later it starts flickering and half of it dies. I really hope the others I have in stock are okay.

Just switched on a second unit for a turbo run to test and it starts flickering…….bad batch of lights, damn it

I noticed that exactly after 3min my SP70 steps down from turbo mode to low mode, not high mode.

If it’s reaching 50°C it’ll step down lower than High. If it’s just on 3 min and it’s not hot then maybe there’s an issue. Are you in ramping or stepped mode. maybe it reduces to the last ramp level? Who knows, I haven’t had that issue

It occurs in stepped modes on turbo and in ramping when set to maximum. If ramped down only a little bit the stepdown will not be triggered. It does not matter what level I used before, always forcing the flashlight down to low mode.

No idea, if it bugs you then perhaps email Sofirn.

i hope this doesnt mean sofirns quality has got lower now….