grin, on the Q8 driver the pads have labeling above them, these match the switch. I have bought the driver and switch assembly before, from Sofirn I think.
Yeah Tom, weather has been nasty lately… I’ll do a 50M lux test when I can and may try to set up the mile lux test like me, R and R have done for the GT. Kinda neat getting an actual meter reading at a mile. 
This reflector, in theory, should outdo the GT reflector as it has a larger opening at 124mm and the depth creates a more accurate parabolic ratio, similar to the reflector found in the TN42. We did a lot of due diligence developing this one. Several BLF members were involved and some studious 3D CAD was employed. Sadly it was decided not to produce the light in the end.
I was given the challenge to build and test a working light using this reflector, a prototype and the second such (first was smaller at 95mm, now housing a CFT-90). My lathe was really too small but I managed by actually threading the factory mounting bands used to hold the reflector when it was being machined. The bezel threads directly to the top of the reflector and my adapter screws onto the mid/band to enable joining the pill section ( light engine if you will) so yes, I have black electrical tape covering the exposed portion of reflector. I wanted to make a head for protection of the reflector but the dimensions are just overly large for my 5” chuck.
So this is what my DBC-07 has in common with a Ducati, stressed member design. Lol
And now you know… the rest of the story. (Mostly)
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Very Nice build. Great imagination and craftsmanship. :+1:
Did you use that stock Q8 driver ? I need to know how to get a max amp 3V driver for my light.
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I used the Q8 driver with Anduril flashed to it. I had already put a Vishay SIR800DP FET on it, would have changed that to a SIR404DP but I’m out of em.
I have a 404 in my Crelant and it lets a 25S 18650 push 23.2A to the 90.2. ( think thats right, need coffee)
I set up a measured 30M test tonight and tested my 08 alongside a GT and the K1.
K1 did 693Kcd for 1664.93M at 1.04 mile
GT did 1.26Mcd for 2244.99M at 1.4 miles
My 07 did 1.836Mcd for 2709.98M at 1.68 miles.
Freaky stuff!
Lumens output between these three throwers is quite different. The White Flat in the K1 is severely disadvantaged in a comparison to the 90.2, yet holds it’s own amazingly well! Pleasant surprise from the new lights, pretty much spot on to previous testing on the GT
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Is this the driver ? It comes stock with a ui , will that work ?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32867355375.html
And I’m not sure which one of these 3 to buy.
https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=Vishay%20SIR404DP%20FET
I might try this mod, but I’m no electronics guy.
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Shoot me a PM and I’ll see if I can hook you up… I have a new one sitting here doing nothing, I can flash Anduril on it for you and swap the FET if you like.
Isn’t that what art is? Would Dad be mad at what you did to his light? Did he appreciate the builds or did he like to keep it simple?
Dad was impressed at what I could make a light do. In his day they used carbide lanterns.
He would probably tell me I’m gonna keep on til I make a dent in the sun, or maybe he’d express concern at the possibility of fire at the power levels I’m pushing. (May even say something in reference to “need” and the holes in my head.)
Dad was from the back hills of Virginia, circa 1928. There were 9 kids in his family and times were hard. Taught him to be practical to every logical extreme. He was a practical joker though, too, so you never knew quite what to expect from ol Herbert Hoover… (yes, my Dad’s name was Herbert Hoover, H.H. or simply Herb would do, as long as he was called in time for supper… save him plenty of dessert mind you! He had a way of saying “this is the best pie I’ve ever eaten!” The one he had in front of em was always the best one. Tastes kind of musty, he’d say… must have some more!)
Can’t BS a BS’r Tim lol
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DB Custom is the MAN :+1:
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In the interest of full disclosure… most of you here know that a direct drive FET set-up will be brightest at start and diminish in output as the cells take a load and as they fall. This light is no different, running the Q8 FET+1 set-up. When I was out testing initially I went outside and set up while it was still light, as the sun went down, and the water tower at 1.9 miles away was clearly visible (the light on top is burned out, difficult to find in full dark) So I set up the camera and got the light lined up then waited for dark. By the time I took the lux test I’d run the light in Turbo about 5 different times. So it finally dawned on me that the lux test was done with the cells having taken some beating.
Went out last night with fresh charged cells and tested it again. And saw a few things. Of course, start numbers were highest but then it dropped to a lower number then it fairly quickly dropped to a steady number over about 30-40 seconds. So I’ll report all 3 stages of this coming off fresh cells so you can get the same picture I got…
Start - 2.394Mcd for 3094.5M throw
5 Sec - 1.935Mcd for 2782.09M throw
~30 Sec - 1.674Mcd for 2587.66M throw this reading was stable and remained a constant while I was shining the light at the sensor.
I came inside and realized I hadn’t done anything with the thermal regulation of Anduril, so I wondered it the UI stepped it down. So I addressed thermal regulation, set it for room temperature (this was a couple of hours later) and set thermal regulation to kick in at 66C. Charged the cells back up to fresh, then put it on the light box to see how it acted. Again, still on the new Samsung 25S 18650’s (x4) it made 4910 lumens at start and fairly rapidly dropped to 4060 where it stabilized a bit before it started slowly falling to 4000 and gradually lower. Wondering if it was the 25S’s taking a load, I tried it with 35E cells. It made 4450 at start and more slowly dropped to the 4110 mark then slowed and gradually faded down to 4000 and below.
If Sofirn had made the two carrier configuration that got me started on Ham’r, this would be much more stable and the start numbers wouldn’t fall so quickly. As it is, I still really love it and in use the eyes adapt quickly so it’s difficult to tell any change so it really doesn’t make much difference. At any rate, until there’s a reliable Buck driver that can hold 25A I guess all this loses relevance. lol
For some comparison, I also tested my DBC-06 95mm light with the CFT-90 emitter. This light was using a single 30T cell and has been tested at 23.2A. It produced 1.026Mcd for 2025.83M throw in a very solid reliable form, the numbers fluctuated up and down slightly as I moved the light around but otherwise stayed constant for the duration of the test. So this tells me the Samsung 30T can handle the power without such a radical drop under load, albeit it would still drain much faster at a power supply value of 3Ah vs 10Ah in the DBC-07 with 4 25S cells.
So now I need to find the best 18650 that has good capacity and handles some 6A with aplomb. 
Oh, and just for the sake of information… I’ve seen someone say they set the thermal regulation in Anduril every time they go into a different environment. This is totally not necessary, the idea is to tell the firmware what temperature it is so it has a base reading, which is why room temperature is ideal to begin with as it’s easily measured. Given that the present temperature of the light is room temperature it can be set so the firmware knows exactly what this temperature is, then when it rises in operation it will be more accurate. It isn’t necessary to reset it when you go out in the snow, or out on a hot night, it’s been done and that’s that. It just isn’t calibrated at the factory so it needs to be done once to ensure the firmware knows an accurate measure.
This is my interpretation of the way Anduril works as it’s been described to me by TK herself, I could of course be radically off base as I do tend to be dense sometimes. 
And because I know you will ask, the water tower beamshot… Canon 6D with 24-105mm lens at f/5.6 1/2 second ISO1600, zoomed out to 105mm (while they call this 4X it is only 4 times the wide angle, in truth it is about 2X to what the eye sees… weird I know but it is what it is.) Manual focus and manual settings.
Base - dark night with no moon, clear skies, biting North wind.
And DBC-07 in Turbo, mounted directly to the tripod with a photography clamp, under the camera. Water tower is 1.9 miles away according to Google Earth.
“Excuse me sir, which way to the water tower?”
Dale:
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I think I’m painting myself into a corner, getting tougher all the time to go the next step…