Review of Ultrafire WF-502B XM-L T6 3-modes

I don’t see the option to select another driver.
Note that the reflector is OP, not the usual SMO.

You can contact him via chat or PM to ask for driver and emitter options. I think you can also ask him for a SMO reflector. I did a few times and even asked him to change the tail switch to different color.

Very nice review and very welcome here!

Just ordered this today;
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_22724.html

One thing that jumps out at me in the pictures is the tailcap has a brass looking plunger contact instead of the usually seen bare spring.
Don’t know if it makes it better or worse, time will tell.
Also it lists it as an XM-L T6 U2 so maybe it will be a hot drop in.
Thanks!
Keith

This “plunger” contact offers a bigger surface area so it makes a better contact.
I hope that it is spring loaded because if not, a strong shock on the flashlight may cause a momentary disconnection causing a mode change…
Tell us when you get it!

Why is there “convoy” markings on all pictures when the light is Ultrafire branded?

Good question.

You can ask Simon M. here:

If you require a different emitter, tint, body colour, driver, etc. just chat to him.

It will be spring loaded, that I am sure of. The question becomes is the plunger to internal spring connection resulting in a higher resistance than a straight spring. Sometimes they are better, other times you need to solder the plunger to the spring, or remove the plunger and go straight spring.
Also resistance of the switch comes in to play.
It’s cheap, I’m cheap, marriage made in heaven,…. or hell.
Later,
Keith

My guess he’s using the same frame for many of his pictures. He’s known as seller (or maker?) of Convoy lights.

Hey lagman, care to do a IPX7 waterproof test?

IPX7 Protected against water immersion - Immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter.

I have seen them do the Ultrafire 501C and the 504C

I did a test in my sink for about 30min.
This light is not waterproof as a small amount of water leaked through the clip screws (as said in the review).

It kept running though, just a teeny bit of water or did it flood it?

I removed the P60 dropin and the battery to do the test. There was a small amount of water, but enough to do damage.

I wonder if loctite or some sort of thread locker/sealer would prevent leakage

That’s exactly the idea I had! :slight_smile:
I placed some loctite on the clip screw threads yesterday. I’ll test it again soon.
Stock this light is not water proof. But I’m sure it can take rain or a drop in water if you take it out quickly. Just don’t dive with it. :slight_smile:

Ok, I left the flashlight (electronics removed) for about 30min in my sink. Not a drop of water got inside. However, I can’t say how it would perform if it goes deeper underwater (if you let it fall in a pool for example).
Hope this helps you.

I just did that. Soldered a wire across the 0.2ohms resistor and now I have a slightly higher current. At 3.9V OCV I get about 2.2A. At 4.2V about 2.5A. There is a lot of parasitic resistance in the driver/flashlight body!

I left the flashlight on for about 10min on high with a fresh battery and the body temp reached 70°C! :open_mouth: (measured on the driver board). The battery was at 45°C, I guess because of its thermal inertia as the body around it was hotter.

Btw, I struggled to remove the driver board from the dropin. I used soldering wick to remove the solder but there was some left on it. Is there an easy way?

This driver is very simple as can be seen on the picture. Just a transistor to make PWM for medium mode and strobe. I guess it’s always on when on full as I can’t see any flicker on a fan.
There is a diode on top right of the picture which means that it is probably protected for reverse polarity. Good!

The major design flaw of this light, and most of the high power flashlights I guess, is that the body of the flashlight acts as a heat sink for the LED. That’s good for the LED, but that means that the battery heats up to the same temperature as the body.
Discharging at high current a fully charged lithium battery at a high temperature is close to be the worst thing you can do to it.
Now I don’t see how that could be avoided… Maybe by having an aluminium head to cool the LED but a plastic enclosure for the battery so that the heat doesn’t transfer to it?

Yesterday I started to have issues changing modes. Sometimes it jumps one mode. Instead of :Hi- Lo- Strobe it jumps from Hi to Strobe with one click.
I guess the switch is bad… I made sure that the ring that maintains the switch in place is tightened correctly.

I tested by removing the tail cap and making direct contact between negative and the body. When I disconnect power for 1 sec to change mode it still jumps a mode from time to time! So it’s not the switch. What can it be then? I have no idea.