Review: ThruNite TN42 LED Searchlight

I think it is around 2.7A, best I remember.

2.15amp Stock. 2.25amp 24awg Tinergy Leads and Bypassed Battery carrier springs. Measured at the LED with both a Fluke 36 and a UNI-T clamp meter.

Now the modded TN42 is 3.01-3.03amp at the LED with a De-domed XHP35HD E4 1C using the LD-2 M2 set at 3.0amps. Power is supplied by a K70 4S battery carrier with bypassed springs.

Burning the de-domed E4 1C in, before installing, didn’t want to chance smoking my Reflector up! Good thing, there was some residue left over that I didn’t see and it did burn the left over thin film of silicone, which just scrapped off, with out any further issues. The modded TN42 kicks some serious Booty! :smiley:

Stock shot’s with phone camera CW and NW

How many Kcd gives now?

So, someone sum up — is $200 worth paying for this flashlight?

Yes, I know opinions will vary. But I’d like to know what experienced flashlight users think from experience.

I figure we’re going to be seeing new li-ion sizes showing up with better explosion prevention in coming years, and flashlights will have to accommodate new size battery tubes.
So I think of flashlight buying as choosing the best available head.
I’m hoping we’ll see adapter rings coming out — like those that let you use a variety of SLR camera lenses on any given SLR camera body

If you had ordered it till 12/23,you would pay 20% less.

Nice pictures. By chance, did you measure the lumens and lux in stock and modded form?
I have a modded tn42vn and here’s my numbers for comparison.
Stock:
Lumens 2140
Lux 703k
Modded:
Lumens 2430
Lux 775k

I took LUX readings between stock and just the de-domed TN42 with a little focusing, shaved the centering ring flat then added a .006” shim, before adding the LD-2 M2 driver. Both measured at the same 2M distance. Nothing at 5M-10M measurements yet. I have 6 other lights using the XHP35HI that need testing too.

Stock CW TN42 at 2M.

TN42 De-domed with stock bypassed carrier and 24awg Tinergy leads on stock driver, 2.25amps at the LED.

I don’t really care about the number’s, I just do it to do it! Visually the beam is warmer, more intense and the hot spot is visually smaller. Outside yeah you can really see the difference, no doubt about it, when shining both at my neighbors white garage door across the street! And even more with the 4S linear LD-2 M2 3.0 amp driver installed. I’m working out of state and when I get home for good I’ll do some long distance measurements and beam shot’s, of all of them!! :wink:

My T90-2 and my SD75 XHP35 HI’s are pretty impressive too! :+1:

Yep, I got mine for $165 & change.
I think they were maybe even a little lower than that a time or two on some other ‘sales’. :+1:
:wink:

how hard to get the glass out?
mines needing a good cleaning
its got a slight hazy funk i cant seem to get off of it
whats good to clean ar glass safely ?

If you are in the USA drop by your friendly WalMart and pick up some lens cleaner in the optical department or camera department. Zeiss or Baush & Lomb is what I use on my camera’s, scopes, & lights.

I haven’t had the lens out of my TN42 that I can remember but it should not be hard at all.
Edit: Disregard what I said about removing the lens….See post below by ‘KawiBoy1428’.
:slight_smile:
.

The TN42 has a wrap around seal which is really snug fitting, to the glass and to the bezel ring, remove the bezel and clean the inside fast before dust particles fall into your reflector!!! Personally I would just leave it alone, live with it, it’s not worth the other risks, dust particles attract to the reflector like a magnet, then the canned air spits, reflector falling out, ect.ect.! I have yet to find something that cleans the lens spotlessly, it always seems to be hazy, looks great when the light is off, turn it on high and look from an angle not so much, and I have had one of mine (crash test dummy) apart quite a few times, but then I have spare reflectors and lenses, most don’t, so it’s just my opinion!

tx for that friend
yeah, as soon as i pulled my bezel off, i covered the lens with a clean cloth
reflector surely does grab the dust bad
i took a hand blower for my camera and blew reflector off good while i was in it
wasnt about to start blowing compressed air in it, that stuffs a mess if it starts spewing liquid all over the place !
i wont take it apart again for sure

Hi all, I am Max from Argentina and a real newbie in the BLF. I recent aquired a TN42 that is really amazing. But reading all the post about it can´t find anyone who did a resistor mod to increase lumen output in turbo mode. Then I asked myself. is that possible?

Thanks you all.

Welcome to BLF! :smiley:

I am not sure how he modded it,other than a current boost. In stock form the light has great output and Vinh was able to get a little more out of it.

The manufacturers are catching up now. Up until a year or so ago Vinh was doubling and tripling the CD’S of a stock light.

Here are the numbers: I have Spec 1[CW] Most throw.

Spec 1 & 2:
Power Boost
1oz extra copper HS
Beam Focus

Stock Light XHP35 HI CW 6500K $200
ANSI
Lumen: 2140
Lux: 700
Throw: 1673

Spec 1 XHP35 HI CW 6500K $250 (Recommended)
ANSI
Lumen: 2400
Lux: 775
Throw: 1760m

Spec 2 XHP35 HI NW 5000K $275
ANSI
Lumen: 2150
Lux: 730K
Throw: 1709m

Here is his website:

https://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights/products/tn42vn-throw-king-pre-order-only

ALSO THE THREAD BELOW WILL HAVE MORE INFO. MAYBE DALE DID A RESISTOR MOD.

What vinh calls a "power boost" is a resistor mod most likely. XHP35's are fussy bout amps - can't go too high, otherwise you fry the chip. I wouldn't risk it if you can't afford to lose the LED, and don't know for sure exactly what resistor value to use.

What KB1428 did is pretty phenomenal. Sounds like he did a full driver replacement, boosting the amps to near or at max of the LED, then de-domed an XHP35 HD, so in theory can get more throw than a XHP35 HI. From the meter looks like a ~20% boost over stock while vinh seems to get ~10% over stock.

I think from what I'm reading/seeing, stock TN42 does 2.25A while KB1428's does 2.94A.

Would love to see what KB1428's really does in kcd measured at 10+ meters, but I'm guessing in the 840 kcd range. His pics of the meters doesn't seem to make sense for 2 meters, but it's hard to see the readings, and units of measurement.

Thanks a lot for your kind answers. But unveliebale or not, suddenly my TN42 that only have two weeks in my hands begun to remain lighted in a less than firefly mode. The curiosty about it is that only 3 dies of the led got fired.

Any help will be very apreciate.

Max

^
I wish you luck with that. Tom E.,Dale and many others can help you more than myself!

The only simple things I can think of is:

Are you batteries fully charged? Do you have a DMM to test there voltage. Check to see that ALL contacts are clean.

Hopefully the problem can be resolved without sending it back to the dealer.

I hope so Wolfdog because I am in Argentina and all the customs issues to receive and to send packages from and to abroad are a real PITA and expensive. :person_facepalming:

Where did you get the light? In USA dealer is responsible for first 30 days of the warranty. Usually they pay for return shipping for a faulty product. It has happened to me before in 5 days w/ the TN32! Illumn paid for return shipping and sent me a new light. In fact I will try and find the picture and post it in a few minutes!

I bought it to hkequipment in hong kong through ebay. The thing worked flawless until yesterday and today I found it lighted this way. By the way how can I upload a pic from my computer?