Carbon Fibre Flashlight/ Powerbank Build

Looks very nice CRX! So the nail was used as a plunger for the switch? Can you explain how the switch works?

Yeah I cut a piece of about 3mm to use as the plunger, it is just a normal momentary switch filed down with a moppydrv driver.

Looks fantastic, as always!

Nice light mate! How is the carbon fiber at handling heat?

nice work as allways crx
that carbon tube looks a lot better then the cf wrap I’ve been playing with…

It’s not too bad but not very good either.

The CF wall is 1mm thick and passes the heat out directly from around the reflector/ brass pill area which is cemented in place with jbweld quite well but the heat does not conduct along the length of the light much, it gets almost too hot to hold in the head area after a while on 100% so I have the stepdown to 50% set to 20s, this design and materials used seems to be a fair balance.
I expected this and that is why I used the tamer cell and smaller driver plus using the light on full blast is detrimental to the powerbank function but still nice to have if needed.
The carbon fibre keeping cool is good for the cell :wink:

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Experimenting with the carbon fibre look? I bought the 500mm x 22mm tube for about a tenner, there will be a couple more builds with this :+1:

I’ve used the wrap on a couple of things, usually use it to line battery tubes for better fit

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Looks nice! Excellent build sir!

GReat build once again, but the powerbank circuit might be the worst efficient one unfortunately :frowning:

What’s the best one this size?

You bought it alone or in a 1*18650 powerbank ?
This design seems to have big parasitic drain and poor efficiency, well below 80% IIRC…
I think HKJ did some test on a similar one, but it seems difficult to find a good circuit in that size format

Stunning looking torch.

Nice build CRX…

very well done

Thanks for the comments :+1:

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I’m going to give it a rough test now, nothing too technical from me but still…

It is this one from FT that I used FYI

Specs

Input type: 1*Micro-USB, DC 4.5-5.8V / 0.4-0.52A
Output type: 1*USB, DC 5-5.2V / <1.3A
Quiescent current: < 300uA
Overcharge protection voltage: 4.3V
Overcharge recovery voltage: 4.1V
Over discharge protection voltage: 2.5V

Nice.

I’m saying nowt else……

Too funny :laughing:

So I did some rough tests of these small single cell 18650 powerbanks to see what sort of output I was getting in real term use connected to a small USB tester and an Xtar MC-1 Plus charging an 18650 at 1A

Circular Powerbank - Discharge - 1640mAh - 7.96 Wh - NCR 18650A

Charge - 2762mAh - 14.07 Wh
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Square Powerbank - Discharge - 1800mAh - 8.98 Wh - NCR 18650B

Charge - 3070mAh - 15.70 Wh
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C/F Torch Powerbank - Discharge - 1920mAh - 9.41 Wh - NCR 18650B

Charge - 3260mAh - 16.72 Wh
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Klarus CH1 Powerbank - Discharge - 1850mAh - 8.62 Wh - NCR 18650B

Charge - 3280mAh - 16.50 Wh
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Xiaomi 5000 Powerbank – Discharge – 3150mAh – 15.92 Wh – Lipo

Charge – 4290mAh – 21.3 Wh
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Xiaomi 10400 Powerbank - Discharge – 6250mAh – 31.3 Wh – 4 x 18650

Charge – 8872mAh – 44.2 Wh
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The Xiaomi’s are two years old, always kept fully charged.

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Conclusion : These small single cell powerbanks are not very efficient but are still useful to carry for an emergency charge for your phone etc.

I should try my Xiaomis with that method…
I’m not surprised about your results, single cell powerbank are hardly efficient :frowning:

Yeah a bit disappointing but still useful in a pinch, I keep them in various outing bags and it has saved me a few times when the phone’s battery depleted.

I have the slim 5000mAh and 10400 Xiaomi’s, now you got me thinking about doing them too, probably will :wink:

I have the slim 5000mAh as well and a couple of the 3*18650 10000mAh