Review and disassembly: Sofirn SF36

XXX-Man,

Thanks for the time and effort you made in sharing this with us.

Just ordered some Sofirn AA Lights (same as Thorfire), so looking forward to more reviews and views like this.

Cheers,
Splott-Light :slight_smile:

Thank you for a great review, nice looking flashlight, I think the rings in the beam comes from the XP-L2 emitter.

Thanks for sharing :beer:

Thank you for nice words.
This is my first review so I try to do my best.

I believe this is the way review is supposed to be, just text and some personal opinion never matered to me when looking at reviews.

Hope I get time to post more like this.

Great review :+1:

I am also testing this light for a review, and I can confirm the greenish outer ring on the beam. But it is only very noticeable indoors and on clear walls. Not really disturbing when using the light outdoors.

Good teardown :beer:

Driver is primitive direct drive with PWM and without stabilisation :frowning:

Do you mean the light gets dimmer as the battery voltage goes down?

nice review!
thanks
I have to do the exact same light, but you done an excellent job, maybe I should just send mine back :slight_smile:

Added current measurements, but I’m sure they are not completely accurate.

Thank you for nice words, you just made me do another review (VG10S), will post it soon.

SF36: Non constant Current output

Great review, does the battery tube interchange between the sofirn and the thorefire?

Exactly. No constant output at all. FET, PWM 21 kHz.

Replace my sf36 then, I want constant output when voltage > 3.7 V :wink:

You SP-series have stabilisation when voltage > 3.7V, but SF-series (SF36, SF31)- NO.

No, it doesn’t.
It’s very different design on the part conecting the head, you can see in my VG10S review.

Good review.
_8502 sot23-6 on board :slight_smile:
You can safely use non-protected batteries. Protection already exists in the driver._

That’s good to know.

I got mine and checked it.
Unfortunately this does not work.
The flashlight starts flashing when the voltage drops below 2.7V
edit: power off after 2 min

Some of my photos in the album Светодиодные фонари и световые приборы. Всё о светотехнике. - Альбом MSS: Sofirn SF36

I need to double-check with my SF36 but I think the light turned off when testing with an unprotected battery.

When the LVP starts blinking you should change battery ASAP anyway.

EDIT
So I did :

at 2.78V the LVP blinking started, then after ~1min the light turned off.

But if I turn it on again, it will do another blinking cycle, then turn off after ~1min again. Etc, etc.

Maybe you got a faulty driver.

About 2.7 is turn off for mine too.
Can’t remember exact number but that’s close enough.

Has anyone compared the drivers for sale with the drivers in the flashlights?
I’d like to know which ones are used. They have three drivers for sale, identified with a flashlight model number:

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170728122116&SearchText=sofirn+driver

(C8S, VG15/SF31, and C34)

I can’t tell which have low voltage protection, or whether any of those are constant current drivers (I don’t own any of those flashlights)