Why is FastTech making you mail the light back? That makes no sense.
You can get replacement drivers from overseas from a lot of different places including Convoy itself or any of the other stores such as Banggood, FastTech or Gearbest.
My advice, since your in the US, is to buy one from Richard at Mountain Electronics. He has a ton of options. You can stick with a constant-current driver with a wide variety of different user interfaces or you can go with a fet driver and get increased output.
These lights can absorb heat really well, so a FET driver is a good option.
See if Fasttech will refund half the purchase price and you keep the light, then take that money and get whatever driver you want.
If you’re able to take it apart, a new driver can be swapped in pretty easily. You could even upgrade it at the same time, perhaps using a bistro driver from MtnElectronics. This would give you more throw and a nicer UI.
Or with some fairly cheap tools you could reflash the stock driver to fix it.
If you’re not able to take it apart, a solution is more difficult.
I’ll play around with the part I have now, have the OP reflector but seem the diameter hole different with the original smooth reflector.
The OP reflector little bit shorter in height to it’s not tight when I put back the head in place.
@DB Custom, may I know the link for purchase those optics and/or ledil mirella? Appreciated.
Try to reflash it first, maybe you luck. If not, then buy the driver from the above suggestion’s post.
So, I got my C8 from Simon, but not exactly in one piece…
Now, I put the little white ring back in its place, but the question is: is it supposed to be glued down, or does the reflector keep it in place just by sitting on top of it?
I don’t know if the ring got dislocated in transport or if it was just shoddy assembly and no QC.
The reflector has to push the led into the body for good heat transfer. The plastic ring let’s the reflector push hard against the mcpcb, centers the led in the reflector and spaces it just right for proper focus and to clear the wires preventing a short.
In normal assembly the centering ring can not be there. It is larger than the hole in reflector. If I see right this centering ring is for 7mm reflector hole and XP leds. You need a centering ring for 9mm hole.
Is it possible Simon put in the wrong size ring in my light. It does seem a bit small compared to the hole in the reflector.
Right now it’s sitting in place, just barely. If it’s not being pressed down correctly, then that’s probably not good for heat transfer, even if it does remain in place.
I pulled it apart to measure the plastic ring… it’s about 8mm wide, but as you can see below, it is smaller than the hole in the reflector. No wonder it fell out. I guess I need to contact Simon. That’s not cool…
So it turns out Fasttech has a return center in Miami so the shipping to send it back is not as bad as I thought. They will replace the light. I am using an old Convoy C8 now as a backup. Once I receive the replacement I think I’ll us some of this information to upgrade it. It is a few years old. I mostly use it indoors so a long throw is not important. I’d actually rather get more flood out of it. Any suggestions on a suitable replacement emitter? Thanks for all the responses.
Well, a C8 is the last light you want for close up use. I’ve tried an OP reflector, but it barely made a difference. Other than buying a different light or converting the C8 to a triple or quad unit with tir lenses (expensive) the only cheap thing I can think of is to apply some type of diffuser film on the lens. There is a translucent film by DC Fix that people claims works well, but it does rob some lumens.
Geez! :person_facepalming: Yeah that’s the wrong one alright. You can contact Simon and let him know if you want but I think I’ve got one I can send you. I’ll look when I get home. Shoot me a PM. I can get it to you much faster than Simon can from China. I’m pretty sure I’ve got some in a drawer and I can drop it in the mail tomorrow. I’ll let Simon know about this slip the next time we talk.
Edit: Yours is the XPL-HI version right? Looks like it from the picture but please confirm.
No problem Pete. It’s on it’s way to you. You should have it in a few days.
I could easily see this happening with a tired worker grabbing from the wrong bin and not noticing or one of the smaller rings fell in with their bigger brothers. Nice easy fix thankfully but I did let Simon know about the slip and showed him the pictures you posted.
Now all I have to do is find the bag of spacers I have somewhere at home so I can put my C8 back together. :person_facepalming:
Does there come a time when you officially have too much flashlight stuff?
I know I have a package of those spacers it’s just a matter of figuring out where my wife “filed them” for me. I have a bad habit of putting small parts like this in one of a few drawers in the dining room or living room. Once every few months she gets sick of seeing flashlight stuff everywhere and all gets put into a bag or a box for me to sort later. That “later” is LONG overdue…
I keep LEDs, drivers, etc., in those little glassine bags that FT sends. Small card listing what the critter happens to be (eg, “17mm 1.40A 1-mode 4V”, “16mm XP-L 5D”, etc., whatever happens to be useful), and bundle all of the same kind into 1 baggie. Lately, though, I just have the orange FT sticker that’s on it, and have to look up from the packing list what’s a “17069473” or whatever.
Still gotta spread ’em out and look at the bags to find anything, but…
