Lumintop Tool AA - Quickie

A-MAC, I hope you don’t mind if I post here some things on the Lumintop Tool AA :wink:

So, after my post yesterday, I made some experiences with the Tool AA!
As I mentioned, with a 14500 cell (Sanyo, unprotected), it was flickering on Low (not PWM, really flickering), but not on Medium nor on High. Also, those modes were not lower in brightness than usual.

By suggestion of jon_slider, today I measured the battery Voltage level and for my surprise I found that it is on 3.91V :open_mouth:
So, this is not a drained or depleted battery.

I also used it with other 2 Li-Ion (unprotected) batteries, one with 3.80V and another with 4.06V. It didn’t flicker with none of those 2 batteries. Also, it didn’t flicker with an AA alkaline nor with an AA Ni-MH battery I used.

I tried all the 5 batteries with the tail switch and with the magnetic tailcap, and it only flickered on that specific battery (so far). So, I’m getting a bit intrigued and don’t know what to think :person_facepalming:

Can it be something related to the battery and not with the flashlight itself?
Or can it be something related to the specific Voltage level (3.9V) that makes that flickering?

@ delusional: with this kind of situation, I’m not even sure anymore if being protected and unprotected has importance on these situations. Maybe it has on draining and protection, but flickerings and other behaviours…I ain’t sure…

In any case, I will use another battery on it to see how it performs (if it flickers again) and also because that flickering annoys me a bit. :rage:

Another thing I noticed was that using the magnetic tailcap (instead of the tail switch) increased the audible noise on Low and Medium modes (due to PWM), on 14500 and Ni-MH cells. On AA Alkaline, the noise is lower than on the other cells!

Just wanted to share what I’m having here and try to see how the ones from other members are performing! :+1:

No sir, not at all. More information is great. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks A-MAC :wink:

BTW, answering Persechini:

Here are some pictures from the Sofirn SF10 (Medium) > Lumintop Tool AA (Medium) > Sofirn SF14 (Medium).
Just to remember: Sofirn SF10 = PWM on ML, L, M modes; Tool AA = PWM on L and M; Sofirn SF14 = no PWM

Hope this answers your question :wink:

Thanks, it doesn’t look as bad as the SF10 driver

I want to do a driver swap on mine, I was hoping to find a FET 15mm for a good price but MTN charges 13$ even for a 2g part :frowning:

Whaaaa? 13$ ? Oh boy, I wanted to order some drivers and other things, but if the shipping prices rise according to the weight of the package…I may not be able to afford that!
I wanted to try one of their drivers on the Sofirn SF10 host, maybe with Crescendo firmware installed. Gotta see those prices, though…

Meanwhile, I took a photo of the Tool AA emitter and it was the firs time I saw this:

Can somebody please explain me what is/may be this on the plate and what does it serve for?
Thanks in advance :+1:

Thermistor?

A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is dependent on temperature

Thanks for the answer :slight_smile:

Hum, sorry for bringing back this thread, but I’ve been thinking to make a driver swap on my Tool AA, but I was hoping to leave the emitter as it is now (just unsoldering/soldering the wires).

I have one doubt, though! The “thermistor” it has on the emitter, can it provoke any kind of malfunctioning with the new driver? Is it supposed to work only with the stock driver?

Sorry, but my knowledge on this is at “zero level” so any input is welcome!!
Thanks in advance!!

I also wanted to know if anyone swap the driver for this yet?

I want to put FET 15mm dive in it but will not order on MTN just for this item (15$ shipping…)
When I’ll do it, I’ll post it here.
This AA Tool has great potential as a host :slight_smile:

I have one of those 15mm drivers (with Crescendo installed) on the way from MTN, and I may end up using it in this host!
As the original tint is not that good, I may swap the emitter too and put an XPL-HI U6-3A on this.
It should work nicely with the SMO reflector it has :sunglasses:

Please let us know if it works with this host. Maybe upgrading the mcpcb to copper as well?

I have XPL 3D on mine at the moment and don’t mind a little more output.

Hum, that’s an issue I have! The plate I have (14mm) is aluminium, not copper, and is thinner that the one the Tool AA has currently!
So I don’t know what will happen when running it on max with a 14500 battery!
I hope it doesn’t unsolder the LED due to the heat!

One thing that I guess I’ll have to do is to “sand” the bottom borders of the pill or, instead, the edges of the driver to make it fit well. The stock driver has that different shape to fit the pill, so it may need some work first!

But, sure, I’ll post here the mod when done! :wink:
The driver is still on its way, maybe it just arrives next year, I don’t know :zipper_mouth_face:

BTW: 3D tint must be muuuuch better than the original one :sunglasses: That greenish look…. :person_facepalming:

Today I decided to play with some TIR lenses in the Tool AA, just for fun! Below you find some beamshots (click the images to get larger)!
Please note that the TIR lenses used are more suitable for XP-E and XP-G Leds and the one on the Tool AA is XP-L HD!

REFLECTOR >>>> TIR 1 (60º angle) >>>> TIR 2 (Pebbled 60º Angle)

_

_

Modded my Lumintop Tool AA. 4.25A at the tail.

MTN-15DDm FET+1
Sanded down a 16mm copper MCPCB pulled from Astrolux S1
XP-L V6 3D


Nice :smiley: Got some pocket rocket over there for sure :wink:
What batteries are you using with it?
Did the beam suffered any change with the new LED (with that reflector)?

I’m still waiting for my pieces (driver) to arrive! :expressionless:

I see PVM on low. Fairly obvious to me.

Do you guys think theres any chance Lumintop will introduce a AA Tool with nichia or warm/neutral xpl?

Anyone found a GOOD clip that could go on the tool AA ?
I want to love this light but the stock clip is both useless (too flimsy) and misplaced IMHO…