[Available again! - BLF special edition light] new Sofirn AAA twisty high CRI 5mm LED

I am waiting for Vihn to ship my EO1, so I’m am in. Vinhs are $48 and he doesn’t repot them.

Nice! When did this happen?

Last I heard, he had done warm LED mods in the past, but then Fenix changed their potting compound and he could no longer get the driver clean.

And now I see he did a batch of Inova X5vn, too.

I appreciate you bringing this up, although I will first hold out hope for Fenix doing a run. They should be able to afford to sell them at lower cost than Vinh modding them by hand.

Also, the fact that there is interest in this light even at custom prices is more evidence Fenix should do a batch of Yuji E01’s.

Plus they would still be fully potted. Being cheaper would also make it easier to give them away as gifts. :wink:

If Fenix was to sell them at $15, they would be my favorite budget AAA light on the market.

I definitely appreciate Vinh’s work modding these though. They seem tough to crack open and mod, but it also gave me a chance to try a Yuji for the first time.

@richnpc: Nice! What CCT did you get? I got the 3200k variant.

Interested!

Even if Fenix doesn’t take it on, I’d be interested in something comparable.

I’d buy one!

I would be in.

In for 2 or 3

Normally I would be interested but I already have a Yuji GIU and imho a Yuji E01 would not be an improvement.

I highly recommend the Gerber Infinity Ultra as a Yuji host. Easy to mod with low temperature white threadlocker and only the inductor coil is potted. Lots of o-rings. Decent clip for hatlight use. Can use AA or AAA batteries. The “tail switch” is great. Kind of tailstands :slight_smile:

Thanks for your suggestion for the Gerber Infinity Ultra (AA/AAA) as a “cockroach” light with high CRI emitter.
That one is certainly an attractive light as well :slight_smile:

On the Gerber site, the Infinity has a MRSP of $22, AKA €18.50 in our currency.
I can buy it on Amazon.de for €33.95 and I have to pay €9.80 for shipping from Germany to where I live.
Only speaking for myself: not an option if you live in Europe.

Output is way lower also on the Gerber.

I think what is important here is to keep in mind the general design pattern of a high CRI cockroach light, a niche that is currently not addressed in the flashlight market:

1. high CRI (Yuji 5 mm led)
2. high reliability (twisty design, potted electronics, single mode, robust 5mm led that does not need a lens)
3. low-price (simple design, cheap 5 mm LED)
4. long runtime on readily available cells (AAA / AA alkaline cells) with battery vampire driver

Hopefully Fenix is interested in making a high CRI cockroach flashlight, because they only need to swap in the Yuji led in their E01 and all would be great, because they already have a good driver and reliable potting.

However if they are not interested, than I would be more than happy if another manufacturer (Lumintop?, Reylight?, Thorfire/Sofirn?) produces a Fenix E01 clone as long as they put in the Yuji 5 mm led, and fully encapsulate the driver with a good quality potting material.

Hi Stef, if a light must be designed from scratch, I like to be in for helping with ideas and contacts.

A website thing: if you keep the interest list in the second post, every update gets subscribers of this thread a notification email (if notification mails are turned on like I have) and a click on the link in the mail gets you to the updated list instead of new posts in this thread. If the list is in the first post this does not happen, updates of the first post do not generate notification mails.

> Wants a cockroach light
> Suggests Reylight or Thorfire/Sofrin

. . . . .

thanks I move the interest list to the first post :smiley:

So to explain what this initiative is about:

Basically I and other flashlight lovers as well want a high CRI flashlight that has the reliability of a HDS but only costs 15 USD.
Currently this particular combination of flashlight parameters is not commercially available.
A really simple solution to this unaddressed need is modding a Fenix E01 (high reliability) with a Yuji 5mm led (high CRI).

However instead of hacking the E01 flashlight itself, with the leverage of the BLF (and possibly other flashlight communities such as CPF or TLF) collectively we can hack Fenix the company, to do the modding work for us.

Let’s call this process meta-hacking :innocent:

If we tell them how to built it, they can do it.
Then on the definition of cockroach light:

- cheap

- reliable (potted electronics)

- long runtime on common alkaline cells (battery vampire circuit)

  • simple twisty design

Any Chinese flashlight manufacturer can built such a flashlight by copying the Fenix E01 design and put in Yuji LED. Given they are willing to do so. Let us provide them the motivation by making clear there are buyers.

I’m no expert, but I think potting shitty electronics might still result in an unreliable light

Absolutely true: garbage in, garbage out :stuck_out_tongue:

That is why Fenix is the number 1 choice for this project as they have a track record for building reliable stuff.

If that option does not work out, I am sure there is enough expertise in the international flashlight enthusiast comminity to design a driver that is at least as reliable as the one in the Fenix E01. If not by just simply cloning it.

I am no electrical engineer, perhaps someone could chime in to explain how to build uber-reliable (flashlight) driver boards. I am certain though that potting by encapsulation makes circuits able to better withstand environmental stress such as vibration, temperature shock, moist.