The limiting factor is driver and pcb design. The boards and components can only handle a certain amount of current before burning up.
Aftermarket boost driver builders like Lexel and Richard at MTN E can squeeze about 50 watts from them. This is roughly 6A@6v and 3A@12v. So maybe 4,000 lumen from a 70.2 with about a 15A to 16A draw on a good 26650 high drain battery.
Most of the OEMS are not pushing the limits. They tend to put out 4A to 5A at the emitter and 8A to 10A on the battery which is why we see 3,000 to 3,400 lumen most of the time.
An interesting deviation from the norm is the new Nitecore TM10K which normally does 1,000 lumen continous, but has a 6 second burst mode of 10,000 lumen! This pulls about 35A from the Samsung 48G 21700 battery. I think they built a special circuit just for this one high output mode. The battery they use is rated at 10A continous and 30A for 10 seconds.
Alright so I got a new driver sitting here. Need to connect the e-switch. I don’t know which cable is which. Can someone explain it to a baby how to find the correct cables?
Edit: Ground should be near 0 resistance between one cable and ground on the board right?
It helps to say what driver and what light you have.
The e-switch is just a momentary switch that connects two wires. If there are no leds on the side switch circuit then polarity does not matter. Usually one wire goes to ground and the other wire will connect to a pin on the MCU that is looking for a ground signal.
Is it reasonably safe to put a protected 18650 (Sanyo NCR18650GA or LG INR18650MJ1) in a cheap USB rechargeable flashlight like the Sofirn SC31 and leave it with the USB charger cable plugged in for extended periods of time (days or weeks)? Or will i actually have to unplug the charger cable when its done charging for safety.
It should be fine. The over-voltage protection circuitry in the battery will keep it from going over 4.2 volts plus the charger itself should stop at the same voltage. The only possible issue might be that after the charger stops working it has a small drain and it could slowly discharge the battery so that after a week your battery may be dead instead of fully charged and you have to charge it all over again. This is why it’s always good to unplug it after it’s done charging.
You can verify that the charger has stopped by using those little USB voltmeter / current meters that you can buy for $5 or $10.
Would an sst-40 go into a blf a6, and would you get any output gains. If so what other mods/ parts are required?
Is there another LED that’d improve output for the blf a6?
It will fit. You need a bigger centering ring for an xml2. I don’t know if it will have higher output. I want to say yes due to its lower forward voltage, but maybe someone else can say for sure.
There is no improvement, it’s already pretty much maxed out. The next step up would probably be to install an xhp70.2 and use a pair of 18350 batteries.
Oh yeah, if you don’t mind a TIR lens you can install a triple or quad led setup.
In some lights the LEDs don’t shut off instantly when I press the switch, but rather dim down until they’re completely dark which takes about 2-3 seconds. Why is this happening?