Sofirn SP36, impressions of a sample

yeah … i wont remove the PCB’s if the light doesnt trip the PCB’s. but if it trips it. gonna need to remove them PCB’s i guess. what i meant by “is it gonna be just fine ?” is… will the battery be fine? like i guess it should be able to sustain 7-10amps just fine right?

I don't mean to be rude at all, so please don't feel offended but maybe this whole "PCB removal" topic should be discussed separately. We've been talking about the suitability of NCR18650Bs for two pages now and I have the impression we've got stuck here and lost focus on the actual flashlight.

Yeah I understand. Sorry for spamming the thread with batteries and PCBs . Anyways. Regarding the flashlight. How is it? Does it has good battery life on turbo? And how’s the heat management? It’s good??

The first few pages of this thread provide a lot of information. Djozz posted pretty detailed info in the first few pages, and I filled in a little more data on pages 4 and 5. Heat management info is included.

Thanks!!

oh also. just making sure before i use unprotected cells later when it arrives… this flashlight have all protections right? low voltage protection, overcharge protection (type c) etc? thanks. also .its weird. i’ve done some research on the differences between the protected and unprotected NCR18650B . it seems like the protected one has much more sag in voltage than the unprotected one… huh. interesting.

edit : the difference is about 0.1-0.2volt on 5A . huh. i wonder if it’s effects on lumens output is big or even noticable…

Again, depends on the cell's protection circuit and all PC's are provided by after market vendors, not the battery manufacturers so there is great variance out there.

If you bought them from a source with no specs on the PC and relatively cheap, then probably they are the worse and higher resistance/voltage drop.

again, see this page: https://liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/products/protected-panasonic-sanyo-ncr18650ga-button-top?variant=12534255236

See the details? Quite comprehensive - a vendor that knows, and he's got great support. Some of the name brand cells (higher end flashlight makers) have protected circuits that are above 10 amps now, but the cells will be about $15 each or so.

huh i see. anyways 0.1-0.2 volts. is it enough to like reduce the brightness by 500lumens?

Dunno off hand, possibility. Small voltage results is significant results for amps.

ahh i see. okay i think its better to just remove the pcb. it should be much better. also . just to make sure. SP36 has all the protection needed right? the low voltage . overcharge (type c) etc? thanks for answering my nooby questions hehe

Of course low voltage protection (LVP), but I never heard of overcharge (type c) in a flashlight - wut is that?

Ohh, you mean for the charging circuitry - I know nothing about it. Even though I wrote the firmware, I've had 0 involvement in this product, 0 contact with Sofirn about it.

I ordered a SP36 from the Ali store, like everyone else, paid $52.95 with a small discount (forgot from where), and am waiting like forever for a tracking update - last update from Dec 5th.

Wrong choices of words haha. Basically when it’s full it’ll stop charging. It should be implemented . Dumb me for asking haha. Btw just searched for 30q pin top etc and nada… No results in my country’s shops . Oh also. There used to be pin top 10A protected GA here. Idk where it’s gone. Now sellers just sell the flat top ones. I was thinking if they still sell em. I can just remove the PCB and I’ll get unprotected button top. But yeah no go. I don’t want to go to the solder route because I’m not good at it and I don’t know if the added resistance is worth it. Anyways thanks for answering :slight_smile:

Wait what? I bought it a week ago (I think) it’s been shipped and the tracking changed to departed country of origin. So it should be on the way here.

my SP36 is arriving soon. What 30Qs do I need to buy: button top or flat top?

Thanks in advance.

button top :smiley:

Oh, you’re gonna like it!

Thank you!

My Sofirn is coming very soon haha. It has arrived at my country’s post. But it will probably take some time since it’s near the new year… btw I bought myself some VTC6 haha. No button top. So I just bought myself some 5mm X 2mm neodymium n35 class magnets. I hope its gonna work just fine. I guess I’m gonna store my Pana B’s as spares . If I need more runtime maybe idk. Also any ideas to secure my magnets? I’ve heard people glueing the sides to help secure it in place. Also another question. The magnet shouldn’t add that much resistance eh? Thanks !!

No experience with that. I've solder blob'ing many flat tops and they all work. Magnets and glue? Maybe, magnets should add some resistance but not sure how much effect. Solder blobs add very little resistance, better than button tops.

Ah I see. I hope it’s still gonna be better than the Pana B’s :stuck_out_tongue: … I guess these should power the flashlight to the max hahaha :stuck_out_tongue: