Ok, so I was bummed I couldn’t use it, practically, as a headlamp. But I have a million other things I thought I could use it for/with.
I got it today and honestly I’m pretty disappointed.
1.) This CANNOT run with an 18650. I tried flat and button top. If I move the light it turns off.
2.) It looks like the reflector (do you still call it a reflector with this type of light?) Has defects. I can see gashes in the cone of the reflector. I can see 6-7 gashes in the cones. Not a single emitter reflector is missing it.
3.) Where it looks like the optics is screwed in to the light, or whatever it is, where the 4 holes make a cross shape at the top, bottom, left and right. 3 of them have a weird Milky color to them. The bottom hole I can see to the bottom. I’m not too familiar with what to call the components so sorry for my lack of proper terminology
4.) The magnet is complete unusable. It can’t be used. Even if I propped up the head of the light the tail would still fall off of a metallic surface. Completely useless.
I might of made the mistake comparing this to my D4S. Which is why I bought this light honestly. A lot of people said good things about it. Im pretty shocked.
If this wasn’t a purchase from Neal’s site I would of tried returning it ASAP.
Not defending Fireflies and they could have done a much better job with this lovely light. My 2 PL47s had some machining problems that I had to work around. They still are 2 of my favorites lights though because of the form factor, output and emitters. They are also very useable as headlamp if you use the right mount. I use a 3d printed one but I heard that zebralight headbands work very well. Here are some suggestions or explanations to your problems that might help.
1) It will run on 18650 but you would need to use a 18650 to 21700 adaptor. Long protected 18650s would fit without the adapter but (depending on the cell) turbo would trip the protection circuit after which you have to unscrew tailcap to reset. Both my PL47s came with the adapter I’m not sure if yours came with it but you can get those adapters for cheap.
2) Nothing can be done with the gashes on the reflector (optics?) except maybe return and ask for a refund or replacement?
3) I think those are not screw holes but legs of the optics that they had to cut off because they don’t match the design of the mcpb and aux led board. Emisar D4 and E07 also have optics with cut legs because of the same reason. Again, if they’re not interfering with the function of the light I can live with it but that’s me.
4) Yep the magnet is completely useless and I replaced mine with N52 magnets. I think they’re 20mm x 2mmm.I glued two of them but one may be enough for sticking to flat metal surfaces.
My aux LED’s stopped working after one outing. I ran it on turbo for a couple minutes, and they died after that. I tried the 7 clicks to cycle modes. Tried a bunch if different clicks. Any way to fix this or should I contact FF’s?
I'm not surprised about the 18650 fit, but I have plenty of 21700's, but guess I believe in putting the best battery in a light - you spent enough on the light to warrant the purchase of the proper battery for it.
The magnets we all knew about - plenty of reports on that here, but my PL47 happens to have a strong one.
Not sure about the gashes on the optics. If you have a D4S then you should have experience with them, but there is a plastic 'defect' under the top surface of all or most of these TIR optics that have no impact on the beam whatsoever. It's basically the snap off point from manufacturing these in panels where they are all interconnected, then cut off individually. But what you describe sounds different, so this could be defects, just not sure if it effects the beam or not.
The broken off leg is also well known, all of the lights come that way and is expected and necessary because of the manufacturing and/or design. It's purely cosmetic - should not make it any less reliable. In fact on the S42/S43's, if you take apart the head, a leg of the optic typically broke off but was perfectly usable in that state on 3 legs instead of 4.
This one sounds like maybe a solder connection gave way after high heat, or some other way the high heat effected the aux LED board. Unfortunately no easy way to repair a PL47 under the lens because the bezel is not notched and threaded, but rather press fit.
I followed Madmax’s tip of wrapping a small piece of copper wire into a loop to use as a spacer. Works beautifully and didn’t need to purchase anything.
So, my cuts aren’t where they were broke off they are all over. Like something blunt cut it. Maybe it is the same thing though. Like where they machined the cone shape is where the cuts are. Maybe that’s what you are saying.
My magnet is Nothing like that bluesword.
I guess I should of done more research. This isn’t nearly as polished of build as my D4S.
I am not being lazy/cheap by using an 18650. When I ordered the light I got too excited and forgot to order the battery. The 21700 Samsung should be here any day now.
How does Neal deal with returns? Honestly, I’m not a very picky person and I want this one to work out for me. A magnet isn’t a deal breaker. The little gashes on the reflector, if it doesn’t effect beam, which I will look at when I get the proper battery, won’t be a deal breaker either.
From far away the light is freaking gorgeous. Like I said little things won’t bother me. My zebralights look like they went through a world war. I actually intend to use my lights. So this is gonna be gashed up anyway lol.
Kinda worried I got a unit that was already returned. The anodizing had small donation missing where a head strap may of clipped on.
I tested the hypothesis of commections being damaged by temp, by pressing on the lens/optic (which would in turn press on the aux board and shift its position slightly, my thoughts) and got the aux lights to turn on intermittently now. Kinda weird. They seem to consistently turn back off after running on turbo.
Long sigh. I will wait to hear from FF, but Im thinkinng I may bust it open (break the lens) and inspect the board connections myself.
The two which turn off are connected the same way as the front-facing aux LEDs. It turns those off to avoid color coming out the front while the main white LEDs are on.
Just got my PL47 from Neals yesterday and so far so good. optic has 3 legs cut-off with only the bottom intact fine by me magnet is more than strong enough to securely hold the light sounds like I got lucky optic has some defects like bubbles, cuts and seams in the “reflector” or concave surround of the led nothin that affects the beam
-I’m using a Samung 40T which fits very well and even when I tighten the tailcap as hard as I can the springs/solder do not dent or damage the battery in anyway
Overall very happy!
Questions regarding thermal regulation:
THIS THING GETS HOT! Man does this thing heat up like nothing I’ve ever had before. That being said, I want to know if there’s a way to change the thermal regulation output setting?
-I know how to use the UI to modify the thermal regulation max temp which I’ve set to 50C
-I ran some tests on Turbo and in 1m30s it appears to reach 50C from 26C
Why I want to change the thermal stepdown setting is this:
with my PL47 set to thermal max 50C the light does indeed stepdown at 50C
however, the setting it drops to is still high enough that the light continues heating up dramatically
hit 50C and stepped down after 1m30s BUT even on step down setting reached 63C within 20-30s afterwards before I turned it off
Couple questions:
what temp would actually damage the light?
if I can’t reduce the step down setting, has anyone determined what’s sustainable?
IE: if I set it to 40C would the light eventually begin to stabilize in temp after step down or is this a run on turbo for 1min then turn completely off and let it cool for 4min kind of light?
Mine didn’t come with the 18650 kit but Neal said he was sending me it. I tried to contact FireFlies over the bad tailcap magnet and I got an error from the form on their website. Does anyone know of a direct support email for Fireflies?
I’m sad, I haven’t even been able to use the light yet ;(
