Can the led be swapped to the SST-40 NW?
Keep in mind these leds were not made for flashlights, they are made for things such as street lights. We just use them for other things.
Optics do make a big difference.
Our eyes/brain automatically adjust white balance.
Yes. The FT03 is offered in both SST-40 and 3v 50.2 and they use the same mcpcb. Just a matter of reflowing the led. Same package size so the reflector and centering ring are all the same. Keep in mind that output is a lot less, maybe 1800-1900lm at most due to smaller die size (2mm square and 3mm square)
Just did some testing with the SP33 v3 and EC01. Set both to about 190 on my lux meter (max stepped mode for the sofirn). My FT03 with a fully charged shockli measures 387 so 190lux is somewhere close to 1000 lumens. Both lights were at 26°C at the start of the test (room 22.5°C).
Beginning of test: about 190lux.
SP33:
13 mins (46°C head) step down to around 70-80 lux
Once it cools down a bit it starts stepping up again. The temperature management doesn’t let it become too hot to hold. I’m sure it could run near 1000 lumens without stepping down if the temp was set higher. Yesterday I tested it whilst holding it (170-180lux 900ish lumens) and it didn’t step down after 30+ mins.
EC01: temp set to 65°C
13 mins 57°C negligible drop in output, body too hot to hold
18 mins 153lux
22 mins 118lux
At the end of the test the cell was 50°C, body was about the same and the head was 59°C max.
It seems like the longer head and cooler (slightly more efficient) LED helps the SP33 dissipate heat better.
Cree lists portable lighting as one of the applications: https://www.cree.com/led-components/products/xlamp-leds-arrays/xlamp-xhp50-2/
What optics might help? Has anyone used them with TIR lenses?
Maybe a diffuser film or lens would be an easy fix. As a proof of concept, shining the light through two layers of clear bubble wrap (just because I had some nearby) shows dramatic improvement: the corona is almost totally gone, and the spill is less blue. Everything looks closer to “white”.
Nice. Based on that I prefer the SP33v3’s behavior. Where did you measure temperature?
Your observations match my own with a thermocouple held on the head by the rubber charging port cover’s flap (not under the cover, just the pull tab).
On Turbo, it stayed in the low to mid 40s C range. The brightness did ramp down and up noticeably, but the changes were made sufficiently smoothly not to be annoying.
However I was not using a high drain battery.
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Thanks for these measurements! What are the final voltages of the cells after charging has ended?
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The ShockLi 26650 5500mAh in the SP33v3 was 4.15v and the Panasonic NCR18650G 3600mAh in the SP40 was 4.13v
The 26650 ShockLi charges to 4.20v and the 186650 Panasonic charges to 4.19v in my Xtar VC4
Temp was measured using a cheap infrared thermometer at the head wherever I could find the hottest spot. Tested it tailstanding indoors at max stepped setting which is about 1000 lumens with a shockli 5500. This drops as the cell voltage declines but it doesn’t seem to drop as much as the EC01. Could be cause the battery has more capacity. The EC01 will also ramp up once it cools down. This would’ve happened if I left it for longer or set the temp lower. I tested it before with temp set a bit lower at 60°C and it stablised at around 90-105lux which should be about 500 lumens. This doesn’t make sense to me cause my MH20GT could do that whilst being smaller and having a less efficient LED. Maybe it’s more than 500. I highly doubt it though cause I’m assuming the FT03 is 2000 when it’s probably a bit less…so it might actually be less than 500…makes even less sense.
If I understand you correctly, your directly associating lux with lumens? These are completely different measurements. Are you integrating all the light? You have me quite confused.
A TIR lens or OP reflector. Anything that helps blend the corona into the main hot spot. Diffuser films works, but you loose efficiency.
Thanks. Those voltages are right in line with what I observed too. Maybe also try the same 18650 cell in the SP33v3 for one less variable, but I’m guessing the result will be similar.
Well it already has an OP reflector. Perhaps it needed stronger OP. Blending the corona and reducing the blueness of the spill make it much much nicer.
On a side note, I’m finding I’m not the biggest fan of strong hotspots. Blended, homogeneous, wide beam profiles seem more pleasant and useful to me, certainly for shorter distances. Also, hotspots seem to give a tunnel vision effect, even (especially?) after turning off the flashlight.
Astrolux EC01 has an ever so slightly slightly stronger OP reflector than the SP33 V3.0 (identical reflector and glass, o-rings and SS bezel) just enough that you can see it in the beam pattern (bit smoother - actually the reason I've noticed it in the first place)
For high tint shift emitters like the XHP 50/70, XP-L2, XP-G3, etc. a narrower reflector with the smallest emitter hole as possible helps much more than an OP texture (and gives a cleaner, sharper beam) - the lower the angle between the base of the reflector and the emitter, the less tint shift - the higher the angle, the stronger the tint shifting in the corona.
Thanks for the tip 80T. Any beamshot comparison of the two?
If a drop-in reflector replacement would fix the beam, that would be very nice and convenient.
No, I don't have a beamshot comparison, as I don't have a good way of taking such pictures. The difference is marginal and the tint between the two would be much more noticeable than the beam pattern itself. Being the same geometry reflectors, the tint shifting is also the same, just a little bit smoother beam on the EC01, but actually looking worse because of the overall cooler tint vs my SP33, thus more tint shifting into green.
I only have the version 2, but the reflector on it is just barely OP. It’s almost SMO if you look at it closely and look at how sharp the hot spot is. If they made it more OP it would definitely help the appearance.
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Thanks. Those voltages are right in line with what I observed too. Maybe also try the same 18650 cell in the SP33v3 for one less variable, but I’m guessing the result will be similar.
[quote=JasonWW]
I repeated the SP33v3 USB C charging tests this time using the Sofirn branded 26650 5500mAh battery that shipped with the flashlight plus the Sofirn 18650 3000mAh that shipped inside the SP40.
With nothing attached to the USB C cable the USB 3.0 port in my desktop PC puts out 5.08v monitored on a U2 USB power meter.
When the USB C cable is inserted into the USB C port on the SP33v3 the volts drop to 4.73v and the charging amps is 1.58A.The test began with the battery testing at 3.65v
About half way through the charging the displayed volts starts creeping upward while the displayed amps starts creeping lower.
The charging ends with the volts back at 5.08v and the last displayed amps was 0.278A.The battery tests at 4.15v at the end of charging where the power button displays blue.
The next test is with the Sofirn 3000mAh 18650 in the SP33v3 inside the plastic sleeve.Again as with the Sofirn 26650 5500mAh battery the displayed 5.08v dropped to 4.73v when the USB C cable was inserted in the SP33v3 USB C port and the charging started at 1.578A.The battery tested at 3.65v when charging began.
About half way through the charging the volts stated rising and the amps dropping.
When charging completed with the power button blue light displaying volts were back at 5.08v and the last displayed charging amps was 0.267A.The battery tested at 4.14v
Both batteries were then placed in an Xtar VC4 charger until red charging lights turned to green.
The Sofirn 5500mAh 26650 added 185mAh and tested at 4.20v
The Sofirn 3000mAh 18650 added 118mAh and tested at 4.19v
Hope this helps!
Don’t keep li-ion flashlights in hot boxes, it’s not good for them.
Never gets hot in Texas
If I leave the car in the sun it's only for a short time to flow LEDs onto MCPCBs on the hood
whatsthepoint So the results are consistent. Final voltage around 4.14-4.15V. How soon did you measure voltage after charging ended?
Within a minute after charging completed and the USB C cable was removed from the light.
Oh, I see. Would be good to measure it again after an hour or so to see the resting voltage.