Flashlight news for May 2023 : Interesting new flashlights..and reviews
Some exciting new flashlights upcoming. Some will be listed here when we feel appropriate to list them. Also our latest reviews are listed Check them out. .
Thanks KB. Attiny44 for sure. Can’t quite make out the power ICs, oh well.
Re: glue. It’s just the driver that’s glued in, right? I’m not a fan of glue, but I mean a little glue probably isn’t bad since there’s no retaining ring. I doubt I’ll pull the driver on this one anyhow. I’d rather have a small amount of glue than for the driver to be loose. /shrug
Manker can you tighten up the 3 Optic receiver (leg) holes in the MCPCB it would do well to tighten the Hot Spot up. Mine has the hot spot oblong and off center to the emitter, the optic can shift linearly to the mcpcb throwing it off to the emitter…. not really awful bad, but to me, it is sloppy… it could be improved upon…
Slight burrs on the punch thru holes…
Chamfered and a couple drags across a piece of Glassed 1000grt… cleans up well…
Thanks KB. Attiny44 for sure. Can’t quite make out the power ICs, oh well.
Re: glue. It’s just the driver that’s glued in, right? I’m not a fan of glue, but I mean a little glue probably isn’t bad since there’s no retaining ring. I doubt I’ll pull the driver on this one anyhow. I’d rather have a small amount of glue than for the driver to be loose. /shrug
Just the driver is glued… acetone or a strong lacquer thinner will do the trick… wet to saturate, let it set a spell, move driver radially back and forth to shear the glue…
Vinh just uploaded a video comparing the L16, E10 and MC13. The manker looks very impressive assuming it’s using a 18350, can’t wait for this GB to go live.
Im in
Signed up! What an awesome set!
I’ll probably jump in. Really want to see the high runtime graph for both lights first though.
Does an unprotected 18350, like the keeppower UH1835P work in the 18350 tube?
Edit: oops nevermind, accidentally skipped a page and now see that Manker answered this question.
I’ll probably jump in. Really want to see the high runtime graph for both lights first though.
You will not see one anytime soon if ever. The GB closes on August 20. Maybe one out of the 75 or so orders from this GB might spend the time to do a run time curve but then you won’t be paying this price.
You can watch Vinh’s videos of these lights to give you an idea
Review is in progress on 1lumen:
Some exciting new flashlights upcoming. Some will be listed here when we feel appropriate to list them. Also our latest reviews are listed Check them out. .
So I’m hoping the review is almost done.
If the runtime graph looks like the FC11 it’s instant no go for me.
If the runtime graph looks like the FC11 it’s instant no go for me.
Is there any reason why it should? I’m not familiar with the runtime graph of the FC11 but they don’t seem to be similar or related lights in any way.
It shouldn’t look like the direct drive runtime like on the FC11 based on an uninformed glance at the MC13’s driver. Exterior appearance has nothing to do with runtime graphs when both lights are running under thermal limit. It’s all about the LED driver and firmware. The FC11 just keeps dropping in output even when not thermally stressed whereas something like a Zebralight will run constant output all the way till the battery low given that it is under thermal limit.
Ah, fair enough. So the example of the FC11 was just an example of really poor management. I’m still getting my head around a lot of this stuff as I’ve only been back in the game for a few months. It was years before that that I last bought a new light.
If so then this group buy should be a killer combo for you. A flooder and a thrower incl batteries for $111 dollarydoos is a darn good deal IMO. If these drivers are as efficient as Olight drivers that would be really nice.
My thoughts exactly. From my view the reviews seem good enough for me that I’ll take a chance. Definitely need to start studying runtime graphs though.
Let me know if you have any questions but I’m glad that you’re paying attention to the runtime graphs and general efficiency. I can’t speak for BLF as I’m not on here often but a lot of people on the Reddit /r/flashlight don’t really care about driver efficiency beyond “ZEBRALIGHT GOOD” and there are a lot who are uninformed and some who are misinformed.
Most of my info has been gathered from Reddit up til now. You’re right about the lack of discussion there. It’s mostly photos of beam shots and collections/new lights. Still fun but not that informative. Drivers and the differences are something I need to get into. Any suggestions for good places to start?
Most of my info has been gathered from Reddit up til now. You’re right about the lack of discussion there. It’s mostly photos of beam shots and collections/new lights. Still fun but not that informative.
A lot of the problem comes down to format. ToyKeeper said it better than I could here :
it has been a big factor in why detailed development and long-term projects happen here instead of on other sites. It’s nearly impossible to have threads longer than a few days on most social media sites, so the interactions tend to be shallow. Here though, we can easily keep a conversation going for years.
Drivers and the differences are something I need to get into. Any suggestions for good places to start?
I’d probably start with some searches of this forum or a trip to the flashlight wiki. There’s a lot to unpack and that question is super broad. What were you wondering about?
A long time ago I promised I would do a topic to explain to the interested layman the difference between Linear, Buck, Boost and Direct Drive drivers. Well, here it is. Direct Drive [image] This is the simplest and cheapest design. As its name implies, it is a direct path to the LED, just like old incandescent flashlights. Sometimes there is a control chip and transistor to create modes (High, Low, Strobe, etc.) by rapidly switching ON and OFF the LED. That’s called PWM. This is used by peop…
Good post to get acquainted to the various types of drivers and how they differ.
I don’t know the specifics of the circuitry myself but this community has no small amount of engineers and even some who design drivers for production lights like Lexel.
ZeroAir Reviews has graphs for the largest amount of lights and he includes temperature data as well which is rly good.