✌ FREEME - ASTROLUX MF05 SBT90.2 7000lm 3000m+ Thrower Searchlight - $390 (restocked) + Free Charger

Commercial Sellers' Spot BLF User Negotiated Deals
502

The photo below is from my comment on my post on the "Flashaholics Anonymous" Facebook page, September 18th. Other photos are there also. It shows the tools and parts used to replace the switch. I also tested the switch and connections with a multimeter.

1) Unscrew the ring holding the button and switch with snap ring or needle nose pliers.

2) Pull the switch out and unsolder it. I took a picture first so I could reattach it if needed.

3) Solder the two black wires together. I put some heat shrink tubing off to the side on one of the wires before soldering, and the moved it over the soldered connection and shrunk it in place with a heat gun. This prevents short circuits and makes the connection more secure. (It's better than electrical tape)

4) Put the battery in and test the fan by touching the red and white wires together. (An alligator clip can be used)

5) Find a switch small enough to fit in the about 18mm hole. I improvised with Halloween LED candle switch because it was black and could be cut with diagonal pliers and filed to the right size. other tealight candles, toys or devices with small switches could be used.

6) Place heat shrink tubing on the red and white wires, slide it to the sides, and solder the wires to the correct connectors on the switch. Slide the tubing over the connections and shrink it carefully with a heat gun. (I overheated it on the first time and the switch started melting, but fortunately the candles were a two pack) Holding a hot soldering iron close to the tubing without touching it can work also.

7) Test the switch, and then tighten it in place with the original threaded ring. Done.

This photo is from my comment on my post on the "Flashaholics Anonymous" Facebook page, September 18th. Other photos are there also. It shows the tools and parts used to replace the switch. I also tested the switch and connections with a multimeter.

1) Unscrew the ring holding the button and switch with snap ring or needle nose pliers.

2) Pull the switch out and unsolder it. I took a picture first so I could reattach it if needed.

3) Solder the two black wires together. I put some heat shrink tubing off to the side on one of the wires before soldering, and the moved it over the soldered connection and shrunk it in place with a heat gun. This prevents short circuits and makes the connection more secure. (It's better than electrical tape)

4) Put the battery in and test the fan by touching the red and white wires together. (An alligator clip can be used)

5) Find a switch small enough to fit in the about 18mm hole. I improvised with Halloween LED candle switch because it was black and could be cut with diagonal pliers and filed to the right size. other tealight candles, toys or devices with small switches could be used.

6) Place heat shrink tubing on the red and white wires, slide it to the sides, and solder the wires to the correct connectors on the switch. Slide the tubing over the connections and shrink it carefully with a heat gun. (I overheated it on the first time and the switch started melting, but fortunately the candles were a two pack) Holding a hot soldering iron close to the tubing without touching it can work also.

7) Test the switch, and then tighten it in place with the original threaded ring. Done.

503

Facebook linky seems to be bad.

504

The fan requires three clicks to turn on, per some web sites, 1 or 2 clicks does nothing.

505

I have noticed the same issue, I noticed when the light is cold it does this. When the light got warm it no longer did this. I put the light in front of a heater to warm it up and it no longer stepped down immediately.

506

Unfortunately, my fan had already died before I learned about triple-clicking (why triple? why no instructions included about the fan?). I think the fan driver circuit board went bad somehow, and now I’m trying to replace it.
(UPDATE: Nov. 2nd 2020: Now it works. I have replaced the bad controller circuit board with a simple on/off switch. I un-soldered the circuit board and soldered the two black wires together. The red and white wires are soldered onto a switch from a battery operated Halloween candle that fits into the opening)

507

What brand and model of batteries were you using? Some batteries have more amps than others and might power turbo better. Like Samsung 30s.
At first, I was using Samsung 35s, and they worked fine. Now I use Samsung 30s.

(Update 10/23/2020 - I noticed the manual says: “Built-in low voltage protection, which will limit the maximum power output when the battery output is low.”)

508

I could’ve sworn I bought 8x30Q (15A max), turns out I bought 35E (8A max).

If I’m reading the datasheet for the the 90.2 correctly it looks like it maxes out at 3.8V and 18A (just under 70W). Ignoring inefficiencies of the driver for now - that means when populated with 8 cells (lets say at 3.8V each for simplicity sake) each cell only sees 2.25A.
I know it is a little more complicated than that as the cells are arranged in pairs, then in parallel, but the watts required from each individual battery should still be about 8.55W.
It seems like we don’t need super high drain cells for this light, or at least we shouldn’t. Using my (mistakenly purchased) 35E’s at 4.1V it can run turbo fine with only one carrier populated with 4 batteries and the other left empty.

More testing might be needed, I’m interested how it behaves when low again, might’ve been a fluke the first time.

Update - tested again at low voltage, and running warm.
Short version - I think it was just low batteries, no issues. (easy to loose track of time on turbo with a light like this :slight_smile: )
Longer version - When it gets warm it does a slow dim to a lower mode, which is normal, but not the sudden jump to a lower mode I saw the first time. Testing voltage from the tail cap shows it really sagging on turbo, and being that li-ion batteries have a gradual voltage drop under load until they get low at which point they drop off steeply, I think that is what was happening and it suddenly switches to a lower mode. (At first when I tested I pulled the batteries out and checked voltages which only showed me what the batteries recovered to over time, not the voltage under load during the test, so that wasn’t valid.) Maybe if I had been using higher drain cells (30Q for instance) it might’ve been better.

509

Specs may say 18 amps max but that's not close to our max. The GT90 was measured at 27 amps and I don't see this MF05 driving it less than the GT90.

510

I noticed the same thing, when my batteries were down to 3.92 volts each measured on my volt meter, The brightness stepped down in a couple seconds from turbo the the level down from there.
The batteries were 30Q Samsungs, the light wasn’t hot and it was 47°F outside.
I think it is a voltage issue.

(Update 10/23/2020 - I noticed the manual says: “Built-in low voltage protection, which will limit the maximum power output when the battery output is low.”)

511

3.5km

512

WoW :+1:

Regards Xandre

513

Any more people need a new coupon for this?

514

Boss I need one coupon more,

515

Done!

516

Astrolux MF04 and MF05 comparison:

517

Took a bit of effort SN25 did the job.

518

interested

519

UPDATE:

The replacement fan handle for my Astrolux MF05 from BangGood finally arrived after nearly 2 months of back and forth with BangGood customer services. However, the fan handle slide that’s slides into the slot on the light was damaged. I had to file off the damage portion of the slide to make it fit. And the tail cap spring was detached. I was able to reattach it.

Quality control, Quality control, Quality control!!!


All good now. Fan works: 3 quick clicks on, 2 quick clicks to change modes, 1 long click to turn off.


For those of you who have experienced that same issue, here's a video that I used to convince BangGood and Astrolux there was an issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtu9nRiODSk

520

Just a note, those are not max ratings, those are continuous ratings.

521

I have a windmill 1 mile away. Visible during day but can’t quite see it at night with mf04. Maybe time to try with binoculars