ASTROLUX MF01 Mini - common issues thread

A question please:

Hi CRI 95+ is promised only for the 4000k version, right? 5000k / 6500k versions output the same CRI ~70?

Did anyone measure lumen output for 4000k version and can share some numbers?

So, I bought an MF01 Mini about a month back.

It has the brass heatsink in it. I’ve been testing it and it runs ok in Turbo, but ramps down very quickly when just in High. Like within 20 secs it is half the output. I hadn’t used it much in High, so didn’t really notice it until I read about it being an issue and decided to test with a Lux meter.

On Turbo it seems to maintain output quite well, gets f’ing hot to hold. On high it never even warmed up.

Today I have dropped the brass heatsink out. Firstly it was fitted the wrong way round, with the recessed cutout in the wrong place. Easy fix to rotate 180 degrees. But a shame QC is lacking from Astrolux :frowning:

I applied some thermal grease to the surfaces of the heat sink and re-fitted it the correct way round.

I then also checked the temp sensor. I’m pretty sure I read and followed the instructions correctly for this.

It was giving me a reading of 38-39 (100) degree C in a room that is only about 20-21 (68f) degree C. Which is a HUGE difference. I believe I also set the max temp to 50 instead of the default 45.

A quick test shows it is now holding High output and not instantly ramping down and the head starts to warm up, which it never did in High before.

I’ve not tested fully or for extended time periods. But it has markedly changed its behaviour.

Nice that you got it working properly. :+1:

I do want to make a note to everyone out there that in order to set the ambient temperature accurately you want to make sure it’s not used for at least several hours. You need a long time for all of the heat to dissipate out of it. Some people think it’s completely cooled down after 15 or 20 minutes, but the interior takes much longer to cool down.

Agree it needs to be at ambient. In my case, apart from turning it on to get to the Temp config modes, it have been sat for about 12hrs prior.

I was about to post something similar as I bought an MF01 mini and it was delivered over the weekend. Yes, it has the brass heatsink. I’ll have a look at whether it was fitted in the wrong way round when I get back home.

I have yet to set the temp on mine, but a quick test last night I did find it ramped down (quite visibly) from Turbo within 5 seconds. It was holding high (100%) much longer than Turbo and it even made the head hot compared to Turbo as well.

Overall, I do like the light. Got the copper head and XPL-HI in neutral white.

The Atmel 1-series solves these temp issues - factory calibrated temperature offset and scaling (btw, we only calibrate the offset). Wish we could get there, other advantages:

  • cheaper
  • smaller footprint (3mm x 3mm with 20 pins!)
  • 3 pins for flash programming, not 6
  • double or 4X the code space for the firmware (16 KB or 32 KB instead of the ATtiny 85 at 8 KB)
  • more I/O pins

Can you imagine temperature is factory calibrated? We could default Anduril(2) to a more aggressive higher temp, but still do temp management specific to the flashlight. I would probably go with 50-55C as a default, knowing it will be accurate.

Hi all. New member of the site and was thinking of buying the mf01 I noticed a few comments about more recent ones coming with this heatsink already installed - anyone know if this is standard now or just on the copper/chrome one?
Thanks for any input.

I got an unanodised MF01 Mini after reports that they now shipped with brass heatsink plates, and can confirm that this was the case. It might be worth removing the heatsink and applying heatsink paste to the contact areas.

Thanks for the reply.
That’s good news that your gamble paid off.
When you say the contact area - do you mean to put paste on top of the AMC chips, or between the plate and the torch(flashlight) body?

The manufacturer of the copper plate (see thread) wrote installation instructions, I probably won’t bother dismantling my MF01 mini if I don’t need to, I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet.

You Sir, are an absolute legend. Thank you for your effort with that, much appreciated.

Can confirm my MF01 mini bought in December came with the metal plate installed. Dry as the Sahara though. After applying a bit of thermal paste the light seems to hold both Turbo and High pretty well!

Also adjusting the pots for the AUX made it very pretty. Thanks for the knowledge database here everybody!

I received MT07 last week (shipped 4th Dec!). Contains metal heat sink but also no thermal paste. Put some MX4 on and it barely steps down as it comes up to temp.

Where can you buy the flashlight from that has a metal plate already installed?

These are from Banggood, but there is no guarantee yours will have it. It probably will. It depends on how old their stock is. They may still have some of the older ones that are missing the plate or they may have sold all of those and all of their current inventory is the newer version that does have the plate.

I got mine direct from the Mateminco, the manufacturer, Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

Send them a msg and double check your color/tint option has the plate. I got sand color, SST20 4000K. An exemplary 4000K. I thought the MF01S 4000K was good but this one is better.

Understood, thank you.

Thank you for the replies.
I ended up getting the aluminium and brass one from bang good. It came with brass plate but no paste, after putting paste on in - with a full high current cell, on initial top ramp, it drops a bit and comes back up within 2 mins and then stays at top of ramp for 95mins (5300mah). I have set temp limit to 60 and when running at top ramp for 15mins, I can turbo for as long as I can physically hold it and return it to top ramp and it will hold there until cell depletion. (It may drop a little and come back up after turbo, depending on ambient temp and how long you hold turbo).
Voltage indication is off by 0.1v - annoying.
It’s heavy as well.
Love it otherwise but I may sell it and go for mateminco version in black or green as I don’t like the weight. Wish Astrolux did the coloured versions with xpl led.

Cheers guys.

Does anyone have an extra driver for MF01 mini

I’m facing a very peculiar problem with my light, whenever I try to double click to go to turbo, the light switches off completely, including the aux leds and the power button, single clicking turns out back on and ramping and memory mode work fine, but the light just won’t go to turbo after double clicking either from off or with it on, any ideas would be highly appreciated
Hard resets don’t help and the same problem is exhibited with different cells too.