Wow… I didn’t notice the smoke on the reflector first, but I see it now. I put the photos by kokosnh posted here and put it side by side and marked what I think has been caused by the smoke.
Maybe I should smoke the LED without the reflector first until the smoke stops? Does the smoke stop after a while? My D1 with B35AM is in the mail.
I think the manufacturers of these aluminum coated reflectors spray some kind of sealant on the inside to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing, and that’s what you see when you turn on the light at a high level. I have seen the same stuff on a Malkoff P60 dropin so I’m pretty sure it’s that.
Also that is the advice Hank gave me to deal with the smoking. I just kept turboing with the lens/bezel/reflector off until the smoke stopped. Set the temperature limit higher than what you actually want so you can be sure it can’t smoke again when you actually use it. I set it to 50C and then keep it at default, 45C, normally. The B35AM didn’t seem to be damaged by this at all.
Can you enable the option to pay using a credit card without logging in with a Paypal account? I’ve been having Paypal account trouble and was unable to make an order.
Well I wouldn't be alarmed if it wasn't only one side that looks like this. The pictures are from the same time, just the flashlight rotated 180, to see the other side of the reflector.
Unfortunately I didn't check how the reflector looked like before the smoke, so I can't be shure that's from smoke.
The reflector looks ok, If you just look at it, without the LED ON.
The beam profile isn't deformed (the inner circle has some artefacts, but they are symmetrical, and looks like it from the square of the LED)
I tried smoking it without the reflector, but well I'm one 18650 deplited, and it still smokes sometimes. Will charge some 18650 and try again more on the weekend.
The one think that was strange, was that I had it on turbo without the reflector, after a while it dropped some lumens, but then out of nowhere it ramp up again a little (but it was visibly in 2 steps that it increases brightness), and started smoking.
It wasn't actively cooled, and was just sitting on the desk, so It should only lower the output, and not increase it.
As I said, the smoking issue has nothing to do with the soldering, or the driver,
it’s just that the B35AM can not take high current.
But on the other hand, the smoking issue does not affect the performance or to damage the LEDs,
since there is no B35AM LED failure issue so far.
D4S V2 B35AM version does not have smoking issue since the current is really low for
each LED, only 1A.
The only way to eliminate this smoking issue is to lower the current, which unfortunately, it will reduce the output as well.
Let me share my findings with my DM11 (B35AM 2700K, 6V/3.6A driver).
Temperature Limit = 70°C, with enough cooling applied, from off to Turbo: no thermal regulation is triggered, however the self-protection of the boost chip is triggered after ~20 seconds (the light blinks, the higher the temperature, the faster it blinks so as to reduce the temperature).
Temperature Limit = 60~70°C, no cooling applied, from off to Turbo: the self-protection of the boost chip is triggered before the thermal regulation reduces the output effectively.
Temperature Limit = 50°C, no cooling applied, Turbo after a few minutes of use: the self-protection of the boost chip is NOT triggered, however thermal regulation happens very soon (~5 seconds).
Temperature Limit = 50°C, no cooling applied, from off to level 140/142/150 (which are about 75%/80%/100% energy of the max output, respectively), the thermal regulation works as follows:
Therefore, I personally believe level 140 is a more reasonable max output one should use, since higher levels give quite few gain in lumens but much more heat and really shorter usable period.
I also tested the accumulated runtime of level 140 and 142. This kind of measurement is done by turning from off to that level, applying cooling, and turning the light off when thermal regulation or the self-protection of the boost chip happens, waiting until the light is completely cold, then start again.
As shown above, the difference in brightness between level 140 and 142 is NOT noticeable, but level 140 runs much cooler and sustains much longer before thermal regulation or the self-protection of the boost chip happens.
Yesterday I ran a couple tests and found that level 140 did not cause smoking to occur, though 145 caused a small amount. It does not seem affected by temperature, just current - I raised the thermal limit to 55C and ran the light on level 140 with repeated jumps to ceiling, then on momentary turbo (140) until it got very hot and still saw no smoke.
On level 140, I am getting ~1,330 lumens, where before my 5000K B35Am was producing 1,600 on turbo.
The fix for this in Anduril2:
Advanced mode, when on, press 10H > wait for the 4th blink, then do nothing. This will deactivate Turbo and set max output to ceiling. Then when on, 7H > 2nd blink > press 1C and then 1H to set ceiling to 140. Do this second step for both stepped and smooth ramping.
I’ll do a quick video on this too to hopefully get the word out more.
I did the same like in the Luxwad Video with my D1 and DM11 B35AM and with a temperaturlimit from 50 degrees and ceiling 140 they work well and without smoke , thanks !
My main question still remains un-answered though.
There is a slight gap around the buttons retaining ring on my D4SV2.
Im wondering if this is a concern regarding water resistance?
Im a bit worried about using this light in the rain, and washing it under the tap with soap and water. I like to wash my lights.
The retaining ring is only seated about 85% of the way around the button leaving a slight gap on one side.
My other D4SV2 is fully seated 360°.
