Not to beat a dead horse, but it would be a great light for midnight Alaskan winter walks.
How hot can this thing get? I asked myself last night when I let it run for a while. I found out: It can get very +HOT+! Too hot to hold. Hot enough to fry mini eggs.
Didn’t let it go long enough to melt solder or the plastic piece, but it got MIGHTY hot. Would definitely keep your hands warm during those 18-hour Alaskan winter nights! Or tailstand a couple and heat your klondike cabin.
I also noticed that it doesn’t like some batteries. Some Trustfire flamers work in every light I have …. But not in this one for some reason. If it works at all with those batts, it goes to strobe immediately. No other modes are available, and then it shuts off. But other batts work just fine. Batts that didn’t work in the sipik +might+ have been a tad overcharged (?) at 4.15 or 4.16 volts, read with the cheapest Chinese multimeter on the planet. Only difference I could see. Could — of course — be different protection circuits in the flamer batts? Or an unusual alignment of planets?
The ebay Ultrafire SK98 clones also get warmish hot, but take MUCH longer to reach that point and can be easily controlled by a switch to lower power for a minute. I really like the Ultrafire take on the Sipik design …. Seems to be the exact same host, but I haven’t gone over it with a fine-toothed dog brush. Slightly less bright as noted before.
So the consensus is: There is no way to cool down the Sipik? I saw someone’s copper heat sink. Did that work? Is there any simple mod that will quell the heat? Carry a sandwich bag filled with ice?
Only one of my three UF red 18650s works with the SK98, because on two of them, the protection circuits cut out do to being set too low. They won’t run my MF UF XML T6 3-mode on high either.
Apparently this SK98 is maybe over driven a bit, considering the amount of heat they put out. The heat sinking maybe be an option, or a better driver. I haven’t measured amps or anything, but why would these things need to be driven so hard? That big wide flood is impressive. But the low mode is a little too low for my taste.
I have another 1x 18650 zoomy on order that isn’t a sipik clone, but fairly similar, and I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s capable, and seeing if another manufacturer has figured something out with this generally good design that Sipik hasn’t yet. Would like to see the design work with better innards and better batteries, and come in a torch that won’t require modding to get it to work like we want it too. The SK68s and the clones are so cool (albeit I agree my Ultrafire clone is a bit dimmer on high - but it makes up for it by having 3 modes), I think it was a naturally cool idea to make a bigger version. That XML LED is just so big and hot.
This is def off topic, so hopefully the thread police won’t lop my fingers off …. Mister Jaffo, kind sir, zoomies are my one weakness (well next to cookies-and-cream frozen yogurt with crushed peanut butter cups), can you share which zoomie you are waiting for? If not, I understand completely.
I am always looking for bright or small zoomers (got one of those little stainless-steel 14500 T6s). I know they’re inefficient, especially with the T6, but I just love walking along spotlighting a joshua tree here, an interesting rock there, and a big piece of moving rope ….Moving rope? That’s no rope. that’s a buzz worm! …… Yikes! That’s one reason a zoomie is valuable in the desert night!
>>>>>>>Ultrafire clone is a bit dimmer on high – but it
My Ultrafire sk98 clone (which has no such picky tastes for different 18650 batts; they all work so far) has 3 modes but starts up in the mode AFTER the one you shut it off in. I wish it always started up in high like the sipik sk98.
and thought came to my mind - this is really pocket friendly - in comparison with sipiK, Its really thin and its smooth.
Its not so sturdy as Sipik though.
It seems that it has same drriver, and also + for Sipik is that Sipik has wider beam. This one unfortunately has somewhat narrower beam.
This would be perfetc to be modded as bike tailight…, because it shines to the sides too (through that holes - light through the holes is partly red partly white). But 14500 dont have that much capacity. Maybe with AA 14500, different driver (slow blinking), and red lens….
That would be gret, its very light, and to put two of these on bike’s tail Awesome
I just hope it woldnt be too bright for the drivers taking me over
Maybe Ill even put some red LED in it. to make it simpler
I actually have buzzworm hunting in mind when I purchase torches. It is a hobby of mine - finding rattlesnakes of different species and taking photos of them. The zoomies are great for the non-hotspot flood they put out. But I haven’t wanted to try one for an entire hike because I don’t expect the run-time to last long enough on high mode, and my P60 host setup is much brighter and lasts forever on “low”.
Should arrive any day now. Like I said, not a close Sipik clone, which for these 18650 zoomies, may be a good thing, since the SK98s aren’t as great as we wanted them to be. Maybe this one will have improvements we need. No idea who makes it. Anxious to look at the innards and examine any heat-sinking efforts they might have made.
Oh, and Ubehebe, I don’t see how your post was off-topic considering we were both still referring to the SK98 and its possible short-comings. I really like mine, but I’m not sure how much I will use it yet. Gotta go out on a hike with the SK98 on low and see how it does.
Just got an Ultrafire clone of SK98 from ebay seller micro.digital. Fortunately it doesn’t have hollow pill but there is no heatsink paste under the star. Of course I’ve added some. Three modes as advertized. At high mode it pulls 2A at most and low mode pulls 0.78A measured at tail from fully charged XTAR 18700. Lenght of this battery isn’t problem.
Can’t tell a lot about brigtness yet as there is full sun outside, but it looks decent. What I don’t like is bulkiness compared to some other single 18650 zoomies I’ve got. It just doesn’t fit in my hand well. Maybe I have to get used on it. Could be good on bicycle….
I kinda want to disassemble my SK98 pill to apply some thermal paste where its needed until I can properl mod some better heat sinking option… how did you guys get the pill apart? I don’t have a solder gun right now, so if I have to solder anything to reassemble, I guess I’d be screwed. LOL.
Got mine last night from MF. Stuck a AW18650 in and took it outside and lit up- was pretty happy with the output. Doesn’t throw as well because the XML will only reduce so far but a good amount of light coming out. But then the light dimmed a little. I cycled through the modes thinking maybe it kicked back to low but it hadn’t. So I looked down at the light. A mist of smoke was coming off the head. This all within 2 minutes. This light on high couldn’t survive 120 seconds before burning it’self up. I can’t believe it, what a piece of crap. I’m not a modder so no easy fix for me, and besides, based on that performance I don’t know whether it would be worth it.
I wonder what the percentage of SK98s out there do this? My crappy 18650s cut out before my torch does, so I have a couple better-quality 18650s on the way. Until then, I won’t even be able to burn my SK98 up. LOL.
This was definitely a curiosity buy for me, even after I’d read negative reviews. Worst case: every single one of these torches suck and burn up and have shiddy zoom/throw performance are basically disposable unless you mod— and we still only spent what, $14 USD? If we would have just waited and let a bunch more guys out there buy before we did and wait for a larger consensus, then maybe we would have more confidently opted out on this light. But as it is, we are part of the first wave. Maybe the next nifty new $14 light will be a winner…
That reminds me - Does anyone else wonder if Manafont censors or deletes negative reviews on some products? I find it odd that the SK98 has been out for a little while now and there’s no reviews on the MF site yet…
At least they are in the UK and in Germany, where I have lived now for 14 years.
Ohh, by the way, you wouldn’t just need thermal paste - you’d need a whole different attempt at heatsinking. Like, some serious mass of brass or copper (or aluminium, even). A plug or slug, as I’d like to call it (he, .12 gauge hunting sure has had its effect on me) press-fitted would sort 90% of your worries.
Reminder to all: The first run of Sipik SK98 is NOT properly heat-sinked by the factory, and not capable of withstanding 900-1.200 mA for long (i.e. more than 60 seconds - and frankly, I would not keep an unmodified torch on that long)!
s.: I don’t know about recent series’ right now. Better check the pill yourself before loading up a cell and turning it on.
Just to bump a bit, I’ve seen some sign that a few out there are successfully modding and heat sinking the SK98 by now. Mine is still sitting here in my drawer, wrapped up, waiting to be conditioned for some good use. Anyone who’s properly heat sinked the thing feel willing to post a tutorial?
Thanks! (Not ready to consider this a garbage light yet.)
But, if we can salvage the great design of the rest of this light by making some mods to better heat sink, we’ve got another winner. Sucks it wasn’t better designed in the first place though.
Thank you for this, horst! I am working on my first attempt. Here’s my coin - not quite as nice as yours, but I think it’ll work:
I pressed thermal paste between the driver and the smoothed side of the coin, and then some paste along the ridge inside the pill. The coin is not a tight fit inside the pill, but is retained by the ridge - just doesn’t press fit. I’m attempting to use the original plastic washer to pressure fit it all down like it originally fit, but the extra mm taken up by the coin prevents this. I sanded down the inner ridges of the plastic washer until everything sits almost flush again, but cannot get it to press and stay. I applied a small amount of Gorilla Glue to the edges of the plastic and held in place until it seemed to stick. I spread some thermal paste onto the thread of the pill and screwed it back into the body of the SK98. I have not yet inserted a 18650 and turned it on.
I feel like it’s a bit of a hash job, so I have a couple of questions: Is the coin pressed against the bottom of the driver with thermal paste enough to whisk away a significant enough amount of heat? Or does the fit against the inside ridge of the pill have to be solid? I understand that it’s optimal to have everything solid within the pill to transfer heat into the pill, then into the body of the light… but if I have applied some thermal past and there’s at least some substantial contact within the pill, can I get away with it not being tight?
In other words, how will I know if I’ve heat sinked this thing adequately?
Ahhh, gotcha. That is awesome and makes much more sense. Yeah, my coin is just pressed up against the star (sorry, I said “driver” in my prior post), and both are resting on top of that ridge.
I did turn it on for a few and it seemed to be transferring heat into the body almost immediately. But I like your diagram and would feel better if mine were a bit more solid. I’ll disassemble and try again, if not with the coin then some foil. And replace that washer as well. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
I love this stuff. Thanks for helping me out with my first ‘mod’. I’m actually without a working soldering iron at the moment, so I have to put this little job on hold for now. But I was thinking of just doing the foil trick instead anyway. Do you think the stock driver will hold hold up with good heat sinking? Also, do you put any layer of non-conductive material between the foil and driver in the pill to protect from any impact knocking it out of place and hitting the driver circuitry?
Haha. Okay. I think I might have read Match’s thread once, but I need to again, it appears.
Damn… so maybe I’ll save this fix til I get a good replacement drive. I do like the rest of the Sipik design and do wanna salvage this light. Thanks again for the help.
Awesome 
