Review: Cyclone C88 from Int'l Outdoor Store

Any idea how the light knows you using the Eneloops vs a lithium battery, i could understand on high the resistance from the holder, but on medium and low i would have expected an identical current draw since the batteries and holder can easily handle it.

I believe those drivers give you medium and low based on a percentage of the current on high. Medium should be 30% and low 5%. So in Foy's example of tailcap currents, if you take 30% of 1.90A you get 0.57A (Foy measured 0.58A) and 5% of 1.90A gives you 0.095A (Foy measured 0.09A). So the driver must be basing everything on what it can pull from the battery (or batteries) on high.

-Garry

So that means every time you turn it on it must draw full current for a fraction of a second to calibrate its output levels. I’d be surprised if it did that, as i can’t imagine the designer of the chip would go to that much work and wasting battery energy use just to figure out how much power to provide on lower settings. And where does that power go if its doing it?

I believe resistance is resistance no matter what mode it’s in. Having resistance in the battery holder is the same as soldering a resistor in line with the circuit. All modes are effected by it no matter how much the draw is. Just because medium and low do not pull the same from the cells as high, doesn’t mean that cell holder resistance does not effect them the same percentage.

No. With drivers that use PWM to regulate output levels, the full current is always being drawn. It’s just not always being drawn all the time. Basically, power to the LED is just being switched on and off at a particular frequency. This results in a perceived decrease in overall brightness, even though each time the LED is switched on it is technically at full brightness.

Wow, seems like that would be hard on the batteries. Is there an advantage to doing this instead of reduced current draws at lower settings?

No, its not hard on them.. its a little less efficient, but a lot cheaper.

how much cheaper?

I dont build drivers so I dont know exactly, but for current regulation, you need more parts on the driver board and/or more complex programming of the software.

Also, with lower current, light color can change.

Got one of these yesterday - it’s a lot chunkier than I was expecting, and came, in excellent shape, very well packed in a strongcardboard box (with a P60 drop-in), in record time. Just 8 days from China.

I was planning to use eneloops, but didn’t much like the AA carrier. It’s strong enough, but the tinny contacts look a bit meh. I even managed to put the AA batteries in the wrong way first of all. Fixed that, and put the carrier in the wrong way before I noticed the + and - markings/ Doh!!

Fortunately I ordered a sleeve for a 18650, and used that. Had a quick play with the dogs in the back garden, and it’s pretty bright (to say the least). Surprised it still worked after all the messing about I did.

Thanks for the update Woody!! I’ve got one one the way from IO. It would be nice if it were here in 8 days but, I dont see that happening!

Mine took 18 days, which is about the range others have gotten theirs, so thats what you should expect, and anything less would be a very nice bonus!

How does the Cyclone compare in performance to a Trustfire A8 ? I luuuuv my A8 … :heart_eyes:

Does anyone know where I might find an OP reflector for the C88?

Does the C88 take a standard C8 reflector? How about the C8 OP from KD. KD says it's 41mm x 31mm.

EDIT - Or just spray glass frosting spray paint or clear coat on the SMO reflector (although you may not be able to go back).

-Garry

Diameter is 40mm, and the height is about 36mm. Close, but no cigar. Thanks for the effort though :slight_smile:

EDIT: Fired off an email to Hank at IO, but I’m not holding out much hope.

I love this C88, and the throw is excellent, but I’d also like to be able to get a little more flood out of it when the situation calls for that. In other words, I want to keep both options, so spraying the reflector is not really on the cards (although I guess I could always obtain a spare SMO reflector and go to work on that one).

Received mine today.

Not really impressed, think that maybe this time I was unlucky and got a defective unit.

The output is definitely less than any of my C8.

Compared to HD2010 on wall looks like the C88 is on med instead of high, there's a ton of difference!

This evening I will try measuring current at home, just to have numbers.

i really wonder if this is a new batch with defective drivers

Checked the Amp draw, for sure there's something wrong with my Cyclone:

High 1.07 A

Med 0.33 A

Low 0.05 A

Before someone ask it, my meter has thick cables and gold plated contacts, just for comparison my UF C8 SS with 105C driver measured 2.82A on high.

The test cell is a Trustfire 26650 5000mAh, which I measuerd in the HD2010 at the same time also, to be sure it's not the cell.

The HD2010 measured 3.9A high, 1.03 mid, 0.13 low.

At this point I can only think that the driver is defective.

I will write to Intl.Outd. to explain the problem.

Will keep you informed.

@ BORT:

Did you hear anybody else having same problem?

No one else, we may have orders from a newer batch since its been a while since this review, but my reply from hank is not confidence inspiring