ITS HERE! SIPIK SK98 - A 18650 based Sipik SK68 with an XML!

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. :slight_smile: 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”.

The light I am waiting on is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140732749694?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&\_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

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. :slight_smile: 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.

Wow, that sucks.

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. :slight_smile: 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…

Soldering irons should be cheap in the U.S.

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.)

SK68 was wildly successfull….

and now sipik has flushed all good name down the Shit Hole with this piece of garbage.

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. :slight_smile:

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?

Thanks again!

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. :slight_smile:

Does the 18650 version throws as far as the 14500?

You have a Sipik branded one?
Does the sliding mechanism feels solid?
It has the weak points, but some users here report the sk98 being fried by itself, i have a sk68 unbranded which becomes hot quite fast but it doesn’t selfdestruct, that’s worse than just a weak point :p.

Sorry for all my questions but i want an upgrade for my sk 68 and the trustfire z8 xm-l 14500 won’t do it so know i’m looking for an alternative for my sk68 which is the light i’m having the best time with.

Where did you buy your driver?
How do i access the star and driver? I manage to remove the lens but then i can’t figure out how to losen the rest and i don’t want to break anything :).

appreciate your help!

Does this unscrewing works the same as the sk68, because I don’t manage to get to unscrew the pill of the sk68. Due to receiving an underperforming trustfire z8 I have received a coupon of 7$ from t-mart for a Sipik branded sk98. That would bring the price down to 6,5$.

If i would keep the direct mode driver and just fill the pill with aluminium foil would that be sufficient not to fry the light?

Tmart says they haven’t received customer complaints so far…

I received my Ultrafire clone a few weeks ago, and this light was from a seller on Ebay called “Bobotoway”. The torch itself is great, although it arrived in a crumpled cardboard box, undoubtedly a cause of rough shipping.
The torch does not have the same overheating problem as the Sipik SK98, but still there is a hollow pill. I put some heat transfer compound around the base of the star, to improve heat transfer. I have been using this torch for 1-10 minutes on high every day for the last few weeks, and so far so good.

Of course the less heat produced, the less powerful the torch is, but still, this thing is bright!

- Ultrafire C8 XM-L U2

- Ultrafire Sipik SK98 XM-L T6

- Generic 200lm zoomie

- Small Sun zy-s13

- Police Force random model