FandyFire HD2010, looks like will be 26650 compatible

What happens when you unscrew the tailcap a little to alleviate force on the cell... same thing?

Is the pill screwed tight into the host body? If you unscrew the bezel (carefully so you don't tear the gasket), and remove the reflector can you mode flip without the reflector? Suspecting there may be a LED+ short to the reflector.

I've tried unscrewing the tailcap in small increments to the point it pops off, including the battery tube. Having to much pressure doesn't seem to be the problem. The pill is screwed down and tight with a bit of AS-5 on the threads. Even with the reflector removed, it will only run on high mode with the Trustfire 5000.

Yeah, my first thought was the reflector shorting, but I did the mod you came up with you did on your Ultrafire version. This is the weirdest thing I've seen in a flashlight. The other brand batteries work great in this flashlight. Something about the Trustfire cell is the cause. I'll keep at it and post if I come up with something. Thanks for the suggestions.

that is completely bizzarre.

can you unscrew the battery tube and wire the battery straight to the DC-DC board +Vin and -Vin?... just clear the table and omit any side affects of the tailcap and body all together. See if you can mode flip it by touching wires to the DC-DC board.

Same thing is happening with my protected UF 2800's from DX. If the flashlight body is too short for the cell, seems the tailcap presses the protection circuit, and it loses contact, i.e. turns off the flashlight. For instance, it turns off in UF V6-T60, but not in FF HD2011 and other longer flashlights. This does not happen on TF 3000's, though, at least wherever I tried it.

Edit: you said pressure/unscrewing makes no difference for you, so not exactly same situation.

Here a pic of a chanched pill:

A little bit of rasp and a 8x7135 driver(with 2 extra 7135) will fit. ;)

deal on Dino:

http://www.dinodirect.com/flashlight-hd-cree-t6-600lm-led.html

My Ultrafire versione does exactly the same too (except I don't have other 26650 than the Trustfire 5000)

It works all the modes with -any- 18650 I can throw at it, it works with recycle bin batteries, it works with AW2900 fresh off the charger at 4,19v

But if I put the 26650 TF5000 it has high only.

Tried unscrewing the tailcap in small increments, nothing happen, still high only.

Made all the check and mods suggested here and on the other UF thread (cleaned, reassembled, insulator disc on the reflector, tightened pill ring and driver ring, and no results. Still on high only.

Then all of a sudden it started working all the modes with the 26650 TF5000 too! WTF! I thought... take out the cell, measure Voltage, and due to all the testing the 26650 has discharged a bit and now reads 4,10v, and all modes works. If I charge the 26650 to more than 4,10v it starts weird again with high mode only. So definitely it's something related to driver and voltage sag under load, because a charged 18650 with 4,19v unloaded works perfect, meanwhile a 26650 partially used at 4,13v still makes high only, drop anothere mere 0,03v and it start working again...

If this driver is Fet based with high pwm, to my understanding in high the Fet receives a pwm with a 100% duty cycle, e.g. constantly on. This is no strange, as for example the electronic speed control for RC models works the same way, hi-frequency (over 1,5Khz usually) Pwm from 0% to 100%. But this does not explain why the system goes funky above a certain voltage.

Any idea or suggestion, other than a driver swap?

Oh, I didn't mention, felt in love with this light! Nice size, throw like crazy with still usable spill. Great!

Great investigative work!! in my HD2010, it works 100% fine regardless of cell voltage or cell type. HOWEVER when I use my Fluke to meter the tailcap current draw it behaves like a one mode only. I never could figure this out, but I think you nailed it. I think the added Voltage (or current whichever it may be) drop through the switch presented my driver with exactly what it wanted to “see”. The fluke (and its lower internal resistance) would cause it to behave like yours.

I’ve since switched it to a 10x7135 driver, and all is well. its a GREAT light, I think worthy of a driver mod/upgrade

Oh yes, this could be very well the reason why nobody was able to measure the modes with the Fluke but only High-SOOS. The resistance of the Fluke and thick cables was less than original tailcap spring and switch! Good call!

This means the driver swap is almost a must now...

Could you please explain in simple terms if possible about your flashlight only working on less than 4.1 volts. Thanks.

Sure, very easy:

with a 26650 TF 5000mAh

cell charged above 4,1v > no modes change, only high (you can try switching it fast or slow or just tap it, no way, it's like having a single mode incan)

cell partially used below-equal to 4,1v > driver works with all 5 modes regularly (hi-mid-lo-strobe-SOO)

with a 18650 (good or bad doesn't change) all modes are available at any given voltage.

(Oh, my UF HD-2010 has the East-092 driver, if that matters any)

I'm prone to think that the 26650 voltage sags less under load compared to a 18650.

Thanks Rockspider. I should of explained my question better. What I meant was the technical side of why a driver would not work with a good battery at 4.2 volts. Cheers.

Oh, but that was my question too! It's out of my comprehension why it goes weird above a given voltage.

What can I say? Maybe the project is bad, and the 4,1X voltage is above or anyway on the borderline of max allowed voltage for some components, so near or above that they go funky...

As I wrote above, to me this is really strange, because I remember having read that this driver is a PWM Fet driver, so DD ain't really direct drive, but just that the Fet duty cycle goes to 100% (or very close to, I remember Fet need to work switching hi-freq to keep a good efficiency, otherwise at 100% on they are good (very low resistance) but the inner resistance anyway makes them dissipate some heat.

Cannot explain better why, but when Fet do the switching they are more efficient, thus they dissipate less heat in the meantime.

Hope this makes sense...

Is this possible to disable strobe and sos on this flashlight?

Several of us replace the driver - problem solved. Can use a Qlite, Nanjg, etc. I custom program Nanjg drivers in this to get any modes you want.

[quote=Tom E]
Several of us replace the driver - problem solved. Can use a Qlite, Nanjg, etc. I custom program Nanjg drivers in this to get any modes you want.[/quote]


That used to be less than desirable because the old drivers were direct drive. If you have one of those drivers, please save it. One of us may want it. The new HD2010's are not direct drive, and don't provide nearly as much current. These drivers aren't desirable at all, and are good candidates for replacement. I'm planning on buying a few more HD2010's, and I plan on changing all the drivers to increase the current. Better modes is a nice bonus.

[quote=leaftye]

Dunno about less desireable - I can safely run a AW IMR 26650 (or KK unprotected ICR) battery in a regulated 4.2A regulated driven HD 2010, custom programmed to any modes I want, including moonlight, and get 1,300+ lumens and 45-50 kcd with a XM-L2 on copper. Not sure you can get any more desirable than that in a HD 2010 . I do have a couple of East-092 drivers but wouldn't recommend them to anyone...

[quote=Tom E]

Back when the East-092 driver was direct drive there weren't good copper stars like there are now. A custom driver would result in fewer OTF lumens. I haven't had a problem with mine running with a TF or KK INR 26650.

The availability of copper stars changes things now. Now it's possible to get more light OTF only with replacement drivers because the old drivers aren't used in new HD2010's.

You do say you have some East-092 drivers. Are they the old direct drive type? Let me know if you want to part with them. I'd like to build a direct drive HD2010 with a copper star and up to two more HD2010's with a copper stars and modded & unmodded Qlite's. My old direct drive HD2010 will be the reference.

Yes, the TF and KK INR's have more resistance, so those would be ok with the old driver. Prior to SinkPAD's, I updated HD 2010's to U3/alum w/KD V2 driver at 4 amps, and they still put out more lumens than the stock HD2010, East-092 driver, did. The T6's on alum don't seem to do much over 5 amps, I'm thinking, just generate a lot of heat.

Dunno, I just prefer having control over the amps, and not worry about the battery, resistance of wires, etc. I recall back when I had a direct drive C8, had it on high, and totally forgot about it being so freak'n hot w/high amps, I noticed the bezel was loose and tightened it, then the light went out - discovered I twisted the LED mounting on the star - got so hot the solder weakened. That thing was 5+, maybe 6+ amps... No battery life - it's an accident waiting to happen.

I'd have to check my bag of pulled drivers - it's a whole lot of driver boards...

If the bezel’s loose on most designs then you likely have lost full pressure contact from the reflector base to the LED baseplate to the pill face. That means lousy heat dispersion and indeed an accident waiting to happen on extended run times. So it’s no surprise to me that the LED twisted off. Everything’s gotta be tight and snug especially when going direct drive. I bet that C8 would survive just fine with an East-092, though like you say maybe too many amps for a stock alum T6 to begin with but another story again with copper.