Finally got a DMM - HD2010 tailcap reading less than 2A?

I went through all this nonsense myself. The solution was custom leads:

Those are battery bars on the end of the wires (used in the construction of high current battery packs). If you know that those SF batteries are capable of putting out up to 5A or so, then you should be reading somewhere around 4.7A with the MF 3-mode drop-in. I don’t have a HD2010 so I can’t comment on that.

Good points. Thank you.

I don’t think I’ve read about anyone getting 5A from a SF 18650 on one of these - only with a good 26650. But, as Johnny Mac mentioned above - he got 3.5A with the TTF 18650s, as mentioned in his review. But Foy got 4+ with the same SF cells I have.

I think what we are experiencing is not just the DMM leads, which I expect to be part of the problem for me. Johnny and Foy test a LOT of lights, and we can’t blame any lower current results on cheap leads for them, I don’t think.

I think it’s li-ion cell variance, or worse, inconsistent East 092 driver draw.

Then again, the HD2010 is supposed to be direct drive on high. How would it’s draw be limited to anything under 5A in that case, unless the cells were to blame?

Am I thinking correctly here?

And thanks, Suncoaster! LOVE this torch, and it surely performs in the real world. But imagining an even brighter HD2010 with a good 26650 cell hitting 5A is a pretty fun as well. :slight_smile: Congrats on yours as well.

I ordered a pair of TFF 26650s, just because there seems to be no visually noticeable difference OTF. But the Kongs appear to be some awesome cells that I will have to order at some point…

I use Panasonic NCR18650A cells. With the UF-980L (which is direct drive on high) I get up to 5.8A out of them. Before I made the custom leads for my DMM, I couldn’t get a reading much above 3A.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention that this reading is with a battery hot off the charger.

And what DMM do you have, cainn?
A good and cheap way to check DMMs is using Nanjg driver (with good cells). If you get 2.78-2.79A - your DMM is good at lease up to 3A :bigsmile:

I have a cheap “Digitor” DMM. In addition to checking it’s measurements against known values below 3A, I’ve also hooked it up in line while doing discharge tests with my hobby charger. At 3, 4 and 5A it matched what my hobby charger was reporting to within 10-20 mA.

What you need to keep in mind is when your making your leads low resistance is the fact that your tailcap may not be. The only way to get accurate results would be to measure it through the tailcap.

That’s a good point, and I’ve been meaning to rig up a decent method of accurately taking that into account.

Just for my own clarification, “hot off the charger” means the cells have hit 4.2v, give or take, correct?

Are the TF flames from a trusted supplier and genuine?

+1 on the new leads as well.

Yep.

Give or take, yes. They’re always a tiny bit below that.

There seems to be a huge difference in what people are measuring on their HD2010's. Mine still pulls over 5 amps on both of my DMM's with a King Kong XSL. If I touch the lead against the battery as light as possible, I can get it down to around 4.70 and my leads aren't all that thick. (the ones it came with)

Is there more than one driver being used?

Foy

Foy, from all the reading I’ve done today, it seems I’ve confirmed (as well as I can from BLF forum posts) we all have the East 092 driver on the stock light. Lightmalls, Tmart, and Manafont are selling the same HD, or at least HDs with the same driver, regardless of the brand name on the body.

I charged my SolarForce V3 2600mAh cell to 4.27v and dropped it in the HD2010, and I’m getting 3.2A. I don’t have my TFF 26650s yet. I know your Kongs out perform those. But this SF V3 cell (I didn’t know before today because I didn’t have a DMM until today) is out performing my TFFs in terms of output.

I’m guessing either cell or driver variance at this point.

From memory I only got a maximum of around 3 amps from mine no matter what battery I used or DMM. I dont think with the driver in mine that if I hooked it up to the overhead wires used on the electric trains I would get a reading any higher.

Edit. Maximum I got was 2.7 amps. Just found it on Foys review.

Looks like there are two drivers:
East-092 on JohnnyMac’s Ultrafire

and East-092B on Night Breaker’s FandyFire

Also Kramer5150’s findings show different readings depending on how compressed the spring is.

Interesting. So how does direct drive factor into this? I was assuming the East 092 was direct drive on high… why wouldn’t it pull unrestricted? Or, maybe I don’t fully understand DD?

Damn. Now I feel like ordering a second HD2010. (sad smiley not necessarily appropriate)

Okay, just for fun, I did a quick test with a few different 18650's:

Solarforce protected 2400 mAh (blue and white): 4.0 amps

Tenergy unprotected 2600 mAh: 4.0

Xtar 18700 protected 2600 mAh: 3.75

Panasonic CGR (D) unprotected 2350 mAh: 3.67

Solarforce unprotected 2400 mAh (white): 3.57

TrustFire flame protected 2400 mAh: 3.0 (well used cell, many cycles)

These cells were all charged a couple of days ago but I didn't measure any voltages. They usually come off my WF-188 at about 4.21 volts.

Foy

Would you get more accurate results using using a short loop of wire and a clamp meter, rather than fluffing around trying to reduce lead resistance?