Review: Small Sun ZY-T08 2 x 18650 (Parallel)

[BetweenRides]

Here's some more shots to give you an idea on dimensions of the light.

First up is the side-by-side with the ZY-T08 showing the thin side:

Next two shots are side-by-side showing ZY-T08 with batteries in parallel:

Last shot is showing the business ends side-by-side. Same diameter, but the ZY-T08 is just slightly deeper:

Finally, a really bad 'grey wall' beam shot; ZY-T08 on the left, HD2010 on the right. The Small Sun's hot spot is just slightly smaller and ever so slightly more intense; The flood/spill area of the HD2010 is slightly larger and brighter. You can also detect a slight tint difference - HD2010 is cooler.

[photon1k]

@gords1001

Ok, I’ve not had chance to put thoughts to electron yet, unfortunately real life got in the way. Anyway, I picked up my zy-t08 this morning, first bug bear, I got stung with customs, £3.21 in vat, then £8 in handling charges…I’m currently considering picking up where Guy Fawkes left off in that respect. I’d charged a pair of cells last night, incase the mystery package was the small sun so at 7.30 I was at the post office, cash and card in hand, ready to grab package and get on with work. Package open, cells in, yep it works, not as intense as I’d of liked, but hey, suns been up an hour, give it a chance. Later on in the day, I had time to strip the tail cover off and take some readings. First issue, two of the cap head screws are almost round, cheap crap stainless screws. Got them out, the switch board is held in with two counter sunk Philips screws, they don’t need to be counter sunk, the board isn’t and ones looking like it was knocked in at 45 degrees with a hammer…with a sinking feeling, I apply the leads to the switch :- 1.92a high 0.92a medium 0.44a low The clamp meter confirms its under driven, hunted blf for viffers mod, then popped the board out for a look. At this point you can guess how p*d I was to discover the board wedged with a piece of thick paper, without it, its a p fit. The light looks nice, it feels good in the hand and I’m impressed with the job it does with these limitations in mind, I’d just hoped for so much more. My thoughts at the moment are redrill and tap the tailcover screws m3 and fit some decent screws, and wire a 0 - 0.5ohm pot across the sense resistors, there’s plenty of space in the driver cavity to hot glue the pot in place, then I can dial in the current before finally soldering the board down. I like it, it just could have been much better with a little care on final assembly.

Did you get yours from DX or MF? Crossing my fingers here 'cause I just ordered it from DX two days ago.

[gords1001]

Manafont, quick delivery but I suspect all these hosts are uf-v60 rejects tbh.

[garrybunk]

Sorry to hear that yours is driven even worse than the "normal" 2.4A. If you see the same value sense resistors, how can it be driven any less than others with the same value resistors? I don't get it. What about cleaning threads and contact points?

At least I can tell you that you won't be disappointed at all once you've cranked up the amps!

-Garry

[CheapThrills]

@garrybunk

I still don’t know how to get “Turbo” on purpose. Perhaps it is a funky driver that goes direct drive (but wouldn’t I get way more than 4.0A on direct drive with two Panasonic cells?). When I was using it last night I was in “high” and it was fairly impressive, but then after going through the modes and/of turning off for a few seconds then turning back on it kicked into “Turbo” and I was blown away - definitely a difference in brightness. I left it in “Turbo” for a minute or two and never saw any ill affects (no turning blow, smoke, etc . . .). I do wish my “high” was consistently the 4.0 “turbo” level.

-Garry

Some comments on Turbo…
I got well over 3A on full batteries measuring without the tailcap. Just head and batteries…
BUT: I sometimes got just _{2.00A on High when cycling through modes :}
Most of the time I got the 2.5A-3A or something like that.

Garry: try to check if your PCB is clean and pill PROPERLY screwed down. Body / tail connection has to be clean also.
Next I will try to measure through tail switch.

[sb56637]

Thanks very much! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

[Ubehebe]

>>>>try to check if your PCB is clean and pill PROPERLY screwed down.

Man, you were right. I just checked and my pill was totally wobbly and backed out like 1/16th of inch. Surprised it worked as well as it did.

Hard to get the pill in tight because mine did not have any front notches to insert hemostats to get leverage for a tight seat. I used the the two holes in the PCB to insert hemostats and get leverage, but didn’t want to turn too tight in case the PCB suddenly broke free. Still, 100 times better than when it arrived.

HD2010 still looks appreciably brighter though

The lack of QC in these lights never ceases to amaze me.

[garrybunk]

@CheapThrills

Some comments on Turbo… I got well over 3A on full batteries measuring without the tailcap. Just head and batteries… BUT: I sometimes got just ~2.00A on High when cycling through modes :~ Most of the time I got the 2.5A-3A or something like that. Garry: try to check if your PCB is clean and pill PROPERLY screwed down. Body / tail connection has to be clean also. Next I will try to measure through tail switch.

So you can't get a consistent High level either? Current on High seems to change when you cycle modes and come back to it?

How are you tightening the pill - from the backside (driver side)? I can't get the head of mine unscrewed (to get to the emitter). My PCB seems very clean as well as the tail/switch area. I can check again when I have time, but I hate to remove that tail again (afraid to strip threads/screw heads).

-Garry

[garrybunk]

@Ubehebe

>>>>try to check if your PCB is clean and pill PROPERLY screwed down. Man, you were right. I just checked and my pill was totally wobbly and backed out like 1/16th of inch. Surprised it worked as well as it did. Hard to get the pill in tight because mine did not have any front notches to insert hemostats to get leverage for a tight seat. I used the the two holes in the PCB to insert hemostats and get leverage, but didn’t want to turn too tight in case the PCB suddenly broke free. Still, 100 times better than when it arrived. HD2010 still looks appreciably brighter though The lack of QC in these lights never ceases to amaze me.

Any idea of tailcap currents? How much higher it rose?

-Garry

[Ubehebe]

>>>>>Any idea of tailcap currents? How much higher it rose?

My tailcap screws look like they were put in at angles by a retarded monkey. I’m afraid to touch the thing lest the screws never go back in again. Is there anyway to do a tailcap test without removing the switch housing?

[gords1001]

Sorry to hear that yours is driven even worse than the “normal” 2.4A. If you see the same value sense resistors, how can it be driven any less than others with the same value resistors? I don’t get it. What about cleaning threads and contact points?At least I can tell you that you won’t be disappointed at all once you’ve cranked up the amps!

Oh, I’m impressed with with the visible output with one arm tied behind its back, in fighting trim it should be amazing. The low current could be down to a poor earth path, remember the paper spacer, but I can’t solder it down till I’ve added and dialed in a pot. I’m going to find my maplin catalogue tonight and see what pots are available, I’m hoping for a 0 - 0.5ohm one.

[Silverbolt]

@Ubehebe

>>>>>Any idea of tailcap currents? How much higher it rose?

My tailcap screws look like they were put in at angles by a retarded monkey. I’m afraid to touch the thing lest the screws never go back in again. Is there anyway to do a tailcap test without removing the switch housing?

Damn that restarted monkey! He did the same to one of my screws too! Using an Allen wrench, I was able straighten it out and screw it deep enough so the flashlight can tail stand. That one screw isnt tight, but at least it’s flush.

[CheapThrills]

@garrybunk

@CheapThrills

Some comments on Turbo… I got well over 3A on full batteries measuring without the tailcap. Just head and batteries… BUT: I sometimes got just ~2.00A on High when cycling through modes :~ Most of the time I got the 2.5A-3A or something like that. Garry: try to check if your PCB is clean and pill PROPERLY screwed down. Body / tail connection has to be clean also. Next I will try to measure through tail switch.

So you can't get a consistent High level either? Current on High seems to change when you cycle modes and come back to it?

How are you tightening the pill - from the backside (driver side)? I can't get the head of mine unscrewed (to get to the emitter). My PCB seems very clean as well as the tail/switch area. I can check again when I have time, but I hate to remove that tail again (afraid to strip threads/screw heads).

-Garry

I think I get pretty consistent "Turbo" but just an occasional "High". Weird...

I took out the tail switch assembly. Hexagonal screws were easy to take out. 2 screws inside: I would recommend using right driver size, press down HARD, turn gently.

Measured the amperage shorting 1 pcs of Xtar 2600mAh through Switch PCB screw hole in body:

Steady 3.3A on both holes. In repetitive fashion, always the same.

Bridging the Switch (when OFF) with DMM, I got also steady 3.3A all the time.

Thing to think:

My Other Smallsun, ZY-T13 has brighter hotspot (confirmed by wife ;) ) and to my eye, gives more light OTF measured by ceiling bounce.

...but it takes just 1.08A when measured with 2 x Xtar 2600mAh :~

What is this???

Can some professional measure the resistance for that bare switch component, please?

Can there be any other bottleneck or reason??

IMO, 2.2A vs. 3.3A should be "pretty obvious" or at least pretty close to each other?

Granted, the ZY-T08 has a plastic reflector which also looks a bit of lesser quality...

[CheapThrills]

Forgot to say I liberally flushed PCB and body screw holes with CRC precision cleaner for electronics.
No idea if it helped but that over-the-switch value was measured after this.
So, I assume there should be good connection from switch PCB -> Body.

[Ubehebe]

>>>>>That one screw isnt tight, but at least it’s flush.

That’s what I’m afraid of X 3, and then there will be no tight screws to hold the backplate in place.

[Pulsar13]

@CheapThrills

Thing to think:

My Other Smallsun, ZY-T13 has brighter hotspot (confirmed by wife ;) ) and to my eye, gives more light OTF measured by ceiling bounce.

...but it takes just 1.08A when measured with 2 x Xtar 2600mAh :~

What is this???

Ah, that's exactly my thoughts too! What is this? How does T13 do it?

Doing wallshot with a direct-driven C8 at 4A... why is it that the C8 almost look like putting half the T13's output? And my T13 only pulling 1.5A, or basically 3A single-cell equivalent.

Very efficient buck driver?

[CheapThrills]

@Pulsar13

@CheapThrills

Thing to think:

My Other Smallsun, ZY-T13 has brighter hotspot (confirmed by wife ) and to my eye, gives more light OTF measured by ceiling bounce.

…but it takes just 1.08A when measured with 2 x Xtar 2600mAh :~

What is this???

Ah, that’s exactly my thoughts too! What is this? How does T13 do it?

Doing wallshot with a direct-driven C8 at 4A… why is it that the C8 almost look like putting half the T13’s output? And my T13 only pulling 1.5A, or basically 3A single-cell equivalent.

Very efficient buck driver?

Or optics???

[gords1001]

The optics are what I think is impressing me, the drive current is low but I still get a thick beam of light with a lighter cone of spill.

I think the uf-v3 is a similar situation.

That said, both are getting a severe kick in the rump, you can’t beat cubic inches or sheer amps…… J)

[garrybunk]

I'm just continuing to wonder why there is so much variation between lights. I am betting the drivers are identical and we're all dealing with loss of output due to resistances somewhere (contacts, springs, switch, etc. . .). It may not need driver modification.

-Garry

[gords1001]

True, I won’t get chance to properly play till weekend, and the little tail cover screws are bugging me.

I too have the drunk monkey assembly issues, so bad I’m thinking of redrilling and tapping the cover screws. The head to body contact is clean and lock out happens with a slight loosening of the head, literally cracking it locks it out, but a strip down, contact clean and reassembly may be worthwhile, just if I’m doing that, I may as well have a potentiometer, some flux and solder and the iron to hand as well. 0:) 8)