Hi Dt,
I originally thought it could be the batteries protection kicking it, but I’d expect that to happen with 2 battery and not with 3 of them. What do you think of the tail cap readings from my post #96 ?
I think it’s pretty awesome, and since I personally don’t like 3 serial lights, I’d use it that way!
but, I can understand wanting to be able to go to ray gun mode…since that’s what KD advertised…
their specs are confusing - ie 9v low voltage warning but range includes 6V (yes, i know they’re not mutually exclusive, but that’s a rare feature)
also, 3-4x li-ion, but max voltage 12V
I’d try to measure the current and voltage for the brief moment that it will run in 3s config.
Are the 3 cells you’re using fully charged ?
Maybe it misbehaves when the voltage is above 12V,
try cells with voltage below 4V
If it works it obviously isn’t a fix, but might explain things
-S
Hi Sigster, yes they were fully charged, but I discharged them each down to 3.95v each and it didn’t make a difference. However, once it did turn on using 3 x 26650 cells and I was able to get a tail-cap reading of 7a on HIGH mode. The stock driver on HIGH was 4a.
Also, I tried using 3 other very new Trustfire 26650 5000mAh batteries that serve very well in my Trustfire TR-J12 and it didn’t make a difference. It has to be the driver. Thank you for your input and suggestions.
That’s sad.
wow, pulling ~78W
if 80% efficient, it is making ~15W of HEAT
could be it needs to be potted…even though the described behavior doesn’t match KD’s description…
i’d want to confirm that as the problem before I tried potting though.
you could freeze it, take it out pop the batts in and see if it runs any longer. Even just a bit longer would seem to indicate a heat problem.
I have a different high power driver from them, and there were reports of it not functioning due to heat.
I potted it w/ 2 ton epoxy w/ alumina mixed in, inside of a copper pipe fitting.
that worked, but I calculated efficiency and it was terrible - i forget exactly how bad but i did post results here (maybe 60%?)
Hi folks,
Unfortunately I was getting pretty aggravated due to the problem I was having with the KD driver, and didn’t snap a photo of what the LED wiring looked like with the reflector removed. I’m sure anyone on this board would have appreciated such meticulous soldering using such thin wire.
I will say this much, the person that wired this light had to be a master at his or her craft. The wiring is so thin (wired in series) and so neatly soldered, I could learn a thing or two from this person about soldering.
It also amazes me that even with the super powerful stock driver in this 9x T6, this little wire can allow this flashlight to produce the huge amount of light it does and eat a Trustfire J12 for breakfast.
that is surprising - though it’d be interesting to find out if a wire upgrade would make the stock config brighter.
probably an awful lot of work though…
I have no doubt it would make a difference and seriously reduce the resistance in the existing wiring. If I didn’t love the light so much and didn’t care if I messed it up, I’d give it a try. But there would be a limit to how much larger the wiring would have to be in order for the reflector to seat back down correctly.
Initially when I had the light apart, I was going to replace the stock + and - leads coming from the LED’s down to the driver, but I felt it wasn’t worth it at this time.
I’m thinking this KD driver for the 9x T6 simply requires more power than what any of my batteries can supply. I tried it with my Redilast 3100 x 3, and within about 3 seconds coming on high mode, one cell tripped the protection. Unless someone else is willing to try this driver in their Skyray and verify my findings, I’d say just keep the 9x T6 stock.
Maybe someone with a descent bench power supply can test this in more detail.
Maybe just unprotected 26650s? The kingkongs?
It has low voltage protection built-in
you could hook some test leads up to your new lifepo battery, although I wouldn’t do it w/ a full charge…
Hi FM,
I was thinking that too, but at this point, I don’t want to purchase more 26650’s, especially since I purchase these 3 extra Trustfire 5000mAh cells specifically for this light. But thanks for your suggestion.
Hey Dthrckt, That might not be a bad idea. I can discharge it to an acceptable static voltage and give it a try. Thanks.
LOL…okay, I reduced the voltage on my shorai 14Ah battery to 12.5 volts and connected it to the KD driver. OMG, this thing was so scary bright, I’ve never seen a flashlight this bright, as least first hand anyway. After 15 seconds, I noticed a very small bit of smoke come from the driver and then it went out. I removed the driver and can’t seem to find anything burnt, but it will not illuminate anymore.
At this point, I’ll just leave it up in the air as to whether this driver was simply defective only when using 3 cells or not.
Tomorrow I’ll toss the original driver back in, at least for now, until I get a chance to order another KD driver for it. Thanks for all the helpful input. It’s always appreciated 
It was supposed to have overvolt protection so maybe it was defective the whole time.
Try getting a return from KD? Its unfortunate this didn’t work, but thanks for being the tester!
The funny thing is when I tried it with the Redilast 18650 3100’s, for an instant, the tailcap readings shot up to 17 amps, so I yanked the 12 gauge test leads off of it…LOL. I’ll put an order in for another driver this week and give it another shot.
that definitely sounds defective, pulling ~180W!
Until I can get a replacement KD driver, I tossed the original one back in the light. All works great as it originally did and I’ll get back to this one in a few weeks and let you all know how I make out with it.