Review: Sky Ray 9xT6 - The King of HOT Rods?

Just wondering if you have a suggestion for a copper slug to use? Since I will be re-wiring mine , I figure it couldn’t hurt to add some better heatsinking and I liked your idea. Also, does anyone have a suggestion for what type of wire to use to re-wire this thing?

If you look at the back of where the leds are mounted, you will see that its just a recessed cavity and the LEDS sit on a “shelf” that is only max 1/4” thick. You would need a custom made piece of copper ideally that would fit into that hole as thick as you could make it.

I don’t have my light near me right now but I’d be willing to bet you can make that 1”+ and it would help in taking the heat off the leds a bit better. It would also make the head HEAVY.

I haven’t done that to mine, to be honest.

As for wire - the stuff on there is pretty cheap. Its probably not marked but I’d be willing to bet its somewhere in the 30+ AWG area. The biggest flexible wire you can comfortably fit on there is only going to help you. Especially if you thinking of upgrading the driver.

It looks like the wire on mine is labeled. It is 28 AWG and rated at 150º C. I count 7 strands. I was planning on replacing it with this 20 AWG silver plated, teflon coated 19 strand wire. It appears to be the same wire that jufran was selling, and that would mean an outer diameter of 1.46 mm compared to the current ~1.2 mm outer diameter wire on there. Thankfully not much bigger and rated to 200ºC.

If the copper slug has to be custom made, it sounds a bit more time consuming/expensive than it would be worth. However, if I find out where to submit small orders for custom machining, I might do this. I was thinking about replacing the LED’s with some neutral white T6-3C ones too, but it would cost ~37$ for the LED’s, plus the ~6$ fujik to mount them. Is there any reason why the stock T6 1A cool white LED’s can’t be swapped out for these?

I figure I’ll have to use these plastic insulation gaskets that came with the light…:

But I was considering using these as a replacement. I don’t know if they’ll fit, but I figure it’s worth a shot.

Anyway, if I get a functional driver, do these LED’s seem like a suitable replacement? I would really love a crazy neutral white flooder like this.

I am not sure if the LEDwiring must be changed but the wiring from driver to led has to be replaced for sure to awg 16 or thicker…
I am unsure about a led swap, 36$ to mod a 60$ flashlight…?

Sadly I paid ~95$ for the light shipped. The money wasn’t a problem though. Receiving a malfunctioning light was. Anyway…

So you recommend AWG 16? Anything wrong with using the 20 AWG instead?

I have paid about 120$ with shipping and taxes, but this doesn’t count. It counts for which price you can get it now. And at wallbuys another 9x6 is offered for 57$ including shipping.

Bigger is better, awg20 will do the job quite good. The length of the wire is so short that even the crappy stock wires work. But it’s a must to replace the main wire through which all the current flows.
I have only replaced the main wire from driver to LED, I had first used awg16 but it was to thick to place the reflector and front cap perfectly. So I finally used awg22, I soldered on every 3 led group one awg22 for + and one for -.


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I taped the underside of the reflector with kaptontape to make sure nothing can short.
Replacing the LED wires with thicker ones can lead to a misfitting front cap.
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The tailcap current gets increased a lot, it is now 7-8A with not fully loaded batteries. The driver is a pulsed direct drive, so tailcap current is LED current.
If we get 6A tailcapcurrent every LED gets 2 A.

Awesome… I like the concept of the insulating kaptontape. Too bad it’s so expensive. Hard to justify that, given its limited use to me. Are there any cheaper options for something similar?

I don’t really know much about drivers to be honest. What is a pulsed direct drive? Thank you for the pics by the way!

That's really neat work there Werner.

Kapton is real affordable, I like it a lot.
I used 10mm wide kapton but I have ordered the 30mm variant,too.
One fasttech 30m are sold for 2$ ……rather cheap mine was more expensive

I am not sure how to call that driver, so I created the name myself.
Between the LEDs and the batteries is a FET who drives the LEDs. We can see this FET as an electronic switch opened or closed with the controller. The controller opens the FeT in pulses(we can here it, some noise).

I also added a o ring and cut the “pimple” on the tailboot, nice tips I had read here some times for making a flashlight tail standing. Now it can tail stand better.

Edit: I tested with almost full batteries 12.3V and I got almost 9A. I tested only 5 minutes, now I am recharging to really full batteries and will test the new peak current :bigsmile:
I was a bit surprised because the soshine 26650 are claimed as 8A max.
Edit2: I have charged them up and then pushed them with a power supply to 4.2-4.21V, current was 9.4A.

So just by upgrading the wires you upped the current that much?

Where did you get that wire?

I upgraded the wire and I added a copper wire on the positive spring on the driver. Because I recognized that the current increased every time when I pressed the batteries harder down the tube.

Hobbyking sells really nice silicone wire.
It’s ultra flexible and the insulation is heat resistant.
I had ordered 1m on some different sizes, so that I have same here in case I need it.
I also have requested them on fasttech.

Edit: I have thought about it and I can’t really explain why this increased current. I have measured resistance from the removed wire and my DMM showed zero Ohms….?
But then I powered the wire with 5A from my power supply and it gets hot, I tried one of the awg22 and it stayed cool and it was double the length……?
So I am now puzzled.
Can someone please try to improve just the spring and measure current before and after.

Thanks for the high temp tape link from FastTech! That’s perfect. I’m going to mask my reflector as well.

Please keep us posted on what you find out about the increased output from your mods. Very interested. Thanks!

My driver is broken, nice burnt smell that’s it. All the other parts are easy to dismantle except the driver, is it glued in?
Tips please

It is not glued in at all. Easy to take out.

A pair of snap ring pliers on the back of the head will unscrew the metal ring holding it in place

The head comes apart in two pieces as per my pictures.

What new driver are you using?

Please make a picture of the burned driver.

I don’t have such pliers, I will get some and then let you know. You can’t see anything on it or at least I can’t see it that something is burnt.
Just smelled and doesn’t work anymore. If I have to buy an new one I give this Kaidomain http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020165
a go should be interesting for 20 dollars

Hmm, I am very fascinated by this. Let us know if that works out for you.

just posting a reply on here so its in MY POSTS so its easy to find for future reference. does anyone know of an easier way to maybe bookmark a thread for easy future locating? sorry for the interruption, thanks, ted.
s. great beamshots, thank you and everyone else who replied for listing all the detailed info. really helpful for a newb like me, appreciate everyones efforts.

Tweezers will work to - i actually just use a pair of needle nosed pliers and be careful.

Good luck with that driver, let us know how it works out for you!

Richie086 else had tried but got a bum driver. This Thread shows his issues. I’m not sure how it turned out for him.

On the bottom right corner of the first post there is a “click to subscribe” button that will do that.

thanks camaro and werner. thats much better. sorry for nooBness.