SKY RAY 9xT6 9xCREE XM-L T6 2x/3x26550/18650 5000LM 5-mode Super Brightness Flashlight---Brightness Over DRY

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 :wink:

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.

Just an update on the KD 9x T6 driver issue.

BLF member, Dthrckt helped me out on this one and fully encapsulated a brand new KD driver he had on hand in addition to replacing the thin wires with 20g of the good stuff. The encapsulation insured heat wasn’t going to be a problem.

Using my 12g DMM leads and 2 x 26650 Trustfire 5000mAh cells fully charged, I was able to get 5.50a on HIGH mode. My previous KD driver, pushed out 10a+ under the same conditions. So that first KD driver was seriously screwy.

Now I decided to try it with 3 x 26650 Trustfires fully charged. The light came on long enough to get a tail reading of 7a, which I believe was on HIGH mode, I think. Then almost immediately it flashed off, as it did with the other driver and would not turn on. I installed the tail cap and pressing the switch, it would only flash momentarily and turn off, same as the last driver.

So it only appears to be useable with 2 batteries and 3 makes it crap out. Seems to remind me of that issue with the J18, 2 cells great, 3 cells the driver goes screwy. Who knows if this KD driver and the driver for the J18 are similar in some way, or maybe coincidence. Maybe it’s not related at all.

My stock driver on 3 cells pulls 4.24a and produces huge amounts of light. I’m not actually sure if this KD driver on 2 cells pulling 5.50a is brighter. Maybe someone can chime in with the answer to that one, but my eyes may have seen it dimmer.

Anyway, if anyone is considering improving their version of the 9x T6 lights out there, for one thing, stay away from this driver. I’d hate to see anyone in our forum toss money away on something that is very buggy.

In my opinion, the best thing you can do to your light, if you’re bold, upgrade the LED wires under the reflector to 22g or 20g, whichever will allow you to reinstall the reflector properly. I’m sure that’ll really cut down resistance and push more lumens OTF. As it stands, the Skyray 9x T6 stock driver, aside from the blinky modes, is really great even as is.

To Dthrckt, thank you once again for all your help and hard work helping me with the driver. It looked like a work of art :wink:

There are some similar driver out there with just a controller and a FET, direct drive on high. This could be an option for a defective stock driver….

Richie086, sorry to hear about what you’ve been through with this light but I wanted to thank you for putting the information out there and saved me the money/hassle of ordering one. I really wanted this light and I’ve just been dragging my feet on it but once I read your story, I scratched it off my list. Hope everything works out with the mods and you’re able to salvage it.

Thanks guys for the comments. If anyone does find a good driver similar to the stock driver, feel free to post a link to it. I wouldn’t mind keeping one or two around as spares.

Also, I upgraded the wires again on my DMM. Still using 12 gauge but upgraded to high end silicone wires with bare ends. The stock driver is back in my Skyray 9x T6 now and works great. With fully charged 3 x 26650 Trustfires, tail cap reading jumped from 4.24a HIGH to 4.90 High mode. So this stock driver really does a great job. I’m fine with it’s power levels and will be leaving it as is.

If you would purchase some better batteries the current would be increased a lot.

I can’t find a driver for 3 cells right now….

I trust the stock driver and never had a single issue.
I think the light is awesome, you can’t get more light for the money.

The Trustfire 26650 5000mAh cells have always performed excellent. But I’m sure unprotected cells would be even better. But I just don’t want to risk using them in a light this powerful.

As for the original driver, it’s always performed flawlessly and never had an issue. This light has been so great and so powerful in stock form, I really haven’t been using my Trustfire J12 at all. Only after trying to make it even more powerful using the KD driver is when all the issues started. So it’s back to stock form where it’s going to stay.

Indeed, I wouldn’t recommend unprotected cells either. This light sucks them really fast, I run into protection almost every time.
I have soshine, but mine are different from the newer ones…not sure how these perform.
But I have read here that kumabear sells protected king kongs, sadly just for you us guys.

The enerdan cells should be perfect for this light, sadly they are really expensive even more compared to the cheap price of this flashlight.

+1, exactly what I want to say to you Richie, remember I asked you about the modding of this light before? Thank you very much for sharing this information and sorry about your losses on the drivers. For insane lumen I think I have made a correct choice and go for the HID. LEDs aren’t bad, but they just can hardly handle 4000 lumens and above at least for technology nowadays. :slight_smile:

Will 3 protected Kingkong 26650 cells fit in this light?