Trustfire AK-47 9x XM-L Driver Defect / Repair / Upgrade / Photos

The enerpower perform really good in HKJs test but he tested just samples. The protection kicked in earlier on one cell or so if I remember correctly.
How much did you pay for the enerpower cells?
But the problem is that the king kongs are unprotected and at such high discharge the battery drains so quick that I would recommend a under voltage protection.
Not sure if the KD driver has a working one build in?

Hi Werner,

I just tossed in my Trustfire 26650 cells fully charged to 4.20v each. The AK-47 with the KD driver would not light, only flash for a second. Clearly the Trustfires can’t handle the KD driver. I then tossed in my fully charged MNKE cells fully charged to 4.20v, and the light comes on perfectly including all modes. Tail caps current was 8.15a and current actually holds steady. The MNKE cells are rated at least to 3700mAh, so their capacity is good.

I asked Assi, from Enerpower if I could get a BLF member discount, and he reduced the price from over $27.00 per cell, to $20.66 each including shipping. So it was still a lot of money, but if they work well, and perform better than the Trustfires, but with much more protected capacity, I’ll be happy.

I left the light on medium mode for about 25 minutes time. When I checked tailcap current on high mode, max amps was 5a, so maybe it isn’t regulated. But the batteries all read 3.96v each exactly. So at least they all drained the same in series. The upside is the drivers low voltage protection didn’t kick in, so these cells are really incredible. Also, after that amount of time, the head was 128 degree fahrenheit or 53C and the handle was 99 degrees fahrenheit or 37C. No external cooling was performed.

I didn’t want to run it on high mode and risk burning anything up. I also tried to take a 3 foot ceil bounce lux reading, but on high mode it over powered the meter. I’ll try a 10 meter lux reading tonight.

UPDATE: Likely the reduction in output was the thermal protection kicking in. Thermal protection kicks in about 60c, so it makes sense why I only got 5a, which is actually current on medium mode normally. After allowing the light to cool down, the light kicked back up to high mode and 8.14a tail cap without any additional charge to the batteries. Looks like all is working perfectly, finally!

Using my LX1010B Luxmeter set to 2000, at 10 meters (32.8 feet), I get 880 lux on high mode with the KD driver.

This was in 3 x MNKE 26650 configuration charged to 4.2v, tail cap current 8.15a. Measurement taken after 30 seconds runtime.

have you measured your king at that distance/setting?

Hi Dave,

Typcially I use a 1 meter ceiling bounce for my lights. But the AK with the new driver overpowered the meter at that distance. So I used the 10 meter distance instead. If you need the King tested, I can do it now and send you the reading via PM.

I’m just looking for a comparison reading w/ a light that’s been measured by others. I don’t recall what people get for a throw reading with the king, but I’m sure I could find a couple reviews searching BLF…

wouldn’t 880 lux at 10 meters be 88,000 lux at 1 meter?

If that calculation is correct, and that reading is accurate, that thing is a MONSTER - that number is what you might expect from a crelant 7g5v2 with collimator head

I suppose that is entirely possible with 9 well driven xml

Yes, 88,000 is what I came up with as well. You should see it in person..LOL. I'll do the SR King in a few minutes for you. I think you'll see much lower readings, so something much more in line.

Sweet, 88k lux…very throwey…

Hi, can you please tell me how many amps do you read with 2 or 3 MNKE cells bei AK-47 stock driver? Maybe I’ll buy also MNKE cells. And I couldn’t find on internet a KD 9x driver. Can you please post a link where I can buy this driver? And one more thing, how do you pull out the old driver; it seems to be stuck there. Thanks!

richie already posted current measurements with 2 and 3 cells and stock driver

here is the driver
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020165

note that they’ve changed the photo and that is NOT what the the top board looks like - it is much taller because the toroid is vertical and there is a big cylindrical component (capacitor?).

they also have a 5-mode version

Thanks for the links. I think that the measurements in that comment are made with Trustfire cells; I was interested if there’s a difference with MNKE IMR Unprotected cells on the AK-47 stock driver. Thanks

Hi Strauss,

I went through my notes and surprisingly didn't find the answer, so I temporarily tossed the stock driver (which is great) back into the Trustfire AK-47 so I can give you the correct answer on this one.

Stock Trustfire AK-47 Driver

3 x Trustfire 26650 5000mAh cells fully charged - 5.20a tailcap

2 x Trustfire 26650 5000mAh cells fully charged - 5.20a tailcap

Here is where it got interesting using the MNKE IMR cells.

3 x MNKE IMR 3700mAh+ cells fully charged - 5.0a tailcap

2 x MNKE IMR 3700mAh+ cells fully charged - 6.50a tailcap

Additionally, if you install the KD driver in this light, Trustfire 5000mAh cells will NOT work. You may be able to

get the light to come on as far as MED mode, if you're lucky, but the light is undependable with the KD driver and Trustfire 26650 cells.

I'm hoping the ENERPOWER+ Protected 26650 4500 mAh (Tensai) PCB 9A cells will be able to smoke the Trustfires. The Enerpower cells are coming to me with a 9a protection circuit, and apparently not the 8a I've seen. I'll assume they'll be fine with more capacity too. I'll post when I have the cells in hand.

Where do you get the wire from Richie?

Zeus, I purchased it from the same vendor Old-Lumens purchased from, this ebay seller linked below. He also has various other sizes and types, so if you require something different, check his other auctions.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-feet-22-AWG-Silver-Teflon-Wire-Red-19-Strands-/380586495551?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item589cb90e3f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-feet-22-AWG-Silver-Teflon-Wire-Black-19-Strands-/380586490464?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item589cb8fa60

Thanks Richie!

Just found another great set of 26650 cells that I had shipped in from Germany 7 days ago. Just charged up these EnerPower 4500mAh protected cells to 4.2v each. Tossed three in, the light came on super bright with a tail cap current at 8.14 amps. They effortlessly powered this modified Trustfire AK-47 with a KD driver installed as easily as the MNKE unprotected cells have. Remember, this is a 90 watt flashlight now. I’ve never seen 26650 protected cells with this much power before and it won’t be cheap for this type of quality cell.

Yep, my Trustfire 26650’s are great cells, but this particular flashlight, pushing this much power is beyond their output rating, but have been great in every other light I have.

I’m sure these new cells will be about $5.00 more per cells than the MNKE cells, but it’s nice to have choices when it comes to high output and quality cells that will keep performing. As soon as my hobby charger arrives, I’ll be able to check these new cells out indepth.

Super cells they are. Thanks for all the measurements. Can you please tell me how to pull out the driver from ak-47? Must I unscrew the driver or take it out by force? Thanks!

Strauss,

You unscrew the top retaining ring. You’ll need either needle nose plyers, or snap ring removers and press them into the 2 holes and twist. If you don’t have either of those, try to get the ring out by using two nails in those holes.

Once the ring is removed, the driver should lift out. If it appears stuck, try and carefully lift it from one side if you can get something sharp under one side of it. The driver itself is not screwed in, it just sits in the seat.

Thanks a lot!