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

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!

Did you do anything to modify your switch? I can’t imagine these cheap switches are rated for any decent current.

That’s a great question. I’ve been using the stock Omten 1.5a 250v PBS-101 switch it came with. In fact, I’m looking into purchasing a few spares or see about retrofitting a Jabsco (spelling?) The Jabsco switches I’ve seen have wires, so I’d have to figure out how to remove the wires so it installs and functions as the stock switch, perhaps allow some extra power to get to the LED’s as well.

Tested the light with 18650’s this time to see how they handle the power of the KD driver.
Using Redilast 2600mAh cells fully charged, just as the light came onto medium mode, about 4.85 amps, one cell tripped it’s protection.

Removed them and tossed in 3 Redilast 3100mAh cells, the light worked on all modes. On high, tail current was only slightly low at 7.85 amps. I left the light on high for about a minute with no problems.

Hi folks,

Looks like there seems to be a problem with these AK-47’s that I had hoped would have been an incorrect assumption on my part from my original post.

I’ve got a second AK-47 in my hands that I’m upgrading for a forum member with the KD driver. All is fine with the light physically and is mint, but the stock driver I removed not only had one of the 3 resistors off, it was actually missing having never been installed.

Without this 3rd resistor, this has the effect of not allowing the light to push more than about 3 amps at the tail cap on high mode with 3 cells. With the resistor in place, the stock driver would pull well past 5 amps despending on how good the cells are.

At least the one I purchased recently, the 3rd resistor was present, just not soldered on sufficiently, so it was an easy fix. The one I’m working on now will have a 5-mode KD driver installed within the hour and pull over 8 amps at the tail on high mode with 3 MNKE cells in it. So this one will light up Broadway.

Sorry to give the bad news, but if you upgrade the driver, it’s simply a wall of light.