I'm using Samsung 20Rs. What I mean is, with plain Samsung 28As, even charged to the full 4.3v, it still does the same 1.5A on low and 6A on medium, but high is only 10A while with the 20Rs it's some large amount higher than that which I'm not able to measure. With non-hot rod cells the high will be too close to what it does on medium.
Typically, good mode spacing is something like 100%-30%-3% to look 'normal', this driver is programmed more like 100-50-25%.
I just ordered two more, for, um, 'research'. Yeah, that's it.
Any thoughts about getting the driver to work with 8.4v? Eight IMR 18350s? :evil:
What's tracking showing on yours? Mine's weird - didn't originate from KY like before. USPS says:
January 3, 2014 , 8:40 pm |
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility |
COMPTON, CA 90220 |
January 4, 2014 , 5:19 am |
COMPTON, CA 90220 |
If they're in bags like your first one, and not in the 'Securitying' boxes, I'm not even opening the bags.
This is getting weirder each time. At least the bag my first one came in was clear on one side. It is possible to see what is inside before it is opened. I don’t have a good feeling about this…………
On the other hand, I was the only one who received a Skyray. Perhaps as long as a “Securitylng” is shipped we are going to be OK.
Oh yeah I forgot about this, but I didn't get a tracking number in the 'Your item is marked as shipped' email from Ebay. But go to your purchase history page, and there will be a tracking number shown there. No idea why it wasn't in the email.
Another thread I missed while away enjoying myself. Wow. I’m glad you dont live in my neighbourhood comfychair. We have total fire bans on at the moment. Your Securitying Flashlighter is the last thing we need here setting the bush on fire. Nice light.
This time it came in the retail box, not a bag. And it is a “Securitylng”
But it’s an XM-L, not the XM-L2 I was hoping for.
Securitylng on left, FandyFire Warrior on right, next 2 pics.
In the above pic, the color of the Warrior is a little “warmer” than the Securitylng, but the Warrior is far from warm. In fact it is a little too cool to my liking. So guess how I feel about the color of this Securtylng?
I think it may have the easy to mod driver. High - Medium - Low with hidden SOS and strobe.
The Medium is too close to the High for my liking, but maybe that is also the kick down brightness when it gets too hot.
And lastly, even though it does not appear to be the case in the pic above, it is noticeably dimmer on high than the Warrior. This even though it is cooler, usually the cooler light will look brighter in a side by side.
I think that if I try and drive it harder, it will run even cooler still. So what would be the point?
Conclusion: Very disappointed.
This light is what it is, or whatever they decide to send you. That’s the bottom line.
McDonalds Hamburgers, largest resturant chain in the whole world. Their success is based on consistency. You can go into any restaurant and get the exact same lousy hamburger. There is something to be said for that.
The driver is seriously weak in stock form, it has two resistors in the path to the LEDs instead of actual regulation via switching or however most modern drivers do it. Reserve judgement until you've bypassed those silly resistors, just move the LED+ wire across to the other side. Leave the stock skinny 2-wire setup in place if you leave the stock LEDs on the stock AL MCPCB.
If you swap in copper boards and separate wiring for each LED, you will need some seriously badass cells to get a good spread between high & mid. I just tried again to get a current reading from mine and failed, with the meter in the circuit it only reads around 9.5A but if I short the BAT- direct to ground and bypass the meter, it jumps up about double the light output. So I'm guessing it's got to be 15-16 amps. I can get good reliable readings using only one cell at a time, from one 20R it does 8.85A!
I got this one, it is the 4x U2 model — same driver (haven’t opened it yet)
No, not the same driver, look at the group of 7 vias on the 3x version, the 4x looks to have 2 or 3 single vias spaced out around the board. Rip that sucker out and get some pics of the naughty bits.
Finally got mine, these came from a different source than the first one I got, even though it was bought from the same seller... weird.
XML, but all the rest of the good stuff.
Something I didn't notice on the first one, but the inside of the head is machined different than other SRKs - there's a taper on the ID that matches the taper on the reflector, they actually seat together when assembled. I'm sure this is probably just a lucky accident, but I'll take it just the same.
This one is getting XML2 T6 4Cs, the other one... maybe XPG2 2Bs?
The XML2 T6 4C version...
Same driver mods as the 3B version
Here's the before & after of the stock centering-things, it only needs to be tall enough to center itself, any more and it's just blocking light
I still have one completely bone stock, stock driver, stock ~7000k XMLs, hasn't even been opened yet. I'll post some outdoor shots of the three of them sometime soon.
I have the same driver, but unlike your's I am missing the L2 and L3 chips and the supporting hardware, will the same jumpering drive it better?
L1, L2, L3 are essentially three separate drivers on a single PCB, yours is just using one of the three possible channels. Works exactly the same.
Ah gotcha..so I have one driver pushing all 3 LED's in series, if I had all the hardware one could concievably push a single led with each channel...like the OP
No, all these lights have the LEDs in parallel, both before and after the mods. LEDs in series would require either cells in series, or a boost driver.
ok…guess I need to learn a bit more
I did solder a jumper on one of the resistors...waiting till dark to see what it did
Still looking to build an "internal" charger with one of these
http://www.switchcraft.com/productsummary.aspx?Parent=606
Possibly drill the tail cap, wired into one of these
http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10005926/1585501-tp4056-1a-li-ion-battery-charging-module
Tucked between the batteries inside some heat shrink to prevent shorting, now I need to come up with a quick disconnect to the center circle on the driver to the positive output so in case I need to I can still separate the head from the battery bank
This way, I can charge the 4 parallel batteries inside the unit without having to constantly screw and unscrew the battery compartment
So what happens when the cells sit in the same position for a long time and a little corrosion builds up and one or more of the cells loses contact with the rest, and stops working? Is there any detection circuitry that will alert you to a problem like that?
Removing the cells wipes away any minor corrosion that over time could build up to be a problem. Checking each cell is behaving properly is kinda mandatory with these type of cells. I'm not one of those so paranoid about it that I'm sure that sooner or later one of them will try to kill me in my sleep, but they do deserve a bit of respect and attention. Leaving them in place for long periods probably isn't the best idea.
As I said, when I bought mine, I knew it was a gamble. The photos, (some of them), show XM-L2, but the descriptions stated XM-L. The same with the drivers. I would venture to guess that epathdirect is just buying whatever they can get from several dealers overseas and then using whatever photos they have at the time to list the items, so it's a total crap shoot. They are also probably just sending different lots of lights to fufillment centers and not concerned on which lights go to which centers. From the number of watchers on ebay, for all SRK style lights, it has got to be the number one selling light in the world, with the exception of the Sipik, so I am sure they don't care about the problems. They just change to a new user name if the negatives build up too high. Usually guys like these have several ebay and amazon names anyhow.
This issue with epath is why I have not bought 3 or 4 to mod and sell. I could end up getting four XM-L variety with different drivers and it's not worth it. The only reason I would buy directly from Amazon is because with prime, I can just call them and they will send me out a label for return, no questions asked, whether the seller likes it or not. If Amazon fulfills it, then all returns are accepted by Amazon and return shipping is paid by Amazon and Amazon handles the charge backs with the seller. I just am not going to pay over $40 for that convenience.
After dchomak's problems, I kinda wish I hadn't even started the whole thing.
Hi all,
I purchased two from China Valley one for gift, one for myself. One was a SecurtyIng, one was SRK. Both had XML not XM-L2 LEDs. The 2nd one got lost in shipping (Christmas time, US warehouse) ChinaValley seller was very responsive, and reshipped right away. As my 1st and only SRK( I’m a newb), this light is very impressive in its build quality and performance even in its stock form. Presently using either protected Panny 3400s or unprotected Sanyo 2600 laptop pulls…Many thanks to all on here, my favorite place to read, learn, and relax…Love this place!!