NiWalker Nova MiniMax MM15 2x Cree MT-G2 P0 5233lm LED 18650 Flashlight

How long can this be run in turbo mode in stock form?

I know the Vinh modded ones are good for only about 2 minutes max before cooking your hand.

It depends entirely on the ambient temperature and airflow. Selfbuilt sees his thermal step-down kick in at about 6 minutes inside, but I have run it outside with a small amount of airflow and at around 10-15 celsius for about 20 minutes continuously with no step-down.

Mines on the way - should be a couple of days -- looks awesome!!

Shame about the thermal protection, but maybe I can fool it. After all it does have a handle, so your hand shouldn't get burnt .

Got mine today. Of course didn't waste much time - had to take a looky. I'm not too crazy about the UI and inconsistent click activations - it's hard to get the double click to work - after lots of attempts, can't get it working consistently.

Didn't realize the cells are 4S, but they are. Also the output levels seem to depend on the cell's power. Freshly charged, higher lumens output. Even left to cool down, with weaker cells, lower lumens output. I measured pretty close to selfbuit's #'s across all modes for the "shipping" MM15 version - review here: CPF-Niwalker-MiniMax-Nova-MM15-(2xMT-G2-4x18650)-SHIPPING-Review. I'm thinking it will vary by cell resistance, but did not verify/test that.

Looks like one big copper MCPCB. I can tell from looking from the driver side. The LED wires are a pathetic 24 AWG, 150C rated - no clue why so weak. Looks quite clear where the current sensing or current limiting resistors are - there's 4 in line, 3 R100's and one R068. They are not the usual 1206's, but are smaller - probably 0805's.

First things I do is copper bypass the 4 + springs in the carrier, and upgrade those LED wires to 20 gauge if possible. Then start experimenting with resistors. the driver electronics is actually on the + side of the battery carrier -- pretty weird but keep the unit nice and compact.

Hi Tom E, thanks for sharing!

Can you please tell me what would be the theoretical runtime on turbo, (with restarts) with 4x Panas PF 2900mah and 4S battery configuration? (relatively)

Hhmm. To guess, I'd have to know at least a tailcap reading, and don't have that yet. Actually to take a reading, thinking I'd have to rig up a 4 cell, low resistance carrier with heavy gauge wires, and plug it into the carrier.... Hhhmmm. Think guys on CPF were posting amp values - not sure how they got them... Because the battery carrier is also the driver, it's not so modular... There's probably an obvious way but I'm still pretty limited in my test equipment.

I think this unit's output and amps is quite dependent on cells - resistance, age, charge level, etc. I'm mostly speculating at this point, but the couple of readings I did is indicating that. 5,200 true OTF lumens on fresh cells ain't bad for a light this size. Plus it will be able to do that level output more than just a few mins, and not go up in smoke or drain the cells. It's not quite ready for search and rescue for hours of use, but it's more than a "wow" effect light.

I really do like flooders and this one may be the reigning king at this price point and certainly form factor. My modded J18's can compete with this, but at a different level of course. They laugh at 5,000 lumens...

Edit: vinh says stock is 4.4A -- not sure how to interpret that, but best guess is 4.4A to each LED, so maybe not a good # to use to figure out battery life.

Thanks Tom :slight_smile:

to measure amps you could try to use very flat copper bars…

copper/insulator/copper - solder the measuring wires to the copper and fit that sandwich between a battery and that button on the pcb…

Interesting idea, may give it a go. The unreliability of the e-switch is very frustrating though. I may be contacting NiWalker over this -- I'm finding it unacceptable in a $200+ light.

As you probably know, alot of Vinh’s customers are raging over the MM15’s switch, sounds horrid and probably something they need to revise

No - haven't been keep'n up over there. Interesting... Bad news is it's all on vinh because he is the reseller. I think he's a direct with NiWalker, so he is the responsible seller -- ouch, becaue I know he makes good with his customers. If you notice, a couple of the MM15vn's are being posted for sale already - seems no reasons stated for the sale, but betta one reason is the flaky UI.

I bet the other reason is that turbo can’t be used for more than 2 minuntes, then it’s basically a crap SRK with 2000 lumens.

- could be true lionheart, but those 2 mins are moments of luminous glory... Just double click to continue at your own risk, if your double click works that is...

Only if I have an oven mitt handy!

Mods I did so far:

  • added 22 AWG wires in all 4 springs
  • replaced 24 AWG LED leads with 20 AWG, same length
  • replaced thermal grease under the star with smaller amt of GC Extreme
  • used NO-OX-ID on carrier screws and threaded connectors of the carrier
  • sanded the underside of the copper star smooth to 2500 GRIT - there was some weird imprinting on the back of the star - NiWalker in reverse, other markings -- just weird, never saw this before

All results indicate nothing changed, really. Still getting ~5,200 OTF at 30 secs - it dropped heavily from turn on, which is about ~5,500 lumens, but did the same before. So this means it's a pretty well regulated driver. Don't think the changes are for naught because I'll up the amps with a resistor mod eventually. I would think the resistance mods should help more at higher amps, and maybe help extend battery life -- I'm guessing...

During my testing, the light went dead though - switch would not do a thing, no more blinking green LED - thought I killed it. so took out the batts, re-inserted - everything returned to working. This makes me suspect the firmware locked up. Wonder if it's related to the e-switch. Either there's mech/electro issues with the switch, or the de-bouncing logic is a disaster. Sometimes it takes 4 clicks to get a click to work, usually 1,2 or 3 though.

Ok -- think I isolated down to force applied on the switch. More force, the more reliable it is. Just because you hear/feel the switch doesn't mean it will work. This is sort of good - this means it should be fixable by switch replacement, I would think...

appreciate your sharing this light, I’m hoping more will. Thanks Tom.

I’ve had this issue on old computer mice clickie switches. They wear out and the contacts get cruddy. Shouldn’t happen on a new switch.

Well, I found others mentioning this same exact problem with a new MM15. Yes - same thing happens to my TV cable remote after some time - you have to press harder and harder... But this is as it was shipped, so different, but the same (?). I could get used to it, and now that I know, it makes it much easier to use. I'm thinking not all units have this issue though. Probably one day I'll see if the switch can be accessed - maybe I'll find it's not aligned properly. I should just start a new thread and take a poll because I know there are a few BLF'ers with this light now, modified and not modified.

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