Review: TrustFire TR-J20 - 12 x XM-L (3 x 32650) Chunky Monkey!

I couldn't resist. Finally ordered one...will be putting an FET driver in there and we'll see how it goes!

It’ll be a beast with a FET driver. I just might need to buy one from you. The best mark I can give this light is in its great heat sinking and sold thick floor plate. Makes a fantastic skull basher too! Please let me know how you like it.

Very nice review Flash. Thank you.

FlashPilot, what is the inner thread diameter of the battery tube? I have no love for Chinese batteries. However triboring for Sanyo 16650 would give a higher quality option with similar capacity. Really looks tight going the 18650 route. This light is really tempting; factory, FET driver or a slight resistor mod.

Great review. Thanks. I have almost bought this light a few times. Still not sure if I’ll pull the trigger or not. But this will help me decide eventually if I want to buy one or not.

There seems to be enough data and users of the Trustfire 32650’s to prove their consistency and high amp/mAh performance. What we dont know yet is how they will perform as they age over time. I probably have around 10 discharge cycles through my set of 4… so far so good, but Im not counting on them to last several years; as I would a good set of name brand cells.

@texas shooter - Im on vacation for another week and will get you an ID for the tube when I get back. At first glance, it appeared that tri-boring might be possible if the beginning thread on the battery tube were strategically placed in-between two of the bores. As I mentioned, it would likely wind up with a castellated male thread on the battery tube after boring, but the threads look to be course enough to provide positive engagement when carefully twisted together. Removing the wrappers on a set of unprotected cells would yield even more clearance. Having said that, if I can get a year or two out of the TF cells, counter-boring would only be advantageous for a few more mAh or high drain IMR type cells. My thoughts now are that the light will run a continuous high-mode discharge cycle and not overheat if carried outside in free air. It has that kind of mass and heat sinking to do it reliably. I’ll probably try the resistor mod first to see how I like it.

Wow…the warhammer of light :smiley:

Gotta love those solid shelf heatsink heads

I would think a mod of 10mm copper sinkpads ( or turned down 16mm) and XM-L2’s and a driver boost (of course tail cap clicky upgrade…alot of amps running thru that switch) and that thing would become a MEGA beast…already alot there but would definitely make it that much more powerful flashlight

And in case of zombies…well it’s not the “chunky monkey” its the “skull crushah!” :smiley:

I went and pulled the trigger two days ago on this beast. After finding the 26650 KeepPower 5200mAh IMR26650 High Discharge, the 32650’s became a mote point. I plan on a simple mod with one ohm one watt resistor add. #$%* this is the biggest light so far, the head looks like an off road light. Now wouldn’t that be cool, six heads on a roll bar.

Thanks for the hard work
.

Ran the “Chunky Monkey” on three fully charged Keeppower 26650’s 5200 mah. It drew 3.04 amps off of full batteries and climbed to 4.54 amps when it shut down at 9.6 volts.

Thanks for the report! It looks like the driver is doing a great job of boosting the amps as the voltage drops. I hope is continues to offer that kind of boost performance after the resistor mod.

nice review :slight_smile:
These big battle-club lights are intriguing, i just wish some manufacturer could build one that produced a real-measured minimum 5000 or more Lumens, have a 3 plus hour run time on high, and a good heat dissipation to sustain it.

Thanks! :bigsmile: This light seems to be at the top of its 12X game in terms of handling sustained high mode use, both in terms of cell capacity and no V-sag while using the excellent 6500 mah TF 32650’s and in properly designed heat sinking. Id like to see something driven harder with active cooling, but many well designed lights do quite well as long as they are used as intended. ie: walking with them in the cooler night air… where air is actively moving past the cooling surfaces to exchange heat. This is one of them.

Im looking forward to texas shooter’s results after his resistor mod.

I think I’ve almost talked myself into getting one of these. I’m just a little backed up with mods at the moment.

For the resistor mod I’ve got a few on hand and a few coming; 0.9, 0.75, 0.62, 0.47. A little worried that at the lower voltages while charting out the amps raising, something will go poof. Tail switch? driver? I think I’ll set 7 amps at the tail the limit. I’m also putting heat sink fins on those 4 little black square thingies that we don’t know what they are, cause Trustfire scraps of the id #. Anyway those 4 Mosfets get very warm when the driver is near cut off at 9.6volts.

Boosting amps as voltage drops puts extraordinary stress on components. The higher the conversion ratio, the more heat is produced and conversion efficiencies decrease. Thats another reason I love those huge 32650’s that can sustain a continuous huge load without sag. So far, Im quite impressed with this driver.

Ive been using copper pipe strands, 12 gauge solid core copper and end pieces from noctigon/sinkpads die stamps to cool mosfets and diodes. Although the data sheets often show many of these components as being able to handle high temperatures, if its made in China… all bets are off. Sink those (potentially shitty made suckers) before you push them beyond.

In other lights, regardless of what others have indicated as being a “tough mega driver”, enough have failed that I always sink the hot parts. IMO, potting insulates most hot parts and shortens component life. If its hot, sink it with copper, using the copper as a heat conductor to transfer heat to an exterior sink. Its easy to do and will definitely increase longevity. If she goes poof, then look forward to your new mosfet driver swap.

BTW, those TF 32650’s are definitely worth the money. Ive been running the crap out of them in my stock TK70. 3 cells and an additional spring with copper wire & disk mod launches the boost driver into DD, and that sucker keeps up with my modified BTU shocker with XML2. Im just as impressed with those cells as I am with the TR-J20. In fact they are THE ONLY Chinese made cells I have ever been impressed with.

Looking back on my 9 x XML comparison vs this 12 XML chunky, Id take the 12X any day. While the 9X is driven much harder, its a meager “wow light” that edges out the 12X in terms of raw lumens, but it overheats FAR too quickly to be of much use to anyone that expects to use it for any length of time. IMO, a wow light has some purpose as a pocket EDC, but not as a monster bashing continuous burn beast… enter the TR-J20.

For your mod, if you have any concerns, decrease your resistance in increments and see how hot the mosfets get. I assume you have the driver dismounted from its home while testing, so also check the board to see how hot its getting. Being dismounted from the sink will prevent it from conducting heat, which will skew your observations. I doubt the tail switch will prove to be a weak link.

Ive read enough of your posts to know that Im quite confident that you’ll be more than impressed with the “chunky” build and design. But knowing you, I foresee a brutal assault on those poor emitters via a mosfet driver swap. Thank god for that friggen mega floor plate assembly, cause its going to whimper after the ouchy-arc welder conversion youre sure to give it. :bigsmile:

The switch is listed as 1.5amp/250volt, it’s going to poof but I’m going to replace it anyway. The driver I’m leaving mounted in the lower half of the head to bleed any heat it might. This also lets me monitor the components. The batteries used are the new Keeppower 26650 5200 mah. By the way I’ve seen a few Trustfire lights with this 12 led reflector design, its a good design.

RMM in his store thread reports he has a hopped up version doing 11,000 Lumens initially and 10,200 at 60 seconds. Wants to know if any interest in his offering this hopped up unit commercially.

Se post # 2295

This seems to be the heavy duty host available at a reasonable price at the moment for major hop-up opportunities to absolutely ridiculous output levels. Send him a PM or post in his thread if interested.

Not enough LEDs! :smiley: