Supbeam K50 V2 Mod Thread

Thanks for all the reporting and pictures Tom E and RaceR86. RaceR86, when you look at the TK61 and K50 reflectors, does the TK appear to have a more refined finish and or shape? Not asking you to get precise. Just hoping to hear your casual observation.

Does anyone know how these Hall sensor drivers generally work? It appears that each hall sensor has it own set of resistors and such. I'm wondering if all the non-blinky sensors regulate current by providing a specific amount resistance or voltage to the MCU or buck controller or something.

EDIT: It does appear that there are enough traces and pins on what appears to be the MCU, that each hall sensor may be just pulling up or down a specific pin on the MCU. All the different resistors would seem unnecessary if that is that case though. I think when I get mine, I'm going to put a magnet near a sensor and then slightly reduce resistance to one of its resistors to see if emitter current changes.

Ohh -crap, mis-understood. Well, there was some epoxy shown at the edge - cut through and scraped it away with a sharp screwdriver. Then used the same sharp, thin screwdriver tool to slip it in there (jam it in), and twisted it slowly, moving the screwdriver around the edge, again more twisting til eventually she loosened up enough, going slowly. Glad I went slow after seeing that fine wire jumper up in the air...

ImA4Wheeler - think these mag ring chips have been reverse engineered before, here on BLF. I believe there is a simple level reading coming into the MCU, like 0-255 (A-D/PWM) or 0-7 value on 3 pins, something like that, then the MCU handles it to set the output level accordingly. Forgot where or who but recall reading bout it. Might have to check the traces and look up the parts - could be a master controller that feeds the MCU.

From a SupBeam K40:

From a TN31:

Funny it's all the same...

Thanks for the info and interesting pics Tom E. Boy, they do all look the same. Kind of an indicator that the K50 driver won't drive an MT-G2 stock.

Nice and clear, well illuminated, easy to see all those tiny components. Well done!

I am also confused at the difference in throw between the 2 lights you compared. Shouldn’t be such a large disparity. Interesting.

I don’t see the pill (I think this is the main pic). This is pill-less design?

….still waiting for mine….

Yes, pill-less. has the same exact design as the TN31 or K40 - not much heat sinking in the critical pill area because of the mag ring. MCPCB shelf could be thicker like the others, but this K50 has a massive head with chunky fins - better than a TN31.

The big head and fins along with the magnetic control ring and in light charging are all what appealed to me. And the price made it simply irresistible. Do you think the heavy fins do a good job dispersing the heat? Is the reflector also chunky aluminum?

How’s the balance in hand? How about the lens, is the AR coating apparently a high quality? Have you thought to try a lumens test in the box with the lens in place and again without it? Do you think cell choice is important in this light, or will regulation run the light pretty much the same regardless of cells used?

Does there seem to be any operable difference between the 2 lights you received? I like the looks of the text on the one with the Rohs label, for what it’s worth. Might have to glue a brass plate with BLF O-L GB on mine. lol

In your honest opinion, if you had the inclination to keep a light in pure stock form would this be a good choice to do so with? I’ve modified virtually every light I have, think this one might be a good one to leave stock. Crazy thought, huh? lol Maybe hot de-dome it in the light and call it good?

Thanks for bearing with all the questions. Price you pay for getting yours first and getting 2 versions. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes

I used PF. Light is regulated (at least when stock), so cells does not matter. Measured at 10m. I may be off by 0-7cm from time to time.

Some of you guys (who often share numbers) are always high compared to most others and manufacturers that use ANSI. And on the few cases when I check numbers from other forums, they are lower. I mean, measuring 1200 lumen OTF in a TK61 driven at 2,9-3A that several does here. Im not sure that is possible. Usually I try to be conservative, or what I consider correct. But that means it would seem like the mods I were doing seems bad in comparison to others, so Im working on a balance.

Oh well, the important thing is know where everyone is when it comes to numbers. In general its not that wise to compare one person numbers against another persons.

[quote=bibihang] Thank you RaceR86. So you are saying that the TK61 produces 267kcd driven at 4.7A, while K50 driven with 5A produces _only_ 187kcd, so much difference? [/quote]

Yeah. Actually, it was 4,8A the last time I measured it. Too many numbers in my head. Not really a surprise. K50 barely beats TK61 stock in terms of kcd and its driven much harder. Numbers by selfbuilt verifies that too.

Stock TK61 is driven to about 2,9-3. K50 is driven to 4,9-5A. So when you push the TK61 harder, ofcouse it will beat the K50 in terms of kcd.

TK61 have a considerably thrower beam compared to K50. Which is due to the wider reflector. About 80mm inside vs 73mm on the K50. That makes a difference. Depth is very similar.

I cant really tell. They both look good to me.

Thanks Dale. If you or anyone ever needs larger pictures, let me know. Way easier to see components there compared to the tiny highly compressed pictures I upload.

Nothing to be confused of. See my answer to bibihang. Once you have them both in front of you, you will notice that the extra reflector width makes a difference. Physically and in terms of throw.

On a sidenote. Saw one of your comments in another thread. Fenix makes very good reflectors. Its just that the old-school copper crazed guys from Texas are not able to understand that plastic reflectors can be well made and work great. :D Btw, TK75 also uses plastic reflector. Its not a design fault, or money saving thing. Most people in the industry of hand held devices, cars, or whatever will always take lightweight as long as you do not loose out on performance. Obviously, it works very well in the TK61 and TK75. No chance of shorting the emitter wires either.

Ill leave your other questions to Tom E (seems they were focused towards him as well.) I started the teardown right after opening it up and doing the measurements. :D

Us old school copper lovers in Texas have learned from years of experience that plastic melts. Plastic gets hot and brittle and breaks. We have 100 days of 100º in the summer, stuff falls apart. Plastic sucks. Way of life. Give me aircraft quality aluminum or watch me take my business elsewhere. Really that simple.

I’m not a wuss, I can carry a few ounces. What’s all this “weight” everyone keeps referring to? It’s small, it can only be so heavy for crying out loud! I’ve carried construction materials all my life, the very thought of needing to keep weight down in a light seems very silly to me. I remember when MagLights first came out and took the flashlight market by storm…BECAUSE they were heavy and BECAUSE they were solid and had very little plastic in them! (Their reflectors have always been plastic and always been their weakness, IMHO)

Part of my other questions were just ribbing Tom. :slight_smile: Please feel free to throw in whatever observations you might have as many of us are still on the edge of our seats regarding this light. I’ve never even seen one, so don’t know anything about how it might compare say to a TK61 or any other.

Also interested in the throw comparisons, as my previous best thrower is a MAXToch SN6X-2X that doesn’t have anywhere near the diameter of these big lights but still hits 365Kcd. Still learning, still experimenting, still playing.

And still not happy with my TK61. Easily getting 341Kcd from the Courui. At considerably less monies. Perhaps when I get everything in the TK playing nicely with each other I might change my opinion.

Yes... Tongue Out

+1

Tom’s so fun to poke fun at…

Dale, I love that post of yours. All the questions made my head start to spin and I'm not even on my 10th beer yet.

I actually started reading those Q's thinking... Smile Crap gotta go - fun to have some fun BBQ/Beer/ice luge/live band....

Would anyone pay $8 for a 28Kcd gain in output?

I just put an UCLp lens in my Courui big head with a de-domed XM-L2 emitter. Before the swap…341.25Kcd (1168.76M). After the swap…369.25Kcd (1215.32M)! Niiice!

Keep that in mind for the big K50 V2 guys… I know it’s supposed to have an AR lens, but does it stack up to what flashlightlens.com can do?

Just a heads-up, the big FET, AOD417, is a P-channel, so don't anybody go sticking a 70N02 in its place. Bad Things will happen if you do that.

So, have any of you guys worked out what to do with the driver yet given the differences to the normal TN31/K40 one? I’m looking at you Tom…. :wink:

I’m keen to pull mine apart as soon as it arrives but unlike a lot of you guys, I do not understand what most of the components on these drivers do. so I am really relying on someone else to tell me what to solder where haha

Im pushing up towards 8A to mine at the moment.. 0:)