have the comparison with sky ray?
nice i wondered why it was so deep
Hi, i just realized great thing(at least for me). Thanks to buck/boost driver used in our 3T6 lights we can use 4xAA to power them. They will fit in almost perfectly(with extension tube) and due to strong springs on both sides there is almost no rattling so no modding is needed. I know that this is not for general use but as a backup in low mode it's perfect.
I did a quick measurement:
4xAA rechargeable 2500mAh total 4,82V(not fully charged)
HIGH mode 3,05A
MED mode 1,55A
LOW mode 0,34A
Interesting find, thanks, but only possible in the 3x18650, not in the 2x18650
well my TrustFire TR-3T6 (3x18650) has been getting a fair bit of use and has been working well.
i did test some of the Protected TrustFire 18650's batteries ive been using in the TR-3T6 with good results
i discharged them to 2.7v and let the cells rest the voltage rose to 3.18v and then i recharged them to 4.2v with a icharger 106b+ at 0.5 amp the battery took 2343 mAh.
the over discharge protection is ment to kick in at 2.75v but i could not trigger the over discharge protection even when discharging down to 2.5v, or quick 5 amp draw bust,s.
I have not tested the over charge protection as my charger is accurate and will not let me go past 4.2v per cell unless i change charge modes to none lipo or lions
im still very happy with the batteries and there performance and it seams common that the over discharge protection on alot of batteries does not kick in from what ive read on the net here is an example.
http://www.light-reviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=513
but now since i know the TrustFire 18650's batteries have more to give i will redo the above test with longer run time and test the draw again, and i would like to explain when i said (average) in the above test's i ment the figures where averaged out over the amount of batteries used.
i have a mate who has the sky ray 3800 with the original head before the other revisions ive asked him to do the same test but he will not as it gets to hot to quick and i think he is worried it will go up in smoke like many others.
im happy to let the TR-3T6 run for an hour or more and i push some of my other trustfire torches into the 1.5 + hour range and they still work well, some people might call this torch tortoure, but to me there is no point buying a light if it can only be used for a couple of mins at a time.
Benckie, i have tested full bore runs on the TF-3T6, the driver does not have low voltage protection. The SR3800 is "pretty accurate" and kicks in plus/minus 90 seconds.
The 3T6 just lets you run unregulated after that till the cell dies. So you literally can do like 5hours more on low (but risk ruining the cell). Go too low, and risk adding more and more resistance each time round.... Lousier cells would be more susceptible.
The Trustfire flames are good, gets me about 45 mins on the SR3800, versus the NCR18650 2900s those are 60 mins. And this is pretty high current draw. On the charger it is 2000-2100mAh discharge @ 1A start 4.2v.
That's pretty neat. Running on high should be fine btw with good nimh's.
So which of the ~$50ish triple xm-l's is best? Brightest? Best built?
Wow....4AAs. That's really good. Well correct, not surprising as it'd just drop out of regulation. So this is the first Li-ion budget light that you can use AAs in an emergency without modification! (Panasonic oxyrides, Lithiums, alkalines, NiMH). And at those "low levels" spread over 3 emitters + excellent heatsinking, it'd be at an extremely high lumens efficacy.
I am happy to report that on Alkalines it can do the same lux (measured hotspot directly) compared to Li-ion. But for Alkalines it might be a bit too much to run on high (they'd leak), can do medium perhaps and low for general useage. For NiMH then shouldn't be an issue.
What's odd is that others are reporting 3A CC on 2cell, but yours scales with voltage (like the 3800). That's rather inconsistent.
Re-measured again. For mine now with Solarforce 2400s V2 slightly discharged, mine takes 2.2A 2-cell (fully charged it's closer to 2.0A) and 3-cell is 1.45A. What's important is on the lux meter actually and its the same lux reading, takes out all the inaccuracy due to meter internal resistances, 28awg skinny wire probes etc.
Actually, my bad, I read the comments from benckie above again and his behaves the same. So, actually somewhat similar to the 3800, except it does stop drawing more current at 3A, which is good since I suspect that's what's killing some of those off after too much of it.
What would be interesting is to test w/ 4 IMR's to see if it does indeed buck, but only for the brave.
i gues it depends on point of veiw and if its changed, the cells used and how its measured and if the ddm leads have been moded to give false higher readings
we have already established the drivers are totaly diffrent, the TF-3T6 does not seam to scale up like the sr3800 into 4 or 5 + amps then burn out or get to hot to hold after 10 mins and i have not gone over 3 amps yet on the TF-3T6.
every one else keeps changing there readings......
i know i was talking about the tff batteries.
i would say from this post since others can run the TF-3T6 on 1 to 3 cell and the SR3800 you can not run on 1 cell its either got low voltage protection or just a miniun voltage it will fire on witch will do the same thing, im betting on the second.
i still would recomend the TF-3T6 over the SR3800 and SR400, better heat soak and regulation imo take it or leave it, im waiting to hear back from a friend about the SR4300
i would have to say the
TrustFire TR-3T6 Triple XM-L T6 5-Modes Memory LED Flashlight (3x18650)
ahh i thought you changed your mind.
if you send me 4 imr,s ill try it... i have a TR-1200 ( thats driven in the same way as the TR-3T6 ) the extention tubes fit the TR-3T6 i thought about trying it on 4 or 5 trust fire flame batteries but i know it would end bad, running a good torch for over an hour is one thing but doubling the running voltage is another.
I don't have IMR's, but even 3 good cells would help verify this. What I mean is that we suspect the driver bucks because of its decreasing voltage even up to 3 cell, but we can't really be sure because it could just be due to sag. 3 cells that maintain >4V even under load would verify this.
At the current moment, definitely. Not the brighest but so far not issue. And CNQ is selling at $45, it's $9 for shipping. But if you wait and get his other flashlights like the new Shadows, you could save somemore, well maybe not a lot but with DHL at least it'd be real fast. :D
Oh and buy some heatsink compound from DX too and squeeze on the threads! LOL!
I measured with 4 AAs, seems like 3.3A.... Let me take hold of my second meter (Uni T UT-58E) and see what happens....should be quite soon.
Agenthex, you want me to try the 3x Panasonics? They'd definitely be > 12V under such light load. They are the best. Hit over 3100mAh when digging down to 2.6V.
there is not much sag at all on 3 cell,s at 4,2v but i see where your comming from. dont you have this torch ?