Wow, with almost 80 lights in my collection I've never had that happen. Ok, never being a bad choice of words. I froze a light in the deep freeze at 0ºF overnight and then took it out and used it. Frost and haze was present on the Outside, but not on the inside.
The light is o-ring sealed against water intrusion, so the only way a haze or condensation could form on the inside of the lens is if the light is assembled under extremely humid conditions, trapping moisture inside. I guess if you open a light up and it's extremely humid (I would think it would have to be very very bad!) it might have moisture present inside when you reassemble it. I've never seen that happen though.
That [moisture gets inside at factory during assembly] has been the case almost every time. Every light that I have had that had a condensation issue started w/ the FIRST time I used it. It did NOT matter what time of the year it was ,summer, winter ect.
-Silica gel treatment is the solution.I put a packet in the battery tube. For smaller lights like the M2X, I take apart into 3 pieces and seal it in a Tupperware container!
-The lights are NOT hermetically sealed. If they were, silica gel treatment would NOT work!
-One in awhile condensation will form again because they are NOT hermetically sealed. That is rare and again the silica gel eradicates it.
-I also believe extremely cold Outside temps[it was 24F last night and 17F now!] along with intense heat created by these high powered lights can contribute to it. Hence: Your freezer example!
If your interested this thread covers EVERYTHING with some repetition because of people chiming in w/out reading others responses!! That happens on most threads with some length!
Link below:
P.S. I ended each post with the same little quote!!.After few months I got rid of it!]
I just picked up the original M3X Triton with XM-L emitter for $49.95 at BatteryJunction on a Black Friday Special. Had to pay shipping, but still, great buy! Easy enough to put an XM-L2 in it and bump power with a resistor mod. :)
That is a great deal. It is nice to be able to soup it up like you and others are able to do! Now you can examine that to see if it has those Two wires like mine!
I got MINE [XML2] version last November off Ebay for $89. Still a better deal than most places. It is one of only a few I bought outside of a dealer and I still managed the warranty for 5 years.
Even though mine has the same Two wires when Selfbuilt did the review I remember him saying NO step down of any kind. He was surprised and did not agree w/ it!
Here is an excerpt from Selfbuilt pertaining to that!
All M3x-series lights are heavily driven on Hi, with no automatic step-down feature. As such, I recommend you do not run the light on Hi for extended periods of time on primary CR123A or 2x18500. On Hi, the light is really best suited for 2x18650.
As such, I continue to recommend you do not run any of the M3x-series lights on Hi for extended periods on 3x or 4xCR123A cells. I would also recommend Olight introduce a step-down feature in this light, as they have in a number of their other models (e.g. the recent M22 and S20).
On max, the M3X has very high output for the class, with no sign of any sort of step-down.
I think Battery[more like I know because I have seen misinformation by them and others!] Junction Posts some of the info. on their own when it was not part of the specifications from the manufacturer!
2 CR123 cells are 6V, 2 18650 cells are 8.4V. 2 18500 cells are also 8.4V. 18500 cells are usually less capable of high current discharge.
But the specs as quoted on Olightworld.com say the ANSI ratings are achieved with 2 18650 3400mAh cells.
Why Selfbuilt would recommend to not run the light on high using the 2 lesser cells is beyond me.
* yes I know it uses 3 of the CR123 cells, which is 9V, but those little cells...even 3 at a time...can't deliver the amperage the bigger 18650's can. Or that's my experience anyway, could be wrong. Shouldn't matter, as the light is supposed to be digitally current regulated.
If I had to make a choice I would believe selfbuilt! What he said has been my experience w/ the light. One of the reasons I liked it so much. FULL BORE! No worries about loss of power or these 5/10 minute step downs!
This is a question not sarcasm! Are these the same as a step down?
-Intelligent temperature control system to prevent flashlights overheated.
-Thermal management to avoid overheating.
Maybe it is more/better heat sinking? If there is an actual “step down” of any kind usually manufacturers state it that way?
All I know is the M3X XML2 could run on max for an hour w/ out heat being an issue, MAX output sustained regardless of season! There is NO step down,maybe “Thermally managed” and “Step down” are Two different things!!! 8)
I think I analyzed and thought of everything I could on the topic!
Now wait!! If the flashlight never gets hot enough It will continue Unregulated on MAX with NO STEP DOWN or loss of max output!,I know, that is because it is thermally regulated!!
Question for DBCstm, how did you managed to open the driver section without damaging the body? I have a M3X (the 1000 lm xml2 version) and a M2X is on my way too (ordered today, also due to your great review!)
On M3X I tried with hands and work gloves to improve grip but with no success.
Not really willing to use tools, to avoid nicks and scratches if possible...
Ok, yesterday I opened up the M3x Triton and found that the head is deeper because of the difference in driver. The driver does have the wires attached to the big star, those 2 little red wires out on the edge, and the star is aluminum. And the pill is hollow, there’s nothing under the big star! It sits on a fairly wide ledge though. I will be re-doing that, for sure.
I pulled the star out and heat it up to get the XM-L off, put a de-domed XM-L2 U2 on it. There is a row of sense resistors, a long row, like 7 or 8 of em. Most were R100’s but not all, there was a 2R00 among em and a couple of others. I took a stab in the dark and stacked 2 R056. Couldn’t get it to work outside of the body to test it, so I put it back together and tested it on 2 Sanyo UR18650FJ cells from a laptop pull. 2.56A at the tail…. is that double to the emitter? Or near it? With Efest 35A fully charged and rested it showed 2.43A at the tail.
Output is 1135 OTF at start, 1014 at 30 seconds. 196Kcd and 885.44M throw. So I did gain considerable lumens from the stock XM-L at 700, if the tail amperage is indicative of around 5A to the emitter, then it’s doing about what I’d expect except that the throw isn’t where I would have thought.
Still on the stock driver though, so it still has the twist head for mode changes. So, the dilemma on my hands now is which one do I modify with an MT-G2? If I’m going to have to create a large copper sink for the Triton anyway, since it has a hollow pill, then I might as well do that one with the big emitter. I did get the extension tube for the Javelot, but of course I have it set up now to run single cell only. And it’s so truly potent I’d kind of hate changing it, the smallest thrower I have at anywhere near that throw level.
Might just sell this Triton in it’s new and improved state and do something else with the MT-G2…decisions decisions decisions.
Anyone looking for a bumped but otherwise stock Olight M3S Triton?