Hey there flydiver. Not using them for diving but they will be used underwater. I have a couple of lights that are this form, and I use them underwater - they are indeed waterproof. The LEDs I get with these torches have just been a crapshoot. So not really worried about the waterproof feature, more worried about the leds and drivers…
FastTech has been very reputable for me with my Panasonic 18650s. I trust them for that product. Just wondering if that trust can extend to their other products. Do you have direct experience with FastTech providing products with bad descriptions?
The lumens — they are claiming 3000 lm with 3 x XM-L2 U2 driven at 2800mA. Let’s assume they’re telling the truth about the LEDs and the driver - can you show me your math on what the lumens should be? Likely I don’t understand the specs, but I’m reading XM-L2 U2s give off 1119-1193 each at 3amps. What am I not understanding?
OrcaTorch makes an awesome land flashlight. Very high quality. They specialize in dive lights, and I can only guess they are as well. Available on Amazon.
What you are not understanding is that until proven otherwise those kind of specs cannot be trusted. You can’t even be sure they have XM-L2 U2 in them until you have one in your hand.
I do not have enough experience with FT to support or deny their claims. I do have enough experience with vendors of this type that I’m pretty leery of what they claim until proven, which is one of the main reasons I’m on this site.
Thanks flydiver. I understand that perfectly well. Just trying to establish if 3000lm is even possible with the “alleged” setup.
Let me ask my question another way - if I purchased a 3x XM-L2 U2s flow them to a triple board, and attached a 3amp driver — would this produce about 3000 lm? In other words - at a minimum, do the advertised specs and lm reasonably line up?
You got me curious as to the actual lumens vs ridiculous claimed lumens of my Singfire dive light. I bought an Integrated sphere from Joshk and its a real hoot to be able to measure real lumens instead of just guesstimating.
Ceiling bounce test. Dive light is on the left, Convoy M1 is on the right. To my eye the M1 has more pleasant neutral color vs the Singfire’s cold purplish tint. The M1 looks brighter to me but lets see what the sphere says.
Raw data for the Convoy M1 140,900 lux calculates out to 831 lumens. The Convoy is advertised as 960 lumens.
Well to my surprise the Singfire is actually brighter than the Convoy M1. 156,300 lux calculates out to 922 lumens. BUT how does that compare to the advertised lumens? 922 vs 3,000 PATHETIC! Only 184 lumens per emitter.
I tried to take mine apart to mod it but it became quickly apparent that I would destroy the light in the process.
I hope your outcome is better.
I’m adding a couple photos to explain why the Singfire dive light is such a poor performer.
First a picture of a real Cree emitter in the Convoy M1.
Obviously this emitter in the Singfire is not a Cree emitter. Most likely Lattice Bright. You need to get the light apart to put decent Cree’s in there or its just not worth it but these dive lights are typically glued together and impossible to get apart.
I’m sure the other major component holding these lights back is the driver but I couldn’t even get mine apart to see what’s in there.
Maybe somebody has advice on how to break the glue bond. You’re going to need it.
to me? “water proof” means i can drop it in a mud puddle over night or over the weekend? and when i come back, it still works fine. To the chinese resellers? “completely water proof” means your dog can pee on it or you can spill coffe over it? and it probably wont quit working.
i bet to the chinese? “diving light” means “mud puddle overnight proof”….
Can’t help you with ‘is it possible?’ question. I’m a minimalist modder. As stated, each light has it’s own set of issues for modding. I’m not the least surprised at [killforfood]’s experience with his light.
sedstar - these lights are honest and truly waterproof, at least to <6ft.
flydriver - thanks for the help. I’m hoping someone pops in who can answer my question about the tech specs that would get us to 3000lm!
This “form” or housing for this light seems to be everywhere. I’m wondering if a manufacturer is selling the housing, and different vendors are dropping in their own guts. The ones I have ordered all have different LEDs. I’m not sure just because a flashlight has this case it means the internals are all the same? Wonder if FastTech will take a good closeup pic of the LEDs
Sure it’s possible BUT I have never seen a dive light host offered by anybody so you’re back to how do you get the light open without destroying it. You would likely need to daughter board a driver onto the existing driver so as not to lose the magnetic slider switch capability. Is there room to daughter board? Don’t know. Of course I can almost guarantee that it will come with Lattice Brights flowed onto an aluminum MCPCB so you’ll also need a Direct Thermal Path MCPCB and some genuine Cree Emitters. If you find a way to get inside these lights be sure to post it. I’d like to know.
I think on this particular version the driver is soldered to the pill so I would just need to desolder.
If I did mod the guts, I think I would skip the magnetic switch, try to find a single mode driver and just use it as a twisty. Still trying to find what would be the right driver for the 3X setup. I found this one http://intl-outdoor.com/ld2c-3a-12-cell-circuit-board-p-732.html but still not clear if 3amps will give me about 3000lm on a triple CREE.
But… gosh it would be lot easier to just be able to buy one with the right stuff already in it!
With at least 25 % losses OTF you’ll probably need to run three LEDs at 4A each or more to get 3k OTF. With 2 imr cells in parallel that’s 6A per cell and definitely possible. The LEDs will need to be on dtp copper stars but those, the cells, and an fet driver would do the job.
Flydiver the XM-L2 U3 Leds are rated for 1193-1268 lumens each at 3 amps. Triple that is more than 3000 lumens. Why is this turbocharging? Cree - Flashlight Wiki
You missed the point. Methinks you are trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Why bother? The light as a host would appear to need a LOT of modding to get what you want, and it doesn’t sound like the modding will be easy.
But, that’s my take on it. Go for it if you want to do it. I can be of no help at all. I don’t even want to wrap my mind around all that kind of stuff.
Flydiver - got it. You don’t think it’s a good idea. We disagree on the merits of this project.
Swapping out a driver and led star is by no means “a LOT” of modding. It’s ho-hum for many of the folks on this forum, which is why I’m asking for their expert help. I’m interested in how it can be done, and I think there’s alot of good discussion happening around the “go for it” camp.
Luumensguy: it may be possible to get higher lumens than stock but you may not get more than 1200. The driver type is specific and you might only be able to do a resistor mod to get a little higher output. I’m guessing that the stock output is 800ish lumens. I’m also guessing that the LEDs are lattisbright and not real Crees.
You may be able to use a different driver that requires a normal off/on switch and operate the flashlight by twisting/untwisting the tailcap however, that would increase wear and tare on O rings and maybe more significantly, cause pressure changes inside the light which would not help with water resistance.
I can help with that. Twist on/off is a very normal way to operate a dive light. Decent lube and that’s no problem. The minor pressure change that this creates, which is a very small increase, in no way should affect the water resistance. Compared to water pressure it’s less than trivial. If it can’t take that, it can’t even take dunking.
