Test leads for your Multimeter

With the switch in the circuit I measured some 3.15A , with out switch I got 4.86A [ Stock L2 switch - pre 2011 ]

Im going to try one of the L2T switches next ...

L2T Switch [ clicky ] 3.47A ....

Ill try a 2011 L2 switch next ...

Wowsa = 3.8A with a stock 2011 L2 switch

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN Old4570? Brighter light?

At these levels, not really....totally unappreciable by the naked eye. On the meter you might get a bit, but then with P60s the output sag due to heat is tremendous, so in reality it's really nothing.

Brighter ? I was going to light box it after recharging the battery ..

I would expect massive heat sag [ thought the emitter has been potted [ of sorts ] ]

But I will come back with some lightbox figures ...

Mainly it was to highlight the limitations of stock MM Leads , and how they would limit accurately measuring high current ...

Often people notice how current and output dont match , well this is why ...

Nasty nasty variables ... [ The leads being just one variable ] [ Clicky switches being another variable ] [ Batteries and I could go on ]

But didnt that Sanyo 2600 do well , 5.56A ......

Im tempted to buy more ....

Great work. The fact is that "tailcap readings" don't really exist because we aren't measuring though the tailcap. :) I think of current measurements as the maximum current you could get through the light with ideal conditions (which we never have). We can't reasonably match the resistance of every switch we test, nor it it practical to tap in somewhere upstream, so I just think of it as "What current would I get if the tailcap was a 1" piece of 8ga wire?"

It takes way to much work to dial it in to anything resembling accuracy, so we just have to look at the range of readings from different users and average it out.

I would like a setup to measure low resistance, but I'm just not that motivated. :)

Isn’t the Kelvin 4 wire method fairly easy to set up?

Warm start ...

Pre 2011 L2 switch Warm start about 950L

L2T switch is about 1050L Warm start

L2 2011 switch , about 1150L warm start

But here is the rub , the higher the initial start , the faster the output sags ... In fact it takes about 30 seconds to go from 1150 to 950 and the sag continues at a steady pace ..

If you start at 950 , it takes 30 seconds or so to get down to 870 , and after a minute your doing 840ish ....

So if you went with the higher current tailswitch , the output after a minute would be close , and possibly worse for the higher current one as it would be generating more heat ,

Mitro & Old, thats why i always post est OTF lumens in addition to current figs. More info is better than no info. :slight_smile:

I thank you all for the excellent explanations of the readings from the Digital MM. I am basically electrically challenged. The information provided here helps me understand things much better!

More multi meters out there than you can shake a stick at ..

What you want is a MM that can read up to 10A [ 10 amps ]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-MultiMeter-Multi-tester-Volt-meter-Ammeter-Ohm-/270854427258?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f102e927a#ht_4369wt_1139

But how cheap ?

I would recommend at least a $10 budget ..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Voltmeter-Ammeter-Ohm-Test-Meter-Multimeter-New-/160429362769?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255a55ce51

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Off-Digital-Multimeter-Economic-Digital-Multimeter-Ohm-Voltage-Tester-/320788003911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab0747c47#ht_3253wt_1163

I had something similar to start with , but its accuracy was horrible over 1A , it went into the trash ...

I then got the one pictured , and its been real good ..[ OP ]

But remember , the LEADS are cheap , and accurate measurement over 1A ? , I have some quality leads but even they are limited ...

1A is a lot of current , its enough to kill a person , so you may wish to make new leads , especially if you want to measure accurately over 2 or 3 amps ...

You can remove the wires from the leads and solder short stranded 14awg wires to the probes and connectors. You can use bigger wires as long as you can tolerate the stiffness.

14awg is about 1.6 mm solid wire equivalent in diameter. Use 12awg if you can find soft stranded ones.
What size wires did yo use old4570?

Dialcalipers say 3mm

That is big. What’s printed on the wire? The first time I did that I was also surprised by the results. My KD C8 read 2.8A 12awg stranded up from 2.1A stock leads.

Jaycar 12 Guage

Excellent thread.

Quick question for the experts: are there any commercially available DMM leads you'd recommend? I have these from DX, but apparently the new batch is useless for any high current applications and when I am getting people started with flashlights and explain battery safety, I'd rather be able to give them something that looks professional, even if it's inferior to DIY leads.

http://www.robotroom.com/Multimeter-Reviews.html

It seemed a fairly good comparison. When I can afford it, I think I will get either one of these meters. I can't check amps currently.

http://www.amazon.com/Aidetek-VC97-multimeter-Capacitor-Frequency/dp/B004VNF7DW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I166MMMEDA13U&colid=3426XMTDQJOOO

http://www.amazon.com/Sinometer-Manual-Digital-Multimeter-MS8268/dp/B000JQ4O2U/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I28GZUL259QNIC&colid=3426XMTDQJOOO

Too much to buy and so little moneyTongue Out

The closest from standard metric sizes (and quite suitable for measuring flashlight tail currents) is 2.5mm2 stranded (pletenica) wire.

Make your own leads, using banana plugs that you can buy locally, and 0.5m (or less) of that wire per lead.

EDIT: When choosing a DMM, look for standard 4mm connection ports. not the thinner ones (2.5mm, I think they are).

Can anyone point me towards good (cheap) banana plugs that I can build my own with. I have ones that are made for audio stuff, but they screw together and pinch the wire for the connection. There's no good way to solder them (even though I have) and there is way too much exposed metal just asking for a short circuit. Old's look pretty good, are there other options?

Wire is easy enough and I have gator clips I like, I'm just missing suitable plugs.

A measuring lead is a length of wire with suitable plugs on both ends. I suggest plugs of the "4mm banana" type, as they are the most standard in our part of the world and you connect them to most DMMs directly and use the "bananas" on the other end as simple probes, or fit some special attachments to them (pointed probes, alligator clips, whatever).

This is just for the picture, I'm sure you can buy them locally:

http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/huanleijiangxian/product-detailJqxnDrTdJHhO/China-4mm-Banana-Plugs-Set-Four.html