BLF Newb 1st purchase check in please

[Speed4goal]

One day I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a offer to work for nitecore or thrunite or something

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Maybe if I showed em my 10,000+ lumen lights after all their bragging about a measely 2800 or 3000 they’d wake up? My TrustFire TR-J20 is making right at 15,000 lumens. Sorry, 2800 is hard to get excited about these days. I’ve built Quad X5’s that made a bit over 3000 on a 14500 cell. :laughing: Got a friend up in Connecticut that goes camping with a little X5 I built for him, has run black bears out of camp with it. Game warden was quite impressed. lol

[teacher]

@DB Custom

Maybe if I showed em my 10,000+ lumen lights after all their bragging about a measely 2800 or 3000 they’d wake up? My TrustFire TR-J20 is making right at 15,000 lumens. Sorry, 2800 is hard to get excited about these days. I’ve built Quad X5’s that made a bit over 3000 on a 14500 cell. :laughing: Got a friend up in Connecticut that goes camping with a little X5 I built for him, has run black bears out of camp with it. Game warden was quite impressed. lol

My word……………… :+1:

You got any threads out there about some of these “monsters” Dale??

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

My, what big eyes you have!

Edit: Are you aware that Richard builds the biggest monsters anywhere? He built an TR-J20 that made over 30,000 lumens! (34,000, I think it was) He replaced the 12 XM-L emitters with 12 XHP-50’s. Freak, really.

[Fesso]

@Speed4goal

Just read your comment, I’m not one of those guys yet who would be comfortable modding a light for someone else. But, if you talk to db custom, or djburke they will get you taken care of. Db has built more triples then anyone I’ve seen on here. And built a collection of 160 lights none stock. He has built 4 lights for me so far.

DJ Burke has a thread on here called c8 build services. He will fully build you a c8 decked out for around $35 including shipping. Even cheaper if you supply the host. I’m sure there are others on here that would be happy to throw one together for you. People are real friendly on blf and pretty much help people out for not much more then the price of parts.

PS you know you can build a triple s2 there are pretty common now a days. And x6 triples. One of those guys on here will get you taken care of. But if your already wanting to build triples and such invest in some high drain unprotected batteries.

I could recommend some drivers just depends on what direction you want to go with the light. But dB is king of the x6 provably built 60-70 of them send him a pm and he can probably walk you through the mod if you wanted to do it yourself

I was actually just kidding Speed. Running with your joke from the Canadian battery source thread…

Thanks for your suggestions… so much to absorb here.

[Fesso]

@DB Custom

I LOVE the Eagle Eye X6. I also really like making triples from it. You’ll need a 32mm Noctigon from Intl-Outdoor, these have a center pad as well but I drill through that for the wires to come up through from the driver. The pads are XP sized so XP-G2, XP-G3, XP-L or XP-L HI, even the Nichia 219B or 219C. You can get the 32mm mcpcb from Richard pre-loaded with your emitter choice, as you can get the FET driver from him as well.

The 32mm mcpcb is a bit too big, it needs to be filed down to 31.7mm to fit in the X6, this is not very much taken off and can be accomplished in a few minutes with a large file or a belt sander. Careful if you go the sander route, easy to go too far or get it out of round. I like to lay a file on the table and run the mcpcb down it’s length while rotating slightly, change grip at the end and continue around several times til it fits. On a belt sander it’s best to have the bare mcpcb as it will get much hotter, much faster and it helps to be able to dunk it in water. Edit: Alternatively you can drill the center hole first, put a machine screw through the hole and hold it snug with a washer and nut, then mount it in a drill to spin it like a lathe, this will help keep it true, whether using a file or sandpaper or even a belt sander or rotary tool. Edit II: Tapping the center hole to match your choice of screw will help ensure you have it rotating true and not wobbling. It’s obviously quite important to get the hole as centered as possible if you are going to be using it to spin up the mcpcb to file the outer diameter to fit the X6.

You’ll also need a Ledil CUTE-3 35mm optic, Richard has these as well, so once you have the spacer from Nitro you can get the rest from Richard or piece-meal it out from different vendors. Intl-Outdoor might actually have the CUTE-3, haven’t looked in a while.

With XP-L HI’s you’ll get the most output and the result is a tremendous amount of light from such a small host. Nitecore claims their TM03 makes the most lumens from a single cell, but they’re wrong, the X6 Triple slays it! lol (I built a Titanium X6 with a Quad CUTE-4 optic and Nichia 219C emitters that makes over 4000 lumens. This is much more difficult as there is no mcpcb to use so it takes individual components and some lining up)

OK, after reading this I am getting waaaay ahead of myself! Funny thing is I actually know what 2/3rds of the stuff you wrote means and more or less in the proper context…. and that’s only from 4-5 days of reading around here…

@Dale
Can I send you a PM for info about commissioning a triple X6? - do you do that? Is that the proper protocol? Through PM?

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

I have done so a few times, the problem here will be the exorbitant shipping costs between the US and Canada. Shipping alone will be about half again the cost of the light. If you can solder, you can do this light. It’s pretty straight forward and you’ve already ordered the heat sink/spacer from Nitro so you’re well on your way.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Opposite end of the spectrum,

TrustFire TR-J20 at GearBest for only $64.99

This is a 12x XM-L emitter light that makes 4300 lumens right out of the box, capable of running til the cells die without overheating. I even got free expedited DHL 3 day shipping. Only 12 left!

Takes 3 of the 32650 cells, will also run on 26650’s but I don’t think they’ll do that output level.

[vwpieces]

You can Win a chance at an X6 triple right now. Buy some Tix, goes to help a member here.

If you are gonna build an X6 triple get a heatsink, they are going fast ant Nitro says aint gonna be more from him. Only Aluminum remain.

S2 Triples are neat and compact. Just finished an S2+ today with 3X XP-L HI, Fet+1 driver with Bistro UI. Kicks the poop out of my S41 Quad Nichia.

Build something. It will be your favorite because you built it. Well, till the next one.

I am in for the raffle on the X6 triple. But when I lose, I already have a host and heatsink on the way.

[teacher]

@DB Custom

My, what big eyes you have!

Edit: Are you aware that Richard builds the biggest monsters anywhere? He built an TR-J20 that made over 30,000 lumens! (34,000, I think it was) He replaced the 12 XM-L emitters with 12 XHP-50’s. Freak, really.

The better to see you with! …… … … …

Wow…… No, I was not aware of that at all. …… 34K lumens… amazing!!! …

[Fesso]

@DB Custom

If you can solder, you can do this light. It’s pretty straight forward and you’ve already ordered the heat sink/spacer from Nitro so you’re well on your way.

Thanks for the encouragement! Yes I am now probably going to order a full kit from Nitro. The hard part for me right now is figuring out what goes with what, I am sure I can assemble from components that are pre-picked.

I watched a video review of the BLF A5/A6 last night and think I will go with that driver. IT seems pretty great!

I am going to buy 2 sets of everything and build one for my Dad for Xmas.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Feel free to holler at me if you run into any issues or have questions.

Great idea on the second one for Dad, he’ll be blown away by it!

[Fesso]

Yes, my dad is a very hard guy to buy stuff for but I know he will totally be into a Hot-Rod flashlight!

After watching this very entertaining review of the BLF X5/X6 Copper and Steel lights I think I would like to go with the same driver.
I don’t really know anything at all about drivers yet. I know that the funny guy in the review video seemed to like the one in the X5/X6.
I do know that I would like Direct drive, a turbo mode, a high mode, a medium mode, a low mode and probably a moonlight mode although I do not quite understand what the moonlight mode is for… ALSO I like that there are safety measures built into the driver!

I personally don’t care about the strobe function but I know my Dad will want it. He loves tactical shit and if it doesn’t strobe it’s not tactical… lol.

Is” this the driver”:BLF X6 X5/Astrolux S2 S3 SS SC Taschenlampe Treiber Sale - Banggood Deutschland-arrival notice-arrival notice? As it’s been out for a year or so would it be a good choice?

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

That is the driver, but it can be problematic with a triple. The high drain can cause the MCU to bump down to moon mode and not show High and/or Turbo. There are fixes, so it might still be viable, but…. (I like that driver quite a bit, but many a time I use the A6 driver for reliability instead. It’s still got a strobe, just not the police version, and with either 7 or 4 levels it’s still viable even if not as versatile)

[Fesso]

@DB Custom

That is the driver, but it can be problematic with a triple. The high drain can cause the MCU to bump down to moon mode and not show High and/or Turbo. There are fixes, so it might still be viable, but…. (I like that driver quite a bit, but many a time I use the A6 driver for reliability instead. It’s still got a strobe, just not the police version, and with either 7 or 4 levels it’s still viable even if not as versatile)

Is this the one? A17DD-L FET

A6?

Pretty sure Nitro has drivers as well, I will see what he recommends.

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Yep, I’ve found that one to be completely reliable no matter what build I do with it.

[teacher]

@Fesso

Is this the one? A17DD-L FET

A6?

Pretty sure Nitro has drivers as well, I will see what he recommends.

@DB Custom

Yep, I’ve found that one to be completely reliable no matter what build I do with it.

Has Richard got one comparable to it ‘DB’? … If so which one is it??

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

His 17mmMTNm is the FET+1, you can choose from a wide range of UI/firmware. He has implemented the “fix” on his Bistro versions as well so those should be stable, you might make a note to him if you intend to use one in a triple so he’s sure to have it set up right but I believe he’s confident they’ll work regardless.

[teacher]

@DB Custom

His 17mmMTNm is the FET+1, you can choose from a wide range of UI/firmware. He has implemented the “fix” on his Bistro versions as well so those should be stable, you might make a note to him if you intend to use one in a triple so he’s sure to have it set up right but I believe he’s confident they’ll work regardless.

Thanks Dale :+1:
Is THIS the one you are referring to?

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

Yep, that’s it. He’s even revised the board such that the positive lead can go straight from the top of the spring (bypass style) to the LED for absolute current flow.