Has anyone taken either one of these apart?
I’m looking to get a C8-sized light to modify to be a handheld spotlight (goal is 100k). The C8 style doesn’t really appeal to me but I like the Fandyfire/Solarstorm SP01, however I haven’t been able to find much info about them. From the stores it looks like the Solarstorm has a different driver (3v-18v), but that wouldn’t matter as long as I can put in a Qlite driver. I included the SP02 since it has a very similar build (shares same body/switch)
It's a shame this light (Edit: SP01) has a smaller reflector than a C8 (36.5 vs 42) -- that will make it harder to get 100 kcd. May want to check out the C12 or SupFire light that's a C8 form factor, but different styling. 100 kcd is barely do-able with a de-domed XM-L2, but with a de-domed XP-G2 in a C8, I've hit 135 kcd.
Thanks, I’ll check those out
The head diameter is almost the same, so maybe a C8 reflector can be made to fit?
Even with a smaller reflector, do you think a dedomed XPG2, AR lens, 3A driver can hit 100kcd?
I'm thinking not, maybe 60-85 or so. I've seen throw performance drop off going anything under a C8, but who knows bout this reflector design, specifically. 36.5 to 42 is a whole lot of fit'n work - that may be a stretch.
The SP02 is a nice light and it has a very tight hotspot. The reflector is roughly the same size as the Small sun throwers ZY-T08 It actually has a slightly tighter beam. The reflector is 58mm. The pill is shallow with a hole right in the middle of it Why? I have no idea why they would do this. I guess they just felt like putting a hole there to make it hard to overdrive an emitter. :( If you do want to overdrive an emitter I would suggest a copper 20mm noctigon and you can build the pill up with a small piece of copper because another problem is that the star that comes with it is one of the very thick ones and for the reflector to focus properly the star needs to be that thick. As you can see I put a de-domed XM-L2 in it and it did improve it greatly however I have it apart now because I'm going to put one on copper and build up the pill. It's not a perfect host because of the small pill and inexplicable hole in the middle but it's a good reflector and driver is actually fairly nice. It's driven harder than the specs by a lot so I'm not sure what is up with that either.
Oh and the body on the SP02 comes apart in the middle but not is a way that allows you to remove the cap and put it on the bottom so you could run it with one battery. So it’s a two battery only body. Again I have no idea why they would do this.
Great, thanks for the pics. Looks like a 20mm board in both of them, so I would have to build up the pill and use a contact board. Or maybe a 17mm to 18mm contact ring (this one )
I wonder if the reflector size given on the SP01 is actually the inside diameter of the reflector, the ID of the Convoy C8 is 37.5mm. Only one way to find out for sure…get them both!
I ended up putting mine back together and I was wrong you can run it with one battery, I was using one that was a little too short I guess when I tried it last time. This is an amazing little thrower now just odd seeing so small a body with the big head.
I ended up heavily modifying it after a while. It now has a XP-G2 on a 20mm sinkpad and it’s running at 4.8 amps. It will run with either shorty or full Length mode. In shorty it’s 125Kcd and in full lenght mode it’s about 220kcd. The small sun in the picture is about the same Kcd but about 500 lumens more both have the same driver in them.
Lumens on it in shorty are about half what they are in full length but that is because of the driver I'm using, it's an original trustfire 3T6 driver. Also on full length mode it's almost exactly the same lumens as the C12 in the picture it's a XM-L2 U2 from lightmalls that is supposed to be 4.5 amps. Which I highly doubt probably closer to 3.5amps.
The C-12 is the same as the C-8 it just has more heatsinking. Same size reflectors.
The SP-02 is roughly 56mm vs 38mm so the SP-02 can outthrow it by a ton if properly set up and stock it’s a still a very nice thrower with a nice tight hotspot. However, it is not a ton better than the small sun ZY-T08 in fact it’s only a little better in terms of throw and total light. The ZY-T08 has better heatsinking by far and is in my opinion a much better deal.
It’s probably the same size. I measured the inside of the reflector. I don’t want to take it apart, it took me forever to get the reflector set up perfectly for a XP-G2. If I had taken it apart to measure the inside it would most likely have been 59mm.
I have a SupFire F9 on the way that looks like what you’re describing. A bit larger diameter head than a C8, better reflector, nicely built with a rugged thick aluminum structure perfect for modding. Should be getting it any day now, will definitely post some pics. Planning on modding it, probably the day it gets here. lol This link has some nice pics of the F9
Also have the MAXToch SN6X-2X coming, that one too looks like a great thrower light.
