In that case it is very under-driven.
Well driven (i.e. 1.7A or so) an HS-802 R2 murders a C8. I have both.
I agree that long reflectors lose some light and kill spill. I was comparing a C8 SMO reflector Q5 @ 1.7A to my Trustfire USA168 (HS-802 clone) with an R2 insanely driven at just over 2A.
I guess its a case of different lights for different uses. The C8 with greater spill is more versatile but the R2 USA168 outranges it quite significantly. If you were looking for spill as well as range then I can understand that the HS-802 disappointed you but you can't really blame that on the light itself. As always it pays to do complete research before buying and everywhere says the HS-802 and its clones are pencil beam throwers so you shouldn't have been too surprised that that is what you got.
Used this
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/8-4v-sst-50-5-mode-memory-circuit-board-for-flashlights-50025
Had to remove a bit of the battery tube at the driver end to prevent shorting.
Used this
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/8-4v-sst-50-5-mode-memory-circuit-board-for-flashlights-50025
Had to remove a bit of the battery tube at the driver end to prevent shorting. Main gripe is it's a 5 mode light now.
Brighter? Yes by about 5-10%(?). But will not mod my new light as power consumption is dramatic for small increase in brightness. I am no expert as much as been written here on XM-L powered to 5A. There is a sticky. Pretty much a personal choice.
See the testing Match did here for XM-L driven at “X” amps and resulting Lumens output. I refer to this chart all the time.
BINGO! thanks, Garrybunk
XM-L at 2.8A and 4A - 42% increase current draw
850 vs 988 - 16% increase in brightness for a short period of time, voltage sag and higher temperature will affect it. You may end up with a 10% more bright light. Hardly the eyes will make a difference. It's the main reason why Jetbeam and other reputable brands don't go direct drive or drive XM-Ls over 3A
It really depends on whether you feel it's desirable to drive the XM-L at 3.5-4.0A region. 4.5A and above is really too much.
One thing that is not mentioned in Match's testing is temperature. Another thing that can help is direct LED to copper bonding. You can use a 200g of copper under the star, and you can use 200kg of copper...for 3 minutes run at 20+ deg C. It's probably aboute the same with the usual star on heatsink paste. The limiting factor is not the size or material of heat sink.
If you are going to be using the light in really low temperatures + have wind assistance. I mean it's winter for most of you folks right now.
Try it on your lights and a light meter. Measure it on a ceiling bounce, and after that use some ice on it. The 3.5-4.0A gives a very good boost. I used DRY ice but could not manage to get a really good measurement, but the light output was way up, i got some 40k cd from the DRY. Usual is about some 26-27k cd. That's a boost of well over 30%. I got even higher output when i DD it on a PSU capable of 20A simultaneously charging a 7AH SLA (literally no sag) but i did not have a good meter and it shows like 5.6A but most likely it is higher than that and limited by something else. <-- in real life of course you won't get close to this, but just for ref.
^^^^ The LEDs are not harmed as far as output is concerned. After that from my comparison of this SR3800 vs my DRYs, the outputs are pretty much the same.
That is how you can get nearly 140k cd from a XM-L thrower at room temperature with direct copper to LED bonding but without active cooling.
Use this LED calc https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2525 You can play with the heatsink and try values of 9 or 10, check against the LED temperature row.
No, 99.95% of the folks cannot do direct bonding. Try Saabluster products of the "famous" DEFT fame (only 1 now LOL!, but i guess you can buy used) or you can try Lambda Lights flashlights.
There is a good photo floating around showing ccmacel's testing on LED emitter junctions, he showed some IR thermal imaging photos on non direct bonded and direct bonded junction temps. It's probably nearly as effective as using DRY ice (-78 deg C) to cool the external bezel area of a flashlight.... there is still some resistance from the head bezel to the flat mounting disc of the SR3800 and then from that to the LED star and then star to actual diode junction.
But - 78 deg C direct contact (conduction) is no joke and is more effective than metal-to-air... probably even with ice @ 2 deg C at the bezel, that is equal to a ambient temperature of -20 deg C aided with 10 kph wind. Wind is very important, i used - 18 deg C in the freezer and it gets mildly warm in 3 minutes.
Folks often argue about the actual feasibility of it gunning in DD in the room, hence "room temperature" is more realistic. I think only Flashaholics have a use of > 2500 lumens OTF in the room. heheh.... You know if i hit a mirror with my 3.8 mil CP searchlight, there is a possibility of really blinding myself, such things is no joke. (same goes for lasers)
PS. If you have been wondering, yeah i have lit up my room with > 30000 lumens OTF with the bigger lights. (too many small lights so too much trouble anyway which won't make a difference LOL!). Bright like s***.
I did buy and experiment with an HS 802 for hunting but the pencil beam was simply too narrow for sweeping areas of ground to locate bunnies, and was a little to thin and weak past 100.
It is good in conjunction with a torch with greater spill e.g. the wee X2000. A friend still uses the 802 quite often but the long range WF-800 is a much better field option - more usable spot and a degree of spill. We learned quite early on long distance field application does not necessarily match tightness and brightness of beamspots on a wall!!
Looking forward to the new XMLs. Thanks for some great input.
Old4570 and others who know the Fandyfire STL-V6/Skyray/Maxtoch SN6x-2
A guy here in NZ has a Fandyfire stl-V6 and it only operates on high mode for 2-3 minutes before dropping down to mid power. This renders the light useless for spotlighting which needs max Hi mode runtime. Can anyone advise if this is a common problem or likely a single torch defect for this model?
Thanks, Mike.
Hi Mike. I have the SKYRAY version. Initially, I used to have a problem in that after about 5-6 minutes on high, the flashlight used to switch itself off. After seeking some advice on the forums, I found out that I had been using really lousy batteries ( the grey *****fires ).
After replacing the batteries with better ones, the problem went away, and I'm happily using what I consider to be one of the better budget throwers around. Methinks the current draw required (by the driver) was higher what those cheapo batteries could deliver. Hope this helps.
HI Mudgripz, I don't have a lot of experience with throwers, but I did research them extensively before I bought mine. I would definitely recommend the Trustfire X8 or its clone, the Uniquefire UF-X8, which I have. It's a powerful, well made, practical light with excellent throw and nice usable spill. Some of the other extreme throwers sound like they don't have much spill.
Thanks for the battery tip guys - will get some. I assume you mean these:
I presently have a pile of these Uniquefires which I hope may work ok - anyone tried them in this model of MAxtoch/Skyray/Fandy
Can you use 1 battery with the Uniquefire UF-X8?
I am very new to lights. i like the 801 802 pencil beam for my hunting (hogs).
I bought one of these for $13 US just to test because it was so cheap. Didnt need it but I bought anyway.
hs 801 802 has a pencil beam
light below has a larger beam (about 2 to 3 times 801 802) and guys i run with like it more when looking thru scope. I want pencil beam cause wont set off hogs as quick and penetrates brush and woods better.
Super Tactics CREE LED 400 Lm Flashlight Torch Lamp New
Again, I am new to lights and do not know all the terminology and stuff. Just wanted to drop a suggestion for you to look at. Hope I dont add to confusion.
My post is here:
The Super Tactics is a good thrower, especially for the price. Nice beam too, not extremely tight.
Be aware though that it's driven far above the manufacturer's specs for that emitter and will therefore probably not take kindly to long runs (more than a few minutes) in High mode.
I have one of those and am curious what will happen if I use it in high mode for a long time. I left it on high for about 15 minutes tonight and it worked just fine.