Grabbed one of the 30% off coupons; figured this may very well be the time to finally grab a BTU Shocker.
From what I gathered I’m looking at $84 with $25 DHL shipping. I would probably upgrade the stock XML emitters to XML2 U2-1A on noctigon (dedomed), adding another $20.
So $129 Shipped and upgraded.
OR
$94.50 with XML2 U2-1B (I’m not sure how 1B looks Dedomed) with $25 DHL.
So $119.50 shipped with factory L2.
Is this a good price on the Shocker? I know WB has the XML for $95 after coupon.
Settle with 1B Dedome , or $10 extra for 1A dedome on noctigon?
Opinions on the emitter / 1B dedome vs 1A dedome (I’m guessing the pre-installed 1B will be on aluminum)?
I don’t really want to eat the 10-30 shipping, but $25 is a bit tough to eat as well, would the rather well secured BTU box be able to withstand the 10-20days in registered air?
Oh boy - only the DRY driver? The Shocker box ships very well - I've dealt with maybe a dozen Shockers - all survive very well multiple shipments - it's the best packed light I've seen - well, accept maybe for the TN31 and SupBeam K40 in their metal trimmed box's...
Would you recommend buying it with the DRY Driver as the only option ($84)? I’ve got 4 Protected ncr18650B on the way, wont be using high draw batts.
I’d love to attempt something like what you’ve done to several shockers.
I’m fine with changing a driver, upgrading wires/emitters. Should be a bit of an adventure inside a fixed pill flashlight though.
IOS dropped their 3+ amp drivers for the time being. I haven’t come across any other driver to upgrade it with.
The only problem I forsee is centering the emitters… I’ve had issues with that in other lights.
The LCK-LED 5A 20mm driver is the equivalent of the IOS 3.5/4.5A one. I don't care for the DRY driver for couple of reasons, but since you are only using poor performing cells, you can't achieve high amps, so maybe the DRY driver will be ok. Should get slightly, very little more amps than the BTU driver, but the DRY driver has poor PWM's, shorter "Turbo" mode time, etc.
Protects Pana cells means the protection circuit is unknown/noname, so performance is anywhere from poor to bad/lousy. Plus since noname protected Pana's have been proven to not protect much of anything, you really get no added benefit. Sorry to be so blunt, but beleive me I got some of the FT protected Pana cells, but regret wasting my money on them after learning bout them.
Quality, proven protected cells, like KeepPower 3400's, but their are other quality protection cells based on Panasonics. Stay away from EagleTac and NiteCores -- very high resistance.
Think about though - a protected battery consists of a protection circuit board and the cell itself. With those from FT, we know the cell is Panasonic, but who makes the PCB? What/where are the specs on the PCB? That info doesn't seem to exist...
scotlarock posted bout his King being turned on in a travel bag - cells were red hot and drained, drained way too low -- apparent no protection for low voltage shutoff. Don't think anyone anywhere truly tested them and published results, least I'm aware of.
I have a lot of the “bad” protected cells with the “bad” protection circuit, all are fine.
Over voltage and undervoltage protection works perfect….
Just ordered another half dozen of them…
Edit:
So I have 4 ncrbs from wallbuys which I got in the 13.8$ groupbuy, I have just tested the capacity and gave them 3 or 4 cycles in a hobbycharger and after that used in a supfire m6. So never tested the protection at all.
I will do this now:
Short protection works! Shorted them with my DMM, I see a short peek of some amps than 0. After removing the short everything works normal.
Put two in a boost driver application to under discharge them…
All protections kicked in, cell voltage was 3.2V without load so I had to discharge them with the hobbycharger to see where they kick in… 2.4V but they are not tripped at all so I am super fine with that…
For the noname protected Panas with a direct drive driver, these won't do so well for getting high amps - I got some and tested them. A lot of people swear by TrustFire's too.
Noctigons, slow shipping, LCK driver, Samsung 20r batteries, Heavy gauge wires and spring mods. If you use a lot of drivers you can get them cheaper if you buy five at a time from lightmalls. $33. You can get the batteries and wire from Mountain electronics.
Also if you don’t use a lot of drivers you could always sell them on here, I know people would buy them from you. Sell the extra four for $10 each and you would still be saving people money.
If you're planning on cranking up the current it's probably best to get the cheaper XM-L version since you're going to rip them out anyways. If you're planning on leaving it stock then the XM-L2 may be worth the money. I received one from WB a couple of weeks ago and only left it stock for about four hours before I tore it apart. Right now I've got everything on-hand, just awaiting some time to get things put back together. I'm planning on doing the following with it:
I bought 4 of the small 3A small toroid drivers on purpose from LCK-LED (when they were very cheap).
Does perfect direct drive in a 3 series led 3 series configuration on high. And if you want higher low and medium, just resistor mod it.. I set mine up to do about 5A (on high, but it made the lower modes higher too, which I wanted)
If lightmalls can set them up to have low voltage protection with 3 cells it seems like a great budget choice no matter which version you end up getting. If I got the 3A version when ordering the 5A version I would just ask for a partial refund and get them even cheaper.. ;)
Looking into batteries I’ve narrowed down the search to a few different cells mentioned above, I’m trying to get a good cell to use while the DRY driver is in it, but also a great performer when upgraded to 5A… if possible.
I'm sure that others will chime in, but here are my 2 cents:
-If you are looking for maximum output, go with an unprotected cell. All protected cells will increase resistance. The 20R will give you a slightly higher initial output, while the PF has a lot more capacity and will hold brightness longer. The PF so far has been slightly outperforming the PD it replaced.
-If you are more concerned with safety, especially when using cells in series, then protected is the only way to go. Both the protected cells I sell (Evva) and the KP cells use a quality Seiko IC and the same AO MOSFETs. The Evva Pana. 3400 has 3 MOSFETs vs. the 2 on the KP. What I do not know is if this will make any significant difference in resistance.
