Convoy L6... XHP70 Beast!

TBone · October 5, 2016, 4:56pm

Mountain Electronics 27.5mm FET Driver - 2S Momentary - Convoy L6

J-Dub74 · October 5, 2016, 5:08pm

Mountain has a good option as mentioned above and I think Texas_Ace said he’s got a 30mm Texas Avenger series driver ready to drop in as a stock L6 swap. I believe it’s running on Bistro but I think he tweaked it for the dual switch setup or maybe TK tweaked it? Either way it sounds like all that and a bag of chips and I’m looking forward to hearing some reports. I love Bistro. Somewhere I thought I heard about Narsil being an option on the Texas avenger too which would be another cool way to go. Answers to all my speculation are probably in his driver thread here. I don’t have enough time to do all the reading but somebody should!

meti · October 5, 2016, 6:41pm

J-Dub74:

mattjberry:

Guys what’s the best aftermarket driver for the L6?
I want fet turbo, then approximately the same levels as the stock L6, except for the very lowest mode.
Temperature regulation preferred.

Mountain has a good option as mentioned above and I think Texas_Ace said he’s got a 30mm Texas Avenger series driver ready to drop in as a stock L6 swap. I believe it’s running on Bistro but I think he tweaked it for the dual switch setup or maybe TK tweaked it? Either way it sounds like all that and a bag of chips and I’m looking forward to hearing some reports. I love Bistro. Somewhere I thought I heard about Narsil being an option on the Texas avenger too which would be another cool way to go. Answers to all my speculation are probably in his driver thread here. I don’t have enough time to do all the reading but somebody should!

I ordered 3 of TA’s boards from OSHPark for L6… can’t wait for them to arrive

lumenzilla · October 6, 2016, 2:23am

Tactical ring is very useful for me with my medium palm size. Without the ring, gravity will pull the light from my hand easily.

flybird · October 8, 2016, 9:56am

Just check in for my L6 , I use XTAR 26650 / 4300 mah / length 69.2 mm. Fit nicely.

The_Miller · October 8, 2016, 10:10am

Welcome to BLF, of course we want to know if you got the black or clear one

Streamer · October 8, 2016, 7:25pm

I want to get a spare L6 switch from Simon.

I just looked at my tailcap switch on my L6. The switch is soldered on a board. From the looks of the spare switch posted above ,and the one on Simon’s site, I think those switch lugs will need to be trimmed for proper placement on board ?

Also, do I read right on Simon’s site that there are 10 switches per order for $3.50? Or is that the price for ONE switch? Dang Ali Express layouts.

thijsco19 · October 8, 2016, 7:56pm

That price is for 1 lot. 1 lot = 10 pieces.
So it’s 0.35 per piece.

Rick1 · October 8, 2016, 9:11pm

Finally got to try it out during a trip exploring some old mines and it was great! No worries for short runtimes or heat when lighting the whole place up.

Thinking of getting a second (clear) light with warm tint, if they ever get available again.

sidecross · October 8, 2016, 10:03pm

+1

I felt the same way, and bought a clear version to pair with a black one. One is a N2-3A and the other N2-2C.

Ronin42 · October 8, 2016, 11:07pm

FlashPilot:

Typical of nearly every large high powered flashlight, there are huge thermal bottlenecks in the head (observe the pinched areas of aluminum while following the yellow lines from the floor plate to the bezel). This will prevent heat from traveling from the floor plate through the entire head to disperse the heat into the air. The results are trapped heat at the base of the head, which also heats the batteries to high temperatures during extended use (especially the 1st cell). Using your lithium batteries to absorb heat is not good! And once they are hot, they take a long time to cool down inside the battery tube (2X not good!). :Sp

Id like to offer a few suggestions which could transform this light from just another large Convoy into one of industry renowned stellar performance that will smoke its competition in price, functionality, performance and mod friendliness:

Bolster the wall thickness inside the head to closely follow the contours of the reflector. Keep the walls as thick as possible. There should be very little space anywhere between the reflector and the inside of the head (less than 2mm). All that dead air we now see between the reflector and head should be solid aluminum!

Trim all that wasted aluminum from the fat mid portion of the reflector so the head can be built thicker to help conduct heat.

Make ALL the cooling fins the same diameter as the bezel to add surface area to exchange heat with the air. While we have grown used to seeing lights with useless small tapered cooling fins, they are ineffective and only there for aesthetics. The highest concentration of heat is generated at the floor plate where the largest/deepest cooling fins are needed to conduct heat… not those silly worthless little girly fins! :Sp Its time to get serious and offer a light that works as good as it looks!

Something like a scaled up C12 (only much better):

Keep the floor plate at least as thick as it appears to be in the rendering. It looks like a chunky 8mm. VERY NICE! The thicker the better.

2 x 26650 cells will get sucked dry in no time at all. Much better would be 3 x 32650 so the famous high capacity/low sag (yet inexpensive) TF32650 cells could be used. The unprotected version of those cells remain the highest capacity of all that have been tested to date (6,700mah) and dont even break a sweat at +10A. Without them, the TrustFire TR-J20 would never be able to reach its fullest, long running mod potential.

Is the reflector really only 65mm? Again, the light would get heat soaked very quickly becasue it seriously lacks the surface area necessary to transfer the heat from a +40 watt emitter. Also, the smallish reflector would hamper the efficiency of the large XHP70. How about 100-120mm reflector? This would provide a much larger head surface area to transfer heat while putting out more lumens and throwing them much much farther for the same amount of power. :bigsmile: Its time to stop choking the potential of the incredible XHP-70 and unleash its full capability.

Offer separate battery extension tubes for 4 cell mod configurations. Higher voltage/less amps if far less picky with power requirements than low voltage/high amps, while realizing far greater run times. Again, hopefully for 32650 cells. We can always use plastic sleeve adapters to drop down to 26650 cells for those who prefer the smaller cells (Such is the case for the TrustFire TR-J20)

Rather a no-brainier, but a Copper DTP MCPCB should be mandatory for any flashlight that creates this much heat.

Quality dual sided AR lens… absolutely mandatory.

Obviously, also offer as a host kit with the ability to purchase all the parts separately (including orange peal and smooth reflectors), drivers, battery tubes, switches, etc. Id buy a ton of them in bulk quantity if the specs were changed and proven effective!

With different battery tube, reflector finish and driver options, this could be a modular system offered from 2 - 4 cell configurations to handle the XHP-50, XHP-70 and XHP-35 while properly dispensing with the enormous amount of heat these emitters generate. A modular system would also keep manufacturing costs down while offering several different configurations… rather than just one mediocre, hot running, inefficient flashlight.

The one guy that could pull this off while maintaining a quality product is Simon. Then we could ditch all those other overpriced poorly designed XHP based flashlights and base our large single emitter flashlight mods in mostly one host. The stock offerings as well as the mod potential could be endless.

So far, the only “out of the box” large flashlight I am aware of that offers proper heat sinking, a great mod host, quality and a fair price is the TrustFire TR-J20, although it could stand to have had larger cooling fins at the base. Simon could do much better while providing the best “beast” light to date.

Im not holding my breath, but it would sure tear down all the other overpriced failures that have been based on XHP emitters so far. The changes would completely transform the light posted in the OP, but would also make it worthy for the XHP-70. Otherwise, its just another 65mm XHP (but with legendary Convoy budget quality).

Maybe offer both!!! :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

What do others think?

+1

or maybe different head options. flood, spot, etc

sidecross · October 9, 2016, 12:07am

I run my stock and have not noticed a problem in terms of heat management; it might be different if the light was modified to its fullest potential.

For a stock light at this output is there any other one with better heat management?

Texas_Ace · October 9, 2016, 1:02am

The L6 handles the heat amazingly well. Even modded it still handles the heat quite well.

That said the S70 does have a bit more mass and as such handles the heat a bit better but the donut hole in the beam kinda ruins it IMHO when compared to the L6.

sidecross · October 9, 2016, 1:18am

Thank you Texas_Ace for your observation between the two lights.

It has taken me four years to find out that price, advertising, and marketing does not necessarily produce the flashlight you might need.

sorotantaz · October 9, 2016, 2:36am

Just received black one N4 5000k from gearbest. Not sure which bin i got, the tint is more like greenish rather than fade golden. I’m not expected the anodization to be different from the L4, of which, has glossy n little bit marble smooth surface. This one is matte n not slippery smooth surface.

Oh, pair it with efest IMR Purple 5200, the length sit slightly below the tube.

RobertB · October 9, 2016, 4:00am

Is it possible Gearbest mislabeled the N4 5000k, and it’s actually an N2 5000k? I didn’t think Simon had anymore N4 5000k left to sell.

sorotantaz · October 9, 2016, 5:25am

Can’t say. Check simon alie page, there is also no bin or temp in the description.
On the high and turbo, the tint is better to eye. More yellow can be seen.
Anyway really like the light. Awesome bright, no step down and no so much heat issue in tropical country.

RobertB · October 9, 2016, 5:35am

Simons ali page gives you the choice of n4 6000k or n2 5000k. He had a small number of n4 5000k when the L6 was first released. I was too late to order one.

J-Dub74 · October 10, 2016, 8:15pm

Gearbest did mislabel it. I notified them but they apparently never changed it. Simon never offered an N4 in a 5000K tint.

The L6 in 5000K is an N2 but it’s quite nice IMO. The only N4 he’s ever offered in the L6 are the 6000K (CW) and the 5700K. The 5700K have been out of stock for a long time. I wanted that one too. Simon has been trying for many months but still cannot source any more of the other tints or high CRI XHP70. He’s been trying though and will keep trying…

Lund1660 · October 11, 2016, 4:48am

Do you use 6volt xhp70 or the 12volt for the l6?