Wow, that example is pretty impressive. Could a single XPL light, like the BLF A6 (essentially what the S2+ would be with a FET driver), burn through cloth like that within the 45 second max period (before step-down)? I’m not sure I really want to try it, but I might have to. :sunglasses:
Not sure, but one guy recently posted a pic where he used his BLF-A6 to melt the cap of a plastic bottle.
Plus not everyone wants a flashlight where output drops off a cliff after a few seconds.
You got that right. I’m one of those.
Yeah, I’m not 100% on that group, but the Nitecore concept 1 got me thinking a lot about it. I think high but non stratospheric regulated current levels is ok. Or a FET+1 with not all the optimization (my mtn FET+1 C8 with a panny B doesn’t go all that higher than the 7135*8 anyway). The flashlight itself can the the lmit, as it is now (non bypassed springs, etc)
Yes, I like the FET+1 driver. Reasonably regulated on low and medium modes, turbo blast when you want it.
Besides, I don’t find the 8x7135 good at regulating max output. Output still drops off a lot as the battery level goes down. Maybe it’s better with a 4x7135 or 6x7135 setup, though that’s a lot dimmer to begin with.
I just tried a BLF-A6 pressed against some newspaper. Yeah, it starts smoking within a few seconds, even though the flashlight head was still not hot. I didn’t leave it to see if it would catch on fire, but it looked like it was going that way. Interesting… I thought it would take at least a minute for that to happen. It’s not a super-bright light, but I suppose the fact that it’s so near the LED from the small design, that it’s very intense heat.
Pretty sure it can!
Sorry if this has been covered earlier, but what sort of max temperatures are you guys seeing from this S2+ desert tan, 8x7135? Mine is the 3A.
Ambient room temp was around 73F. Normally, it does not get this hot when I walk around with it outside.
I did a test on a grey S2+ with 8x7135 driver and XP-L, inside the head the temperature after 10 minutes settled at 90 degC. The light kept working fine at that temperature but of course it is way too hot to touch!
Everyone pretty much satisfied so far? I sent a message to Simon about acquiring one with 8x7135 and 3a emitter with payment via paypal and am awaiting a reply. This will be the replacement for the S2 with lucidrv2 from DrJ and xm-l2 u3 3d I sent to my brother in Tampa after Irma hit. Fwiw, priority mail made it there in less than 48 hours.
Satisfied, but the 3A tint is cooler than what I had expected. If I had to do it over, I think I would have gone one step warmer.
I’d prefer 3d but it seems a 3a is the closest I’ll find in a xp-l hi. I’m hoping one step cooler won’t add too much blue. The 2c and 3c xm-l2 I’ve had all seemed a bit greenish to my eyes. The 5c xhp70 I had and dust-spot burned was a decent balance but a bit too warm for me.
Just as a comparison, in lower modes (XML2 U2-1A > XPL-HI U6-3A > XML2 T6-4C) 
(Sorry for the not so good quality! Cellphone is in a bad mood this morning :person_facepalming: )
i found that XPL 4C is a bit too yellow, but for ceiling bounce i actually love it.
FYI, my old S2+ is XML2 T6-3B and it’s a lot warmer than this new Desert Tan 3A. I mean, a lot!
My XP-L HI U6 3A is also cooler than expected with the hotspot at 5400K. Slightly rosy tint (duv –0.002) is amazing though.
All measurements on max mode (8x7135) at about 30 sec.
The hotspot measures 2D bin, the spill 3C. Integrated it’ll probably land on the 3A.
I second that. I have a circular hole in the cloth of my computer chair done by an A6. IIRC, it took only a few seconds to burn through. The fabric is quite thin of course but I was still surprised at how quickly that happened. Fortunately, the melted nylon (or whatever it actually is) has so far kept the hole from expanding.
Holy, moly! What do you use to collect such data?
I guess the A6 is a lot different from the S2. I had my S2 facing down on a sheet of paper, and even after 10 minutes there was no smoking of any kind.