Convoy s2+ how does one know?

Machine · 2019-04-27T23:12:39.000Z

Without doing any homework I did an “impulse” purchase of a convoy S2+ for 15.2$ total. Then I started doing some reading and realize there’s like 50 versions of it. So how does one find out what the specs it has, driver, emitter? I mean Wish sometimes, on rare occasions, exaggerate with specs.

Wish specs: Cree XML2 U2 1B, 7135 x 6

I’m sure it’s an org convoy built/light levels are way better than “2 bucks zoomies”.

BlueSwordM · 2019-04-27T23:18:05.000Z

Do not buy anything on Wish, at all.

Just buy directly from the manufacturer here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Gray-Convoy-S2-with-luminus-SST20-DTP-copper-plate-ar-coated-glass-lens-7135-biscotti-firmware/330416_32969287656.html

Get the 4000k variant and the 6x7135 variant for best balance and power.

The 4000k SST-20 has extremely good color reproduction, and even in a small light like this, it has a very versatile beam.

You will love it.

zak.wilson · 2019-04-27T23:43:11.000Z

Specs breakdown:

Cree XM-L2 - LED type. While this is still being offered, Convoy’s new LED options (XP-L HI, SST-20) offer advantages. Both have more throw distance, and the SST-20 4000K and 2700K have excellent color vividness and accuracy.

1B - LED tint bin. 1B means about 6500K color temperature (cool white, fairly blue) and a significant potential for green off-tint. Note this nomenclature is Cree-specific and other manufacturers use different tint bins.

6x7135 - 6 current regulator chips on the driver, each one providing 350mA. Drive current is 2.1A. With an XM-L2, that should be about 750 lumens and will probably not get too hot to hold when run on high constantly.

This almost certainly has the old 3/5 mode firmware on its driver, not the new Biscotti firmware. 3/5 mode will remember the current mode and turn on to the same mode next time if and only if it’s left on for more than about 2 seconds. Less than that, and it will come on to the next mode in the cycle next time it’s used. Biscotti will remember the last-used mode if the light is off for more than about 2 seconds before it’s used again. Accidental mode changes are much less likely with Biscotti, and it has a bunch of other nice features

Henk4U2 · 2019-04-27T23:55:18.000Z

A typical Convoy (S2+) driver can be mounted with (2), 3, 4, 6, or 8 AMC7135 chips.
The first 4 chips are mounted at the normally invisible front side of the driver.
The rest of the chips, 2 or 4, are mounted at the spring side of the driver.

The S2+ has three main parts: the head-combo, the body (also called the tube), and the tail-combo.
Remove the head-combo from the body and look inside the head.
If you have the 6*AMC7135 model, you can see 2 black components on opposite sides of the spring.
If you can see none of them, they send you a less powerful version.

As for the tint: Cree XML2 U2 1B (or Cree XML2 U2 1A) are most common (and cheapest) emitters.
Not everybody likes the tint: cold white, also called angry blue by people with perfect eyes.

cetary · 2019-04-28T00:56:08.000Z

I have couple of the 2700K SST-20 in a light. It’s a very nice color. You can get a rough idea of what the different color temperatures of light look like in person before buying a light. 2700K looks like the standard 40 watt incandescent in color. 4000K looks more like most older LED street lights or office lighting in color. 3500K has the stock fluorescent color. Both 3500K and 4000K are pretty common in office and retail fluorescent lighting with 3500K looking a bit “warmer” or closer to a halogen white.

As others have explained the 7135 is essentially the linear driver count. The greater number of linear regulators, expressed as 7135x6,7135x8, and so on, dictate how much power will be pushing the emitter. A 7135x6 driver is not a bad place to start. The user controls have gotten much better with Biscotti in these new lights, so you’ll be getting a much better deal in that regards.

TheIntruder · 2019-04-28T01:23:35.000Z

Unfortunately, there’s no way around doing the homework to determine what is offered, in which specific configuration, and from which vendors.

Once you get a handle on the myriad of combinations, and the various versions of the drivers, firmware, LED, and host differences, you next have to determine who offers what.

Convoy’s official store on Aliexpress is the best place to go, and the owner is very accommodating of special requests for specific combinations that aren’t normally listed, but none of that is plainly evident without digging in.

Even within the official store, there are some inconsistencies like how some of the newer color hosts like the orange and purple lack the head accommodation for reversing the clip that was added to the clear and desert tan versions prior.

It’s difficult even for those who try to keep up, and the flexibility can be both a blessing and a curse.

Lightbringer · 2019-04-28T02:13:44.000Z

Yeah, the 1B is pretty hideous. I got one, and it’s a rather cold blue-green shade of white.

If you’re still a flashlight n00b, you won’t (yet) be a tint snob, so 99.999% CRI won’t be a make-or-break issue for you.

That being, get one with a 4C in it. Beautiful “just warm sunlight” color when put through a TIR lens.

And yes, get a standard 20mm TIR lens, preferably 30° to 60° (or both), which’ll blend those colors to avoid any “fried-egg” beam (yellow hotspot, blue-white spill).

It’s a drop-in replacement, a few minutes max if you have ring-pullers or sharp tweezers to remove the pill.

Now, As and Ds are below the BBL (and tend towards rosy) while Bs and Cs are above the BBL (and tend towards green), but true sunlight is actually slightly above the BBL, and that 4C will look like noon sunlight, natural and warm.

You’ll thank me later.

cetary · 2019-04-28T04:14:18.000Z

Lightbringer:

That being, get one with a 4C in it. Beautiful “just warm sunlight” color when put through a TIR lens…

…and that 4C will look like noon sunlight, natural and warm…

I feel that’s a bit of a shaky analogy when we’re talking about something that can vary allot. The color temperature of the sun/sky is not set at any one CCT, and can easily be much higher then 4500K during overcast afternoon and much lower then an ANSI white “4C” during the early morning Golden Hour with warm sunrise being lower at nearly 3000K. Your location on the globe and season can easily affect the color temperature of sunlight during the afternoon.

Lightbringer · 2019-04-28T06:22:12.000Z

Tomayto, tomahto… 4C looks awesome through a TIR lens.

Boaz · 2019-04-28T07:16:55.000Z

Convoys tint options have sucked for the last 3 or 4 years . the 4c WAS the only reasonably , halfway, decent Neutral white tint .

Years and years ago when Convoy and Fastech were best buddies the selections for emitters were about 3 times as many as there are now .

BlueSwordM is right go to Simons ali express site (Convoy) and get the newest emitter choices and the newer driver with Biscotti..

Happiness will ensue !

Omega_17 · 2019-04-28T08:07:52.000Z

BlueSwordM:

Do not buy anything on Wish, at all.

This. Wish is full of scams never buy from them.

how does one know?

Like everything you need experience then you develop preferences according to your tastes and needs. This is one of the best flashlight so you can’t go wrong with it.

DB_Custom · 2019-04-28T13:33:35.000Z

And when you are reading all this, bring your salt shaker… peoples opinions are merely their own perspective and not necessarily indicative of what you yourself will like.

My eyes see colors perfectly on all the tests and I don’t find 1A to be “angry blue” , nor would I ever under any circumstance accept a 4C, that would go straight in the trash over here within minutes of arrival.

You have to do your own legwork and sometimes that means buying some lights you aren’t going to like. This is not entirely a bad thing, as you will then learn how to do emitter swaps and make all your lights your own Holy Grail!

Good luck! Have Fun!

Plotthound · 2019-04-28T15:49:06.000Z

Enjoy your S2+. I’ve got about a dozen S2’s and similar. I’m glad someone of Dale’s stature said what I’ve been thinking but didn’t dare say since I started hanging out here. I’ve never seen an angry tint.

DB_Custom · 2019-04-28T21:54:45.000Z

I modify a lot of lights. I was doing lights for a couple of friends of mine as well as my own to the tune of sometimes 4 or 5 lights a day. One of my friends likes quality, NW and run time to go with power. The other wants everything, EVERYTHING, as hot as I can make it! He likes (like me) little lights with Wow! factor. He’ll take 1A all day long because it makes more lumens. Punch, that is simply what he wants an he only cares about those first few seconds.

I tend to look for absolute as a point of record, we know what it does factory, what CAN it do, then decide where it should be based on the usage need. I used to always do it to the max just to show new modders where it can go if you take your time and pay attention to detail.

Now we have a LOT more people, quite a few willing to go to the extremes, I don’t have to stress all the little tricks anymore… most know em now.

600 or more builds later it’s difficult finding new things to do. lol The 3V XHP-50.2 is fun, some new power there but wow are they hungry! And so it goes, once addicted to the build you find yourself modding modded lights for something to do. . .

CREEXHP70LED · 2019-04-29T01:10:04.000Z

Does anyone know what is the approximate lumen output is on the SST-20 4000K 7135X8 ?

BlueSwordM · 2019-04-29T01:12:11.000Z

700 lumens.

Blackdragon1230 · 2019-04-29T01:30:40.000Z

Ive been wanting to do a conversion on a convoy with the new 3v XHP50, but they seem rather hard to get.

CREEXHP70LED · 2019-04-29T01:55:32.000Z

BlueSwordM:

700 lumens.

Thanks, how long will it stay at 700 lumens ?

DB_Custom · 2019-04-29T15:31:19.000Z

Blackdragon1230, I’ve found them at Kaidomain and they arrive pretty quickly.

Edit: I remembered they arrived pretty fast but forgot I bought 30 of them and paid for DHL. Sorry.

Machine · 2019-04-29T21:54:32.000Z

Thank you all for the feedback.

I guess I would call myself a lumens and efficiency whore.
Say I wanted to mood my s2+ for efficiency, lumens and flood(my S2+ has OP reflector).

From what I can find online the XML2 and XPL-HI are pretty much even on efficiency and lumen and Cold tint also gives more Lumen/watt so changing for the new version emitter seems to make little sense.
I am curious about the tir lens’s It seems that with this packed I can more or less choose the floodines myself?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LED-lens-for-CREE-XML-XML2-LED-60degree/1577614278.html

Br
Machine