Which one is that?
If the 5200, then your missing out.
If the 6000, then your not missing out.
5200. Damn.
But in terms of amps, am I understanding correctly from everyone’s posts that >15 or 20A is just wasted? Have been having a tough time deciphering it all.
You’ve got to stop using the Continous Discharge Rate when talking about batteries. I think that’s what’s confusing you. That info is somewhat irrelevant.
Use HKJ’s comparator more often to see what batteries are high drain and what are not.
I happen to know certain batteries off the top of my head, especially the ones I own. The Keeppower 5200mah is an old design with high internal resistance and is prone to voltage sag at higher loads. The Keeppower 6000 is a newer design and performs much better.
Here is a direct comparison at 10A. (Note that the Shockli 5500 is the same exact same cell as the Keeppower 6000)
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Okay, I think I understand now. I’ll take a look to see if I can get them locally.
I guess I could figure out 1 and 2 when I charge the battery but anyone could answer question 3?
BTW, I cleaned all the contact points with deoxit, progold for the all the gold plated points and for the brass retaining ring and the bare aluminum thread I used Flitz polish and then then some No Alox, and the light seems brighter, the retaining ring was dirty from the inside where it contacts the driver, so that is something you could do to improve the current flow to the led.
I might open up the head to change the wires and put some Artic Silver 5 under the led later on.
I support efforts to improve conductivity and efficiency, but there’s been discussion in this thread about whether we should be pushing this emitter much harder. In terms of actual emitter current, the bond wires blew at 9.4A in koef3’s CW test.
It’s not clear what portion of the tail current actually passes through the emitter in the FT03, but some folks, like yourself, are measuring over 9A at the tail. keof3 considered 7.4A emitter current a safe maximum and efficiency sweet spot; anything higher overheats the bond wires. This can be seen as a (slightly) steeper rise in Vf above 7500mA in keof3’s chart titled “LED TEST”.
At some point, the emitter becomes a hybrid LED/incandescent light source and this is a prelude to no light at all 
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Keep in mind that Koef3 powers his led with a bench power supply so he doesn’t have the battery related voltage sag and driver losses that we do. Using a 30T might be dangerous, but it seems most cells are fine.
NW received yesterday 
Hi Oweban
Please report back if you have success in sourcing the KP 6000mah 26650 in AUS, I'd say there will be a few of us eager to jump on
Don’t forget the Shockli 5500mah. It’s the same battery, different wrapper.
That’s also damn hard to find, it seems. There’s a bunch of Efest local, but so far no shockli or KP 6000.
I’ll keep digging, though - if I find anything, I’ll post in the AU deals thread.
9 amps is 9 amps, wherever it comes from that is what the led sees, the driver will not eat significant current if it does not funny things. Tom pointed out that the tail adds a bit resistance (from the spring only, there is no switch) so the current will be a bit less in use (but not while measuring current, which might actually be a risky operation), but I still have some doubts how these leds in the FT03 fare over time.
Your thinking Astrolux designed a borderline defective light?
Let’s try to build a database of the tail current measurement details. I went back to about page 52. Let me know if I missed anyone.
TM07 used a UT210E with a wire across the tail cap along with a Shockli 5500mah and got 9.15 amp.
ZozzV6 says he measure 8.5A, but I don’t know how he measured or with what battery.
Lfatman measured 5.8A with Blue Liitokala, but I’m not clear on how he measured it.
Kawiboy used a wire and a Fluke 36 clamp meter to test several batteries.
Golisi Gold 4300 26650 - 9.1A
Molicel P42A - 9.0A
Samsung 48G - 9.3A
Samsung 30T - 9.9A
Nkresho used a wire and UT210E on his NW.
Shockli 5500 26650 at 4.2v right off charger 8.62A
Sofirn 4000 21700 at 4.2v right off charger 9.01A
Samsung 40T at 4.2v right off charger 9.21A
(I think all the above will measure a bit lower amps with the tail cap in place. There may also be some slight accuracy issues with certain meters)
It’s possible Astrolux tested a lot of cells including the 30T and then made tweaks so the light will survive. Maybe tweaks with the led wire diameter and length combined with the particular FET they used to get just enough resistance to not burn out the emitter? I don’t think Astrolux wants to have a bad reputation or warranty issues for a light that certain batteries will kill.
No one has reported any deaths yet (even after using a 30T), so that is good news.
Maybe we should focus on using high capacity 21700 cells? 48G, 50E, etc…? Maybe the Keeppower 5200mah is not such a bad choice afterall?
You don’t think Luminus has recently bumped up the durability of their sst-40 emitters, do you?
Most tests of this emitter are from batches made about 2 years ago.
It’s a thought.
@ Tom E., djozz, KawiBoy1428,TA or anyone else.
Can you confirm OR deny that the 30T or P42A[My batteries] would be detrimental to the LED[SST-40] and/or the longevity of the other electrical components in the FT03?
The 30T and the Molicel P42A have very similar amp draw, w/ the 30T hitting harder in the beginning[HKJ/Mooch tests] and then the P42A taking over the last 2/3 of the way.
Maybe it is too early to tell?
I know that several people who first got this light used the 30T and 40T in this light. But for how long? I doubt they went on the trail like me and used Turbo for 15 or 20 minutes straight.Just guessing, the POSSIBLE damage may be cumulative,if so, none of us will know until something does or does not happen!
If it’s too early to tell I will sell[or possibly return] my 2 X P42A, as I have no other 21700 light. These cells were NEVER used other than a capacity test. I would just stick to my Orbtronic 26650 5500mAh cell,which is the PLB-55A cell that is also used in the K’power and Shockli re wraps.
Maybe I am aswering my own question! That is just to stick w/ the Orb. 26650 5500mAh. I doubt very, very much even if the high drains[which does not appear to be the case so far] supplied MORE output, it would not be noticeable by our eyes!
Thanks
The 9.9amp was a 30T (black wrap) in a 26650 adapter tube the other unkown was a Golisi Gold 26650.
I changed the post.
A black wrap 30T? I’ve never seen those.
Wrapped so it wouldn’t rattle in my Zebra Light SC700d…. yeah I can’t believe I fell for the Zebra Light BS myself! Nice light, not $120 dollars nice, I don’t care what the UI does or don’t do… rather have Narsil in it.
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I only used my 30T/40T for a few minutes to test both lumens and candela. I plan to stick with my 50E as it provided the same performance. I’m going to retest the lumens with the 50E and see if I get the same readings, hopefully indicating no damage was done with possible excess heat?
Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn’t Turbo be hard to use for long anyway before stepping down?