Did anyone else order a 5700k version and received it in a box marked as 6500k from BG? (both side label and sku label)
I swear its actually 6500k, especially at higher levels compared to two 6500k lights I have.
Wanted to check before I try to beat up BG.
Agro’s response sums up why there’s the illusion of “differing” opinions 
. The reality is that the initial tests of this LED definitely blew the bonding wires at 9.5Amps. People are apparently running their FT03 SST40(2) (as listed in some of the FT03 documentation) emitters at 9.5A or even higher, so many have speculated that Luminous may have improved something.
However, the only evidence we have for this is the real-world experience of FT03 owners, who I believe have yet to report a single case of blowing an emitter with high current. We have no lab tests and, last I checked, Luminous has not released an updated datasheet showing different properties.
They aren’t blowing in the field, so we have to assume that many, if not most, of these SST40’s are able to handle more than 9A. As I recall, the djozz chart suggested that the bond wires began glowing at 8.5A, which would likely have already killed some of our FT03’s if this were still the case.
I won’t be bypassing the springs on mine as I presently know of no option for purchasing a 5000K replacement SST40. Everyone can do whatever they wish with their lights. I’m keeping my springs stock in this light and using a good-but-not-great LiitoKala Black 26650. I haven’t measured tail amperage (my current clamp died), but have yet to run into temp throttling despite using the light almost every night. I tend to use turbo only in bursts not longer than 1-2 minutes, however.
I think there may be a difference in total power getting to the led between 9.5A from a power supply set to 4.2v and 9.5A from a battery whose voltage sags down to 3.95 when put under load. There is not much difference in wattage, but there is something about that extra voltage and how it effects an led.
Another thing to consider is that the SST-40 appears to have 4 different maximum voltage bins 2.7v, 2.9v, 3.1v and 3.3v. It’s quite possible that early tested emitters were the lower bin units which could not tolerate such high voltage and current. Newer emitters might be a higher voltage bin which can handle higher voltage and current.
Trying to understand an leds forward voltage and forward current is all a bit too technical for me, I’m not an electrical engineer. Maybe there are folks on the forum who can explain it better.
it does look like u got the wrong tint, i have the 5700k and compared to cooler tints i have its def not cool white, so complain to them, even the box says its cool :person_facepalming:
Just a little update from me. Yesterday I tried a brand new Samsung INR21700-40T in my Astrolux FT03 5000K and I don’t know if my eyes and brain play tricks on me, but the light does seem more powerful and more consistent with that cell, that’s when used in in short turbo bursts(my typical use). I previously used the Samsung INR21700-48G which performed better than the protected Keepower 26650 5200mAh I was using at the beginning. 
how did u even fit a 21700 without breaking the springs ? 
All of the mentioned batteries are around 700mm, it is a tight fit, but no issues so far. What I noticed is that the INR21700-48G is tad longer and wider than INR21700-40T.
I experienced the same, tight fit, but it works.
FYI, current can not be controlled separately from voltage. When you set a current on a power supply it simply adjusts the voltage automatically to maintain the current limit you set.
So if the bench power supply was set to 9.5A, and the LED only needed 3.95v to maintain that current, the power supply would automatically step down to that voltage.
So 9.5A from the power supply would be the same as 9.5A from a battery.
The real difference I think is the time the LED was run at that current. On the power supply the LED was heated up for extended period before reaching 9.5A so by the time it got there it was very hot.
In a light on the other hand it jumps right to that high current and the current will start dropping within a few second. So the dropping current seems to outpace the heating of the bond wires would be my guess.
My FT03 does 266 Kcd (after 30 seconds) on a Keeppower 26650 IMR6000.
Edit: no problem with the springs and good capacity.
On that cell it will not reach 9,5A (I guess….) but that’s ok, 266 Kcd is just fine but it;s never enough so
I will visit Djozz soon to go for dedoming, hoping to get WELL over 400Kcd.
Cheers,
Nico
Interesting, please keep us posted with the results and greetings to Jos!
He is always very helpful!
You went from weak to stronger batteries, so this makes perfect sense.
Just came across the FT03 MCPCB w/ SST-40 on BG now.
edited to correct link
Hi Free. Can you send code please.
Someone said on a banggood review that the latest ft03 produce higher current so you shouldn’t use a high drain cell. I think he said the voltage bin’s different or something. Can someone test one of the recent 5700k or 5000k samples?
Is it possible to convince Banggood to release a version of the FT03, with a properly de-domed(not becoming greenish) NW SST-40 LED??
Is there an interest in such version?
Banggood or Mateminco have no way to dedome it. You might talk to someone like Skylumen about that. He does it by hand and is quite good.
Edit, he actually offers it with a xpl-hi 5000K and a White2 6500K. Of course price is higher.
So guys, I may have found the answer.
I asked Luminus directly by calling them from my new job(lighting manufacturer), and from what I understand, Luminus changed the manufacturing process at some point.
Basically, the earlier SST-40s were using pure gold wires, as it was easy to manufacture into very tiny bond wires, so no new equipment/supplier was needed.
However, to reduce costs and to boost reliability, they switched, rather recently, to gold plated copper bond wires, which enabled lower temps, lower costs, and most importantly for us, higher driving power.
Cool, thanks for the inside info.