Hey everyone
I’m a flashlight enthusiast since like 15 years, but I got a blackout period of 10 years, so I’m slowly catching up.
Back in the days™ when the Lumens were not so plenty, I started my journey with an SSCP7 on 2 18650 (those at least stay relevant), ordered on DX I think (rip). After moving a few times (and using it extensively) I finally took time to take on again the flashlight world.
And oh boy did it change. So I went on and order myself the latest and greatest big ass emitters (aka xhp70 HI and D) on KD to replace my old SSC P7 and Q5 trustfire.
First of all, I really struggled to find some pills and parts. I’m pretty sure those hosts were industry standard at that time. Now it seems that everything has shifted to C8 type host with one cell only.
I also had problem with drivers. The ones on Aliexpress were shit and never hold to their current spec. I order one on KD, which actually works well, but was a tad expensive. Where the hell do you source your high current (5amps+) driver nowadays?
It’s a shame, because this host can dissipate a good amount of heat, unlike the C8 which get hot instantly on 10W on a full pill (mine came with a hollow one, which is completely absurd). I can run my old trustfire at 35-40W no problem as long as I’m outside, it doesn’t get that hot.
But I have to give to the C8 its throwing is insane on an XML emitter. it completely out throw my XHP’s, hence my following question: I have the feeling the reflector is quite shallow for the size of the XHP. do you know any of other possible reflector which I could mount on this old host?
I’m also very impressed by the quality of the color. I have one CRI90 and one 95 it’s just really uniform.
Shallow vs deep just determines how much light is “caught” and reflected forward into a hotspot, vs what ends up as spill.
Best throw is biggest reflector and smallest emitter. A tubbo of any XHP will give a big “defocused” hotspot. That’s why in a C8, you can get better throw from a hot dedomed XP-G than an XM-L. I got one with an XP-E2 that ain’t run that hot, but has a nice tight clean pencil-beam.
A reflector only has a single point in 3D space that’s in focus, the bigger the chip, ie, the farther away from that point that the edges and especially corners will be, the bigger and sloppier the hotpot. The XHP might as well be a COB emitter…
You can push lots of power through it, but won’t be able to tighten up the beam.
Maybe in a wok of a reflector like a GT has, you’d have a great reflector-to-emitter ratio, though…
Maybe in a wok of a reflector like a GT has, you’d have a great reflector-to-emitter ratio, though…
That’s what I thought, so I’d have to really increase the diameter of the reflector…I was wondering this because in the C8, the emitter sits much deeper in the reflector. The throw is nice but thin. From the XHP HI, I would have expected a thicker pencil with less throw, not a diverging beam. But you’re probably right it’s an aspect ratio thing. Has anyone done any calculation on the subject?
Yeah I know KD, it’s an old shop, it’s been around forever. So I’ve been through their entire website a few times already.
The TrusFire T1 is an old platform (host) which was shared with other manufacturer back in the day (ultrafire, etc). Back then it was really easy to find components around, but now it looks like the tide has turned. I like this platform because there’s a good amount of metal to dissipate heat, which allows to run high current. it’s not a p60, it’s somewhat larger, but yeah, it’s screwed IN the reflector and not in the host (C8 design). Then the reflector is screwed in the lens holder which itslef is screwed on the body. Very good for heat dissipation.
The problem with new reflector, is that they’re all pressed so they don’t take any heat and they don’t fit that trustfire.
I’ve tried one driver from OTdiode on Aliexpress. it’s dogshit, but it’s cheap. not hold to the spec.
I’ll try to order another one rated at 7.5 amps (and much more expensive) so I hope this one will do it.
No idea, but very good estimates can be obtained with basic principles, without using the tool.
For example: fixing all other parameters, throw (intensity at 1m) is proportional to LED surface intensity, throw is proportional to reflector area, hotspot diameter is proportional to LED diameter, inversely proportional to reflector diameter. From this you can make accurate predictions on how the throw and beam profile changes if you swap out a different LED or different host.
Also Convoy Flashlight Store has lots of excellent drivers for cheap, you should look into them.
