on 26650’s? What’s been your experience? Same longevity as running on 18650’s or have ya any issues with the Eastman driver, XML emitter, etc.,?
Mine died. I was holding off on using it until I fixed the potential of the reflector shorting the emitter leads. I had fixed this and the next time I turned the light on - nothing. Not sure what's dead. Only used a 26650 in it (unprotected King Kong INR). The LED looks normal, no discoloring at all. When I put a battery in with the switch on and measure voltage across the wires attached to the star I am getting 4.15v. When I turn the switch off I get 0.00v like I expect.
So I don't know what happened nor what to blame it on. I was careful never to compress the springs during tailcap measurements. I hardly ever turned the light on.
-Garry
So far as I know, I’ve not read of any failures other than yours, did you do the lumatic clean and lube? On de, you may have reduced the internal resistance to a point where it could draw too much current and POOF. :*
I'm using it on 26650 from day one, but haven't used much at work in this period (I mean, used for short inspections, not for long continuos use). Will use it much more this winter I think.
I honestly don't see why should I have any problems coming from the 26650 instead of 18650 though, if the amperage on high is your concern, a good 18650 provides well over 3,4A if needs be, and that is the max value I measured on mine with both kind of cells.
Been using mine on the 26650 and have not had any issues except that if you shake the light it will change modes on me. Im sure that is due to running flat top battery. Stretch the spring a little last night and that seemed to help, you now have to shake it alot harder.
I almost immediately switched to a 10x7135 driver, great setup with 26650 cells. My cells are orange battery space and they top out at 3700mah capacity (measured). I have no problems with these cells. Low resistance and great self discharge characteristics. These are unprotected cells, and that remains my overwhelming preference for 18650/26650. There are 18650 cells that near-match that for data sheet capacity, so I am not sure what the advantage is between the two sizes.
I didn’t really have the east 092 in there very long, but I really liked that UI. How I could skip past the disco modes with a ~3 second soft press. Its one of the better OEM drivers I have used, no visible PWM too on lower modes. The driver does rely heavily on host contact resistances to limit LED current though. So, driver transplants can be risky. That driver draws/delivers a LOT of current in a low resistance host, when paired with low resistance cells.
Used it last night at my sons-cub scout camp fire meeting, no problems.
Its a VERY soft cast aluminum though, the softest I have found on any light. This metal makes brass look like a tungsten carbide drill bit. I put it down gently on the concrete and it got a noticeable ding on the bezel.
Almost precisely what happened with mine as well. Except after having run it on TF Protected Blue 18650’s with no problem, stuck in a TF Flame Protected 26650 and smoke started to fill up the reflector basin. Before I could shut her off emitter dimmed way down and then nothing. Emitter coloration, phosphor wires, look normal. Btw, the little white plastic donut insulator that surrounds the LED ring was starting to melt and consequently warp. That donut is definitely trashed.
And ya, I always do the Lumatic CRC 2-26 Clean on my torches. Design-wise cleaning contact points so they conduct better and lower resistance shouldn’t equate to frying stuff either. I mean what is that? Planned obsolescence because I’m a flashlight Hazel? Unless of course……well let’s just say I have another recent thread on that ‘hotly’ debated sore subject. :cowboy_hat_face:
Oh and before I forget, the 26650 longer runtime capability is mainly why I bought it to begin with.
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I have a King Kong 26650 cell in my HD2010 light. I found it the right size cell. The 18650 rattles too much with the 18650 adapter.
Good to know that King Kong 26650 work, still waiting for my i4 from group buy to be delivered. Have my King Kongs from Kumabear waiting to be charged. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
I use the HD2010 for lighting up rooms and in the bathroom to take showers by - working great!!! Using the King Kong's, but now 18650's because I can't charge up the King Kong's quick enough while at work on my i4 charger.
Still no power -- Sandy Sucks!! Do have hot water though - gas service to the house is great! May be stuck at home from now on - no gas for vehicles anywhere. If a station gets gas, 3-5 hours wait, and then maybe 3 gallons. 20 mile trip each way to work, may be working/charging up at our church - just 10 blocks away...
Oh - I will never, ever consider the tail-standing feature of a light as "nice-to-have" - it's very important.
I've always used the King Kong ICR26650E in mine. I tried 18650, worked ok but too much rattle. I also removed the spring cap to tighten up contact but then I had to wrap tape around the cell to stop battery rattle with the 26650 too. I purchased protected KK/Keeppower cells from Kumabear, but they are too long and the light won't light up using them. They are also too long for my TF A8, so I guess I'm going to have to keep buying 26650 lights until I can find some that the Keeppowers work in.
Now that's the BLF way of thinking! Does the wife buy into that?
-Garry
Further to the BLF way, the wife knows nothing about it!
Forgot to mention: mod'ed mine with a U3 1C - definitely more neutral tint now, yellowish color. It's working great, maybe used it 8-10 hours in recent days, mostly on mid or lo.
I have two that I can run in multiple combinations. Stock. XP-G2, and in 2 cell format I have pills made up with 2.8 amp 3 mode driver XM-L U2 and a 3 mode 5amp driver with XM-L U2 led. There's a couple of others but these are the only ones I use. A bit sad I guess.
I have used mine for a couple dozen hours. King Kong INR is all I've used with it.
I have raised top batteries and it still does it. Stretching the springs helps for a while. I just got some new springs to try out.
Trustfire 26650 protected’s here with good copper based U3 emitter.
Still running, not sure of the total runtime, though…
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