I got a lux meter.... a few results

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

So I purchased a lux meter from Amazon and decided to have a quick play with it. I couldnt be bothered to go to my shed for 1m straight on tests so I did a few ceiling bounce tests. It’s not dark yet so I went to my rather small bathroom to have a play. I know the results wont compare with others but I basically put the light meter ~15cm away from where I put the lights and I put the lights on the corner of my bath tub pointing straight up.

Whilst the numbers are possibly meaningless it’s quite fun to see the difference that a cell makes. Comparing the Klarus XT12GT’s supplied battery to a X or Y or Z battery and seeing big differences is quite cool. Almost makes the meter worth £20 just for that. You certainly can’t see the difference by eye!

Batteries used:
Sanyo NCR18650GA
Panasonic 3400 NCR18650B
Sasmung ICR18650-28A
Klaurus 18GT-36 (Panasonic 3600)

It’s also VERY annoying when you realise that one set of batteries you’ve got was used when you tested “how hot does the light get” which involves leaving a TN36 on turbo for half an hour. The batts take ages to charge so at the time of writing I’ve only checked 3 sets of batts.

I’ll put a graph up in a bit when they’ve reached capacity but as an idea the XT12GT hits 235 Lux with its own battery, 147 with a Sanyo and 140 with an old samsung. Thats quite a bit drop!

As you can see the panasonic greens wouldn’t even run the TN36 on turbo.

2

Which model did you get?

3

Holdpeak 881C.

£18.76 on Amazon UK

4

Thank You.

5

You will also start to see the naked eye is deceiving at times——to the + side at times and to the - side others—very helpful tool especially with throw measurements —To me after owning a meter I would never do without again

6

There must be something wrong

The light uses a boost converter and drain less than 5A from a fresh cell

There should be no difference with the 18650GA cell which should be as good as the Klarus cell

The light was likely in thermal regulation

7

Lexel, sorry but no. The battery was “fresh” and the light was only used for a few seconds to get a reading. There was no thermal regulation, my house is ~21c and the light is at best room temperature… Graphs in the post above in a moment.

8

i also got a light meter a while ago, have no idea how to use it, the manual it came with was totaly useless.

9

So why should the output break to 60% with a 10A continous discharge 18650GA, when the light uses a boost converter

This is not a direct drive light where you get more lumens the more amperes the battery can deliver as the voltage drop is lower

The light should consume about 18-20W from the cell, a fresh 10A cell should make no difference

10

Seems something was wrong with my light. It’s dead now. All I did was test it with a couple of different batteries.

Just before it crapped out it was showing 220 on the klarus, 147 on the sanyo. It flickered off on the klarus, I put the sanyo in and it sat happily at 200. Then it just conked out all together.

Well… Fun.

11

Sounds like you need to do a short video and ask for a refund or repair

If they refund I might consider to get the light for a teardown review and locating fried parts

12

I think the XT12GT does about 24 watts. Its doing around 6amps.

13

I will ask the seller and see what they say. I’ll gladly ship it to you if they replace my light for me.

My video would be of a light that won’t turn on!

14

Yeah Banggood and Gearbest are OK with refund or repairs if you give em hard evidence with a video

Just describe that light wasnt performing well, got hot and didnt turn on after that plus noticing the smell of fried electronics, giving em a video showing green charge indicator and push on the tail switch

15

Should do the trick. I’ll email Swi @ BG later