Jacob A60 - first impressions

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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Just got my Jacob A60 from AuraBuy - nice all-around so far, shinier finish than my DX one, EZ900 not EZ1000, says Jacob A60 on it while the one from DX said CREE Q5. With a Pana 2900, it pulled 2.2A but with a Samsung INR 1500, it pulled 2.4-2.5A.

Throw on Pana 2900 (best Pana tested), 2.2A: 78 kcd

Throw on Samsung INR 1500 2.4-2.5A: 80 kcd, lumens: 340 @start, 309 @30 secs

Looking at the beams at about 20 ft, the EZ900 based AuraBuy is smaller than the DX EZ1000, but the DX is brighter, more intense -- both on Samsung INR's.

DX A60 w/FT XR-E R2 EZ1000, 2.8A driver from I-O, reads 2.86A:

throw: 86 kcd, lumens: 408 @start, 374 @30 secs

I know these Samsung INR's excel with XM-L2's on SinkPAD's, but they also seem to excel in a A60.

Edit: Ooops! Light meter battery was dying so it inflates #'s. The Samsung INR doesn't seem to make a difference, and the 2 A60's are now doing about the same #'s, even though the DX A60 has an AR lens, driver of 2.8A, EZ1000 R2 emitter. So still, the AuraBuy Jacob is doing pretty good!

Gotta get back to work on the XP-E2/SinkPAD upgrade - got the emitters in, today should see the numbers (more accurate this time... ).

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Wow thats sweet Tom! Thanks for that info seems like they are putting it in everyones that recently got it from aurabuy. Wonder if the small sun C10 I just got from them might have the same ez900 in it? Will have to investigate that!

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Just received my Jacob today. Using a AW 2600 cell fully charged, it holds steady at 2.35a at the tail cap on high mode. This was using my 12g DMM leads. Seems really nice and in mint condition.

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I too received one from AuraBuy that fits the description given by Tom E above.

I noted two additional improvements over my previous pair from DX: much better heat-sinking and memory fade-out in 10 sec (vs. DX 5 min).

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Someone please give me a link to a driver you mention that woud be the best for A60. Please

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See this thread here, post #8 is my recommendation, although that requires adding AMC 7135's to the driver. I know Tom E has posted this elsewhere, perhaps even in this thread.

-Garry

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I would get a few of these

http://intl-outdoor.com/2-pcs-contact-pcb-204mm-p-410.html

as they are extremely useful for modding budget lights, or do the direct drive mod above to save a dollar or so, then use this driver.
http://intl-outdoor.com/amc71356-5mode-circuit-board-nanjg-105c-p-536.html

but add another 7135 chip ( easy on this driver as there are spaces for two more)
here’s a link to the 380ma chips

http://intl-outdoor.com/qx7135-advanced-current-regulator-380ma-p-666.html

order ten because they are useful to have about if your planning on modding,

the jacobs makes an excellent mod host and gives satisfying results, with the driver, note you can select the modes, you can just blob solder but it looks rough, a better solution is to tin a piece of wire, solder across then cut it flush after the fact.

you could also pot the driver (fill the cavity with thermal adhesive) once you know it works to keep everything rock solid.

good luck and any questions, just ask. :smiley:

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You can also buy a 7x7135 driver at FastTech if your not comfortable with soldering those tiny things.

-Garry

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So these from link dont need adding any chips? Just replace original with these one? Sorry for bad English

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Thanks

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That's a contact board. The A60 uses a 20mm driver and the Nanjg driver (the 7xAMC7135 board) is 17mm. You use the 20mm contact board to adapt it to fit. Wire from the driver inputs to the contact board.

You'd still need these contact boards for the 7xAMC board I linked above too. I'm pretty sure FastTech has them, I just don't have time to search for them right now.

-Garry

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english is fine, dont apologise.

that board is a connection board, it screws down where the driver sat. you solder the bat+ spring on the battery side, on the back side there are solder points corresponding to + and -.

solder wires to these, solder these wires to the new driver positive centre spot and driver ground ring.

Here’s a couple of pictures to show what I mean.

Once you know your set up works, you could lay it in the light, then pump/add thermal glue to secrure your driver, it will set like silicon sealer and stop anything moving.

I don’t, but I dont slam my lights about either. You’ll have to decide on that.

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Thank you for your effort in explaining this to me. :beer:

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No worries :bigsmile:

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Hi folks,

My A60 arrived yesterday morning (23rd April), I’d ordered it on the 6th April, not a bad order time that!

Anyways, I too had the flattened white cardboard box, bubblewrap aplenty. The torch/flashlight was in perfect condition, apart from the typical bad lens, mine has ‘pits’ all over and a scratch that looks like someone slipped with a drillbit!!! I’ll be ordering a new lens from Kaidomain asap!

But the one thing that disturbed me, was the reflector, it looks like someone has maybe spotted dust or something, and used a cloth or whatever to wipe it away by putting the cloth (or whatever) inside the reflector and rotated it, I can see concentric lines/smudges where the cloth has possibly scored it.

Now I don’t have a hotspot comparison, but mine is mis-shapen, but me this thing throws, I’m using a 3000mah Ultrafire red battery, are these any good?, and I did a small comparison at 10m with my Small Sun ZY-C10-S, and the A60 looks brighter to me!

So I ’m wondering if the mis-shapen hotspot has anything to do with the scored reflector?

Can I do anything about it?

And does anybody fancy modding it for even more throw? (Just an idea like)

Cheers

Rob

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Am beginning to feel as though I’m not liked……….

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Ooops, didn't see this post. The stock A60 can throw, even with a messed up reflector and/or lens. My reflector on the DX A60 is beaten up from all the tests/trials/etc., but is doing about 106 kcd now with an XP-E2. I would take it up with where you got it - dunno where you ordered it from. My AuraBuy came in great condition. Dunno what to recommend about the reflector - there's some postings about cleaning them but I never tried anything accept air blowing. Even fingerprints I leave in...

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You could try releasing the head till you get the perfect center hotspot, then put something between led and reflector, after you find out how high sould you raise the reflector, or maybe the LED…

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Got it from DX!

I’ve got a new lens coming from KD though, and the reflector isn’t that bad, just like, the polish marks from rotating a cleansing cloth in it are bugging me! Am not liking the 3 modes either, would rather single, and Gords can make it brighter can’t he?

HOW do you lot know such things lol? :bigsmile:

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I did a couple of A60 mods, and other customized drivers for A60's. I've been using a 20mm one sided driver from IOS, and adding 7135's to bring it up to 2.45A or 2.8A - nice regulated driver, configured for 2 modes: hi-lo. Gords (Graham) is in your area and he's been doing direct drive on the A60, which is another approach. My best result has been with a XP-E2, tried XP-G2 and a XR-E R2 (EZ 900 and EZ1000). The gain is not significant from what I measured, but is a nice bump (70's/80's kcd to 106 kcd with the XP-E2 or so). The big issue is focusing, centering of the LED on these lights when you are experimenting - gotta get it just right for max results.