I purchased an L10C Nichia 219B about six months ago, great little light. I’ve been carrying it daily since then.
The light is the 4 mode, ascending without memory. It has one of the lowest “firefly” modes I’ve seen followed by three, well spaced modes (and I like the firefly mode). I believe the claimed output on SB Flashlight’s site is 0.09, 3, 30 and 120 lumens.
The only thing I was unhappy with was the tint of the 219B, always seemed a little dingy to my eye. I guess I gravitate to the more red tints of my older 219s, no big deal because I’m always looking for a reason to mod a light.
I swapped out the Nichia for an XP-L 7A3 and life was good for about two months.
I started noticing the light seemed to start on low mode instead of firefly, more precisely the modes seemed to be low, low, mid, high but if I cycled through a few times firefly would return to the order.
That became progressively more common until a few days ago when the firefly disappeared completely. Other than the lack of firefly the light is solid dependable.
Though this doesn’t sound like a short I’ve removed the reflector and checked for any problem, none found. In fact the light behaves the same way with the reflector removed all together.
I thought maybe I was getting a double click of the switch on initial turn on so I tried with just the battery and a jumper wire, still no go.
I checked “tailcap draw” today, 0.11, 0.14, 0.35 and 2.05 amps off a fresh NiMH. Strange that there is a consistent difference between the two low modes. Stranger still is that I originally noted high mode at 1.47 amps though I don’t know if that was the 219 or XP-L.
Anyone have any idea what’s going on with this driver?
Matt