just took the ak47 for some testing outside . oh man, this thing floods like theres no tomorrow. i thought my tk 70 did a good job lighting up the yard, but the ak47 just about does 50% more with more lumens also. and richie told me i havent seen nuthin yet. right now, with 2x26650, im doing 57 watts, with the third battery, it’ll be 90 watts! cant wait…
I must say, the beam from this light is very nice and different. the hotspot blends well into the flood and spill. almost like one huge flood light. another interesting thing is that the beam has no corona. the flood and spill just disperses so evenly that it doesnt create a circle of light.
the only time i see the corona/ circle beam , is when i shine it at a white wall 5 feet away or closer. as for throw, it seems to throw similiar to my hd2010. which is satisfactory for being a flooder. but dude, your like seeing a wall of light at a very far distance now which is impressive yanno.
I have not been this satisfied in any of my light purchases more than this one i have to admit. but do understand i have a thing for flooders, and lumens. so if your more of a throw guy, …hmm…actually you i know what, im still sure you wont be dissapointed because the lumens will just blow your mind.
props to richie for giving all the insight on the light, and for the helping hand with my mod
Joe, the Trustfire 26650 5000mAh cells are button top and work in most any light, even in the AK-47 stock driver. However, once the KD driver is installed, the Trustfire cells will not power the light, no chance.
The only cells that will work are the unprotected MNKE 26650’s that Jason from EDC has that are $15.00 each, and are excellent. They are of the IMR variety, so they are a safer unprotected cell and will power anything. They are also button tops.
The EnerPower protected 26650 4500mAh+ button top cells I have are also excellent, but very costly even when discounted. They were $21.00 each including shipping to New York, but this seller doesn’t seem to be interested in doing business with BLF. So I wouldn’t bother with them.
I only have one King Kong cell, so I was never able to test this light with the KD driver if they’d work okay with it. Blueb8llz I think has used at least 2 KK cells with the light. So he’d be able to tell you if they are okay. But I just assumed KK cells would be able to drive a 10a light, but don’t know for sure.
Alex, the LED’s on all these 9x T6 lights sit on an aluminim heat sink about 1/4” thick or perhaps a little less. Heatsinking is good, but once the KD driver is installed, like any high power light, you don’t want to use it on high mode for more than a minute or so. The LED’s produce a lot of heat and you don’t want the heat sink to become saturated. Even the very expensive lights typically have a timed high or turbo mode that automatically steps down after about 2 minutes or so, but they aren’t driven anywhere near as much amps as this light does with the KD driver, so I’d still go easy with it.
I’ll use my AK-47 on high for a few seconds and then step it down to low or medium to keep the heat under control. On high mode and using 3 good cells, it just produces so much light, it doesn’t take long to see whatever you’re doing and turn it down.
I change my AK 47 for a HID, but why i keep clicking this thread & the original thread from Richie086 waiting for updates…
What can be done to keep heat down on this AK 47 after driver swap? coming 6000 lumen keeps on floating in my head… >)
Honestly, when pushing this much power, I don’t think it’s possible. On high mode, the leds are running at 8watts, close to their maximum of 10watts each, so care should be used. I really don’t know how much abuse the KD driver can handle, so I’m just being careful with it.
Besides, most of the higher end multi-emitter lights have a timed high or turbo, but the KD driver does have an automatic step-down once it reaches 60c celcius. I think it’ll start to flash in some fashion when overheated and also when battery voltage becomes low.
I now own 2 Trustfire AK-47’s and 1 Skyray 9x T6. Installing the KD driver caused me to have to purchase 3 MNKE cells, and also 3 Enerpower cells, plus I’ve now purchased 4 KD drivers, one of which was bad. So I really don’t want to have to spend any more money on these lights if I start burning parts up.
hmm, that is a lot of money, but it seems if you spend another $48 for 3 more MNKEs, then you grow a third arm, you’ll be able turn night into day w/ 18,000 lumens in your hands :party:
Oh, i never knew (read enough) that KD driver have that feature but again; need to purchase other batts just for the AK 47 :_( .
Guess i just do drivers for X100 & J18, hope their heat sink is sufficient
If you’re going to modify any light, go for the X100. The thing is it requires 4 x 26650’s, and the reason I didn’t purchase it. I believe it’s a 7 x T6, but with 4 cells, that thing would likely be one hell of a bright light and may actually reach 100 watts. For some reason, it wasn’t popular around here, but I think several members did purchase it. You’d have to do a search for it and see what comes up on this forum.
Yes, I’m aware of that link. But it ran as high as 71 watts which is about 6,000 lumens maybe. I was able to get my AK-47 to just over 90 watts. Funny thing is the driver in that X100 looks just like the stock driver for the AK47. But I’m sure the actual components are different and designed to handle 4 cells.
my three mnke’s arrived and was taking outside for some testing. dude, this thing puts out a ridiculous amount of light.
on low mode, its about as bright as my srk on high mode. but the ak47 is still floodier.
on medium mode, it completetly eats the srk for lunch and dominates the tk70 in brightness and flood.
on high mode, you have the sun in your hands! i does get warm pretty darn fast on high mode though. which is a major joy kill, because high mode is just soooo much fun you almost gotta tell your self ok…thats it. let the bad boy rest for a minute.
but richie did tell me he had it on medium mode for 30 minutes and it was fine. so not all is lost here. in medium mode, it still destroys all my lights! so im very happy with this light!
LOL…I told you high end cells coupled with 3 together make a very big difference from only 2 cells. I was also manipulating the light between high and low for that 30 minutes. Nothing worse than working hard on a light to shine like the sun, only to burn it up during testing, which there was no way I was going to let happen with my lights.
So before you were pushing 57 watts gross, now you’re up past 90 watts gross. Enjoy!
EDIT: If you have a big open field near you, see if you can get a friend to help you take some beam shots compared to the TK-70 or SR King… J)
i have never taken beam shots or posted any pictures on any forums in my life. when i tried taking some pictures to test for my own self, the picture turned out soooo crappy and blurry, i didnt no what the heck was going on.
i was trying to take some beam shots of a tree that was about 350 feet away with my sony cyber shot 12 mega pixel and 4x zoom. i tried zooming and then taking the picture, all blurry. then i tried taking a picture no zoom, still crappy.
so i dont think my camera is good enough for beam shots.
maybe my brother can help me out, he has a much better camera. but when i hear you guys say exposure this, exposure that, bring it down, up, 0, and other numbers…im like what the heck are you guys talking about??? i didnt even know cameras have these options. hahah
Ray, if your brother is into cameras, he’ll certainly have a tripod, which is essential for taking night shots. Don’t even attempt it without a tripod, and the reason the photos are blurry. He’ll also know how to adjust the camera settings that would allow the rest of us to basically see the same thing you and your brother would be seeing while taking the photo.
I don’t have a TK-70, but know how great they can be. I know I’d love to see what your AK-47 could do up against an all out thrower like that, and I’m sure the forum would like to see it as well. Even though the AK likely can’t beat it in throw, I’m sure it’ll be very interesting to see both types of beams.
