Lovingly referred to as “the bic lighter” of Cree flashlights
Occasionally it’s fun to play with one, even tweak em up a tiny bit (believe it or not a XM-L on 16mm epoxy/RTV’d down makes it much more substantial)…but there are MUCH better “budget” rigs…look to the Convoy series
I LOVE my first ever Sipik SK68 and SK98 clones…but I have found lights that make them really underwhelming…jack of all trades, master of none
With that said…I have a Convoy S5 on my hip, but I have one of the first SK68 clones in my pocket…I don’t think I have ever taken it but I know it’s there
I have bought no less than 18 of them (none of them cost more than $4 each)…they make GREAT gifts!!!
Yeah its not cost effective to fix them. But its pretty easy to spend $20 on a flashlight and I like these.
I’ll have to check out the Convoy. Any others? Yeah I already gave one away!
I got this back together, but it’s noticeably dimmer than other 2. Is it my crummy soldering or just how these go? I used 60/40 rosin core, but I think it touched the tip to melt.
Gotta be careful on soldering the leads on the emitter base, gotta use a bit of extra solder on the tip to ensure maximum heat flow (remember it’s a heatsink) its easy to get a cold solder joint if you aren’t careful
Oh duh of course its a heatsink. Forgot. Well hey I should remeber now.What happens if I get a cold solder joint? Also what happens if I melt the solder with the iron then work it around a bit ?
Is it possible its dimmer because of a bad solder? Did I fry the emitter ?
cold solder joint = possible high resistance, weak connection, put on a glob of flux before you remelt it, then clean tip good, melt a bit of solder on tip, then put that fresh melted solder on the pad, wait a second and it should reflow just fine
OK so I am trying to get the light bright again and I was trying to see how much current was flowing through the emitter.
Realized somehow that if I touched the solder joint and the side of the light with the lead to make a connection the light got brighter by a lot. So does that mean its my crappy soldering? Or what?
I’m more of a visual kind of guy, but what I think you are describing is causing the light to go into direct drive, bypassing the driver altogether. It’s a fun way to push emitters very hard but is mostly just a ‘wow light’.
Yup…shorting goes to direct drive, pushing ALOT of power thru the emitter, not good for the emitter, not as bright = running power thru the driver (which is a regulator) thus not as bright but nowhere near as hard on the driver
Probably not. If you had a bad connection it probably wouldn’t run at all when you clicked the button.
As others have stated what is probably happening is in the brighter mode you’re completely bypassing the driver and going into direct drive. In direct drive you might be getting 3 amps to the emitter or more depending on what resistance is present from springs and wiring, what type and size of battery you’re using, and the type of emitter.
In the “dimmer mode” your light is going through the driver circuitry. The driver limits the current to the LED. For that light, perhaps to 500 or maybe 700 mAh…… which could be 1/4 or less of direct drive.
In regulating current, the driver does the following:
keeps the LED from overheating.
Keeps output more stable
reduces overall output
extends battery life
depending on the driver programming, it may allow multiple brightness modes.
If you want high regulated output with modes, you may need to replace the stock driver with a better one.
And the ONLY 15mm 14500 driver thus far that does better modes and higher power is the new 15mm OSHPark FET based one created by Mattaus…of which is new and untested (for now )
Not a problem since the 17mm Nanjg 105c (which comes in many flavors with many mode choices) can be fitted into a Sipik 68 with a little filing. It might float in the space below the pill but it still fits.
Yeah…I’m still fidding with one trying to do just that…undercutting the pill for relief slots for the 7135 chips is a pain…still need some work but I think I can get it to fit
Forgot. Well hey I should remeber now.What happens if I get a cold solder joint? Also what happens if I melt the solder with the iron then work it around a bit ?
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