Sure thing. I took it in the first place you had the battery and was trying to make sure it would fit your inbound C8. 
Nothing wrong with protected batteries, don’t be in a rush to get unprotected till you get familiar & comfortable with Li Ion’s in general.
“Hey, if you ever want to get any more batteries, ASK ME.” 
I’ve had people innocently ask me if they should get Bonfire or Housefire batteries, “because they’re 4000 mehs instead of the 3400 mehs you got me”. Just the look on my face usually screams “Noooooo!!!” without saying a word.
Good pernt; never thought of that.
I like protected Panny-Bs. Sue me. I use them with all premade drop-ins I bought (no idea what’s under the hood), and with non-105C drivers (diode + #×7135), because they don’t have LVP.
Those lights with 105Cs, no problem, I’ll throw in one of my Samsungs or LGs.
Yeah, those who sell more batteries… 
I gotta confess, though, one of my fave little chargers is
https://www.fasttech.com/p/1229701
which I’ve been using pretty much extensively for, well, a long time. My i4 hasn’t seen daylight in about as long.
It’s a sloooooow charge, so it’ll go overnight and then some if you start from 2.8V or so, but so what? Most people I’d give these to, aren’t the kind of people who’d need <1hr charging. I even keep one in my bag so I can charge up at work, etc. Fits 71mm cells just fine, too. No problem with protected Panny-Bs.
And at 2bux a pop, I probably got like 10 at this point (some given away).
Hi, my first post on here and a total noob. Spent too much time on here already reading all the great info this forum provides.
Apologies if this is a stupid question but I wanted some clarification of the above.
I've read somewhere that (for example) a 4x7135 flashlight running at 100% is more efficient (longer runtime) than a 8x7135 flashlight running at 50% (not sure how much longer). Am I correct for thinking this firmware using the half power groups makes the light behave/run as though its a 4x7135 light? ie A light with this firmware would have a longer runtime than an identical light with the old firmware both running at 50%?
I was about to take the plunge and buy my first flashlight, probably one with 4 (or 6) chips to maximise runtime. But from what I gather above I could essentially now buy a 8x7135 and run it at the half power mode to get the same runtime? I hope you understand what I'm trying to ask! :D
Thanks
Welcome to BLF!
You are correct; a 4x7135 light at 100% should be more efficient than a 8x7135 light running at 50. So, the half-power modes on this are less efficient than a full-power mode on a driver with half the chips removed. But the difference isn’t very large. According to djozz’s measurements, a XP-L V6 emitter should produce about 700 lumens at 1.5 amps or about 1275 lumens at 3 amps. The circuit only goes on and off, no intermediate levels, so half power means flashing on and off very quickly and it doesn’t really increase efficiency. That means the 50 mode should do 50% of 1275, or ~638 lumens. As compared to 700 lumens for a native 1.5 amp driver.
The runtime for both should be about the same, but the half-of-3-amps driver would perhaps be about 9% dimmer. Human eyes can’t generally see a difference of 9% though.
The point of the half-power mode groups isn’t efficiency; it’s convenience. It provides an easy way to limit the maximum power without changing any hardware.
The new firmware may increase runtime by offering a few lower modes (like 1% instead of 5%), but it won’t change the runtime for anything running at the same power level as an older driver. One amp is one amp, regardless of what’s being done with it.
Long story short, the 4-chip driver should be about 10% brighter than the 8-chip driver at half-power, but the runtime should be the same. In person it would be hard to tell the difference, even with both lights side-by-side.
Understood. Thanks for such a prompt and precise reply.
From reading previous posts on the matter I somehow assumed that the difference would be much greater. :person_facepalming:
One quick question.
Is Convoy C8 or other light this type with XPL HI V2 or V3 ( with standard driver that comes with flashlight ) enough for use Samsung ICR18650-26F with 5.2A or any other battery about 5A or it need some which is capable of delivering 10A or something between ?
The ICR18650-26F is enough. In stock form the highest powered Convoy C8 draws 2.8A from battery at highest mode. In other lights depend on driver. In an astrolux A6, S2 or S3 you need a high drain battery because these can draw 4-5A from battery if you bypass springs.
One very quick OT question, if I may?
Is there any rhyme or reason to the letter-designations of Convoy lights? There’s S#, M#, L#, and C# (eg, S5, M2, L6, C8), that I know of offhand.
I can maybe come up with Small/Medium/Large/C-something (Compact)? Or is that just reading into it too much?
Just curious…
I think the C8 is called a C8 because it’s kind of a standard model across several manufacturers. It existed before Convoy did. Otherwise, I think the small/medium/large thing is probably correct. And then there’s the BD line, which I don’t know the reason for. Battery something, probably, since they have a charger built in.
I thought maybe BD comes from Dipper, such as the Dipper BD01 and Dipper BD02 found on banggood. Maybe BD means “Battery Dipper”, to indicate recharging capability?
I think J-Dub74 went with the L2 design for the L6 conveniently making the L stand for luxury
There should be a smaller L1? C8 model down the road.
BD series is not a Convoy design I thing. But could be wrong
S for small yeah that makes sense. The design of the tubes is also not that special it can be found on various branded lights.
AFAIK the L6 and maybe L2 are genuine Convoy designs and thus seeing a Panicfire light with same design in future would tell us it is Chinese borrowed 
I would love to see that smaller L1 and a real brand line up from Convoy like Olight has for example.
Hmm, thanks, all y’all.
Was curious why I could never find a convoy.com or anything, outlining which models were available, features/pix of each, etc., despite easily finding all sorts of Convoy lights at FT, GB, BG, MTN, etc.
All I noticed was that the S series was all tube-lights, the L series the bigger donks, and the M series somewhere in-between. No idea where the C8 fit in, and thought the C stood for Convoy.
There is a topic about where the C8 came from, yes found it:
The Samsung 26F will even run a direct drive FET style light, it just won’t give the absolute output a lower internal resistance cell is capable of. They’re decent cells though, and sometimes it’s nice to have a lesser cell to put in the A6 or X6 for loaning to a friend so it doesn’t get so hot if he abuses it.
Any news on this?
Quick question about the clear C8… aside from CW/NW/WW, are there any other “tweaks” or options possible?
AR, want. DTP, want. NW XP-L HI, want. Everything else, want. Only tweak I’d want is a different driver, a 2.1A (6×7135) 1-mode. Oh, and a forward-clicky, mustmustmust have (willing to buy separately, no big deal, uhh, as long as the threads match).
I specifically need a super-thrower with no chance of flipping modes under any circumstances, and it needs to have momentary-on (hence the forward-clicky).
Now, I looked at the XinTD, and yes to the forward-clicky, but no XP-L HI (XM-L2 only, I believe), and not sure of the driver (it’s 8×7135, and I’m hoping it can be kept on indefinitely vs needing a cooling-off period).
Basically, I’d love to pick’n’choose from different menus, but…
Yeah, I have my own 2.1A 105Cs, but for once I’d like to be lazy and just buy one off the rack vs rolling my own. I got the host (real Convoy, type 2), bare XP-L HIs on the way, but just for once I want to not have to reflow and solder and reflash and do the usual grunt-work building my franken-8.
I’ve got 20mm 6×7135 drivers (no µC), but not 17mm. Not enough trace around the edge to shave down to 17mm. I’d be okay with a 2.1A 105C flashed to 1-mode-only (wfo), or have the µC’s PWM output hardwired always-on.
If I have to, franken-8 it is.
So, any chance of getting a forward-clicky, and 1-mode driver (iff it’ll run at 2.8A for long periods w/o cooking the LED)? Worse comes to worse I can desolder’n’remove 2 7135s.
Yeah, I’m a pain…
The S2+ can be run at 2.8 A until the battery runs off without issues, but your hand may suffer a bit. I don’t believe that the bigger C8 could have worse thermal management than the S2+.
I own several BD lights that I bought directly from Simon on his Aliexpress store. Came in a Convoy box and was even labeled:
“Convoy
BD03” directly on the light.
I’ve seen them called “Big Dipper” but don’t recall if that was on a Convoy site or some other site. I believe that the BD line are all USB rechargeable, but I’m not certain.
Maybe Simon could clear this up personally?
Mahalo
Honestly, I tend to design very conservatively, so even though an LED can probably handle 5A+ and elevated temps for a while without bursting into flames, I try to at least keep things manageable for the LED regardless, if anything for better lumen-maintenance. (I’m one of those weirdos who uses AS5 as thread-lube screwing in a pill to the case.)
Hey, I had a ’98 for about a year, ran it full tilt all the time without a second thought, and was horrified when I discovered the hollow pill, so now it’s in pieces waiting for me to copper-fill the bugger somehow (and drive it at ~2A vs <1A). The floating star never transferred much heat to the case or the pill, and now I know it was because it was all bottled up in the LED. Eep!
So yeah, I’d rather let my hand tell me things are getting a little too toasty, vs not knowing the silent-scream of the poor little critter as it was suffering.
And I probably wouldn’t be keeping it on for too long in one burst anyway, but you never know when you might have to.