Oh this is definitely nasty stuff. What’s there on the right side of the coil in the last pic, looks like a bigger resistor…maybe that is the sensing one? Can you peel it and check?
I have used some of the 3T6 drivers, as some other guys here too and they seem to be very reliable even modded.
There is the measurement I did with it:
It is standard 5 mode with memory and 4.4A through the emitters…which is a bit low for us…modded to 6A it has a good ratio between runtime, light and heat.
Also the modding is described in this thread.
But I don’t know the lightmall drivers, because I did my first purchase from them last week so I am curious how they work.
That the driver. I believe the STL-V6 is the Fandyfire single XML, the Skyray single XML is the STL-V2.
As far as the other 3 mode group goes: I have located a small solder bridge which when soldered sets the modes to high, low and strobe…. but the output is still a fraction of what it should be.
I am hesitant to touch the sensing resistor for now… if I change it and it goes back to full output then output will probably be in excess of 20W… a bit more then I need, and approaching the level where I might damage the LED.
I’m getting ready to give up on this light. I cant seem to find a driver that can push 3 x XML past .5A each using two cells. I realize if I upgraded the original small diameter wires I might squeeze a bit more, but not much. Not one of the $60 of drivers I got from Lightmalls looks anything like those pictured.
I’d like to attain at least 2.5A per emitter, but driving 3 x XML with 8.4V doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
This flashlight has been a nightmare from the day it arrived in my mailbox.
Oh boy - got my FF STL-V2 in pieces right now, and I got a driver upgrade for it that should really boost the amps... Don't recall details - it's been sitting around for months... I'll try looking up the details this eve. I know I did use the same driver on a friend's light who's driver died: triple LED, 2 cell and it worked great! Awesome increase in output. Dunno f it's still available, but in the least, I could give you my old driver... Oh, think the driver I'm using is a boost/buck that's a bit pricey... Maybe $15-$18 or so... May have been from Hank, in which case he's dropped it then.
The driver I had planned to get for it was from Hank, but alas, when i went to order, it was gone. The stock driver in mine gave .5A per. No matter what their specs say, all the drivers I’ve tried will only give .5A with two cells. I am now very leery about any triple two cell lights, and I won’t even bother reading the specs on single cell triples.
There’s also this one at LCK. This light that never worked from the get-go cost $35. Maybe I should cut my losses and just buy a $70 light. I’m just worrying about finally driving it properly only to find the reflector sucks.
Ok - checked mine. I bought it from IOS back in June. On June 4th, for my stock FF STL-V2 I measured:
- 2.42A at the tail (4.84A effective)
- lumens: 1,632 @start, 1,604 @ 30 secs
- throw: 18.7 kcd (measured at 4.3m)
The new driver supposed to produce 2.6A to 3A, I assume to the LED's in series, so should bump up current and output quite a bit. After installing the same driver in a TF TR-3T6, I got:
- 4.0A at the tail
- lumens: 2,271-2,152
- throw: 27 kcd
all with the stock XML T6's. This is a little better than my stock SRK.
My only experiences with "FandyFire" as a brand, if you really consider it a brand..., has been very good. Got the FF version of the SRK -excellent condition and performace -- worked on FF HD 2010's and no better or no worse than any others - and my FF STL-V2 is in excellent condition inside and out. The TF TR-3T6 was total crap though - worse I've seen in maybe any light I've worked on. This was bought off of eBay and looked like it was repaired, or fiddled with, or just really poor sloppy work in the assembly.
As a budget brand, I've found UniqueFire to be a littel better than the rest, but of course it's all a crap shoot.
I went with the FandyFire because I liked my FF Warrior. Like your TF TR-3T6, my STL-V2 looks like a factory reject, or a return that was sloppily cobbled together by a five year old. I’m a little gun shy. I was going to buy an FF HD2010, but I’m glad I took your advice and got the Tangsfire. Actually, I ordered three of them.
I finally got around to fixing my STL-V2. I was going to keep the original XM-Ls on aluminum boards, but the pads were a little to close to the emitter. The original wires were like whiskers (30AWG) . I ended up using XM-L U2 1A on Noctigons
The original emitter setup was series, but I needed to reconfigure to parallel so I could try a 7A driver I had. I used 22AWG which I’m sure will play hell in centering the reflector.
Although not shown, I used the wing type centering insulators. I also covered the underside of the reflector with Klapton tape.
The driver wouldn’t fit into the pill, so I removed the anodizing, and just set it on top. To keep it in place, I just stuck a thermal pad on the bottom of the emitter plate that holds the driver tight when the pill is screwed onto the head.
This is the stupidest designed light have yet to encounter. The head is in three pieces that screw together causing all the fixed components and wires to twist themselves into knots. I utilized the the center screw hole for the reflector to minimize wire twist. I spent the whole day tracking down shorts and ripped out wires caused by trying to screw everything together. The wires kept winding up like an elastic band powered airplane.
I could go into detail of my hardships, but let’s just leave at “the light works”.
With two cells in series I’m getting a tail reading of 3.8A. That’s a total of 7.6A for about 2.5A per emitter. That’s a lot better than the stock 0.5A it came with. The driver has five modes with memory.
I had the light apart so many times my emitter centering and Klapton tape need to be fixed up, but for now I’m happy I got it going.
, but I assume you could calculate based on amp draw - not sure what the driver cutoff is.
