New Folomov 18650s

LightObsession · 2019-02-04T19:58:56.000Z

djozz:

Hmm, has anyone else this?: when the battery is low my Folomov 18650S does a stepdown, once it has done that it will not respond to the switch anymore, so not switching modes and not even turn off. Breaking battery contact for a moment switches the light off and the switch works again to switch the light on, once the light is on again, the switch does not do anything anymore. The battery measured 3.4V when this all happened. Changing to a charged battery fixes everything.

It could be caused by the little led that I soldered (with inline resistor) between batt+ and batt- so that I have a lighted switch on this model, so it is very well possible that no one else has this (minor IMO) problem.

Mine had that problem, which was exacerbated by the battery draining all by itself in a day or two when the light was off and sitting on the table. This problem wasn’t obvious in the first week of use, though.

The first UI malfunction that I noticed was the already reported problem of most of the time when clicking from Moonlight to what should be the last memorized mode, it would go to Turbo, instead, regardless of what mode it was in when last turned off.

I already wasn’t very pleased with the “Wave” mode sequence - it took way to long to get back to a lower setting, once you had passed it up.

I returned mine for a refund because of the two malfunctions. Customer service was excellent for the return - they provided a UPS return shipping label and provided the refund to my PayPal the day that the light was picked up by UPS.

I was really bummed when I experienced the UI and didn’t like it. Then I had the two functional problems.

I really liked the form factor of the light and the feel in the hand and the beam shape and tint were acceptable to me. I still haven’t found a replacement light that’s anywhere near as compact. I have since purchased a Sofirn 32A and a BLF A6 and am currently carrying the A6. Neither of these lights feels as good in my hand as the Folomov 18650S, but I do like their UIs better.

Lux-Perpetua · 2019-02-05T12:57:23.000Z

Can anyone help me, please? After the Nichia 219D has been replaced by the Samsung LH351D 5000K 90CRI the Folomov 18650S will automatically turn on as soon as a battery is placed into the light. Any hint what could have caused this?

Tom_E · 2019-02-05T13:49:43.000Z

If the button is working ok (not stuck or something), could be something is shorted from the re-assembly, or possibly damaged

djozz · 2019-02-05T14:45:45.000Z

The UI of this light seems pretty sensitive to anything, I do not think that they did any work on robustness of the firmware and electronics.

Still I’m fond of it because it is different from any other light, and surprises keep popping up

Oli · 2019-02-06T03:30:26.000Z

2 options now on amazon. 3400 battery with 960 lumens and 5000k. I’ve been using it daily for a week. I was kind of hoping that the 5000k was a misprint or only applied to the highest setting based on previous discussion. I really wanted the 3000k. So now I’m going to get the original one. And the instructions mention that only the two low modes will work if the battery is at 10%. It never gets hot, step down from turbo after about a minute. I The only problem I have is learning to press and hold to shut it off. This is replacing an Olight s30rIII after two years only because I wanted something warmer and slightly smaller. *Corrected to “turbo” step down

LightObsession · 2019-02-06T03:02:37.000Z

Oli:

2 options now on amazon. 3400 battery with 960 lumens and 5000k. I’ve been using it daily for a week. I was kind of hoping that the 5000k was a misprint or only applied to the highest setting based on previous discussion. I really wanted the 3000k. So now I’m going to get the original one. And the instructions mention that only the two low modes will work if the battery is at 10%. It never gets hot, step down from high after about a minute. I The only problem I have is learning to press and hold to shut it off. This is replacing an Olight s30rIII after two years only because I wanted something warmer and slightly smaller.

Can a Nichia 219D be either 3000k or 5000k? The Amazon ad shows both to be 219D.

Oli · 2019-02-06T03:44:50.000Z

I don’t know if the 219D can be both 3000K and 5000K. But that’s part of why I thought it was a misprint or only applied to turbo. I’ll have the 3000K here after Thursday to compare them both side by side with identical batteries. Edit. The 5000K that I have is neutral but definitely not as yellow and warm as pictures and videos I’ve seen of the 3000K

HONDARIDER · 2019-02-06T04:10:36.000Z

Best thing I did with this light is put an XPL-HI in 4000K in it. Bought a cheap hot air station just for this. I use it all the time (Hot Air Station & the 18650S). Run times on higher levels have quadrupled if not more. I carry it every day. Love the size of this light. Thought about trying an XPL-HD for a more floody beam, just grown partial to the HI version. I have 2 so I may change that one to the HD.

LightObsession · 2019-02-06T04:30:26.000Z

Hondarider, what is a hot air station?

Cereal_killer · 2019-02-06T05:35:52.000Z

Just received my 3rd 18650s today. I’m only carying the one I already have an Attiny in but the other 2 will be used as soon as I’ve got a driver ready!

Can anyone ID the part labeled U2 on the board? Marked B1B5B

toddcshoe · 2019-02-06T05:45:57.000Z

Oli:

I don’t know if the 219D can be both 3000K and 5000K. But that’s part of why I thought it was a misprint or only applied to turbo. I’ll have the 3000K here after Thursday to compare them both side by side with identical batteries. Edit. The 5000K that I have is neutral but definitely not as yellow and warm as pictures and videos I’ve seen of the 3000K

Hope Folomov did something to that light to make it better. The ones a lot of us bought got very very hot on turbo and the LED was being overdriven to a point of changing to a weird blue color with a fully charged cell. I swapped emitters on mine and did one for a friend. Hope you get a good one.

HONDARIDER · 2019-02-06T22:23:02.000Z

LightObsession:

Hondarider, what is a hot air station?

Look up the 858d Hot Air Station. It’s a small heat gun put simply. You can control air flow and heat. Made for soldering when an iron is not feasible. In this case the positive post is soldered to the mcpcb and the led cannot be removed with a hot plate. Works wonders. There should be some youtube videos if you want to see how well they work. Best $35 I spent lately.

toddcshoe · 2019-02-06T06:11:58.000Z

Cereal_killer:

Just received my 3rd 18650s today. I’m only carying the one I already have an Attiny in but the other 2 will be used as soon as I’ve got a driver ready!

Can anyone ID the part labeled U2 on the board? Marked B1B5B

Some kind of 2 input gate logic maybe?

pc_light · 2019-02-06T15:49:08.000Z

BTW, for those who don’t like the Press-Hold to turn Off but still like the light otherwise (size, tint, etc), the Folomov 18650s actually runs good in Tactical Mode. It converts to operate as a forward clicky, with momentary Tactical (Turbo only however.)

Press-hold for Turbo / release to turn Off
or
Click to turn On in Turbo / Click to turn Off

(or Double-click for Strobe)

Cereal_killer · 2019-02-06T16:57:25.000Z

toddcshoe:

Cereal_killer:

Just received my 3rd 18650s today. I’m only carying the one I already have an Attiny in but the other 2 will be used as soon as I’ve got a driver ready!

Can anyone ID the part labeled U2 on the board? Marked B1B5B

Some kind of 2 input gate logic maybe?

I have a transistor tester that can handle logic gates yet when testing this thing it returns “no results”. Actually the very first test in my tester it came back as 2 diodes,every time after that returned no results.

I get zero hits on Google for “B1B5B”

LightObsession · 2019-02-06T18:10:48.000Z

Cereal_killer:

Just received my 3rd 18650s today. I’m only carying the one I already have an Attiny in but the other 2 will be used as soon as I’ve got a driver ready!

Can anyone ID the part labeled U2 on the board? Marked B1B5B

So, you replaced the stock driver in the 18650S with an Attiny driver?

This is the first time I’ve heard of an Attiny.

How does the light operate now?

Thanks, I really dislike the stock “Wave” UI.

HONDARIDER · 2019-02-17T06:11:16.000Z

Due to my lack of knowledge in general with flashlights, can someone explain what the resistors on the mcpcb actually controls? If it controls current to the LED, could adding a resistor increase output? I have put a 3000K XP-L HI on my 18650s and would love to increase the output a little more. I have already swapped the spring with pair of BlueSwordM’s springs.

Tom_E · 2019-02-17T14:17:46.000Z

HONDARIDER:

Due to my lack of knowledge in general with flashlights, can someone explain what the resistors on the mcpcb actually controls? If it controls current to the LED, could adding a resistor increase output? I have put a 3000K XP-L HI on my 18650s and would love to increase the output a little more. I have already swapped the spring with pair of BlueSwordM’s springs.

Here's a pic:

The R14 is the only resistor I see and doesn't appear to have anything to do with current, though it could. I didn't measure it. Typically current carrying resistors are big, but it could be a current sense resistor.

Best thing is to do what you can to the springs and LED wires. I think Martin measured 3.6 amps so that's pretty good and also explains the stock LED turning blue. It's probably the best you can get out of this driver. It could very well be FET based, but it's a small 3 legged FET perhaps.

Cereal_killer · 2019-02-17T17:15:06.000Z

The resistors at the head are bleed resistors and have zero to do with current to the LED. They simply allow positive voltage to “bleed” (leak) into the body so it gets back to the tail where the driver is.

On the driver R14 is a simple gate resistor for the FET and also has zero to do with current.

If you just want to experiment you can swap the FET it’s self for a more capable one (say IRLML2502) but I didnt spec the stock D181C, it may be plenty good enough that even a top tier SOT-23-3 FET (such as the mentioned IRLML2502) won’t increase real world performance any.

Best bet is to use it how it is and wait for me to finish my BLF based driver. I’m waiting on boards now…

HONDARIDER · 2019-02-17T17:36:21.000Z

Greatly appreciate your responces. I’ll leave it alone for now.