New Folomov 18650s

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.

LightObsession · 2019-02-17T20:02:48.000Z

Cereal_killer:

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.

I look forward to a better driver for the 18650S body.

My 18650S was defective, so I returned it. I didn’t care for the UI from the beginning and never warmed up to it.

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…

Oli · 2019-02-18T06:05:25.000Z

FOLOMOV made a few changes with the new version (5000K) of the 18650s. The biggest change is indeed the 5000K tint which is still in the neutral range. The threads on both ends of the tube are now finer and square cut. (Old threads are slightly courser and V cut). The color of the body is not black. I would describe it as a silver gray brown titanium with just a bit of a sheen. The instructions now state that when the battery is less than 10% “turbo,high and medium levels will not be available progressively.” What happens on mine is somewhere around 3.4 volts turbo does not work and as voltage drops further high and medium become unavailable. With a different battery at 2.6 volts I was able to switch between the two lowest modes and turn the light on and off with the switch. And I was able to switch to tactical mode which utilized the second-lowest mode. (I’ll go over low voltage on the 3000k model further down)
During the following test the original 3000K was running about 10F degrees hotter so the temps I mention are for the original 3000K. I ran them both on turbo with identical Wowtac 3400mah batteries at 4.15v for a few minutes and then quickly clicked them off and back on and temperatures can climb up to 130F . After one more minute and a quick off and on (still on turbo) temperatures climbed to over 140F. Cycled again after another minute I did see that strange blue light and I immediately shut it off at approximately 150F. The 3000K instructions did not talk about low voltage. Folomov website does state that only the two lower modes will work and the switch will not turn the light off below 10% battery. The reality is that happens somewhere just below 3.4 volts. So you must unscrew the tailcap to shut it off. You can turn it back on, but you can do nothing else with the switch below 3.4v. Both the old one and the new one have very sharp edges on the holes for the lanyard. That’s not too hard to fix using a small file or other sharp tool to scrape off some of the anodizing and chamfer the corners. At this point I much prefer the 3000k tint. I will continue to carry both of them for another few weeks to test them under various conditions and uses. Edit. the above stress test was done in the name of science because of all the complaints of overheating. Only when refreshing turbo do I have temperatures get above 120F.

LightObsession · 2019-02-18T06:06:04.000Z

Oil, thanks for your additional information.

I’ll likely wait for the UI to be modified before giving this light another try.

stephenk · 2019-02-24T11:06:46.000Z

I recently reviewed this light, more from a light painting photographer perspective:

Review: Folomov 18650S 18650 Flashlights

Folomov is a fairly new Chinese battery charger manufacturer, that has recently branched out into making flashlights. The newer cool white version of the Folomov 18650S flashlight has recently been featured by tube light painter Eric Paré. This review is of the warm white version. [image] Disclaimer This flashlight was sent to me for an honest review by Banggood. I received no commission from links or sales from Banggood. Product page. Construction The Folomov 18650S is a very compact 18650…

ToyKeeper · 2019-03-10T07:31:31.000Z

djozz:

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 :smiling_imp:

This makes me curious what kinds of surprises it has up its sleeve.

Mrdrewbear · 2019-03-12T20:28:14.000Z

I been carrying this flashlight since I got it in October on duty to replace my issued surefire 6px. I wanted a smaller flashlight that I could stick in my cargo pocket as I already have tons of stuff on my belt. I have changed the battery once since I had it and my biggest gripe or my own mistake is that I accidentally turn it on in my cargo pants depending on when i sit or move in the patrol car.

Besides that it works well for me as I work the night shift and use a flashlight daily. I have rotated between the SF 6px (too bright for my needs) and my non-ano blf a6 (just too shiny for my duty belt). I might try using a pen light next as I just want to lighten my daily load as possible but still have what I need.

The_Lightning_Stalke · 2019-05-13T06:09:27.000Z

Bezel is stuck on mine
Tried a soft jaw bottle opener but it’s extremely tight or glued (Purchased from Drop (formerly Massdrop)