I could not get the TR-1200 extension (65mm) to thread on the Skyray body or extensions, but the heads were threaded the same so I just used the Skyray head with the TR-1200 3x18650 body.
Three good 18650s make for a lot of light. If I fry it, oh well, it was already useless. :)
2 in series would bea 8.4V thereabouts, it'd only drive the 3 x XM-L at maybe 300 lumens or so. You can look at the Cree spec sheet for specs. http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXM-L.pdf
BTW i'd like to mention to take care of safety and Li-ion cells balancing, since this is a high drive app. Actually the same goes for the stock SR3800. When i see people selling cheap unprotected Ultrafire cells on Ebay and with so many successful bids, i really get scared. I'd say 2 x 32600 5AH kaidomain cells unprotected is much much safer with a safety concious guy who follows SOP.
I have an idea, if at a later stage the driver solution does not work out, you could take out the reflector and bypass one of the LEDs so that you work with 2 XM-Ls. Then you can use 2 x 18650s. Will still get you emitter 1800 lumens at least.
Ah..that's good, so the TR-1200 head can fit. 3 x 18650 @ 4.0V unloaded definitely would not fry anything after the sag even with the powerful Panasonics. Try it. I tried 3 x IMR 18500 @ 4.22V, i got like 3.7A on the meter, so in reality i think not so much even with the tailcap. If you have a lux meter it is interesting to see the effects of over-driving + effect of host temperature on brightness.
Uhh... I'm getting 5A on 3 AW 2900s @ 4.1v resting.
Guess I'm gonna have to try to stick the meter in front of it to see what I get.
I told you 4.0V, not 4.1V. LOL! With other batteries it ain't that bad. With cells which have a higher internal resistance, they are pretty ok. Issue is some protected cells would get their PCB tripped.
As you'd see from your own cell discharge graphs, there is very little capacity to take advantage of from 4.0V to 4.2V. Not much use for DD actually esp for the powerful cells. Gotta strike a balance man! Since you have a hobby charger which lets you determine the end point, this is easy to charge as a set.
If you want, just get some Sanyo 2600s from Ric (cnqualitygoods), 5.50 for one, tag it to your next order of flashlight from him. Or just get Rev Jim's Panny CGR18650CH for $17.50 10pcs.
Mitro, get some ice cubes on the head. Remove the glass lens if you can as it can condense. You will be shocked at 4.0A performance.....it is like removing the speed limiter of your supercar.
Eh... I knocked the ground spring off the dropin (thanks to my lousy soldering) and I know when a flashlight is telling me to give it up for the night (its 2am) :) I'll abuse this thing another time.
Hehe..yep, try tomorrow Sunday. Just solder to the middle point on the PCB trace, there is a positive trace there. I soldered to one of the traces at the edge for negative. Put the retaining pin and spring back, good to go! Just a 5 minute job, easy even for novices
I want to try this light out with 3 x 18350 BIO IMR, will this burn out the driver or will it go DD? I would love the option to make it a dragster type light, but don't want to lose regulation as an option when used with 2 x 18500/18650, or at the very least retain modes with DD high.
You would be the first to attempt this.
Do it.
:bigsmile:
Thanks 2100 for laying out my options. I should of made it more clear about what version I have. It is the drop-in without threads, version one I think. I guess I would have to crack that baby open to DD it. I will ponder my options.
i noticed that last night the new 4300 sky rays, if they dont perform any better then the first ones rev0 rev1 rev2 i would recomend the TrustFire TR-3T6 Triple XM-L (3x18650) as its cheaper but its truely regulated and should give longer run times with less heat and it does realy well with heat and long run times.
there is a TrustFire TR-3T6 Tripple XM-L 2x18650 thats has a claimed to be 2.5 amp regulated, just 0.5 amp less then the 3 x 18650 and both can run on 2 x 18650,s.
im not trying to rock the boat so to speak or upset the people who have brought the skyrays but these TR-3T6 are truely regulated draw less current over long runs and have better heat soak then a drop in so they should give longer run times and last longer.
lets hope the sky ray 4000 and 4300 have improved and blows the TR-3T6 away i have done some 30 and 45 min running draw test,s on the TR-3T6 if any one is intrested
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/3304
looks like manafont sell a replacment driver for the TR-3T6
Triple T6 Cree Circuit Board Driver
it might work for the burnt out sky rays...
i since been told it will not work with the skyrays
My 3800 could not operate more than 10 minutes at a time, because it would get too hot to hold. Let it cool, and repeat. No gunning here, just an extreme sensitivity to heat (me).
It died a premature death, indicative of the poor drop-in to flashlight body heat conduction, as well as an over-stressed driver.
Is it too much to ask, for a light to cycle 10 minutes? Apparently so, with this drop-in.
Just mark me "disappointed", as many other 3800 owners.
I haven't found many reports of failures of the screw-in design, similar lights.
Manafont has now discontinued the drop-in model flashlight.
My 818 is seriously throttled-back, to not much more than 1.75A on high. It arrived DOA, I had to fix it before using, so it was, and still is, a disappointment as well.
Difference in output was very apparent, compared to the 3800, while working.
I'm using the 3800 as a direct-drive "wow" light, now. Wow, is all I can say.
These are all WOW lights. Even for my TK70 with lots of heat mass, it gets too hit to hold after 10 mins in max...but for that light it is driven to 3A or pretty close to that. Nothing in the market can do hours at a time, unless you are in sub-zero weather.
But things change even when you have some wind and cool weather. Just 2hrs ago I was in the server room, just about 18 deg C so nothing too cold, but i put it at the floorboard vents. With a NCR18650A at full charge, after 20 mins and the body was just a bit warm to touch. This is with a Uniquefire UF-2100 which takes 3A, and it heats up crazy/even more than the DRY. As long as the thermal path from LED to outside host body is not bad or impeded, it is not a big problem. You don't need really fancy heatsink fins. Think sombody mentioned as you double the windspeed it is double the surface area already, so even a 1m/s wind is good.
I think for most of you guys, the weather is turning cooler, as you transit to winter in 2 month's time.
I'll start running with my power hungry lights then. I need the exercise. ;-]
That'd be good! That'd be about 8-9 kph for a slow jog, if you are fit 12-14kph is not a problem.
ive taken my TR-1200 on bush walks upto 85 mins it only draws under 2 amp but thats the longest walk ive taken it on being on high the whole time most walks are 30 to 50 mins with the light on high none stop.
my TR-3T6 gets walked on high mode for around 30 to 50 mins and has done a few bench test upto 1 hour with a small dest top fan and it gets used to get wood from our wood shed just about every night.
i think the constant current seams to help...
Friends I am using Skyray 3800 Lumens Flashlight which uses 2 No-18650 ultrafire batteries. Can I use extension tube to upgrade it for 3 batteries of 18650 ? Will it damage the driver circuits? overheating? If anyone has done this please advice me.Thanks