Thought you are supposed to be using something like a Xeno E03 for close up work, not a triple XM-L. heh....
Point taken. ;)
Okay guys... I cant believe it.. just went to the post office to get a registered mail from yesterday and it was a package from manafont.. Im still waiting for some other manafont packages.. But when I opened it... it was the Skyray 818 ! Holy crap! Whats going on with german customs? It was dispatched 16.08 and arrives 24.08 ?!? just 8 days? New china record for me!
First off all... Decent build quality.. aaaaaaand... its no Hi-Mid-Low and no Hi-Med-Strobe.. Its a 5-Mode Version o__O
And holy crap... first DMM measures 3.78A out of two Trustfire @ 4.0V
Will come back later with some pictures
3.78A, shit that's high! Better use some good cells. I'd be interested in some NCR18650/NCR18650 or XTAR 18700s fully charged at 4.2V. Best is if you reference to other lights with a lux meter ceiling bounce measurement. (coz you know how inaccurate how cells + DMM figures can be and vary ALL over the place).
BTW is the drop-in with threads? Careful when unscrewing, or maybe you can don't unscrew totally at all and just confirm if its a screw-on reflector (for good heatsinking to the host). The wires as they can twist and come off.
This would make the most sense, since these similar ones are also 5-mode:
http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sky-ray-3t6850-4300lumen-mode-memory-led-flashlight-black-finish-218650-p-7870
http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sky-ray-3t6850-4300lumen-mode-memory-led-flashlight-titaninum-finish-218650-p-7869
Sorry have to retreat... It stabilzes after a few seconds at ~3.45A at high with trustfire flames @ 4.00V.. But my DMM is kind a crap.. So I wouldnt trust it that much :D .. I also have some empty xtar and hi-max here... So damn... Im still waiting for a charger I ordered one month ago :( as well a new DMM, Probes and a Luxmeter
Well if its screwed I cant say... I cannot move the reflector.. seems to be glued? Maybe the experts can say something, dont want to damage it
Well DasEtwas, you can screw off the main tube and show us a picture of the terminals/spring of the head?
here we go.. sorry for bad light conditions... not prepared well :D
That's the revision 0, same stuff as the DRY. Good stuff. BTW be careful of shorting out the emitters +/- solders with the reflector base. Those soft circular pads are there for a reason.
Sorry but give me the Trustfire 3T6 any day. It looks like a job that I could do, sticking the PCBs on the body, soldering the wires and threading it through the bottom to the driver.
At least TF has the screw-in LED head but then again, no idea what's in there.
OK, after about 8 minutes into a little heat up test I just conducted, the light shut off. I turned it back on and it stayed lit for about 5 more seconds - then off again. Either the protection is kicking in on the batteries or the light is regulating itself somehow. When a pair of fresh AW 2600 protecteds were inserted while the light was still quite warm, it continued to run for another 10 minutes or so until I turned it off due to heat issues.
I know it's been said before, but make sure you use good cells in these lights! Tailcap amps were tested @3.10 on high using the fresh AWs.
2100 - If has DRY guts, does that mean it should be able to handle 3 x 18650s?
Having the LEDs mounted directly into the head (like the 818) is a better design for powerful LED flashlights. It helps remove the heat better than a screw thread module.
Same way how the SR3800 works, it's exactly the same driver but different components. Shao, better don't rely on the electronics to auto-shutdown, this is a boost and current regulated driver and easily doing just under 5 amps before it shut down (the SR3800 rose to 4 amps before shutdown, i measured it spiralling upwards). That's a great way to mess up the driver. I messed up mine this way, like 20 times auto-shutdown due to the high number of tests i put my light through.
The DRY driver and Sky Ray drivers are not the same. I am betting that the DRY one is more reliable, simply because it is not a boost driver. (but no matter what I got 3 x direct drive and 3 more 4-mode drivers on standby, and worst come to worse i just wire directly to the cells for 1 - mode DD). This "revision 0" has the ability to just DD easily, go to some mountaineous region at - 30 deg C with a good breeze, slot in some good Panasonic NCR18650A or NCR18650CH and see it haul some ass of custom LED lights.
Fair enough.
If someone is handy, he can even CNC and mount like 2mm thick copper plates at the back touching the sides, and 1mm copper plate on the emitter side and remount the MCPCB on the copper with the best thermal compound. DD it, it will go crazy during cold weather. DX needs to bring the revision 0 to the masses at $46 shipped with registered shipping. :D
I've found that pre-1983 US pennies are 100% copper. I glue them down onto a piece of 2x4 and grind them smooth on my belt sander, then flip, reglue, and smooth the other side down. I call them my copper mini-sinks and I can usually find a good place to glue one or two of them down into. They're especially handy if you need to raise or lower your LED inside the reflector.
Anyway... Some crappy beamshots - These don't do it justice... Both pictures were taken seconds apart in a darkened room ~11AM.
Manafont Ultrafire 3-mode XM-L T6 drop-in wrapped in copper in L2T host with McClicky switch, AR coated UCL lens, and freshly charged AW IMR 18650, target was the brown door in the distance:
Manafont Sky Ray 3xT6-818 "4000 lumen" light on a pair of freshly charged protected AW 2600 cells, same target:
..sorry, I don't know how to post images here yet...
White wall shots at close distance are better at showing the sheer brutality that this thing exhibits over the Manafont drop-in... It is insanely bright and as you can tell, super floody...
You recieved a 5-mode one, but did you order the 3-mode or 5-mode version when you placed the order?
I ordered the 3-mode ofc :) And afaik there is no 5-Mode available (officialy) - I will complain to them tomorrow, that they will correct it on the page
So this is basically a Rev 0/OG SR3800 with slightly bigger head, at least for now before they figure out how to make a drop-in of it... :bigsmile:.
I see the bezel is screwed differently than on Skyray 3800 versions or the Trustfire. Are there seals and are they in proper places?