Thanks everyone. I think it’s good enough. My SP33v3 is on the way already though.
Sorry for the late reply.
The exact frequency is 15.96 kHz. For measurement, I used a solar cell and an oscilloscope.
Cool. 16 kHz is about what the NarsilM and Anduril drivers use so I doubt anyone can complain.
SP33v3.0 has ‘good’ (fast) PWM. Can detect it only when pointing the light through a portable fan blades.
Here a positive story: I ordered my SP33 V3.0 (5000K + battery version) from China on march 29 and I received it on april 10 in the Netherlands.
Ordered a couple of the new 5000K without batteries on 13 March and tracking still says
“Despatch from Sorting Center
2020-03-25 20:06:02”
Also, AE has moved the goal posts. Originally was supposed to arrive before the end of this month, then suddenly they added two more weeks so now says
“Your order will be closed in: 20 days 8 hours 2 minutes”
@#$%&!
Had to open a dispute.
Seller made a new proposal
Proposal:
Refund US $ 0.00
Comments:
sorry,friend,due to the virus,many airlines closed,so the logistics update will be slower than usual,please understand.hope you can cancel the dispute.
AE settled in my favor.
AliExpress’ Judgment
Purchase Protection is running out, but package is still in transit Valid
Feel really bad about this because I’d placed five orders before with the Sofirn Official Store on AE for seven flashlights and never had a problem either with shipping or manufacture, was extremely satisfied with them all.
Weird thing, ordered a bunch of magnetic charging cables on eBay the other day and they shipped out almost immediately from the same place as the Sofirns originated, Guangzhou International Center — Tracking even listed the flight they’d be on.
Hope Sofirn sorts out their shipping problems.
I’m in (another) dispute with them right now through Paypal. An order from their website that made it to the shipping center on March 20th and hasn’t moved. They give the same response about shipping times.
I keep getting sucked back in trying to order from them because they make great lights at a great price. But almost every order has been problematic. Some have eventually made it to me, but half have never arrived (and that’s not an exaggeration). When will I learn?
My experience with them is you get a phony tracking number. It never shows your package leaving China . Sometimes you eventually get the order and sometimes you don’t .
But for some reason I keep making purchases .
I need some advice re my SP33 V3
2 questions.
1. The blue pilot light worked fine at first, going off after 5 secs but then stayed on. So I removed battery to reset firmware & all is back to normal. Anyone come across this ?
&
2. When charging the pilot light flashed red as it should but then after a hour or so it switched to blue for 1 sec & then back to flashing red. This was repeated. Could this be a fault with the charging circuit, the battery or just that the charging is very close to finishing. Battery is a new 26650 from Sofirm. I removed the battery & finished charging on a external charger. Measured 4.20 afterwards but forgot to measure after removing from SP33.
Suspect the problem is with the battery. I’ve got two SP33 V3 flashlights and no matter how long or short a period operated, both of the Sofirn 26650 5500mAh cells with which they came read 3.8V on my XTAR VC4S chargers upon insertion. Their measured voltages then swing up and down repeatedly until finally reading 4.2V dOne.
No such charging irregularities after draining down my 26650 5500mAh Vapcells in either the SP33 or Astrolux MF01 minis. Have also recharged the flashlights directly from their USB C ports but never kept an eye on the power indicator whilst charging.
@andychrist Thanks for your comments. I have 2x Sofirm 26650, one 5500mAh (came with the SP33) & one 5000mAh ( the suspect one) Will keep a watch on this one. I guess I will look for a better quality 26650. Probably only need one as the SP33 is my only 26650 flashlight.
Placed an order for the V3 only to find out it was using FET drivers. Am buying based on Zeroair review on the V2 which has regulated output , the high(approx 1200lumens) maintain flat regulation for 2hrs which is impressive. The place I bought only hv v3 in stock. :(. Anyone actually do a runtime test on High? How long do they last?
Haven’t done a runtime test. Just wanted to chip in and mention the V2 High was only 920 lumens, not 1200.
V3 High is 1500 lumens so it definitely won’t be as long. V3 has Ramping so it’s better IMO
I just want to mention that on the V3 the High output may start at 1500 lm (I’m not sure the actual number), but it will slowly go down as battery voltage drops. That is a trade off of the FET design and it’s brighter Turbo.
Note that the old v2 (“2500” lumens) is the one using XHP50.2 6-volt LED and regulated output.
The newer v2 (“3000” lumens) looks physically the same as the “old v2”, but now uses XHP50.2 3-volt LED and use FET (but seems to be limited a bit in the max output compared to the FET of v3).
Posted this in another SP33 V3.0 review thread:
Interesting fyi, I added 22 AWG wire bypasses on the springs (short ones in the center of the spring), and got ~ 25% boost in lumens and candela.
Measuring amps at the tail, on a charged up 40T the amps went up from 14.7A to 16.5A, but that's only seeing the bump of the bypass on the driver side because my amp measurements are with the tailcap off. I did the before/after tests with both a 40T cell and a red Dolidada 5500 26650 and saw about the same percent bump. These springs are not high performance, accept maybe for their thickness but they are not low resistance. The bypass on the tailcap spring probably made a greater difference in amps based on the lumens/throw measurements.
"nnnn-nnnn" below is "at start - at 30 secs"
Before After
Sam 40T 4390-3890, 32.5 kcd 5340-4790, 40 kcd
Dolidada 3530-3270, 27 kcd 4450-4180, 35.5 kcd
Hey Tom E How about a couple of pics of the bypass as to what you did ? Sounds interesting.
Can't right now but standard bypasses, I've done dozens, taken/posted pics of many.
SP70:
FT03:
Q8:
@Tom E
Thanks