I still for the life of me cant understand why you didn’t keep the original driver, it was giving more to the emitter than your direct drive set up is giving now, I’ve been running an alu mounted xp-g2 at 3a (what your driver seemed to be taking) for a couple of months, its still fine, it will get swapped for a noctigon star, dedomed at some point soon but it is coping in my application at 3a.
Hi,
At this point (it’s 04:20 in the morning here :laughing:, I can’t exactly remember what lead to me doing that, but “What’s done is done”. In any event, as mentioned above the direct drive seems to be working fine, for now, albeit with 1x18650, so I can only move forward from here.
Thanks,
Jim
Unless you stripped the components, that driver is still fixable. The header between boards can be replaced.
It would be nice to use up the capacity of the light with two cells.
Hi,
I didn’t strip the components, but just cut the four pins on the header.
Having said that, when I get a new light, I don’t think I’ve yet bought a light with the thought of modding it from the beginning.
I normally like to check it out first, to see how it works, etc., which is what I did when I got the STL-V6 from Wallbuys, and then I couldn’t figure out how to get the modes working, which is why I started this thread.
If you seen some of my posts on other threads (e.g., on garrybunk’s DST thread), I don’t particularly like what I think of as “long” lights, so while I was waiting for the STL-V6 to arrive, I’d seen some references to making the STL-V6 a “shorty”, and I got interested in a “shorty STL-V6”. Then, when this thread got to a “good point”, for me, at least, I started a new thread last night, How "Shorty" STL-V6?, asking about how to make a “shorty STL-V6”.
Note that it wasn’t/isn’t my intention to cross-post. I really thought, and still think, the two threads were separate topic-wise.
Anyway, the reason I’m saying all of this is that there’s some information in that other thread, esp. the post from Gords with the pics of his STL-V6, that clarify how different the STL-V6 that I got from Wallbuys is from “other” STL-V6s.
Again, I’m not intending to cross-post, but I thought that if, in the future, anyone ever is trying to find info about why their “STL-V6” works differently from what they thought it should, providing a link to that other thread here might be helpful.
Sorry :(…
Jim
Mine arrived, 5mode with screwed in pill. Battery tube consists out of :adapter, longer part, shorter part,tailcap
The adapter is really hard to unscrew, you have to be strong(like me :bigsmile: )
Shorty
The longer and shorter batterytubeparts aren’t machined for each other, the threads are to long(or short) and there are some scratches/lack of anodizement on the tube.
Flaws, dust inside reflector,some contact issue when all parts are screwed in totally…
I haven’t checked the light further
Werner,
Thanks for the pics. FYI, Gords posted some pics of his “STL-V6” on another thread:
and you can see the difference between the STL-V6 that you/I got from Wallbuys vs. the earlier STL-V6 that Gords got.
Yes it’s a bit different. But if you have a thicker non standard c8 the tube could fit.
What’s with the threads of the tubes on your v6 ohaya? Are they fitting?(see picture4)
Mine aren’t even matching the color of anodisation.
I am not sure why I have bought this…I think because it was cheap.
But I have no need for it, perhaps I will put a xpg2 on a noctigon in it…but then I would still never use it…
I have a zyt13 after I modded it, I never have used it….
There is some contact issue with the adapter ring or so, I have lubed it up with some silicone grease perhaps that is why, but it was really hard to unscrew and this was the first lube I grabbed…I will clean and measure tailcapcurrent a on different voltages later.
edit: cleaned and lubed correctly, works now like it should. But the construction is weird the current flows through the battery tubes in the head, from head through reflector, from reflector through pill and finally reaches the negative contact on the circuit.
Thermal path isn’t perfect either…
The lens rattling occurs if you screw in the pill completely in the head and then screw the bezel on. That’s why the reflector is not reaching the lens.
Solution is easy just screw the whole pill/reflector from the circuit side one turn up against the lens…voila rattle solved.
The driver is nice regulated i checked from 4V until 13V
The spill is ugly, spot is smaller than my zyt13(3A through emmitter) but not brighter.
The lens has some weird coating in the middle part it looks like a drop of oil on water and it is dusty as hell inside the reflector…never had that before on a brand new light.
Lanyard is ok not sure what it is good for but I can swing the light around like a knight and no weak link ring like often on Chinese things,
Tailcapboot is bit too thick like always so it doesn’t stand on tailcap well if switched on(reverse clicky gets bigger if switched on)
It gets hot and that’s always a good sign, not sure if I want a shorty with increased current…but with an xpg and lower current maybe it doesn’t get so hot.
The size of the light is how I like it, I have screwed the scratched part in the head.
I would say its worth the 19$, but no super cheap deal but also no total desaster.
The dust is a nogo and the missing mode selection, too.
Werner,
Thanks for the detailed info.
First of all, I’m not sure what you were asking about the threads? Can you clarify?
Beyond that I think that I found pretty much the same things you found, including the dusty reflector and some kind of clear “spatter” on the lens, and the loose lens rattling :).
I haven’t done anything with the dusty reflector yet, but I’ve ordered a new UCL/p lens for it, and did the same thing with screwing the reflector out to get the lens to stop rattling.
Now, I have an XP-G2 in it on a regular star, but may replace that with an XP-G2 on Noctigon later, and I have a couple of other threads about what I’ve been doing it:
- Made it into a shorty:
- Did some work with improving thermal handling:
With the former (shorty), I think that the light is much more useable (1x26650 size), and with the latter, the light seems to be handling heat pretty well.
Thanks again,
Jim
With the threads I mean if you look inside the battery tube you can see the threaded area of the tube…that is not perfect…
Ahh. I think I see what you’re talking about.
On mine, there’s an O-ring on the back end of the front tube, so screwing the back tube all the way in is not easy. Plus if I do screw it all the way in, it’s a pain getting it out later (there’s nowhere to grip the back tube. If I screw it in all the way, I can’t, or it’s hard to, see the seam.
Jim
I have played with it last night and it is a really good thrower, not much spill at all.
I can’t imagine that a xpg is so much better…?
The not fitting threads need to be repaired on mine, it rubs on the battery every time I put them in…perhaps I will try my luck with some of this 2kompoment putty or so…can’t think of anything else what could close the gap…
I mailed the problems to wallbuys and they have refunded me 9$, so I am fine with that. For a 10$ light it is really good.
Ohaya, my FandyFire STL-V6 arrived from Fasttech yesterday and it appears to be very similar to yours from WB. It does not have two mode groups, the driver does not have the two gold rings and looks the same as the one in your photo. The head OD is 60.1 mm not 62. But mine draws ~1.5A at the tail cap. Seems to be regulated: ~1.6A @ 3.8v and ~1.4A @ 4.1v.
Hi,
Thanks for the info/update. I’ve had a ticket for awhile now with FT, waiting for them to correct the modes info on their web page before I close it (they’ve already confirmed that it’s only 5-modes/no mode group and “fixed” the title.
Sadly, I bought it because it claimed to have the mode groups: "Mode Count 3/5".
This will be an interesting test of FT's customer service.
I agree. The mode groups was one of the things that I was interested when I bought my STL-V6, and I think that’d be the case at least for some potential buyers, so I think it’s a bit like bait-and-switch. Having said that, based on the communication with both Wallbuys (where I got mine) and FT, both of them went back to “their supplier” in order to find out that no more mode groups. The bad part is they sold the light, advertising the specs, without knowing that the lights didn’t match “the specs”.
Nitecore style
Hi Everyone,
I found this topic very interesting and it’s my first post on here.
I researched the internet to find that perfect budget “thrower” of a flashlight and hands down the SkyRay STL-V2 or FandyFire STL-V6 was the top choice it seemed everywhere you looked.
Decided to order both brands each from a different store and do my own comparison.
Ordered the STL-V2 from lightmalls.com ans the STL-v6 from lightcastle.com
When I finaly received both light’s they are physicaly identical in everyway even came with the same lanyard only difference was the label on one side of each light….both light’s are missing the 3 mode capability and both light’s have identical driver’s to that of the OP’s.
Funny thing is the Fandyfire version has a slightly brighter tint to it but I see this as just a slight variance in LED’s used.
They are great flashlight’s and both perform well and shine slightly better than the Small Sun ZY-t13 flashlight’s I own.
But this makes me wonder if there is anymore places out there selling the real thing or if this is just a change in the manufacturing process for these light’s
Hi, Tarpon. Welcome (feel free to make an introductory post at your leisure).
This is the budget king of throwers indeed. I, too, realized that despite a few sparse experiences, the variations are the same. For the three-mode capability, you should be able to turn the head just shy of being tight and access the 5 modes. Or, wait, maybe 3 mode for yours?
Not really sure, but many have said that the feature is not on their lights. There are many sellers, including Maxtoch, who made a T6 version with two mode sets, but they may have discontinued it for the 2S/2X versions now out.
on mine there is a knurled ring below the light engine that the body tube screws into, that is what you loosen/tighten to adjust the mode groups.
Welcome to the forum.