Q8, PMS SEND TO THOSE WITH ISSUES BLF soda can light

[The_Miller]

heheh thanks for the trust
and indeed it will take some time

[stephenk]

@pommie

@stephenk

I’d like a high mode that would allow for the highest brightness that could be run continuously (until the cells start to run out of juice) without causing thermal issues. Turbo could of course go much higher.

This is a hard one to judge, will it be for use in this great land where evening temps are often in the mid 20c or in one of the northern states of the USA or northern Europe where they are often below freezing ?
I have one light, an XPH50 at 5A, that is a pain to hold when ambient is around 25c but real nice hand warmer when its down to less than 10c

Cheers David

OK, able to be continuously comfortably held in Brisbane summer night time temperatures (25C).

[The_Miller]

OP updated with

NEW POLL, community feeler:

Q6/Q8 How many emitters build in it?

You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72732

Please vote and thanks in advance!

[Nicolicous]

@Wrathbringer27

If I were to run a customer BG light, I would want the light to be running above 10000 lumens to make it extremely unique

Im 100% with you brother.

go hard or go home

[fixed_it]

The answer is simple: direct drive it to as many lumens as we can economically do. Implement thermal control instead of turbo timeout so it remains holdable at any ambient temperature.

I don’t care if it won’t do max output for more than 30-60 seconds before going back to lower output. There are many cases where that’s all I need it for.

[MechEngVictor]

@fixed it

The answer is simple: direct drive it to as many lumens as we can economically do. Implement thermal control instead of turbo timeout so it remains holdable at any ambient temperature.

I don’t care if it won’t do max output for more than 30-60 seconds before going back to lower output. There are many cases where that’s all I need it for.

+1

[The_Miller]

Yes fixedit +1
Except that maybe a user configurable turbo timer could prove more stable then thermal control. (maybe could ;))

[fixed_it]

@The Miller

Except that maybe a user configurable turbo timer could prove more stable then thermal control. (maybe could ;))

Wouldn’t know, thermal control is still on my list of things to experiment with. Ideally, it could be user configured to either a timer or a max temperature. One nice thing about the timer is that you can easily override it manually (eg. maybe you’re wearing gloves and can handle the heat for a while longer).

[Tom_E]

@fixed it

@The Miller

Except that maybe a user configurable turbo timer could prove more stable then thermal control. (maybe could ;))

Wouldn’t know, thermal control is still on my list of things to experiment with. Ideally, it could be user configured to either a timer or a max temperature. One nice thing about the timer is that you can easily override it manually (eg. maybe you’re wearing gloves and can handle the heat for a while longer).

Agree, that's the sort of the direction I would go. Also I kind of like the idea where temp control backs up the turbo timer, so the temp control is the fall-back, set to trip a bit higher than normal. Of course turbo timers have some major faults, cell level for example. With DD FET drivers, fresh cells produce a lot more amps/heat than cells down to 3.6-3.8v for example - I've felt this.

@Caleb

Right, I get that… but I am wondering if based on the LEDs/Driver combination there would be a sweet spot of greatest output for lowest power expenditure. And if so, then what that output might be.

Thanks again

For FET+1 drivers, the optimal most efficient setting I would think would be running the 7135 full out (0.35A or 0.38A), and the FET off. Think I measured this on a 5X modded light and was in the neighborhood of 160-185 lumens. Single LED lights are like in the 130-150 lumens range. It should bump higher the more LED's in parallel, but not drastically, so this result is expected. Most of my mode sets use the 7135 at 100% with the FET off. I call it 10%, but that's a pure estimate based on 1300-1500 is 100% on the 100% FET.

I've found my nice spread out mode sets for a single LED are not so evenly spread on multiple LED lights - the big jump is going from the 7135 to the FET, which of course makes sense. TK's mode sets she's calculated out spread the FET usage more evenly so work better in maintaining the output spread, as well as tint transitions. I preferred utilizing the 7135 exclusively in the lower modes, assuming better efficiency and better tint in the low modes.

This 2 different methods of defining mode sets both have advantages, which is why I include both methods - General Rule: if there's a choice of goin one way or the other for usability, let the user decide .

[The_Miller]

@Tom E

This 2 different methods of defining mode sets both have advantages, which is why I include both methods - General Rule: if there’s a choice of goin one way or the other for usability, let the user decide .

Now doesn’t this sound like heavenly music?

[SawMaster]

While we’re on the subject, I’d like the high which the turbo or temp timer drops to to be as high as the light can run continuously without toasting anything. Thus if you need max light you simply turn on turbo and forget about it till LV occurs.

Still loose with the rest, just want a useful “lumens bomb” that will impress the peanut gallery :smiling_imp:

Phil

[leroycp]

@SawMaster

While we’re on the subject, I’d like the high which the turbo or temp timer drops to to be as high as the light can run continuously without toasting anything. Thus if you need max light you simply turn on turbo and forget about it till LV occurs.

Still loose with the rest, just want a useful “lumens bomb” that will impress the peanut gallery :smiling_imp:

Phil

I like the way SawMaster put it…and agree

[Tom_E]

That all sounds good, and probably can only be achieved with temp monitoring. But of course depends what you don’t want to toast. My modded M6 ran for like 30-35 mins on max FET, fresh cells, got way too hot to handle but no internal damage whatsoever.

[SawMaster]

I’d want to be able to hold the light for long enough to turn it off and set it down safely somewhere with a little extra time for fumbling around. Any SRK type isn’t going to handle heat well regardless, so everything here is going to be a compromise.

Phil

[leroycp]

Copper pill into aluminum finned heat sink with a copper sleeve in the head…reflector resting on the sleeve. Hey…it’s just a thought.

[Caleb]

What about a screw in reflector similar to the XinTD C8 for added heatsinking?

[DavidEF]

@Caleb

What about a screw in reflector similar to the XinTD C8 for added heatsinking?

Uhh… What do you mean? This is a multi-emitter flashlight. How do you suppose to screw in the reflector?

[Caleb]

Not entirely sure… perhaps the entire reflector could thread in around the circumference. Just a thought… feel free to disregard if this doesn’t seem feasible.

[The_Miller]

With one emitter the hole in the reflector aligns
With 4 emitters not only alignment is tricky also while going down the holes where the LEDs protrude are rotating so it could damage emitters I think.

[Farns]

I’m in!