Looking closer at the pic of the driver I think I see the sense resistor rating as R062 if the other resistor under the thermal grease is the same it would be the same as an R031, lower than the TN31’s original 2 x R082 = R041 sense resistor.
I wonder if the workers assembling the light remembered to remove the kapton cover from the back of the led’s copper star before installing it.
Yes - noticed that about the resistors - not sure if a 25% gain is enough for what this light is doing though. It is interesting they use thermal grease over the resistors now, and the PCB board has not changed, though parts could have.
Yep, If Fenix wants the longest throw title they really need to go all out. Thrunite doesn’t appear to want to give up that crown anytime soon. I recall reading that Vinh could only get the Fenix lights current up to 4.5 amps. But Fenix does have good quality builds and I would enjoy seeing them come out with something that would raise the bar.
Excellent review and thank you. This seems like quite a nice light. Do you know from the board design the current to the emitter? Also, can you confirm that the chrome plated area is just Cu and not CuZn.
Has TN ever considered dedoming a special edition light like this? Other than the Luminous SBT lights, I don’t think there has ever been a oem factory dedomed light. I tested my K40vn to be 426K this would have been more than that dedomed.
My only suggestions would be
Dedome the Xm-l2 U2 and/or offer it in a killer throw version dedomed Xp-g2 S2
-If some real Xm-l2 U3 become available use those
Use the Supbeam X40 style continuous ramping switch with detents- but honestly for a light like this there is only one main use
Hi Tom E, my experience is kind of inverse of what you have experienced. Maybe your experience is affected by modding where the position of LED has changed to finetune for best throw. I tested multiple lights below namely M22, RC40, SR95S UT and TN31 in the past for their different output level, that means position of LED and reflector have not changed between measurements. Now I pull their data and compare the ratio of Candela/OTF. The observation is OTF goes up faster than Candela. But I am not sure there might be some reflector design to have different trend.
Oh, you are looking strictly at varying mode output levels. Not sure what lux really means because lux is simply a meter reading of a light measurement on a sensor -- lumens is the important thing, of course I can't read that language so maybe don't understand. I never looked at #'s in that way. I know for sure the mods I did and saw the higher candela ratios in was mods of XML's to XM-L2's, and pretty much nothing else that would effect throw (heavier gauge wires for example) from what I can recall. Sorry, not sure if I have the recorded #'s or could find them too easy. I recall having pm's or maybe posts talking about this pattern though, but not sure where...
I asked ThruNite’s owner this evening what the output to the LED is and he confirmed my suspicion that it is indeed 6 amps.
As for dedoming them, when he first told me he was thinking of making this light I suggested he make a dedomed version but he was very insistent that there was no way he would ever produce a dedomed light for warranty reasons. He asked how we were all dedoming the LEDs and I explained that we have great success using the gasoline method. Since it would completely void Cree's warranty and run the risk of an owner breaking the bond wires by touching them he is unwilling to do it. Now if Cree would produce an undomed emitter I'm sure that would be another story.
I should have explained it clearly. The constant number of my setup is 24.85742. So the lux reading have to multiply this constant to get the OTF lumens.
For example, 45.53 lux for TN31 high output, 45.53*24.85742 = 1132 OTF lumens.
Even if the best tn31 had 160000lux already with with an fitted xml2 , i cant see the tn32 putting 110000more lux with a small increase of 330 lumens using the same size reflector and same led???
It has to do with the intensity of the light on the emitter surface and not the increase in lumens. So that means more than 330 lumens are being packed into the same tiny footprint and beam angle as the original emitter. They could have potentially installed an XP-G2 with a 4amp or so current, decreased the luminous flux, but increased the intensity, and had a higher Lux value.
Just think of 1 million lit candles vs an arc welder. Even though all those candles burning will put out a considerably more lumens there is no way you they could match the luminous intensity of the arc welder.
All right, guys. I've been chatting with the owner of ThruNite this evening and was discussing why his numbers were so low for the TN32. I found out he's been measuring his lights from just 2 meters distance. I suggested that he test again from at least 10 meters. After testing he got back to me to report that he is now seeing 240kcd which is far more realistic and in line with my numbers.
You should get the nice case. I believe all TN30/31/32 come with the case. WHat did you get with the “yucky cardboard box”? It wasn’t a high-end Thrunite was it?
Yeah, though there have not been any failure or evidence reported due to dedoming the LED yet but I still suspect the reliability of a dedomed LED vs the stock condition. I have done some dedoming in my modded lights like T08 and Shocker too but I just did it for fun and not expecting any reliability on them.
Funny though when Thrunite worries about voiding the CREE warranty since they have already driven the LED way above stated specifications (CREE Spec = 3A, TN32 = 6A) lol, wonder if CREE is still willing to take the responsibility IF the LED fails at that point?
EDIT: Other than the warranty thing, I am actually happy to see finally a premium-brand flashlight company is willing to breakthrough and overdrive their light to such level with proper heat sinking consideration, good job!
JohnnyMac, why is the copper pill looking golden (like brass or CuZn as lawallac puts it), is it gold plated on the inside opposed to chromed on the outside?
It is a rare pleasure to see a light that is done right all the way in stock form, and even nicer to see -as Tom mentioned already- that what is done here (and 'there' ) is copied by manufacturers .
It is way over what I am willing to pay for a flashlight, but if I am to be given a present in the near future, I know what to ask :-)