Sofirn SP10A 500lm AA  $9.99 on Amazon

MascaratumB · 2018-04-16T16:13:58.000Z

Zappaman:

MascaratumB:

What I found on this new SP10A is that only button top cells (at least the 14500s) work. There may be something different in the driver design that hinders the flat tops to work!

BUT, curiously, the driver I bought for the SP10B, works perfectly both with button or flat top batteries… This is something weird…

Hum… my flat top Panasonic runs fine in my several SP10a (new revs) I did test last week when I go them in. The same 14500 flat top HAS run also fine in my first SP10a I’ve had for about 6 weeks now (my indoor carry, so it’s been well checked out).

I love this little light, so I bought several of the same (newer) 10SPa’s for gifts to give my family muggles. At first, I was going to just let everyone getting one just use AAs. But Lightbringer explained the “alkileak” problem (set me straight fast! ) and so I bough a few chargers and BT 14500’s to pass out to them.

I’ll just tell everyone that IF they use any alkaline AAs: it may “produce poison gas, as ”this light goes to 11.” (which are both true statements… I think).

And since I’m also giving most of these kinfolk an 18650 light too— they can use the ONE charger to charge both battery sizes. So I’m using “light” fear tactics and giving them what they need to work it all out for themselves. No kids around with these gifts, so hopefully no little hand (or barns) get burned down.

I guess my SP10A has something wrong with it then
The Ni-MH and AA batteries (button top) work fine as do the Sofirn 14500 Li-Ion, button top as well.
My Sanyo 14500 and Efest 14500 don’t work, I tried if for a while… I’ll check on this again!

Thankfully it is not a general issue …despite mine is bugging me :confounded:

ssschen · 2018-04-16T16:36:48.000Z

moderator007:

They are also on sale at aliexpress for close to the same price. Sofirn is offering a 2 dollar off discount for orders over $15, so order 2 and the price is very close to amazon… That’s where I bought my first two that arrived yesterday. Mine say SP10A on the head. I believe the black is 10a and colors are 10b now.
Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

Thanks for the AE link. I ordered two (blue & red) for US$19.34 shipped to Australia. I got their US$2 off US$15 order store coupon, plus exchange 20 AE Coins for another $2 off. Great deal! Love colored lights

moderator007 · 2018-04-16T18:34:09.000Z

MascaratumB:

I guess my SP10A has something wrong with it then
The Ni-MH and AA batteries (button top) work fine as do the Sofirn 14500 Li-Ion, button top as well.
My Sanyo 14500 and Efest 14500 don’t work, I tried if for a while… I’ll check on this again!

Thankfully it is not a general issue …despite mine is bugging me :confounded:

Mine works fine with a Efest 650mah purple flat top. Been in the light since day one.

MascaratumB · 2018-04-16T21:24:51.000Z

moderator007:

MascaratumB:

I guess my SP10A has something wrong with it then
The Ni-MH and AA batteries (button top) work fine as do the Sofirn 14500 Li-Ion, button top as well.
My Sanyo 14500 and Efest 14500 don’t work, I tried if for a while… I’ll check on this again!

Thankfully it is not a general issue …despite mine is bugging me :confounded:

Mine works fine with a Efest 650mah purple flat top. Been in the light since day one.

I got mine to work with the Sanyo, but the Efest…still not working
But the Sanyo and Sofirn will do the job I’m sure!

Thanks for letting us know and sorry if I induced someone in mistake. My light - NOT ALL - has a problem ! (and I will solve it soon :smiling_imp: )

Zappaman · 2018-04-16T21:33:27.000Z

MascaratumB:

I got mine to work with the Sanyo, but the Efest…still not working
But the Sanyo and Sofirn will do the job I’m sure!

Thanks for letting us know and sorry if I induced someone in mistake. My light - NOT ALL - has a problem ! (and I will solve it soon :smiling_imp: )

My bad,

I misstated “Panasonic” - but it was the Sanyo UR14500P flat top I used- 100% go on all SP10a’s.

— another brain fart brought to you my the guy who just finish his taxes (and can’t see straight!) :disappointed:

ssschen · 2018-04-17T02:41:47.000Z

Does anyone have a reliable source that will ship internationally, to order 14500 batteries that will work in this flashlight?

pennzy · 2018-04-17T03:04:21.000Z

Fenix store says $15 international shipping . This battery fits in mine

fenix-store.com

Fenix Flashlight Accessories

Fenix Flashlight accessories from Fenix-store.com, visit our website for all parts and accessories for high end flashlights.

moderator007 · 2018-04-17T03:44:17.000Z

https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10008963/5302405-fenix-arb-l14-icr-14500-3-6v-800mah-protected
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002180/8482600-soshine-icr-14500-900mah-rechargeable-li-ion
I like the Efest 650mah purple the best, holds a higher voltage under a load. Either of the above should work fine.
Button top and flat top works in my SP10A.

d_t_a · 2018-04-17T03:45:47.000Z

MascaratumB:

I received a SP10A from Sofirn @ AliExpress store, not Amazon.

Also, I bought a driver for my SP10B and it has the same UI!

What I found on this new SP10A is that only button top cells (at least the 14500s) work. There may be something different in the driver design that hinders the flat tops to work!

BUT, curiously, the driver I bought for the SP10B, works perfectly both with button or flat top batteries… This is something weird…

Also, using a Panasonic Ni-MH battery below 1.38V, the light almost doesn’t turn ON. It may be the LVP protection working. I don’t know if this supposed to happen constantly as I just tried it for experimenation purposes!

Last but not least, on this new light, and only by “eye measurement” the max level with AA / Ni-MH doesn’t seem so distant from the max level on 14500. But, as I said, it is eye measurement, not objective or accurate measure.

I only got the SP10B (I got both red & blue versions, but not the black) from Sofirn @ AliExpress.
So far, I notice for batteries, my flat-top PKCell 14500 didn’t work. But I think there was once where it did work. So my guess, is the flat-top usually does not “match” the “+” side head of the SP10B (the head does not use spring). Using a magnet spacer on the flat-top PKCell 14500, did make the flashlight work always though (so it appears to be an issue with certain [but not all] types of flat-top batteries).

Another thing I tested, I just purchased a protected 14500 (my first time to get hold of them), these protected 14500s are much longer than the regular 14500.
I tested the protected 14500 and it seems to be just a wee bit too long for the flashlight tail (it seems to screw in fully, but light does not turn on). As a random thought, since I also got the Sofirn SF14 (which worked fine with the protected 14500 I tested with). I screwed the Sofirn SF14 tailcap on the SP10B (it appeared to fit perfectly), then I pushed the SF14 tail button (so it’s ON), then used the side-switch. Now, the SP10B works with the longer protected 14500 battery.

(what that means is the SP10B tailcap is just a wee bit short so it doesn’t make proper contact when using longer protected 14500 batteries. But the SF14 tailcap is long enough to make contact with the SP10B body tube which made it work with the protected 14500.)

Just sharing my 2 cents worth of various random testing…

sovereignknight · 2018-04-17T06:42:35.000Z

Nice price! I already have a Lumintop Tool AA though.

GreenLights · 2018-04-18T21:26:51.000Z

My SP10a ordered from Ali on March 28, 2018 has the UI MascaratumB described above and starts on Moonlight. The SP10a ordered from Amazon on April 10, 2018 starts on low, without moonlight, and is completely different. Annoying to have the same light with two different UI’s, but whatever. A Sanyo flat-top UR14500P (49.5mm) works in both, while a protected button-top Nitecore NL147 (53mm) does Not work in either. Just some info for future people browsing this.

Lightbringer · 2018-04-18T21:34:54.000Z

GreenLights:

My SP10a ordered from Ali on March 28, 2018 has the UI MascaratumB described above and starts on Moonlight. The SP10a ordered from Amazon on April 10, 2018 starts on low, without moonlight, and is completely different. Annoying to have the same light with two different UI’s, but whatever.

And how much ya wanna bet that the AX version has a nice neutral light, whereas the Amazon version is slightly green?

I’m getting used to the lmh version, and while I like the handiness of the flm+h version (2click to high, even from off), sometimes — sometimes — firefly is just a liiiiiittle too low.

Tactman · 2018-04-20T08:51:58.000Z

i have received my blue one sp10b from sofirn store on aliexpress…i have no complaints, but one thing is making me unhappy a little bit…electronic switch button is a little bit loose or rattle a bit…in fact, the top of the button…it has good tactile feeling while pressing and changing modes, but you can hear it while shaking flashlight…it looks like the top of the button has some room to wiggle…otherwise, everything else is fine…i have sofirn sf10 as well, and sp10 is much brighter on maximum…sp10 compared to sf10 has cooler white tint, while sf10 is more neutral white…

Zappaman · 2018-04-22T04:00:33.000Z

Tactman:

i have received my blue one sp10b from sofirn store on aliexpress…i have no complaints, but one thing is making me unhappy a little bit…electronic switch button is a little bit loose or rattle a bit…in fact, the top of the button…it has good tactile feeling while pressing and changing modes, but you can hear it while shaking flashlight…it looks like the top of the button has some room to wiggle…otherwise, everything else is fine…i have sofirn sf10 as well, and sp10 is much brighter on maximum…sp10 compared to sf10 has cooler white tint, while sf10 is more neutral white…

I have bought seven (7) SP10As in several lots- for family muggle gifts coming up next month. Most came from AE, but this last one I finally got (an Amazon add-on to another order) that has the older UI.

My wife complained (as wives do) about the SP10A she’s used for about 40 days now- Monday - Friday at 5AM out the (dark) back door to the gym. So I gave here an SF14 (clicky tail model) she said she’d prefer. And after a week, she said she didn’t have “two hands” to turn on a light with her 30 lb gym bag, work suit, etc. in daily tow out to the garage.

So… being the “awesome” (smart-arse) husband, I gave her BACK her OLD SP10A, almost. To see if she could even tell the difference, I gave her the OLD UI instead. It took two days… she came in saying her light was “broke or something”… when she went to double click for high mode (hey, she figured out the high mode!)… it had a “short or something” that kept happening “really fast” (yes… it was the strobe mode in the OLD UI)

I am thinking about writing a country “muggle” song with the word “darlin” in it for shur!

ssschen · 2018-05-05T16:20:31.000Z

Tactman:

i have received my blue one sp10b from sofirn store on aliexpress…i have no complaints, but one thing is making me unhappy a little bit…electronic switch button is a little bit loose or rattle a bit…in fact, the top of the button…it has good tactile feeling while pressing and changing modes, but you can hear it while shaking flashlight…it looks like the top of the button has some room to wiggle…otherwise, everything else is fine…i have sofirn sf10 as well, and sp10 is much brighter on maximum…sp10 compared to sf10 has cooler white tint, while sf10 is more neutral white…

Does your blue SP10B works with 14500 batteries?

I ordered a blue and a red of the SP10B. The same 14500 battery that works in the red does not seem to want to work on the blue one. AA NiMh battery works fine on the blue flashlight.

Thoughts?

eas · 2018-05-05T22:08:51.000Z

Flat top 14500? I found that with some of my Sofirn AA lights I have to get things line things up just right before I put on the tailcap when I’m using flat tops.

moderator007 · 2018-05-06T14:24:06.000Z

I have both the black, 3 of them (new UI) sp10a and 1 blue sp10b. They all work with Efest IMR 14500 650 mah (purple) flat tops and button tops. They also work with AA. The also all work with Sanyo ur14500p flat top.
.
Opps, I forgot to mention that They all work with rebranded Duracell (made in japan) Eneloop’s and Tenergy LSD 2300mah.

ssschen · 2018-05-06T06:46:34.000Z

eas:

Flat top 14500? I found that with some of my Sofirn AA lights I have to get things line things up just right before I put on the tailcap when I’m using flat tops.

Button top 14500. I really can’t think of anything that can be misaligned?

Tactman · 2018-05-06T09:32:46.000Z

ssschen:

Tactman:

i have received my blue one sp10b from sofirn store on aliexpress…i have no complaints, but one thing is making me unhappy a little bit…electronic switch button is a little bit loose or rattle a bit…in fact, the top of the button…it has good tactile feeling while pressing and changing modes, but you can hear it while shaking flashlight…it looks like the top of the button has some room to wiggle…otherwise, everything else is fine…i have sofirn sf10 as well, and sp10 is much brighter on maximum…sp10 compared to sf10 has cooler white tint, while sf10 is more neutral white…

Does your blue SP10B works with 14500 batteries?

I ordered a blue and a red of the SP10B. The same 14500 battery that works in the red does not seem to want to work on the blue one. AA NiMh battery works fine on the blue flashlight.

Thoughts?

sorry, i am not using any 14500 at the moment…only eneloops pro…

eas · 2018-05-06T22:20:07.000Z

ssschen:

eas:

Flat top 14500? I found that with some of my Sofirn AA lights I have to get things line things up just right before I put on the tailcap when I’m using flat tops.

Button top 14500. I really can’t think of anything that can be misaligned?

I didn’t investigate very closely, but I think the flat tops may have ended up hanging up on the reverse polarity safety ring. I didn’t look into it more closely because a few light taps before fastening the tail cap seemed to do the job.