Yep, Way too many projects coupled with work. I want to use this in all my flashlight reviews. Behind on them as well
Texas_Ace BLF Calibrated Lumen tube / Sphere No math skills needed - Several spheres still available
If you don’t mind doing math, just take your current readings and multiply by 0.68 until the discs arrive.
Here is an update how TA tube is doing… maukka tested the rot66 nichia and got 3860 lumen… TA tube with calibrated lights reading are 4050, and 3910 lumen. it is doing great…
Did you receive your Maukka light?
What are the two lumen readings 4050 and 3910? Do you have two lights?
Received my TA lumen tube today, and charged everything up (oops, forgot the Q8) to do a test run. Nothing has been modded, or even cleaned up (need to buy some isopropyl alcohol someday). Here are the results from turbo in no particular order if anyone is still checking…
I believe the Thrunite TC20’s protection circuit in the battery is what prevents full turbo. There was a big discussion about it here. Try an unprotected cell or remove the circuit from the stock battery, then the output will jump up.
You can verify your readings by measuring how many amps you get at the tail cap. It should be about 9A iirc. Even at full power you will not get 3800 lumen. About 3200-3300 is the most you can expect.
I’m not familiar with the G35. Has anyone verified that it can do 2000 lumen?
You should also mention if your light is a cool white or a neutral white, because that can also affect the readings. Almost all manufacturers will give the lumen rating for the cool white version. Typically, the neutral white version will always read less.
Good to know about the TC20, thanks Jason. Any experience with the G35, or thoughts on why it’s so poor? I’ve been suspicious of and had some issues with it since I bought it, and it’s the main reason I got the tube.
Now that I have the tube it looks like I’ll need to get a good volt & amp meter also. And then a soldering station. And some kit for flashing firmware. And better battery chargers. And…well, does it ever end?
Sadly, for the wallet; no…… :person_facepalming:
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I would get a decent DMM, clamp style ammeter, good battery charger (or 2 or 3) and a soldering iron. I draw the line at flashing drivers. 
I bought a Yihua 995D soldering station for $90, but the iron is junk. It doesn’t get hot enough. It was supposed to be 80w, but it can’t do what my older Velleman 50w VTSS5U ($26 from Frys Electronics) can do. It could not undo the solder on a big mcpcb at all. My Velleman did it instantly. I even used it to do a video showing how to solder blob some 18650 cells and it just couldn’t get hot like my Velleman. The Velleman would take 2 seconds on an 18650, but the 995D would take 4 or 5. Not good. Anyway, I hope the hot air part of it works properly. I’m skeptical of all these Chinese soldering stations, but the professional units are way above my price range.
Do get solder, brass style tip cleaner, flux (pen style is good), maybe cheap helping hands device. Nothing expensive here.
I have a cheap but good DMM and ammeter. The Aidetek VC97+ which has auto shutoff, beep continuity and soft case for $25. The UNI-T UT210E clamp meter with auto shutoff and case for about $25.
Battery chargers need to match your requirements. Let me know what your needs are and I can recommend something appropriate.
Jason, I bet your iron is ok, the issue is most likely the tips it is using. I used china tips for some time and they were horrible, I had to turn the temperature up way too high to solder anything big.
A few months ago I saw an auction on ebay for some real Hakko tips surplus and got a few. The difference is night and day. I can now run the iron much much cooler and rarely have to turn it up to handle even larger tasks. They also last longer due to not being as hot.
I wish I had invested in them a lot time ago, they are expensive though, usually around $20 per tip but well worth it if you solder regularly.
Dug all of the lights (I think) out of everywhere they were stashed, and tried the batteries I bought for the D4S in the TC20…
Looks like false advertising on the TC20 alright, though it’s still an excellent light no matter what the numbers say. And tried some fresh 30Q in the G35, and it still sucks. Might just sell it to someone looking for a project light.
And it appears to be time to retire all of the old Surefires and the TK15. I remember being Absolutely Amazed at how bright they were compared to anything else I had, and now they’re just meh.
The only chargers I have are a Fenix ARE-C1+ and a Thrunite MCC-4S. They seem to work ok, but something that showed mah taken by the batteries would be nice I think. Thanks for all the other tips!
How much of a difference could the tips make?
These are the ones I bought. They seem “decent”.
Tips
I have a worn out crap tip in my Velleman, but it works way better when cranked up to max temp. It can do what the station can’t, regardless of temp, amount of flux, etc…
It made a big difference on my station. Literally night and day. What used to be difficult is now simple.
Now you could still just have a crummy soldering iron although at that price that would surprise me. I spent almost half that on both of mine and they are fine with better tips.
The iron itself is a very simple device, apply power, get heat. It is kind of hard to screw it up unless they are using the wrong voltage iron or the station is way underpowerd. Seeing as the iron costs all of ~3-5$, it would surprise me if they got it that wrong.
It looks like all your numbers are very reasonable. Most are a bit under the manufacturer specs, but that is to be expected.
I wonder if 1400 lumen is the max the Klarus G35 can do? I know their G20, which also used a boost driver, was way under spec. It’s 3000 was closer to 2200 iirc.
About battery chargers:
Your Fenix ARE-C1+ looks like a 1A x 2 charger. Seems okay.
The Thrunite MCC-4S looks like 1A x 4, but only 2 x 26650. Seems okay.
What type of cells do you charge and how important is the charge time?
For example, once a week I need to charge 4 x 26650 Liitokala. I hate slow charges, so I got the Miboxer C4-12 (it measures capacity, but you still have to drain the battery voltage some other way) which let’s me charge all 4 at 3A. This is pretty quick and they can handle 5A charge rates, so 3A is no problem.
For 18650 I find 1A to be pretty slow as well. I bump up my 30Q to 1.5A, maybe 2A charge rates. They can easily handle it.
For my 26350 and protected 18650 I stick to 1A.
So I like the Miboxer C4-12 ($37 on sale). If you want a newer 4 x 1A charger, but with analyzing in it, the Zanflare C4 and Liitokala lii 500 (with plug) are both $25 or so.
I guess you could get a C4-12 and use it to measure capacity and for faster charging of 26650 then use your Thrunite to supplement it. Combined, they can charge 8 x 18650 at 1A.
Or you could get two C4-12 and charge 8 30Q at 2A each. It depends on how important speed is.
Tips make all the difference—- I don’t use my iron a whole lot but the tips I have are going on 2 yrs old—-I don’t remember them being $20 more like around $8 for fine point and $10 for chisel flat —These are the 2 RMM reccomended
Interesting, that is a pretty good price. Not sure why I thought they were $20, course I don’t shop amazon that much due to the shipping and tax they generally charge unless you order over $25.
Tips are everything on a solder iron. I use a pair (normal hot and extremely hot) of Antex irons (an ok english brand), and I found they use very good tips, the soldering got way easier than with the (cheap model) Weller that I used before that, and with less power. I also take good care of my tips so they last longer, my current fine tip is going strong for more than two years now, but I have a spare one ready.
There was a great 15 minute video on tip-care a while ago, apart from a good tutorial it is also good against sleep problems, after that video you are surely asleep. 
I will try to look it up…
Found it, all I know about the subject came from this video, happy sleeping! :party:
Wow, that is a harsh video to watch indeed lol.
I had great luck reviving some tips using a wire wheel on my bench grinder. You just have to be careful to not overdo it and heat through the coating completely and you have to get the tip tinned AS SOON as it heats up, be touching the tip with solder while it is heating and cover the entire tip as fast as possible.
Takes a little work to re-season the tip after this but it did work as a last resort.
I got 3510 lumen @ turn on for my tc20 Cw. So that’s about right.