The Story of SC31 Family

Commercial Sellers' Spot
41

Just received my green SC31 pro from aliexpress, wondering if Sofirn makes a green color 18350 tube for this? I couldn’t find one.

42

Nope. I’ve been down this road with Sofirn. Your only option is to buy a green SP40 which comes with the green 18350 tube.

43

Thanks for the fast answer.

So they have the colored tubes but won’t sell them! :expressionless: But they sell colored magnet caps for it :expressionless:

44

pennzy, right on! I too would love to see Sofirn develop a “slick little 18650 light under 100mm long” based on the SC31 series.
I love my Wowtac A6 for it’s diminutive size with 18650, but it has a few shortcomings. I would more love a SC31 in A6 size!

My complaints with the A6 are the switch is way too small, no Anduril, and they don’t drive the LED’s hard enough.
You can milk an SST40 for 1700lm +, A6 only does 1200.

I also got a Thrunite T1 (XHP50.2) to use the head on the A6…but again under driven.
At 1500lm its no slouch, I guess you wouldn’t want to drive it to the max in such a small light but they can certainly squeeze more out of it
At least it has ramping (A6 does not) I’m using the T1 head on the A6 tube (18650) and the A6 head on the T1 tube (18350)

Here’s my measurements:

A6 SST40 NW…………1220lm
A6 XHP50.2 NW………1448lm (with Thrunite T1 head)
Sofirn SC31 Pro…………1727lm

Surprisingly for their size both the A6 and T1 have reflectors not TIR. The reflectors are very short and appear no taller than the average TIR optic.

45

I see the T1 is on sale right now. Thanks for the leggo info.

46

Offer the sc31pro with an LH35 1d and OP reflector= perfect edc? sst40 is green in both my 6500k and 5000k sc31 pros…the corona and spill are a mess. There is plenty of room for improvement…

47

No problem, I found the lego info somewhere here on blf too, as I recall there was also a coupon sale on amazon when I got it, and I only paid $20 for the A6. My A6 with the T1 head it’s my most used/carried flashlight, so much that a lot of the anodizing has worn off the tube, I’ve been considering getting another A6 just for the new tube.

The T1 doesn’t throw as far but it’s a great upgrade: noticeably brighter, stainless steel bezel, and ramping, although it’s not Anduril, the ramping is pretty good, plus you’ll have the shorty option for either light, and a Thrunite 18350 cell.

48

What type of step down does the T1 have? Timed or thermal? I’m ok with the turbo output of the A6 but it steps down to 400 after a short while. It could use an in between level, say 600 or so. I see top of ramp is 685 lumens. Does that also step down to 400?

49

Sofirn SP40 Headlamp with LH351D LED

ONLY Black color? Why no colors?

50

We will make other colors for SP40A.

51

Thanks Barry. I really like the SC31T. Cheap, powerful, versatile (even takes my longest 18650 cells), and the ramping UI isn’t bad. Not as good as Anduril, but still good. I second putting in a LH351D 5000K (smo reflector).

52

Thanks, that’s great! Please make the color 18350 tubes too!

53

Hey sorry I missed this earlier, don’t know for sure if it’s timed or thermal but I just did some tests and I have good news for you! Neither steps down as low as 400lm. It appears to be timed because it steps down every minute for the first 3 minutes.

(Thrunite T1 Head on Wowtac A6 w/18650 Molicel P26A):

Turbo:
@ start………1450

@ 1 min…….1350

@ 2 min…….1050

@ 3 min………625

After 8 minutes it was still at 625lm.

That’s as far as I went because I believe it sustains that for nearly an hour
In zeroair’s review Turbo steps down to 700lm and stays steady at 700 for 45 minutes, and that’s on an 18350!

Top of ramp
@ Start……….642lm

@ 35 min…….527lm

At 35 minutes the cell was already down to 3.85v.

So again, a great upgrade for the A6!

I’ll be getting a Lumintop FW1A Pro in the near future, 3600lm in Turbo. It will be interesting to see how an XHP50.2 performs running DD in a similar size 18650 body (like the A6 with T1 head) The FW1A pro (101mm) is only 4.6 mm longer than the A6/T1 setup.

54

Thanks for checking on that beam0. That’s much better than 400 lumens.

55

When we can see SC31T 5000K?

56

Do you have an ETA for SP40A colors?

57

Barry, I really like the SC31 Pro's, bought 5 of them for gifting, but they all have these issues:

  • high parasitic drain with the switch LED on high - high amp draw with the main LED OFF. Had to swap a 1K resistor out, replaced with a 6.8K resistor so the drain went from 1400 uA down to 271 uA -- much better, and now with switch LED OFF: 34 uA, on low: 75 uA
  • the bezel is heavily glued - there's no need for this. If they have to use glue, please tell them to use a small dab of it, not excessive like they are doing (see pics below). I had to use a strap wrench with the light mounted in a wooden lined vise to remove the bezels - crazy!
  • the driver is heavily glued - again no reason to do this. A small dab/dot of glue should work fine

The small 0402 resistor to the left of the lower left pin of the MCU is the one that I replaced on all the SC31 Pro lights, actually 6 total, from the stock 1K to 6.8K:

Please, please tell them to check the parasitic drain. Even with the switch LED on maximum, it should never exceed 300 uA. With the switch LED OFF, it should be about 30 uA - never more.

58

From what i read, alot of recent sofirn lights like SC31 n TS21 have high parasitic drain due to the switch led, does this not happen to the other manufacturer?

If so, is this due to poor engineering or cost cutting measures by sofirn?

I’m not trying to paint sofirn in a negative light cos i have n do love their lights due to their high vfm ratio, just trying to learn more on this high parasitic drain issue.