If a light is advertised as 2000 lumens but only runs at that output for a minute and then drops down to 600 lumens, then sell it as a 600 lumen light!!! :rage:
Ive spent about 2 weeks searching for a light for a specific project.
Drone mounted light for search and rescue
Ive poured over many many web pages and reviews and spec sheets and videos for a lot of lights and have gotten frustrated with the whole turbo or boost claims. Since my project is drone mounted, I dont have the ability to adjust the settings. The light will be far away from me. I want max lumens 100% of the time and no ramp or step or drop down.
I dont know if these step downs are timed or heat regulated or why or how they happen but in my case, the lights will be mounted under the drone props and will receive a lot of downwash of night air from the rotors so they will get active cooling.
If the step down is timed thats one thing but if its a product of heat then I would not know how much the active fan cooling of the rotors will stave off the step down.
This whole process has left me pretty confused.
I ended up buying 6 sofirn SP35. 2000 lumens and no step down. giving me about 14 lumens per gram of weight the drone must lift.
The criteria I care about is lumens per gram of weight.
Lumens (the more the better)
Throw (in this case, SAR operations will be conducted at 100 150 feet high) This light has a throw of 1,100 feet
After all my searching , I think this is the best I can do for this project.
I would wonder if you’re searching for the right kind of light for this role…
A torch/flashlight is designed for hand-held use with the ability to switch modes as needed.
Perhaps you would be better off mounting an LED security light or something, with a separate battery pack?
This topic comes up with dizzying frequency. I have 58 high performance lights. The larger ones I categorize by 30 second lumens. Medium size I categorize by 15 second lumens, the small ones I categorize by two second lumens, and the tiny pocket rockets I categorize by turn on lumens.
I already know that ultra high performance lights will get hot in a few seconds on max. I already know that if I do not throttle back to a lower mode in a few seconds, the flashlight will melt down. I do not expect that the flashlight can run safely for longer than briefly after it gets hot. I already know that the advertised max lumen spec is only for a few seconds, until it gets hot, and then I need to throttle down to a lower mode to prevent the product from frying.
Ultra high performance lights are not marketed to target purchases to be made by neophytes.
Some of us, who are enthusiasts, already know that ultra high performance lights need to be quickly throttled down by the user to a lower mode to prevent the product from melting down.
Some of us, who are enthusiasts, already know that the advertised max lumens are for short burst only, due to limited fuel supply capacity and heat management.
Yet, when any manufacturer offers an ultra high performance light that is marketed to target purchases to be made by enthusiasts, we complain that the light gets hot too quickly, and that the flashlight melts down when it gets too hot.
I feel grateful that manufactures continue to offer new developments in ultra high performance lights, even though when any manufacturer releases such an new, exciting product, there will be enthusiasts who point out that the light gets too hot too quickly.
I like to use my high power to size ratio lights in max turbo for a few seconds to quickly light up as large an area as possible, as deep as possible, as many lumens as possible, for a few seconds or only two seconds, to very quickly identify target spots in the area field. Then I quickly throttle back to lower mode from there.
All of my pocket rockets, hand held rockets and shoulder fired lumen rockets also have normal modes to provide for normal run time and normal heat generation.
A very large light, due to very large fuel supply, that has only one medium caliber emitter, that on max mode can run for days: I have not bought such yet. Maybe I should.
A very expensive light of normal edc size that on max mode is a fraction of max mode on other lights that are a fraction of the cost: I plan on buying one soon, but I have not done so yet.
My lights: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/9150/287
Flashlights are built to be hand-held. It’s just not physically possible for such small units to maintain such outputs for longer than a couple of minutes - and for their intended purpose that’s usually plenty. I know there are specific types of lights favored by SAR-types, but that’s beyond my experience as a mere enthusiast.
That’s the problem. Unless you specifically design something with a weight-efficient heatsink, lights generally require more mass to make more light (sustained).
You care about lumens per weight. I have a AA light that does 2000 lumens but it won’t do it for long. The higher the lumens and the longer you want it to run, the bigger it will be. You can’t mess with physics.
I’m pretty sure any light would be able to sustain much higher output when mounted on a drone. All that air hitting the light will greatly help to keep it cool.
There are lights where you can disable thermal stepdown, they will get hot! Like 80 degC, but when there is enough airflow, it should run cooler.
what’s your weight limit?
A BLF Q8 for example would be great, (with disabled stepdown)
but its a bit heavy.
ANSI-NEMA FL-1 is to blame for the misinformation. Most (all?) manufacturers call the highest mode ‘turbo’, indicating that this mode has a characteristics much different from the remaining mode set. This is fair marketing imo, especially if you think of all the cheaters with their 1,000,000 lumen pocket lights and their 50,000 mAh batteries they have to compete with. I think especially Sofirn, being a budget manufacturer, suffers from those cheaters.
