one is brand new cyansky P25 2.0 21700 light
==oh wait that has a chargeable CELL - which does work with my dell charger correctly
trustfire and minix, this year as far as i know
sofirm sc21pro = less than one year old
wle
I have 1 usb (not c but micro) flashlight, skilhunt s3, first time i tried to charge it, the blue light came on, but after hours of charging, nothing happened, then i realized, it was turned off, the tail switch was in off position, so even thou the indicator light in the head had power from usb to light up, the circuit to the batter was open. once i switched it on, charging started, and no it was not on during the charge, charging circuit turned main led off even thou tail switch was in on position. However my light had power switch not an e switch. so this may most likely would not be an issue for a tac. switch light.
usually the charging stuff is all in the head , and does not go through the tail switch
wle
Manufacturers are still releasing new flashlights that do not correctly support USB-C to USB-C charging as mentioned at the 1 minute and 15 second mark in this video review by forum member "Funtastic" :
https://youtu.be/GE-Fsv4oNuw?t=86
My understanding is that, USB-C to USB-C charging should always work if any of the past or current USB-C protocols were adhered to. The only caveat is that the charging rate may not be at the optimal current for the fastest charging time.
If having to use specific cables or adapters to charge lights with non-compliant USB-C ports is an issue for someone, then their best option is to only purchase lights verified to correctly support USB-C to USB-C charging by someone that they trust.
why did they make it so that ‘protocols’ are required?
why can’t ‘device to cheap to have protocol’ - still give 5 watts or so?
that wouldn;t burn anything up
do they ever negotiate for say .05 watts?
what is the least you can ask for?
why not just make that available with no interrogation?
wle
Oh no? lol. how do you charge a battery that has no contact with a charging circuit on the negative side? as far as build in charges can see,. there is no battery to charge, it's just idling.
hm
!
maybe i only have ‘soft switch’ lights
the minix and cyansky lights have internal cells, so they should still work
sofirn sc21 pro has a soft side switch
wuben, soft side switch too, button pressing should not be necessary
wle
What are you trying to charge them from?
I use what i call a power station, everything charges off it but it seems to have a max 2A out.
Since i prefer slower charging to supercharging (for more battery longevity) this is great for me.
Negotiation is for PD/quick charge which is above 5V. The standard 5V should be able to max out whichever is lower, the device or the charger (most operate in the 1-3A at 5V range). My charger does not have this but then again many of my flashlights have 5V 1A charging so thats good for me.
This sounds a lot like your charger is screwed up, only working on PD/quick charge capable devices for some weird reason.
i have dell chargers that charge laptops successfully
plug in a light to the same cable, and the light just sits there
same with an apple usb-c out 90 watt charger
and some small wall warts that only have usb-c out
at least 3 different chargers
4 lights
The dell and apple charger may only charge their devices.
USB C to USB C should work but sometimes they are just PD enabled.
I think you need a generic USB charger.
This is what i use, it seems to max out at 2A per USB port and its also a Canadian retailer product so you probably can’t get it but its one example:
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/noma-4-outlet-power-strip-surge-protector-with-4-usb-outlets-6-ft-0528473p.html#srp
Also many battery power banks should work fine, they typically have generic 5V 2A out. Though i always shake my head at the irony of using a battery to charge a battery.
This all sounds way less convenient than just taking out the battery and putting it in a charger.
yeah usually i just do that
2 of them though are internal cells, no choice
one of the others - sofirn sc21pro - i only have one cell like that , if i take the bat out , the light is down anyway so may as well use usb-c
wle
i agree it is a huge PITA which is why i posted!
wle
It is the fault of the flashlight manufacturers, not the USB-C protocol
I would rather have a light that is just a light. Charging in (and possibly out) is just another system that is open to failure / water ingress. I also don’t like the trend of fast charging.
Exactly. They’re lying. Using a Type-C connector doesn’t make a device USB-C.
What they’re doing really ought to be illegal.
Maybe it is your chargers, different wiring of pins so they work only on their devices. that would probably make most sense why they do not work on your lights.
Sofirn figured it out shortly after the original blf lantern came out when C to C did not work. Wurkkos produced a few lights with C early on such as as the FC11 and C to C did not work. They went back to the drawing board and fixed it. So I don’t understand why sofirn is making lights where it doesn’t worksuch as the SC18. They talk about type A to type C charging in the description. They also talk about high voltage protection and shutting off if it goes above 4.35 volts. Somebody needs to see what the voltage is when done charging. And make sure that it does stop charging when the light goes green. Maybe they have a pile of type c charging ports that they want to get rid of along with a pile of SST40 cool white LEDs.
Precisely.
The USB IF can be accused of some things, like the confusing nature of the many standards it administers, and miserable failure to market and help educate users about those standards. But it bends over to maintain backward compatibility (too much so IMO), and maintains free, open standards that any competent implementer should be able to obtain, and conform to.
The fact that some flashlight manufacturers, and at least one charger manufacturer, fail to properly implement and conform to USB standards is not the fault of the IF, but rests upon the manufacturers themselves. Take it up with them, or choose not to buy their products until they choose to get it right.
USB Type-C is a modern, smart connector that is a world away from the old Type-A, Type-B and Mini/Micro variants.
It has six times as many pins as the first generation Type-A connectors, and more than twice as many as the later 3.x connectors. It is also bi-directional, can convey multitudes higher levels of power, and relies upon an active power delivery protocol to manage that capability.
The most basic compliant C-to-C cable is required to be able to carry 60W of power, and equipped with an e-marker chip, 100W, which has been increased to 240W under the latest spec.
Even the base 60W level is a higher ceiling than most flashlights would ever need, so there is no practical reason, nor justifiable cost in implementing an active PD connection in a flashlight.
Type-C and PD are not mutually inclusive, so the presence of such a connector on a device, especially a cheap or simple one, like a flashlight, should not automatically imply that that device understands, or uses PD to manage power delivery.
Unlike the old Type-A connector, which defaults to passively supplying live voltage via its power pins when its host is powered on, Type-C is “smart” and does not supply anything until it connects to another device, determines which is the host and which is the sink, and negotiates the power level.
Thus far, no flashlight I’m aware of, does, or needs to go to such lengths to simply pump 1 or 2A into an installed cell, so there are no “PD” flashlights in existence, regardless of the presence of a Type-C connector.
Those that do properly function when connected to a source via a C-to-C cable have the necessary resistors referenced above to passively signal to the source that something is connected, and requests power. As accounted for in the spec.
The fact that it is neither complex, nor necessarily expensive to implement the prescribed solution, speaks volumes about the manufacturers who elect to skip it, rather than the standard, or its administrator. So, to repeat, take it up with them, and/or vote with your wallet.
I have a couple lights with USB-C ports. All but one work well. The ones that work can be charged with my laptop adapter (Lenovo 65W) and my phone adapter (Samsung 25W).
Working lights are:
Wurkkos TS30S and TS25 (prototype)
FireFlies E07X and NOV-MU
However, Astrolux FT02S did not work with my laptop adapter. It worked fine with a standard 5V usb adapter.