Basically I like the profile of the pop can lights. I could get a typical looking light with a long handle (for batteries) to get the longevity but the smaller (rounder) light is what im looking for because it holds four 18650 batteries in a small frame.
As far as beam I need flood not spot. The light needs to be smaller so that it will fit in my truck and is reliable.
In Pennsylvania we just finished up rifle season for deer. The last day of the season I shot a deer but ran out of light trying to track it down. That’s one reason I would like a long lasting light that is also a flood light to cover a nice big area.
My brother ones an original srk (gold one) and I had to drive to his house to get it to go look for my deer. That light worked perfect I just can’t spend $200 on just a light. I wanted an alright light either already modded or stock with a how to mod information. Trying to stay around $75-80 for light and batteries shipped. A talk order I know but I gotta try.
Thank you all again for your help. Please post links to websites so I can find good places to look. Also any recommendations are appreciated.
Well I ordered a SRK with specs and details on the sellers page that resembled the real deal on AliExpres.
As you guys stated, a lot of it would be crap.
And after examination when it came this is hat happened.
1 we (my son and I love the design and feel of it.
1a I ordered a 3 LED one as well, this light we both want to have and the space and sizes makes them ideal for us newbies to work/mod with
2 logo missed TM and KING, driver looked not as the picture, cant get a decent view of the emitters, yes a alu plate is holding them.
3 outside looks very nice, lockout works, when it came it made an ugly sound when (unscrewed), a dab of grease and it runs smooth now.
4 i asked the seller if he had send the right light because of the differences, he wanted pics.
I send the pics, no response.
5 after giving a deadline for response still nothing so I opened dispute 2 hours ago, 30 minutes ago the seller accepted and I will be totally refunded (it had free shipping) basically we got a nice looking host for $0,- now that is some bang for no bucks.
6 I am in the proces of ordering two MCPCBs and two BLF DIY driver sets, from our own RMM with programming of modes we like.
7 now its is time to tackle the poor alu thingy. well I will just be having fun finding some solution for it.
We start by just replacing the driver.
When I am able to make some clear pictures of the emitters I will post them on this forum to see what they are.
Changes are we will replace the emitters as well and I am confident I can mod the heatsinking issue as well (I have a bunch of big silver coins, two of them I would not miss and hamering them to fit over the alu plate or even mod them to make a base for the leds is just one thing I am contemplating now.
To get back on topic and not to hijack this topic, we are specifically looking for something to have fun modding with. The large size appeals to us.
TS is specifically asking for a MOD guide so seems also not afraid of doing work on it.
Maybe it costs a little more in the end then buying a completely good product right away, but the fun and satisfaction can’t be bought I like to think.
And who knows, when TS gets as lucky as I did, he starts of with a free host. For mine the costs are looking like this now
SRK host 0
Driver 7.50
Silver coin 0 (well the silver is worth more, but will still be there)
maybe nice LEDS 4 x 5 = 20
total 27
For the fun we have right now without even having started this seems not like a high price.
And well before I became member here, I found so much inforation on modding, that modding something just seems more like BLF then buying, but well I could be wrong now that the groupbuys and BLF specials are fulfilling all needs and lowering the interest for modding.
Abous the “SQUEALING” sound that some drivers make: dont complain, my brand new 650 euros videocard squeals like a frightened boar And its the third one, first 2 i swapped cause of this problem( caused by its hi power invertors) and finaly i gave up, this one squeal not that loud though yet i can hear it while loaded heavy
My eyesight is terrible but on the plus side I can hear almost like a bat (when I focus on it I can hear a lot of echo spots for any sound and I hear around corners)
The whining of PSUs old TV s and now some pwms can be irritating.
The SRK I received has no problem PWM sounds that’s for sure.
(Try NVidea and Seasonic next pc build never heard anything there
Back on topic, TS would you like to team up in modding? My son and I are newbies but eager to learn.
Could be nice to have 1/topic together so even if one of the mods is going slow there still can be something new to be read and surely we will be looking for same part and guides, tricks and trucs.
The millers. Thank you for information you posted It is not out of my ability to mod the light. I am just not a magician with electronics so I would definitely need a step by step how too on how to make that happen etc. Any information you can give me on what light you bought. What websites you got it all from. What all info you got would be appreciated. Thanks again everyone
Mitko, looks like a nice rig!
Just RMA it should not do the whining
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WOW, thanks 18sixfifty! Sure will do!
OK here we go, how I got a free SRK host
After reading here on the forum I was intrigued by that nice looking torch I see at the top of every page here and I discovered it is called SRK.
I read about them an found some topics with pictures of the components.
I looked on AliExpres for the cheapest I could find with 4 emitters AND having pictures that showed the same stuff as described here on the forum.
I forcussed on the driverboard, looking for the three brass rings, the button having 4 small dimples, the tailcap having a swooshlike shape on the decorative centre thingy and the name SkyRayKing with TM behind SkyRay.
If a seller had 1 of these not on the productpage or it was different I skipped that one.
SO in came the first “SRK”
And the pics were not showing the product I received.
I contacted the seller and showed him these:
he did not respond and I started a dispute.
I merged some pics because when starting a dispute only 3 pics can be provided (and/or a 200meg video)
BEWARE, there is an option “not a genuine product”, when reading through the terms and conditions of AliExpress I have read that WHEN A SELLER GIVES the genuine article garantee you will be refunded if it is not genuine. I read between the lines here and figured that without such garantee a dispute would be futile. So (as with the fake Convoy C8) I put the dispute in “model not as described”.
When you start the dispute you can choose your desired resolution, I choose full refund and not shipping back (since shipping is expensive)
I wrote a little text stating that without the provided pictures and inforation I would not have bought it.
About 90 minutes after the opening of the dispute the seller agreed with my resolution (as with the fake Convoy C8)
So for me this worked out fine, and it is the reason I buy from AliExpress.
Another one wth 3 LEDs in underway and I will check it for the same details, if needed starting another dispute.
There are about 5 in the low (sub $22,- pricerange) that have the right parts on the pics, having free shipping and thus qualify for me to order.
There must be a connextion between different sellers, when I first checked before the dispute there were more, I had them saved. But now the pics with goo parts are either removed or changed into showing a different driver board. This happend yesterday right after the dispute.
What I like about AliExpres is that in the orderdetails ffor every order a snapshot of the product page can be viewed, this snapshot is how the productpage was at the time you ordered, so changing pictures or specs will have no effect on a possible dispute.
Right now I am axiously awaiting response from RMM for the DIY parts
Thanks for sharing your experience, and especially for this picture! That’s very informative (and disappointing that a multi-cell, multi-emitter can’t match a decent C8). Very helpful!
Andy
That is the worst SRK I have seen to date. The fake SRK's I've come across at least had okay output for ~$25.
Can we get a more focused picture of the emitters? They actually look like they might be XPE instead of XPG but it's just a little to blurry for me to tell.
Yeah, those emitters look like they are XP-E, and given the tint, probably LatticeBright fakes. Definitely not XM-L as advertised. Not sure what the “XGP” is they have printed on the PCB…
Let me try to get some better pics of the thing and also of the light it produces.
These pics were for the dispute so focussed on the difference of the advertised product.
I wil be back in this thread
OK here goes, it is all about distance since the SR floods a lot more.
Here are some pictures of the light produces, text is below each pic
The central beam is about 4 meters high, the lights are standing at about 1 meter from the ground.
The first two light pics are made with the flashlight in the centre, for the two after that I had to move the flashlights a little bit to be able to get in in the pictures, and they were standing about 14 cm closer to the ceiling.
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the living kitchen control pic, the spec of light on the left is a tower of the castle about 800 meters away that is illminatd till 23h.
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Centered tailstanding Convoy C8 on high
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Same location the SRK tailstanding on high
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central beam from below C8
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central beam from below SRK
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Now the hardest part, the LEDS, man oh man, tried with magnify glasses, the cam just would not focus, trief with different settings, and sorry, this is the best I cold do.
I did not scale these down so hopefully it is doable to see what these are
Thanks! These two shots are very informative too. Hotspot on the SRK is not impressive, but there’s lots of difference in the spill (not surprising). Any mods at all to this SRK yet? Any planned?
Yes modding is the idea, right now it is as it came. (And I really like it because of the flood so I use it the most, even in this unmodded fake cree configuration it is very useful ;))
2 DIY version 1 sets from RMM are in
So we start with that and new leds and in the process we want to find a solution for the cooling (how to get the heat away from the LED lights into the chunk of alu it is made from)
Then do about the same with version 2 because there are several SRKs in transit to us.
We being my son (11) and me, both learning soldering and about electrics together.
Sounds great - have fun! My kids are still toddlers, but I’m looking forward to doing projects like this with them someday.
And good to know it’s still a useful throwy light - I’ve seen a few for ~$20 and been very tempted! But right now all my 18650’s are flat tops, so I’d need new cells too. And assuming I avoid anything with “fire” in the name, that’d cost more than the light! I’ll see how I do with a few simpler mods first, and then maybe tackle one of these.
And just now an idea popped up about the cooling
I sure am a newbie when it comes to flashlights BUT I know a thing of two about computers and have build many.
Cooling was a big issue and I have used watercooling and air. One type I never tried, oil. It does not conduct electricity but heat it will conduct.
So I will make the area above the driver and below the LED shelf waterproof, attach some heatsinks to the bottom of the LED shelf and fill the whole space with oil to get the heat to the chunk of alu that makes up the housing.
Poses some challenges but an oil cooled torch just sounds too cool not to try
Definitely! Share when you do!
A quick search yielded this very interesting thread… Didn’t find a conclusion or final product, but it’s an interesting read!
And its the third one, first 2 i swapped cause of this problem( caused by its hi power invertors) and finaly i gave up, this one squeal not that loud though yet i can hear it while loaded heavy
