Powerful 11 Cree LED Torch (with schematic)
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2017
- Test and teardown of a Chinese super powerful "Cree XML-T6" LED flashlight from ebay for just 16 USD including shipping. It comes in versions with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 LEDs. I have chosen the 11 LED version. The maximum LED power is almost 20W and the total current of all LEDs in parallel is about 6.5A. It runs on 4 pcs of standard 18650 Li-Ion cells (3.7V). It has 5 modes: High, Medium, Low, Strobe and SOS. There's some microcontroller and MOSFETs to switch the modes and to regulate the brightness using PWM. The current of the LEDs is limited simply using power resistors in series. The most amazing thing about this torch is that there's a piece of cardboard in between of the LEDs and the heatsink! The screw thread of the ring is too short, so they just put a cardboard under the LEDs to stop them from rattling! After a simple modification, it works well. Nice "finish at home" design :). All four batteries are in parallel, so if you put some of them in reverse, a fire is about to happen. But for just 16 usd it's a really nice and powerful flashlight.
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I saw your video and bought me one of that Torch. First, I used your instructions to improve the heat spreading. The good news: They are not using cardboard anymore. The bad news: You have to disassemble it up today, because the heat spreading is as poor as you had shown. After that improvement and carefully filling it up with four batteries in the same direction, the torch does a very bright light. Btw. it weights 500 grams with high capacity 18650s.
Many thanks for your video!
This is an old video now, but it's still one of the best explanations of a cheap flashlight on the web (that I can find anyways).
I found one from china in a 16 led and ordered it. It had the same rattle in it. I fixed mine with a large c-clip in the bottom. Thanks for a great video. I sent mine to my kid for a Christmas present.
Thanks for leting us know about the heat sink. I have three of these flashlights so I have to check them out. Thanks again. Vladimir
I have a very similar flashlight. It has only 7 LEDs, but very powerful. Originally it has 3 modes - hi, low and strobe. But the problem was that low mode is still very powerful. So I rebuilt it. I made my own internal electronics with simple PWM controls with a CMOS 555 timer and a potentiometer with an integrated switch, installed on the original tact switch. With a minimum current draw of approx. 0.2A, but at maximum power it can draw more than 10A (series resistor is R82) It has been working with this modification for over 6 years. It's a good and powerfull flashlight.
The bit with the fire extinguisher made me laugh really hard :-)
Great video and explanation.
Now I really want that torch
damn awesome in-depth review
This is a nice flashlight/torch for the price.
Nice video and good fix! I have the 4 led version coming, hopefully it will be properly heat sinked :)
Better check it before running it for more than few seconds :).
Will do :)
@@DiodeGoneWild yup :)
I think the IC is most likely a pic12Fxxx. The power supply pins are the same.
I bought one of these around the time this video was published. It was bright when I bought it, but the LEDs wore out very quickly. Now it doesn't even turn on properly (always used fully charged panasonic cells.) Sucks that it didn't have a latching switch to isolate the battery to stop parasitic load.
Nice, could you put an o-ring between the glass and reflector to take up the space?
Cheers, J.
The original o-ring, the one under the glass, is too big (bigger than the reflector). The spare o-ring is too small (it is designed for the battery space). You have to make your own washer and put it between the screw ring and the glass, or alternatively between the glass and the reflector.
I just ordered one of these but branded Skyray. Hopefully the shortcomings have been ironed out by now.
Nice vid !
that outer ring contact mines got black paint on it so its preventing the battery case from connecting
I would like you to open and aquarium air pump! Love your channel
I bought 18 LED version on sale for 25 euro. My did not have cardboard but hot glue to stop the rattle. and also black O ring as seal around reflector. Hard to get out. Maybe they run out of cardboard, so they started to use hot glue instead. But considering the cost and power it is pretty good deal after all, You just have to be DIY type.
Thanks
The cardboard in the flashlight in between the led board and the heatsink is a first for me. Surely it was simply a mistake? Such as it fell in there or something?
Thanks for your investigation - very interesting as always! Its really a pity they dont care much about the heatsink and safety - the piece of cardboard to stop the rattling is horrific! I even doubt that the little contact area of the led-board to the metal case will be enough to get rid of the heat at full power (20 W is a lot for this piece). Beside having all batteries fully charged you should also take care the all have very similar internal resistance because there is no battery management provided to check the voltage of each cell. But for the price it seems to be nice :-)
Actually the total power consumption is 25 W, not 20. The resistors dissipate ~4.58 W of heat at full power ;)
excellent!
"you have to finish them at home" lol, but that is the fun :).
I love the glowing red battery, i would be unhappy too lol.
in an ideal world, all 4 batterys would be identical brand new ones and charged correctly, so no power leaking between potentials.
Shame they didn't get the pressure side right.
Since you will have to take them out and charge them seperately you will have take care of charging them equally. I am quite confident that even a mix of different brands and capacities will work fine as long they are fully charged and of the same chemistry. I suppose old salvaged laptop batteries can be used in this flashlight.
God I'm early i got the 10 led one and the 14 led bike light and that is a spare o ring , I should add that my 10 led light is built completely different to your's as the bottom of mine screws off as well and the heatsink is properly secured with screws and a much bigger back plate .
Seems like the chinese guys are copying the design one from another, but they often miss something important. They also cut the cost of things that already have been cut to bones.
Are the models with more LED's actually brighter, or is there a limit to the amount of LED's that can be powered by those 4 batteries, before you reach the maximum possible power output ?
The ones with more LEDs are brighter. Those 18650 batteries could still supply few times more current. The limitation is that those LEDs may get quite hot when operated at full power for longer time. The more LEDs the more heat. All versions have the same size of heatsink.
I see, I am going to purchase the model with 6 LED's and see how well it works.
there is not much diferent in brightnes in more LEDs, the power supply is limited with driver
he measured about 7 Amps which is very low, even 1 accu 18650 can deliver that current (usualy 10 amps), but 4 will have no problem. The real problem here is that the those Crees can use 1 Amp each (with good cooling 3 Volts x 1 Amp is 3 Watts each so it works with old Crees), giving them lower Amps will prolong their life, if the cooling is bad use lower settings on the flashlight (like medium) and use the high only for short periods less than 1 minute. If you really want accus that deliver more than 20 amps each, use vapor Eciggarres accumulators, they are a little more expensive but better built and will last more years.
@@VladFredK not true i have a 15 led version and it draws nearly 10a at 4.2v that's 42w
@DiodeGoneWild I need to know what is U1. Could you please write the part number of it?
Ta gumička co přišla s tím je náhradní těsnění, pokud jsi odšrouboval to tělo, kam se dávaly baterky, tak tam taky bylo, a když jsi to rozebíral celý, tak tam taky byla. Jo a ta šňůrka, která je moc tlustá, to je jen tak pro parádu, abychom neřekli, že to nemá žádný příslušenství :)
Jednou jsem si obědnal mini mp3-ku s repráčkem (1,58usd) [repráček byl hroznej, hrál, ale to opravdu bylo strašný, a ani by tam neměl být, když jsem to rozebíral, byla tam dírka na úplně jiná a větší, a po 2 měsících odešla baterka, naštval jsem se, vzal kladívko, rozbil to, vykradl jsem z toho elektroniku a pokud se připojí na něco pořádného a připojí se k tomu pořádný reproduktor, tak to určitě není k zahození (byla to taková kostka, popřípadě pošlu odkaz na to) ] a přišla mi také se šňůrkou, a přitom nebylo za co, ta mp3 neměla žádnou dírku :D jinak naučné a pěkné video!
"Ta gumička co přišla s tím je náhradní těsnění, pokud jsi odšrouboval to tělo, kam se dávaly baterky, tak tam taky bylo" - Podla mna to pocas rozoberania zistil aj on sam...
"Jo a ta šňůrka, která je moc tlustá, to je jen tak pro parádu, abychom neřekli, že to nemá žádný příslušenství :)" - To neni pravda. Da sa to tam v pohode strcit, len sa na to musi pouzit nejaky tensi predmet.
What’s the low voltage cut off?
At 3V?
Is the current stable even when the battery is almost empty?
There's no battery protection circuitry. Either use protected batteries, or include the circuitry on your own.
thanks for sharing. with 20 watts i dont think there is enough heatsinking. what is the chip that is making the pulses?
"with 20 watts i dont think there is enough heatsinking" - Of course not. If you drive it at full power for too long (say 5 minutes or more) then the whole body quickly becomes too hot to touch.
"what is the chip that is making the pulses?" - As he said in the video the chip's unmarked. These idiotic copycats who make these knockoffs by the thousands seem to think for some reason that if they hide/sand off the labeling or order one with a bogus part number then others won't be able to copy the design effectively. Nothing could be further from the truth though.
Hi, I can't undo that round stainless steel ring on the Sofirn Q8 Pro flashlight, to get to the reflector, ... Can the same procedure be applied Sofirn Q8 Pro? .... Thanks
Unfortunately sofirn tends to glue their rings in place, it won't be easy to take it apart
Thank You...
His accent though ...💘👌
Hey Diode, are those real Cree LED's? I'm not certain if I've ever seen one before or not. I noticed that it was seven lines inside with 3 doubles for the 3 wired LED leaving one section to drive 3 lines instead of just 2 lines like the other two, Right? Thanks for your time & your videos, also laughed so hard at their shim, how cheap.
They seem to be skywolfeye uses the aame LED'S they are very good and never had any problems with mines even after almost 4 years
Well done 😚😒😊
@7:40 - planned unusability: the LED's have to overheat and break sooner due to worsened heat transfer. What's not to understand? ;)
I doubt the Chinese are even able to include Planned Obsolescence in their products. It does require some knowledge after all.
@@LMB222 Haha, they are not so dumb as you say they are. :) You saw the flashlight @7:40, didn't you? :) All it takes to make a short-lasting product is to copy a bad project or to not have the knowledge how to do a proper one. :)
@@CJWarlock The Chinese make some truly incredible well thought out and nicely designed products. But we Americans only want to pay for the cheap shit. Well not us in particular but the importers…
@@hullinstruments True. I'm aware of the said phenomenon. :)
Awesome flashlight and very good job fixing it, i want to buy same model as yours but i want to use high drain Li-ion cells with more than 10A continuous discharge rate, to be on safe side, and some protected, over discharge, cell would be ideally for this application because i don't know if the micro-controller has the ability to monitor each cell and cut the power if one goes bellow 3V.
You don't have to use high drain cells. It doesn't draw more than about 8A or 2A per cell. The cells are in parallel, so they share the current. With cells in parallel, you also don't have to worry about cell ballancing. All of them have the same voltage. And a protected cell is not necessary, because the white LEDs draw virtually no current below 2.5V, which is the cutoff voltage of a protected cell.
Thank you for the advice!
How many lumens on high mode?
Your current measurement may be a bit unprecise because it is not a DC current but a pulsed current. It would be interesting to find out how precisely a standard multimeter can measure pulsed currents.
Greetings from Germany
Wow👍
Nice flashlight, but 20W in that big package isn't much. 10W in the "small" one is quite normal by now (one T6 emitter can sustain 10W) - by the way, you should do a video about your cat - the internet is for cats and your cat should get some fame as well.
20W is actually quite a lot, because I'm talking about real Watts, not Chinese Watts :). Those LEDs are probably rated for 3W each at most. 20W is a lot for the size of this torch, it gets quite hot. Anything above would be for just short term operation. Ok, I will make a video about my cat one day ;).
at least 3 ,wat, 4 18650 will give 20w
I have a cat-friend of similar breed as yours, similar coloration, etc. They sure are awesome friends. I call that breed "Wildcats"... I have a 2005 vintage Encarta Encyclopedia and when I look up "wildcat' an article comes up with a photo of a big cat sitting on a tree stump out in the wild that is the same coloration... perfect camouflage-coloration. They are an original breed and many variations of smaller domesticated generations of various colors derive from that original "Wildcat" breed.
DiodeGoneWild The Cree XM-Ls (which are very old now) and modern chips like the XP-L, XP-L2 and XM-L2 are rated up to 10W and can be pushed way over that on a direct thermal path copper board.
If you add one more resistor in parallel and lower the total resistance from 0.11 omh to 0.5 won’t the current be higher?
More like 0.05 othwerwise it will go down
"won’t the current be higher?" - No. A 0.11 Ohm resistor can already supply 33.64 amps of current (at the cell's nominal voltage of 3.7V), which is way more than the 7 amps max he has measured. It'd probably cut the resistor array's heat dissipation in half though.
Hi. Nice video. Does the flashlight have some kind of over discharge protection for the batteries? If i remember well the batteries you use do not have any built in protection. I plan to buy this flashlight but i have only some laltop batteries laying around and those do not have protection either for overdiacharge. Thank you for your reply and keep up the good work. B.
There's no electronic over-discharge protection, but this flashlight is unlikely to over-discharge the batteries, because the white LEDs draw just very little current below 2.75V and virtually no current below 2.5V.
Thank you for your reply. I will order one too. Wishing you a Happy New Year !!!
i got one that the battery contacts dont touch the board ?
the battery case i ment it dont touch the torch head to make contact
Nice torch, pity that the assembly with the cardboard in the heatsink is so poor.
Hi it works with one battery?also
Hello. Good point, I forgot to mention this in the video. It really works with just one battery, but you risk damaging the battery, because it has to handle 4x higher current.
wow.. i try it, it works really with only one battery... crazy 😂
YEP NO PROBLEM , BUT 1/4 TIME OF WORK
I bought the original version of this, prior to all the clones. I have a shitty video review of it at my channel. It was called the Skyray King. It is a much more prototype-ish in design, not as price optimized like the ones you get now. It was also before the fake XML-T6 LatticeBright LEDs hit the scene. Each LED is mounted on a separate aluminum star and there's more substance to the CNC'ed aluminum. I paid $40 for it back when these lights were novel. I may buy another 3 LED version if I can find one of similar quality construction and add three high CRI warm or neutral white XHP50 or XHP70 LEDs into it. But no way ones like the one here would survive the heat of 3 XHP70 LEDs driven hard. Even a CPU heatsink even struggle to keep those cool!
saudações do Brasil + like. informativo. um pedaço de papelão??? isso que é criatividade... ou não. eu acho que vi um gatinho. sucesso.
there is a missing O ring to keep the tension between the glass and the lamp body.
I love you cat
Flash light has 3.7 volts X4 baatries ....may be a buck converter like step up ....is really powerful
11:37 - anyway cat knows it better ;D
I want his voice!
that metal ring looks upside down cud explain the card lol
Hi, i know this is an old video, but would it be possible to somehow implement a buck converter into the existing design to slightly increase efficiency and more importantly make the output power constant over the entire battery range ? If not, is there any similar flashlight with comparable (and constant) power output that isn't ludicrously expensive (like over 100 dollars)? Thanks
"but would it be possible to somehow implement a buck converter into the existing design" - I think so. By re-designing the whole PCB from the scratch of course.
sofirn q8 , sofirn sp36 , sofirn sp36s .....50 dollars
Try lighting some tinder with a magnifying glass😁👍
Might be good to know the quiescent power consumption too. Excessive quiescent off current is a common fault of these cheap lights. In order not to kill the batteries you need micro-amps standby currents. Nice job!
Tvoje angličtina je celkem funny ;)
ukaž svojí :)
DiodeGoneWild :DDDDD
DiodeGoneWild Jen že jsme se u toho videa slušně zasmáli ;) Nic proti. Tvoje videa jsou fajn :) Nejlepší je ta tvoje kočka :D
Also it did come with a o ring so you could of used that instead of making your own👍
This one is not the right size :).
Isnt that flashlight if you double click to use 100%?
Put one of these on a bicycle
GONNA BLIND PEOPLES :)))
I heard he saying "flashlight" and I'm wondering if I'm on the wrong channel
I have one of these lights same 11x XML and it's less than 2,000 lumens with good high drain batteries
an o-ring could replace your plastic gasket. might also improve water intrusion.
Is there any heatsink..?
The case is the heatsink. After a few minutes you'll have a nice pocket furnance - perfect for long dark winter nights.
Please reverse one battery polarity for a video.
it`s no use since the cathode is not proeminent so it won`t touch the base for electrical contact . Even the anodes in this video are not risen (probably from damaged laptops) so they won`t all make contact ...no surprise form this guy though :))
".no surprise form this guy though :))" i dont understand what you mean. this guy is one of the honest ones on RUclips. he is a good engineer and understands more that most others who put shit on RUclips and mess around for months without producing anything except click bait videos
no surprise as he`s very tight on his cash :) i don`t believe he`s an engineer, i heard him saying a lot of wrong things, he`s probably an autodidact guy like i know most guys in repairing shops are, and yes he is smart, sadly the best we have outthere are not posting clips on youtube...i`m here mostly for his cat though :)
himano loganor you sound like sad frustrated person. What do you expect from flashlight video? Philosophical content? And whats wrong with using old bateries from laptops? Sometimes they have 2000+ capacity left, more than new cheap cells.
i am frustrated...it's dinner time and your blood is sheet...i'm expecting to see the cat in his videos...about laptop accus, i had played with some and they were hmm...but you might ask yourself why the laptop rejects them and you take them as good...last but not least, sarcasm is not something anyone can taste
i have the 15led version
there is a flashlight or its actualyy 2 in paralell (u are electroprof)
20:22 what!!?? What was that? 😂😂😂
My fire extinguisher for all possible circumstances :).
It's not u it's v ...v=voltage
They are clearly not Cree Leds,but Lattice Bright.Also Heatsink is absent
Hi, what's the name of IC ? Please !
The cardboard is specially placed...
wow, that paper will cause led fail for sure.
You should have used a scope to measure the voltage across the shunt and the LEDs, all your calculations are wrong because of the PWM.
How do you understand the circuit very well and make a schematic?? Wtf
it actually can be as bright as my olight xhp 70 marauder
Those must be Chinese Lumens, at 20W it can't be more than about 2000 Lumens. This light would also make a good hand warmer in the winter.
For extinguisher 😂
Pls link of product
ebay
@@VladFredK Not the link of the site, the link of the product itself
@@sjoerd104 where is the link?
@@tysesty that's what I'm asking
Parallel connection of batteries makes it potentially very unsafe. They might have just use one bigger battery 26650.
Order Sofirn BLF Q8 LED Driver Chip Circuit Board ... - Banggood :cry:
nice and lovely video, as usual ...however I don't like the idea of putting those 4 cells in parallel. Apart from the fact, that it can cause a lot of harm when you unintentionally put it in in the wrong way, you will always have transient current between the cells because of their slightly different discharging curves. That means, you loose energy with no need. More clever would have been to put all cells in series and pull down the voltage you need with a buck-down converter, I think ...well, just an idea
just bought one they make it all the way up to 16 LED's! unfortunately it wasn't in stock so i bought the 15 led version gonna have some fun with this for sure!
update just received mine and wow is it a bright flashlight for the price i didn't find any cardboard in it luckily the LEDs don't rattle but they didn't bother putting any thermal paste so i had to do that
stock the flashlight draws nearly 10a at 4.2v! that's over 42w!! I'd say it's around 6000-8000 lumens but can't say for sure ik the cree XML LED'S can take up to 5w because the skywolfeye i have has the same led and has an output power of 5w
so let's just say the boost module is 100% efficient (of course it's not ;)) 42 ÷ 15 is 2.8w per LED so that's only slightly above half of the maximum power of the LED'S i would like to know if there is a way to make it brighter somehow without using a different driver
now ik heat will be a problem running at full power but i won't be running it for long if anyone knows how to make it brighter please let me know thanks!
Hi , These LEDs are not xml6. Try search for the led differences. This 11 LEDs torch give less light than a 4 genuine xml6 one which gives 4000 lumens. I think this one gives about 3000 lumens.
Hi, It's quite possible that those leds are a chinese copy or an older less efficient version of CREE, but for the price the brigtness of this flashlight is still quite impressive :).
these are cree xml leds but tuned down with the power supply.
the driver is too cheap to supply proper power for 11 leds in paraller.
If you have better driver they would produce much stronger light. That is why there is not much diferent in 11 leds or 3 leds flashlight.
This torch maybe have 600-700 Lumens.. MAX !!! Yes these are fake cree , name: LatticeBright or even worse...I have 4 chinese bike light and I'm not happy with them, so i bought original sigma buster 2000 bike light with real 1900 lumens, for mtb use , difference is like night and day... I spent almost the same amount of money on 18650 batteries,chargers,and chinese lights as i did on the original light..So now I'm just buying the original from the very beginning
the paper for planned obsolescence
i came here just to see what's inside the torch.. and idk now i am laughing. and also gained knowledge. 🙏
ic is ne555
yea 35k lumens if you get 30 55w h4 bulbs clumped to gether
Mostly , switch die before LEDs on handy flashlights.
Oh shit PWM is bad .
🤣🤣😂😂 finish the construction at home..😂😂
Bedaas
Needs bigger lithium
How does this voice belong to a real person lol
piece of junk, but you repaired it!
Why do the later videos have a dog instead of a cat
Did your cat die so you got a dog
The mosfets are really bad...
One single IRF3205 mosfet would be much better:
8mOhm on state resistance
110A maximum current
55V rating
Better than 40mOhm and 20V rating!
You will say there are four in parallel, but with IRF3205 you have better result with only one!
/Childish mode, when u measure the amps ur A looked like a willy!!!!!!
Why the hell on earth
terrible voice