So I bought this and I got more than I bargained for.

It says 5 modes
Strong Brightness. - which works after 1000 clicks
Medium Brightness - which works after 500 clicks
Low Brightness - Which never fails to work
Strobe - Which works after around few clicks
SOS - Whatever that means.

I bought it cause I needed a bright light to work with where ever I go. Needed it to be rechargeable, since I had plenty of Li-on's, this particular model was tempting.

I am having a hard time trying to get strong brightness mode. It always tend to flash and blind my eyes every now and then, and it always goes to low brightness mode after a second when I switch it on.

I do not need all those fancy modes, so I thought I just hook it up directly by bypassing what ever is inside the torch, so took it apart and I found zip.

Just the cree led and the switch, so what gives.
Is the LED fault that it does not stay at full brightness.
I checked the switch and it just works as a switch. DUH!!

What is this CREE thing anyway?
Is it just a high brightness LED, rated at 3.7V or so?
I do not want to blow the led so I am asking around, since I never tampered with a cree led before.

How can I get the maximum brightness out of this thing.
Any suggestions folks.

 

Link: Cree XLamp XM-L LED data sheet.

The torch is supposed to have an internal voltage booster circuit separate from the LED:

Internal wiring applies the high efficient booster circuit, working voltage is wide and can utilize the batteries in the largest extent.

 

All the circuitry is probably under the battery spring. Is there a manual that tells you how to get into Med and High brightness mode? I'd also be sure the battery is in good condition and fully charged before using High mode. It's possible the internal electronics kicks you down to low brightness because it can't sustain the current demands of the high brightness mode.

 

naaa.. I charged my cell, and even at first it gave me the hiccups.

You guys are correct about the circuits being under the led housing. Lemme see if I can dismantle the assy.
Hey the data says 3.1V or 3.3V. So does that mean I do not need the circuitry. I can just power directly with the cell. Or would the 3.7V might blow the LED.

By the way, who is selling this type of cree's in large quantity's

 

What you have is a rechargeable knock off of a Surefire 6PX Pro.
http://www.surefire.com/6PX-Pro?&search_id=2989221

I laughed when I saw the ebay ad for your light claiming 1000 lumens. It'd be lucky to get 200.

Cree is an American company that makes LEDs for illumination. Their products are sold through the usual electronic component suppliers such as Digikey and Mouser.
http://www.cree.com/

 

Bugger...I have been coned.

This thing gives a bright flash and sometimes I get bright steady light.
So?

 

It's a fact of life with e-bay, I bet there are more pirated/cloned electronics than authentic electronics on there.

I do buy some electronic stuff on e-bay and if it didn't work out at least I know I got what I paid for.

 

So, you have a Chinese led driver board of questionable quality, workmanship, or both. I remember having to scratch around one of those cheapo driver boards once, only to find that the pcb inductor pads were too far apart. So I had to bridge the gap by slabbing so more solder on. Worked O.K. after that.

I am sure that the folks over at the candle power forums have thoroughly dissected this driver board.

 

Hey nickel, got any link to any dissected driver of this type

 

Just plug in the model of the flashlight along with candlepowerforums and see what comes up. Could be a faulty switch, ground path, any number of things. Here is one of many links.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?269410-Ultrafire-Flashlight

 

I concur with Ionic's assessment in post #3 that dropping out of the higher brightness settings suggests a battery problem. You might try hooking the light head up to an adjustable power supply set to the rated battery voltage as a test. If it works, you could measure the current on each setting while you're at it.

 

Was the battery also purchased on E-Bay? Is it also a fake?

 

Was the battery also purchased on E-Bay? Is it also a fake?

Naa.. the cells sre taken from laptop batteries, I keep them charged regularly.
I doubt it's the battery. I have to test it again

 

I have some lithium cells from a laptop. They do not power something long enough then they die. But after a few minutes of rest (or cooling) then they power something for a few minutes again, over and over.

New cells power something for a long time then suddenly lose power and need to be charged.

I think your laptop cells are finished.

 

Hey Guru, I salvage li-ons from lap top every time I get a dead battery. Usually one cell is often dead, the rest gives a reasonable service life
Today I gave 3.8V from my PSU and the led shined like a flood .
and to my surprise every time I switched power the so call mode changes.
The SOS mode is somewhat interesting.

The LED and the circuit is working after all.
But to my surprise it works with the same li-on now.
Dunno what happened.

I guess the darn thing decided to work rather than have me dismantle it.

But I did change the insulator piece that is on top of the led which prevents the solder joints from touching the focusing assy. I guess the previous one was shorting the LED somehow.

 

An interesting outcome. Let us know if it goes AWOL again soon!

 

An interesting outcome. Let us know if it goes AWOL again soon!

U betcha...!

 

it's acting up again....
Same as before. Was working perfectly and then POH!!

Could it be a loose connection?

 

it's acting up again....
Same as before. Was working perfectly and then POH!!

Could it be a loose connection?

Cold solder joint or water corrosion? (Has it ever got wet?)

 

I just can't believe a torch has me baffled...

Now the Darn thing works just fine. Just like that..

But I did see our little Prince banging my torch on the tiles today.....My beautiful Torch....
BANG !! BANG !! BANG!

Now it works