Lights. CREE XML XM-L T6 / U2 etc Thread

[mrmacmusic]

Its like a lot of things in life its how it operates in the real world, the light I got is bright enough to ride at night, i would go as far as to say you could probably drive a car, though not at excessive speeds, I would say supplement it with either another which with a y adaptor can be run of the same battery, and carry a 2nd battery in case in runs out, in the event of failure (with two light) one light is bright enough to see with even on reduced power, and I have run one light on various settings, for at least 2hrs 20mins and there was no sign of it giving up, I am not likely to ride much more than this in the dark.

Further my earlier thread on the XML Torch vs Bike Light subject, I've decided just to order one of these and give it a go – hopefully should arrive tomorrow. Also ordered the wide-angle lens mentioned earlier in this thread.

You mention a y-adaptor splitter cable... am I right in thinking that this light head could be driven by any 4x 18650 battery pack then, and I could split the battery output and run two headlights? (i.e. if I decide to buy a second light plus a y-splitter, I could run both lights of one battery and have a spare). If I can get 2hrs from one battery (one light or two) I'll be very happy, as that means once-a-day charging.

I keep hearing things about poor wearing sealing on these cheap imported lights, and someone very early on in this thread mentioned checking the charger as some aren't the best. What should I be looking for to check what I receive is hunky-dory and what should I do about weather-proofing (if anything)..?

 

[fossyant]

They go bang if they are crap. You should get 2 hours max (not for road) off the battery fairly easily. 3 hours for the 'better batteries'.

With the wide angle lense you may need to shim it a little (may). The magicshine uses thinner polycarbonate lense (which the wide angle is designed for) but some of the T6 units use a glass lense - so thicker.

Y adapter for two head units - I wouldn't as the power drain would be quite high on the battery. Safer just to use two batteries, and you'll have a backup.

 

[mrmacmusic]

They go bang if they are crap. You should get 2 hours max (not for road) off the battery fairly easily. 3 hours for the 'better batteries'.

With the wide angle lense you may need to shim it a little (may). The magicshine uses thinner polycarbonate lense (which the wide angle is designed for) but some of the T6 units use a glass lense - so thicker.

Y adapter for two head units - I wouldn't as the power drain would be quite high on the battery. Safer just to use two batteries, and you'll have a backup.

Cheers Fossyant Going to see how I get on with one of these budget lights, moving the Moon to my helmet – depending on how things go, I'm tempted to pick up a cheap 1x 18650 torch too (and possibly lose the Moon altogether).

Presumably the bezel should just unscrew allowing for replacement of the lens?

 

[fossyant]

Presumably the bezel should just unscrew allowing for replacement of the lens?

Yup. Just takes patience when tightening up as you want the wide angle lense optics running top/bottom, so hold lense, tighten up (the lense may spin a little) - if it goes out of straight, undo and turn lens further round, then tighten up again as the lens will spin slightly as you fully tighten.

The budget ones can always be upgraded with a home brew battery.

 

[mrmacmusic]

The budget ones can always be upgraded with a home brew battery.

I've never brewed anything at home, especially not batteries... and shall need to find out how to brew an upgrade! Any suggested reading please fossyant?!

 

[fossyant]

Buy 2 x 18650 battery holders from ebay (preferably wired in series - will take 2 x 3.7 volt batteries giving the required 7.4v). Buy batteries and charger from torchy on ebay. Wire holders togather in parallel - both reds together, both blacks together, and wire in a magicshine connector (from a cut off splitter cable). I will do a "how to" once my new light arrives as I'm waiting to see if it has the same connectors. Doing it this way, and charging the batteries in a charger will give you a high output/long run time, and a set of balanced batteries.

 

[musa]

Fossyant I shall await for your how to guide

I'm looking to buy the t6s I've got 2 18650 batteries already uses on my Cree q5s

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Buy 2 x 18650 battery holders from ebay (preferably wired in series - will take 2 x 3.7 volt batteries giving the required 7.4v). Buy batteries and charger from torchy on ebay. Wire holders togather in parallel - both reds together, both blacks together, and wire in a magicshine connector (from a cut off splitter cable). I will do a "how to" once my new light arrives as I'm waiting to see if it has the same connectors. Doing it this way, and charging the batteries in a charger will give you a high output/long run time, and a set of balanced batteries.

Depends what the batteries are rated at as to how long they will last from a full charge.

 

[mrmacmusic]

Buy 2 x 18650 battery holders from ebay (preferably wired in series - will take 2 x 3.7 volt batteries giving the required 7.4v). Buy batteries and charger from torchy on ebay. Wire holders togather in parallel - both reds together, both blacks together, and wire in a magicshine connector (from a cut off splitter cable). I will do a "how to" once my new light arrives as I'm waiting to see if it has the same connectors. Doing it this way, and charging the batteries in a charger will give you a high output/long run time, and a set of balanced batteries.

Thanks for that fossyant - sounds straightforward enough, but I'm sure a full "how to" post, perhaps with some accompanying photos would be much appreciated by many, not just me!

 

[fossyant]

Thanks for that fossyant - sounds straightforward enough, but I'm sure a full "how to" post, perhaps with some accompanying photos would be much appreciated by many, not just me!

I will do, I've noticed torchy's battery stocks going right down, and chargers. I know GooMason has done the same.

Just waiting for the light to arrive first as it will cost about £30 to £40 for a decent charger and 4 good 18650 batteries.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Might be worth having a scout around for an old laptop battery pack, usually they have some good quality batteries in these? I got a hold of some samsung batteries and from another pack sanyo's rated at about 2.4Ah as well. Managed to get a decent charger of ebay an WP2 Xtar for about £12, hoping that will turn up tomorrow!

 

[mrmacmusic]

Well, my light just arrived and I'm more impressed with it than I expected to be – although I can make no direct comparison with the Magicshine equivalent, I can say the build quality of the light is very good indeed The charger has a CE mark (and didn't bang when I plugged it in) as does the fused UK adaptor, which is a nice design that encases the pins "Apple" style, and doesn't just look like a standard UK plug, if that makes sense.

All I need to work out now is what the light indicators mean – can anyone help with that? For £26.99 I can forgive the lack of instructions, given that plugging the battery into the light or charger is relatively self-explanatory!

I plugged the light straight into the battery, and the clicky button on the back of the light unit illuminated green (the light itself didn't come on), so there must be some charge in the cells already. When I pressed the illuminated button, the light came on in high setting, and further presses cycled through a medium and low setting, before turning the light back off again. Although the cells clearly have some charge in them, I figured charging them fully was a good idea, so I plugged the battery pack into the charger. A small LED on the charger illuminated green (like the clicky button on the light unit), and when I turned the charger on, that LED changed to red, presumably indicating that it is charging the battery.

So.... how charged does a 'green' light on the clicky button mean, and does this colour change as the charge decreases in a similar way to the Magicshine? Also, will the red LED on the charger go out (or change to green?) once the battery is fully charged?!

 

[fossyant]

Green is 75-100 % charge
Blue 50-75%
Orange 25-50%
Red 25%
Flashing red - darkness is about to fall.

Now this is on the Magicshine, so the sequence may be different. The chargers do indeed show green if connected to battery (but not mains), then when plugged in go to red to indicate charging. Mine then starts to go orange as the green led starts to appear, then green to indicate charged.

 

[mrmacmusic]

Green is 75-100 % charge
Blue 50-75%
Orange 25-50%
Red 25%
Flashing red - darkness is about to fall.

Now this is on the Magicshine, so the sequence may be different. The chargers do indeed show green if connected to battery (but not mains), then when plugged in go to red to indicate charging. Mine then starts to go orange as the green led starts to appear, then green to indicate charged.

Cheers fossyant – most useful, helpful and informative as ever

 

[fossyant]

Cheers fossyant – most useful, helpful and informative as ever

Cheers.

Expect 2-3 hours on max. On my old Magicshine pack (about 3 years old), I get blue after about 20 minutes on max, my newer pack lasts much longer and I only use these batteries during winter occasionally - so they aren't all bad. One pack is goosed though, but I'm thinking of opening it up and sticking the cells in a charger to charge each cell - I suspect the cells are out of balance.