Maybe you should look at a different/larger flashlight instead?
Zebralight SC600Fd III Plus - XHP50
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Maybe you should look at a different/larger flashlight instead?
Screwball69N
Newly Enlightened
Just received the SC600F III Plus and wow talking about harnessing the power of the sun I'm impressed but I think the times on high might be a little off I played with it just a few times on high and my battery was drained to 50% so I'll try a few other battery's and get back to you all
I read somewhere that if you turn it on on H1 and switch it off when it starts to dim after about 45 seconds and let it cool to room temperature and then repeat this cycle you'll get about 20 minutes of runtime from a 3500 mAh cell.
The "approx. 2.3 hr" runtime stated by Zebralight is achieved only if you turn it on once and keep it on .. which of course means it will run at about ~500 lumens most of the time.
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StorminMatt
Flashlight Enthusiast
Ambient conditions also make a difference. If you take your light for a walk on a cold night, the light will stay brighter longer, which will drain the battery down faster.
I've had mine for a couple days now. I don't know if it makes any difference but I asked for the warmest (yellowest) tint and a hard clicky, and it may just be luck but that's exactly what I got! The tint falls somewhere between my SC63w and my SC62d - favoring the SC63w. Much warmer than my SC62d but just a shade cooler than my SC63w.
As far as brightness goes, it fills a room much more brightly than my SC600w Mk II or SC63w with better color rendering to boot! It's crazy how compact it is compared to my original SC600w (1st gen). I have to say, ZebraLight has outdone itself on this one. They even moved the keychain mount to the side rather than directly opposing the logo / clicky switch, which was a mild complaint I had on earlier SC600 models (I don't know if this is new or was introduced in the Mk III models - never owned one of those). I like to have my clip directly opposite the switch, and the keychain mount got in the way, with previous similar models.
It's definitely a wall of light! My other SC600 models throw further, but I can get a sense of "depth" outside better with this light. And though it's darker, I can still pretty much see just as far as I can with my SC600w Mk II and SC63w. I really have zero complaints, though I'm still partial to a non-frosted lens. But it's growing on me for sure. This little light is going to serve a lot of uses!
I would love to see a chart showing what amperage it draws on the various H1 and H2 modes, though. Most of my cells can only handle 0.5-2.5A constant draw, so I've only been using those with H2 at the most. I have one 10A draw cell that I can confidently use on the higher H1 modes. It would be nice to know if some of the other PID modes are also safe! I don't have the equipment to test it myself, unfortunately.
Hope everyone else enjoys this torch as much as I do! Happy holidays, folks!
As far as brightness goes, it fills a room much more brightly than my SC600w Mk II or SC63w with better color rendering to boot! It's crazy how compact it is compared to my original SC600w (1st gen). I have to say, ZebraLight has outdone itself on this one. They even moved the keychain mount to the side rather than directly opposing the logo / clicky switch, which was a mild complaint I had on earlier SC600 models (I don't know if this is new or was introduced in the Mk III models - never owned one of those). I like to have my clip directly opposite the switch, and the keychain mount got in the way, with previous similar models.
It's definitely a wall of light! My other SC600 models throw further, but I can get a sense of "depth" outside better with this light. And though it's darker, I can still pretty much see just as far as I can with my SC600w Mk II and SC63w. I really have zero complaints, though I'm still partial to a non-frosted lens. But it's growing on me for sure. This little light is going to serve a lot of uses!
I would love to see a chart showing what amperage it draws on the various H1 and H2 modes, though. Most of my cells can only handle 0.5-2.5A constant draw, so I've only been using those with H2 at the most. I have one 10A draw cell that I can confidently use on the higher H1 modes. It would be nice to know if some of the other PID modes are also safe! I don't have the equipment to test it myself, unfortunately.
Hope everyone else enjoys this torch as much as I do! Happy holidays, folks!
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samgab
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hi. I just tested the current draw at the tailcap using my Fluke 87V. Ballpark measurements were 3.5A on H1, which started to drop quite quickly as the PID kicked in. H2 variants were about 0.5A, 1.0A, and 2.0A, respectively.
mico
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2016
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That's great to know, thanks.
Time to put a Sony VT6 in mine. Looks so good it makes me think the charts are wrong:
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php
I agree that this led is a wall of light if that is what your looking for. I played with the SC600Fd III Plus and a SC600w III Hi. The Plus seems to step down very quickly and eats batteries like crazy. I wonder what it would look like if it didn't have the frosted sense filter? I think is is a good show off light but for practically uses the XHP35 lights work best. Just my opinion of course.
Charlie Hustle
Newly Enlightened
candlepowerforums.com 2017:thumbsup:
StorminMatt
Flashlight Enthusiast
The VTC6 is probably one of the best batteries for this light. It holds its voltage better than pretty much ANYTHING else out there (Samsung 30Q included). And its REAL capacity is actually not much lower than the NCR18650GA.
CallMeDave
Newly Enlightened
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- May 21, 2006
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- 73
That's not my experience at all. I've never seen it step down from H1 in normal operation, but then again it's so insanely bright I don't usually need its highest setting for extended periods of time.
It gets toasty hot, but I get perfectly acceptable runtimes with the NCR18650GA I bought from Zebralight. It's not magic; super bright and hot is going to take a lot of juice. When I use this on low and medium levels it just sips energy.
I do wish I could reverse the interface so single-click turned it on Low, and press-and-hold cycled up to brighter, but ZL interface discussions happen in other threads...
It really does. I can notice mine starting to step down after about 45 seconds (in white wall conditions
).noboneshotdog
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- May 28, 2012
- Messages
- 1,354
It really does. I can notice mine starting to step down after about 45 seconds (in white wall conditions
Mine steps down big time at 1500lm. Within just a few minutes it is usually at a lower output than H2. And this is with the pid set for the highest temp. I am using the 18650ga's from ZL.
recDNA
Flashaholic
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- Jun 2, 2009
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- 8,761
XHP needs too much power to run in a small flashlight on one 4.2 volt battery. Bad choice by ZL. XP-L2 would have been better.
Tachead
Flashlight Enthusiast
No it doesn't. It steps down because of the heat(thermal regulation)not the voltage or voltage sag. The XHP50 and 30 are fine choices with the right driver. With the right driver they can still hold turbo(1300-1500 lumens) down to almost 3.0 volts. The XP-L2 has less then half of the maximum light output of the XHP50 and would have never achieved the same performance/output. I am pretty sure ZL knows what they are doing.
samgab
Flashlight Enthusiast
Horses for courses. It's not for everyone, but there are lots of people, myself included, who really like this little light. Especially the great CRI. It does what it's designed to do really well.
There is ever so slight truth in at the boost converter to run an XHP50 is slightly more inefficient than the driver to run a 3ish forward voltage emitter. But in truth, the XHP50 will just be outputting more lumens anyways so it will need more power and run hotter. the XHP50 and XP-L2 are very close in generation so very close in efficiency.
I really love this light. Mine is obviously stepping down on high in small increments when it gets warm. I can see it throttle down in action. I am glad that the PID works, as I know it is helping this little light keep from overheating. After all, there is very little mass here. The heatsinking is very good, as I can feel it get warm almost right away on max.
StorminMatt
Flashlight Enthusiast
Since the input voltage of 1x18650 is considerably higher than 1xAA, the efficiency of the boost converter in the SC600Fd is considerably higher than that in your typical 1xAA light (like the SC5).
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samgab
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just a correction to my earlier figures. The method I was using, whilst accurate for lower current draw measurements becomes inaccurate when the current gets high, eg over 1A. This was mentioned in another thread so I retested using a very short thick piece of wire and a DC clamp meter. This way there is less voltage drop to affect the flashlight's regulation circuit. (http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/Measurement UK.html) Anyway, using this method, I measured over 5A on H1 mode on initial startup with a fully charged cell, and over 7A on cold startup from a quite discharged cell. It's a bit fiddly doing it this way to get into the various H2 modes, but the H2 I had it set on (the lowest H2 IIRC) measured under 1A. So I find it quite believable that this torch could draw as much as 8A when first starting it cold with a fairly low charged cell. When the PID system takes effect, a few seconds after startup, the current draw drops quite a lot. Anyway, I thought I'd better mention this correction to my original post above. Also, I have no way of logging and charting/graphing this current draw data, as I don't have a DC Clamp meter with a logging function, unfortunately. Maybe HKJ, who has the equipment, might do this one day...
Edit, after a bit more testing with the clamp meter, with a fully charged cell, I'm getting 5.6-5.7A on H1, and 0.6-0.7A, 1.0A, and 1.9-2.0A respectively on the H2 modes. So the lower current test results were fairly consistent with both methods, but the H1 testing was a bit off initially. It's worth noting that DC clamp meters aren't very precise, with mine only having about 2% basic DC current accuracy.
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