
        
-
TrustFire TR-J1
Just picked up the TrustFire TR-J1 off the 'bay.
Came with 2 UltraFire 18650 batteries (2400 mAhr), and a charger. About $45 total with shipping.
Took it diving in the Gulf yesterday: 85 feet, on an old airplane that fell off a carrier deck in a hurricane (looks like a Hellcat but is badly corroded).
Great illumination for a cheap, small light. Perfect for finding shovelnose lobster in the wreck and holes.
It needs a velcro holster to keep it on your BC; shouldn't be hard to make or find.
No where near the 1000 lumens claimed, but good light nonetheless.
A very blue/white light on land, but in the Gulf, with visibility at 35 feet, it had a faint purplish hue.
No signs of leak; I was at the bottom about 30 minutes.
Don't know the total run time on a charge; I only used it for about 15 minutes.
G.
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Thank you for this review. I've been searching for one as well prior to buying one off eBay, and purchased one nonetheless. I'll give my input as well when I get my light.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Thanks Doc.
Yes, can't beat it as a back up light, and small enough to stash on your BC for the light you never thought you'd need.
I wouldn't pick it as a primary dive light, but at that price I don't think you can go too wrong.
G.
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Actually, my current primary is an XML based light in a Ferei BL09 head with a similar head diameter and my back-up is a Ferei W150 XPG light. I really like their build quality and am looking forward to comparing them with the TR-J1. I'd also like to test their claims of 100m (variably listed as 30m on some sites) - though I'll probably only test it to around 50-60m in my pressure pot. Do you have any beamshots?
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Blindeye, I hope you don't mind me adding my input to your review.
CONSTRUCTION:
I Got mine in the mail today
First impressions: Seemed relatively well built - nice and solid. On removing the head, there were one or two swarfs, but otherwise it looked great. The cooling ridges on the head are not overly-done as seen on some other dive lights. The removable stainless steel attack crown was the first to come off. Granted, it looks like it could do some serious damage if ever used for its intended purpose:

Tail cap comes with a generous hole which allows you to use different thicknesses of line for tying in a bolt snap. Without a lanyard, the light can stand on its end:

The light has 4 modes: off-flash-low-med-high. It has a bi-directional switch, so from the off position, you can go directly to the highest beam, or into flashing mode. Turning the switch is at best a two-handed affair, as there's an o-ring adding friction to prevent accidental switching. There are no detents, but after taking it apart, there's a groove with pits and a corresponding hole in the ring, so I guess you could put a bb and spring there to add the detents if you wish. Personally, since this will see salt-water use, I'd just leave it as is. Also visible is the small magnet used for switching. I may fix it in place with a bit of glue, as it might fall out and get lost when disassembling the light.

Speaking of o-rings, the tail-cap has 2 rings, while the other end has just one (the other ring is just for friction for the switch). Seeing as this part isn't unscrewed as much, I guess it'll suffice, though I guess 2 would've been better, though there is an extra groove in it. I may just add one later on:

Inside the front bezel are small indentations which I initially took to be the mating points for a tool to remove the ring. I used a watch-back tool, and what I thought was an internal ring is actually just part of a solid front ring which can be unscrewed from the outside.

The reflector is a smooth aluminum reflector. I've been so used to having reflectors that screw into the pill, but this one just rests on it. Also seen in the inside of the head is the ledge where the lens and gasket rest.

Given the dimensions of the light head, the lens (3mm x 30mm) seems adequate to do its job. The lens is surrounded by a rubber gasket which provides good sealing properties especially at greater depths due to the greater compression of the seal.

The next photo is of the LED in situ. I didn't feel comfortable disassembling further than that, so that's where I left it at.

TESTING:
One thing to remember is that this is a dive light. As such, many eBay ads claim it to be able to go up to 100 meters. On KD though, they give a more realistic 30m figure. I decided to go half-way and test to the same depth rating for my GoPro cameras. Put it into my pot along with my watch/depth-gauge and brought it down to around 65 meters for about 15 minutes. No leaks

Since this was to be my back-up light, I decided to test it against my current back-up: a Ferei W150 XPG light. The Ferei is slightly more solid and heavier (~220 g vs the ~180g for the TR-J1). In hand, the slightly thicker tube of the Ferei and the knurling on the tube makes it easier to hold I guess, but I like the TR-J1 for its sleek outline - though knurling would've been a nice touch for holding with wet or gloved hands.

Anyway, in terms of light output, here's a few comparative shots of the TR-J1 vs the Ferei which is rated at 200 lumens. 24mm lens, 5.6 aperture, 1/30 shutter speed, ISO 400 (I didn't have a tripod so I didn't want a slower speed). Wall is around 8 meters away. Upper row: High, medium, low. Lower row: Ferei W150, W150 vs TR-J1, control shot.

Bottom line: Looks like I've got a new favorite back-up light! Since I opted for just the light, I got it for around $35. At that rate, as Blindeye states, you can't go wrong!
Last edited by Doc Ed; 05-06-2012 at 04:42 PM.
Reason: corrected some info
Ed
-
Flashaholic*
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Great review, Doc Ed. Thanks!
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Wow Doc,
Now that is a review! Very informative.....thanks!
G.
-
Flashaholic*
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
A lot of effort here Doc, most appreciated!
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Nice one Doc. Been looking for a good back-up and your detailed review here just helped make up my mind.
Couple (wife get's one also, of course) of them ordered and hopefully arriving in time for trip to Malta in a couple weeks. If they arrive they'll get a good testing there.
Will certainly post afterwards with any issues/non-issues.
Cheers,
Joel.
-
Enlightened
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Good work. Don't forget the driver efficiency, so LED current is probably around 1.5A. Still reasonable for a backup light.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
My TR-J1 arrived yesterday. At the tailcap mine draws 1.5A in high, .75A in medium and .15A in low. Any tips on removing the lens? I don't want to mess up the gasket prying it out.
-
Enlightened
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Can you try removing the led/driver? Unscrew the retaining ring with a pair of pliers and the pill should pop right out.
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Hehehe!
I was waiting for someone else to do that. Anyhow, if no one else does it, I should have photos this Thursday after I get my 2nd light.
Were you able to remove the lens/gasket?
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Will try again when I get home. It certainly did not want to fall out when turned upside down. :-) On the flip side, the plastic slug around the positive terminal on the other side of the pill definately does not twist out. :-/
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
I'm going to try the suggestions of Hanachan and DIWdiver and either try using thicker gauge wires or use a different multimeter to determine tailcap current. So far, I'm seeing a large spread ranging from your values (1.5A here up to 2.3A from Hanachan's measurement). Anyway, more data is usually a good thing

I have two of these little fellas here now. First impression is good....looking forward to testing them out in Malta next week.
If you could excuse my ignorance and point me in the right direction of how to measure the tailcap current, I can go ahead and do that on my two here and add to the data pool.
Cheers,
Joel.
-
Flashaholic*
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
JoelSim
I have two of these little fellas here now. First impression is good....looking forward to testing them out in Malta next week.
If you could excuse my ignorance and point me in the right direction of how to measure the tailcap current, I can go ahead and do that on my two here and add to the data pool.
Cheers,
Joel.
You would need to remove the tail cap and use an amp meter to measure current between the battery and the light's case. So get a multi meter and set it up to measure amps. Touch one of the leads to the back side of the battery and one to the flash light's barrel where it does not have anodizing. The light should turn on (once the switch is turned on) and the meter should show amps.
http://tlslights.com/ your source for quality affordable dive lights, Mag-lite conversions and weapon lights. Now a Federal Firearms Dealer.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Further to what 350xfire said, depending on the multi-meter you have, you may need to move your red lead from the volt port to the current port. The black lead can stay in common.
-
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Last edited by JoelSim; 07-12-2012 at 11:14 PM.
Reason: re-linking to picture
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Last edited by Doc Ed; 05-30-2012 at 02:19 AM.
Ed
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
@JoelSim: I guess QA isn't really a strong suit with them. I can sort of understand possible differences between your light and mine (maybe different batches) but then to see those same differences between two lights of yours which most likely came from the same batch is really a weird one. I think I really will add that extra o-ring. I didn't try to lever off the existing o-rings to check the durometer. I conducted my pressure test using the stock o-rings, as I noted no damage on them and the amount of lube on them was okay. Do both of your lights have the soft o - rings?
Yeah I see your point about the different batches, but agreed that it's a bit strange between my two.
Yes both lights have the "soft o-rings". Whether they actually are soft or if I just consider them to be is anyone's guess though I figure. But most of them look like they have a slither missing off them and one in particular looks just a little deformed in general. Bit of a shame, but.....
Time to duck to the shops and see if I can find some new o-rings to do the job though I think.
Cheers,
Joel.
-
Flashaholic
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
sucnip, thank you for the photo of the 'driver'.
it looks very simple, consisting of five hall-ic, one maybe FET and one micro controller (AVR or PIC??).
IMO strictly speaking, it is NOT driver but direct driving with PWM.
the micro controller may sense hall ic outputs and do PWM on LED current via FET (high:100%, mid :50%, low 10%).
if so, we should NOT use a good battery with very low internal resistance to avoid burning LED
and NOT use non protected battery to avoid over discharge in this light.
there may be a very little current at OFF mode.
-
Enlightened
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
That would probably explain the wide spread in the measured tail-cap voltages. It is my understanding that in direct drive, as voltage decreases, so does current (please correct me if erroneous). However, I didn't quite notice that large of a dimming effect in your beam-shots in your other thread. Although, it does jive with your findings of being able to drain the battery to 2.75v without any indicators like blinking and such. I guess its back to the multi-meter to measure currents at various discharge states.
@Sucnip: I assume that the pill is easy to remove after unscrewing the ring from the front half? Going to try this myself tomorrow
Last edited by Doc Ed; 05-30-2012 at 06:07 AM.
Ed
-
Flashaholic*
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
I guess QA isn't really a strong suit with them.
Hahahaha.... When you pay employees $1 a day to assemble something, you can bet you will get what you pay for... As with anything cheap from China, you may need to rework it to make it do what it was intended to!
http://tlslights.com/ your source for quality affordable dive lights, Mag-lite conversions and weapon lights. Now a Federal Firearms Dealer.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1
Just checked the tail cap current draw on my two and they are virtually identical.
With fresh charged batteries- Trustfire 3.7v 2400mAh
4.2v- Hi-1.85 Med-0.91 Low-0.19
4.2v- Hi-1.83 Med-0.91 Low-0.19
I just used my multi meter as is. No using thicker wires(as was suggested earlier)or anything like that.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
Are those hall-effect sensors on the periphery? Sweet! Now I wanna take mine apart as well!

Yup.

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
And what chip does the driver use? And the white wire attaches to what?
Not sure what the driver is. There's a small microprocessor and a current limiting chip. The white wire attaches to the positive terminal of the battery via the white plastic disc.
-
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
Doc Ed
@Sucnip: I assume that the pill is easy to remove after unscrewing the ring from the front half? Going to try this myself tomorrow

It wasn't too bad. Remove the screw down ring with a pair of needle nose pliers. The pill will fall forward a few cm and get caught by the white wire connected to the plastic plug. I rotated the pill 90 degrees and used a small screw driver to push the white disc out. Then I unsoldered the white wire from the disc and the pill fell out.
There are two solder spots where the board attaches to the pill. Simply use the hold in the PCB and the alignment disk to make sure you put it back together the same way. No problems with the modes when reassembling the light. Good luck!
-
Flashaholic*
Re: TrustFire TR-J1

Originally Posted by
hanachan
sucnip, thank you for the photo of the 'driver'.
it looks very simple, consisting of five hall-ic, one maybe FET and one micro controller (AVR or PIC??).
IMO strictly speaking, it is NOT driver but direct driving with PWM.
the micro controller may sense hall ic outputs and do PWM on LED current via FET (high:100%, mid :50%, low 10%).
if so, we should NOT use a good battery with very low internal resistance to avoid burning LED
and NOT use non protected battery to avoid over discharge in this light.
there may be a very little current at OFF mode.
+1
In direct drive lights, the current measurement will be very much dependent on the meter and the leads you use (mostly the meter, unless you have really poor leads). The only way to get a really accurate measurement is to use a short piece of heavy wire and a clamp-on ammeter. Or a low-impedance shunt and the meter on millivolt range.
And yes, the light will begin to diminish as soon as you turn it on, and will keep diminishing until you turn it off or it goes out.
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules
Bookmarks