Acebeam X50 Turbo issue

[Dimitri Stephan]

I recently received my X50 in the 5000K color temperature and for some reason, after a maximum of 10 minutes of intermittent Turbo use from a full charge, the light turns itself off when trying to go into Turbo even though it is rated for up to 1.5 H in this mode!

Is my light defective and needs to be replaced?

 

[badtziscool]

Acebeam has a bit of incorrect advertisement in their documentation. The light is not supposed to be able to run on turbo for the entire 1.5hours. The light is supposed to step down in output when the temps of the light is above 65C, according to their site, and that step down is what allows the light to run at their claimed 1.5 hours. Everytime you activate turbo, 38000 lumens is going to draw a lot of power and I'd imagine it will drain the batteries very quickly. You say that it turns itself off after 10 minutes of intermittent turbo. Does the power indicator show red towards the end of the 10 minutes?

Also, what are the outside air temps you're running the light in? If it's cold and breezy outside, I would imagine the light is able to sustain the 38000 lumens for a longer period and thus actually drain the batteries faster because it's not stepping down as quickly.

 

[Dimitri Stephan]

Acebeam has a bit of incorrect advertisement in their documentation. The light is not supposed to be able to run on turbo for the entire 1.5hours. The light is supposed to step down in output when the temps of the light is above 65C, according to their site, and that step down is what allows the light to run at their claimed 1.5 hours. Everytime you activate turbo, 38000 lumens is going to draw a lot of power and I'd imagine it will drain the batteries very quickly. You say that it turns itself off after 10 minutes of intermittent turbo. Does the power indicator show red towards the end of the 10 minutes?

Also, what are the outside air temps you're running the light in? If it's cold and breezy outside, I would imagine the light is able to sustain the 38000 lumens for a longer period and thus actually drain the batteries faster because it's not stepping down as quickly.

Ok so 1.5H when you start from Turbo and it keeps stepping down until the flashlight turns itself off, got it.

But that doesn't explain why even after a total of 10 minutes of solely intermittent turbo, the light switches itself off and the red light indicator comes on.

If the power indicator is lit green, in any other mode, should I be able to go to turbo? Is it normal for the light to shut itself off when trying to access turbo in this case?

Please let me know if I am missing something here.

 

[badtziscool]

When you put the light into turbo, it places a really high demand on the batteries. That high demand causes to batteries to experience a voltage sag. As an example, assume green means cells are at 3.8 volts or higher. Yellow means between 3.2v and 3.8v, Red means below 3.2v. When the light is off or on a very low level, there won't be much voltage sag, so the batteries may be able to provide 3.8v to the light and thus show green. When you go into turbo, the cells will sag down to something below 3.2v and so the light with show red. Keep that on, and the voltage may go so low, that the light shuts off to protect the cells from going too low and cause damage.

It does seem feasible to me that after 10 minutes, even if intermittent, of turbo, that the cells would be drained enough so that it can't go into turbo anymore without triggering the low voltage protection. Maybe someone can do the math based on the battery capacity and the LEDs that are in there. That would give us a theoretical value to compare your experience with. If it's drastically off, then maybe the batteries are suspect. In any case, 38000 lumens of output is A LOT. And it's pretty incredible that a soda can light can even output that at all. I just think that the way the light is advertised, it's a bit optimistic and somewhat misleading, and thus incorrectly setting the expectation.

 

[aznsx]

Ok so 1.5H when you start from Turbo and it keeps stepping down until the flashlight turns itself off, got it.

But that doesn't explain why even after a total of 10 minutes of solely intermittent turbo, the light switches itself off and the red light indicator comes on.

If the power indicator is lit green, in any other mode, should I be able to go to turbo? Is it normal for the light to shut itself off when trying to access turbo in this case?

Please let me know if I am missing something here.

Not familiar with the light or what type of batt it uses, but:
A lot of lights will disable use of their highest output level when batt voltage drops below a set threshold. It seems possible that the batt you're using might have an issue (problem) resulting in its voltage under load dropping far more / more quickly than expected. I would eliminate the batt as the possible cause of what you're seeing. Ideally, I would test with a different (preferably known-good) cell / batt. Barring that, checking the no-load (open circuit) voltage of the batt with a meter after experiencing the issues might be an indicator, but I would imagine the red light is already an indicator that the light 'thinks' the voltage has sagged too much under load to allow max output.

Edit: BTW, and just as an aside: Acebeam is a PLATO member company, and thus one SHOULD (should) be able to rely on their performance specs to be FL1 compliant. Should.

 

[Dimitri Stephan]

I contacted customer support from Acebeam to see what the issue might be and apparently the light working as it should.

I purchased the light thinking it could do a total of 1.5 H on Turbo and not turbo for a minute or so and around 5000 lumens for another 1.5 hours but that's alright as it was purchased with the intention to use it as a toy and not a tool.

 

[defloyd77]

I contacted customer support from Acebeam to see what the issue might be and apparently the light working as it should.

I purchased the light thinking it could do a total of 1.5 H on Turbo and not turbo for a minute or so and around 5000 lumens for another 1.5 hours but that's alright as it was purchased with the intention to use it as a toy and not a tool.

They very clearly states that the runtime is turbo plus the step down output. I'm honestly a little surprised you've been a member since 2009 and not familiar with the ANSI/PLATO FL1 standard.