Flickering light with SF Fury Intellibeam when using Li-ions?

[Olumin]

I've had this light for a while. This is the newer Duel-fuel 1500lm version.
I have noticed straight out of the box, that when running it with 18650s 3,7V batteries, on the lower output levels while on the Intellibeam setting, there are a few points in which the light ever so slightly flickers, just for a short moment.
Some people might not notice this at all, and in actual use, or when lighting things from a medium to far distance, this is not noticeable. I find it very strange nonetheless. It does not increase/decrease brightness while it flickers (in a sort of stepped brightness-adjust way), it simply flickers while not altering the brightness of the light. This always happens at the exact same point, and no matter how slowly or quickly the brightness increases/decreases.

When using 2x CR123 3V Batteries, with a combined voltage of 6, this phenomenon does not occur at all.

Now my question is; if anyone here has (or had) this light, can you confirm this behavior in your example? Do I simply have a lemon?

Is this the fault of the batteries? The voltage? The light itself?

I have been testing with 3 different 18650 batteries (the original SF one, and 2x Keeppower 3500mAh ones), and even with multiple Keeppower 16650s (even though turbo does not work with those due to too high drain, the Intellibeam mode however does. Same phenomenon).

Does anyone have any insight on this? Reasons for it? Ways to fix it?
This does not kill the light for me, it has however always been somewhat of an annoyance to me.

 

[Olumin]

Does really no one have any idea? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps I would have been better off asking this question in the General Discussion or LED lights section?

And if anyone here as a SF with Intellibeam feature (no matter what model), I would be very interested to know if you have the same problem.

 

[archimedes]

I'll try to help ....

I am not very familiar with the "Intellibeam" series, but doesn't this have some sort of odd output adjustment based on position or angle of inclination ?

(EDIT - Ok, I see that Intellibeam is not based on angle, but rather is driven by a feedback light sensor. Same thoughts below still apply)

If so, you may be seeing a driver mode switch, for lack of a better technical term, "blip"

I suppose if you had an oscilloscope, you might be able to see exactly what is happening in the electronics :shrug:

 

[Olumin]

Yes, Intellibeam adjusts the brightness depending on the level of reflected light the sensor within the reflector picks up. If it is a driver mode switch as you say, then why would this effect only occur when using Rechargeable Li-ions, and not when using CR123 batteries? This is what confounds me about this whole mystery.

Unfortunately, I am not very well versed in electronic circuits, and I also do not own an oscilloscope.

I would love to test out this light on 2X 18350 or 16340, I however don't know if it can handle the voltage without taking permanent damage. Given the price of it I'm sure you can understand why I don't want to experiment. I strongly assume this issue has something to do with battery voltage and/or current (Amps). If this is the case, I might see some change when driving the light on ~8 Volts. I assume this is not possible, given that the light is probably designed to run on a maximum of ~6 Volts.

If anyone knows if it is safe to run 2X 18350s in a SureFire Dual-fuel light, please let me know.

 

[archimedes]

.... If it is a driver mode switch as you say, then why would this effect only occur when using Rechargeable Li-ions, and not when using CR123 batteries? This is what confounds me about this whole mystery.

Yes, the voltage is different.

.... I however don't know if it can handle the voltage without taking permanent damage. Given the price of it I'm sure you can understand why I don't want to experiment....

I would not suggest running any electronics out of spec.

 

[Olumin]

Of cause not.

But I understand now what you mean by driver mode switch. That would indeed explain why it only happens with Li-ion.

I am however still curious about whether or not all SF Intellibeam lights experience this particular issue, as I have never heard or read about it anywhere. If anybody reading this has a SF with Intellibeam and DF, please share your experience. I surely cannot be the only one in this forum who owns such a light.

And if anyone here happens to own a Intellibeam light without Duel-fuel, please share if this issue is still present when running it on a 16650 instead of two CR123s.

 

[rrego]

Of cause not.

But I understand now what you mean by driver mode switch. That would indeed explain why it only happens with Li-ion.

I am however still curious about whether or not all SF Intellibeam lights experience this particular issue, as I have never heard or read about it anywhere. If anybody reading this has a SF with Intellibeam and DF, please share your experience. I surely cannot be the only one in this forum who owns such a light.

And if anyone here happens to own a Intellibeam light without Duel-fuel, please share if this issue is still present when running it on a 16650 instead of two CR123s.

Hey Olumin, I know this is an old post.

I just got a Fury Intellibeam (non DF) and yes, you are correct. My light also does that flicker when it auto-ramps/auto-sensing down to a lower brightness and it stays on that brightness. I also detect, what I can tell is PWM-ish, because if I wave something in front of the light at a lower level, it has the PWM-like effect(?), could be my imagination :thinking:.

I sourced the light to run it on 16650s, but there is a trade off with this 2nd Gen P2X compared to my original P2X, where it runs at a lower brightness. It will run the 600 lumens when a 16650 is fresh at 4.20 volts, but brightness diminishes once the voltage goes down.

I compared my original Fury with the 2nd Gen Fury IB both on 16650s and the original one remains brighter than the IB after a few minutes.

I also compared the Fury IB with a 6PX single mode and the Fury IB is only a bit brighter (after it's been running on the 16650 a few minutes). I think I'm getting about 400 lumens, since it is brighter than the 6PX 320 lumen, but not as bright as the P2X 500 lumens. It's right in the middle. If I then put a freshly charged 16650 in the IB, it'll then be noticeably brighter than the 6PX again.

It's a trade off, I'm not running the full 6v as required by the light. I thought it would support the 4.2V as the old P2X, but it does not. Maybe a 2nd Gen P2X non-IB would(?).

If I really need the 600 lumens, I can run primaries once in a while, but I'll be good on Li-ion for now. "Free lumens" is the trade off, in this case.

Hope this info helps.

 

[Olumin]

Thanks rrego, its good to know that im at least not the only one. Its just especially frustrating since the Fury IB is designed to primarily run on 18650s, not even being able to archive full brightness with 2x 123s. You really would think they would correct such an issue. This has to do with the current (sustained and peak) two CR123s can deliver vs an 18650, which probably explains your issue with the 16650s aswell.

Oh well.