My new Dereelight CL1H, experiences and measurements

[jenskh]

On Friday, I received my new Dereelight CL1H v3 3SD with both SMO and OP reflector. I like the light so much, it is difficult to take it out of my hand :twothumbs.
Here is a picture taken on my first trip with the light, only lit by the Dereelight:

The PWM regulation of the Dereelight has been debated in other treads in the forum. My light makes no sound that I am able to hear. I do normally not notice the flickering of the light, so it does not bother me at all. It has a very nice effect when using the flashlight in rain, where the drops appears as blinking pearls when the light is dimmed down.

According to my measurements, my light uses 1.33 A on max on a fresh 18650 battery. On a battery that had been used to a rest voltage of 3.9 V, it used about 1,5 A. My Ultrafire battery lasts for about 1 hour and 45 min on max without any noticeable drop in light output, and then drops very suddenly. On medium setting, it uses about 0.4 A and on low about 0.09 A. Even on low the spot is visible over 50 m.

Here is the lux measurement taken in a plane 1 m from the lens of the light. I have described my method for this and for the lumens calculation in an earlier post.

As you can see, with the SMO reflector I get about 232 lumens according to my calculations. With my OP reflector, I get a somewhat larger spot of a little less intensity, and about 209 lumens.

Hope you find this of interest, and if any questions, please just ask.:wave:

 

[WadeF]

Cool shot of the owl! How far away was the owl from you and your Dereelight?

 

[jenskh]

I guess the owl was around 7- 8 m away. I only used a simple compact camera for the picture.

 

[I came to the light...]

Great graphs! I really apreciate the lumen calculation, since Dereelight doesn't publish that info, and it isn't posted much.

 

[JasonH]

Great picture and graphs, just ordered my CL1H 2 days ago, cant wait to get it! :twothumbs
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[jenskh]

Great graphs! I really apreciate the lumen calculation, since Dereelight doesn't publish that info, and it isn't posted much.

Thank you. I can understand why it is difficult for serious producers to give lumens numbers. If they give a correct number, they are beaten by the ads of all the less serious contenders, and if they give too high numbers, they are not serious.:shakehead

I know when I bought my first lights after becoming a flashaholic, I was just scanning the ads to find the highest lumens numbers for the size of the lights.:candle: The resulting lights are presented in this tread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=189975
They are all nice lights, but quite overrated, except the Fenix which is reasonably close.
Jens

 

[sims2k]

Thanks for the post. It is good to see someone else posting their work online for all of us to see. It sheds more light to an excellent EDC light.

 

[jinx626]

omg!!! you have a owl in ur backyard!!! now that's just cool...

 

[AFAustin]

Great shot of the owl---what type is it? My last good spotting was of a Great Horned Owl---I had my FlashCrazy modded Coast Seoul on me at the time, and it was so bright as to really annoy the owl!

I have a 3SD module (w/ OP reflector) en route to drop in a 6P---really looking forward to trying it out.

 

[neophyte]

I'm pretty happy with my CL1H (I bought the two mode SMO+OP kit). Although I've noticed that the tint on the torch goes a bit yellow after 10min of use.
The throw is quite decent, at least 100m on high mode, and about 40-50m on low mode.

Build quality is pretty good, but feels a bit rough as far as the threads go.

 

[jenskh]

Great shot of the owl---what type is it?

It is an Eurasian Tawny Owl - Strix aluco
They are quite rare to spot here, so I was lucky

 

[WadeF]

Build quality is pretty good, but feels a bit rough as far as the threads go.

Have you tried wiping down the threads with some rubbing alcohol to remove any gunk, then re-lubing them? Most lights I get feel a bit gritty when new, so I clean and re-lube so they feel smoother.

 

[AFAustin]

jenskh, thanks for the reference on the owl---truly a beautiful creature!

I received my 3SD module today, which I've dropped in a 6P. I'll be trying it out later tonight. In the meantime, can someone pls. tell me if there is a memory feature for the levels? As best I can tell so far, in a 6P at least, there is no memory, but rather it starts in the next mode each time.

 

[RecycledElectron]

I just received my 3SD module yesterday and have been familiarizing myself with it. I have it in a Xtar as a host. It does have mode memory, as long as I leave it on a level for over a second or two, it memorizes that level and comes back on in it. I have to leave it off for at least 5-7 seconds before I turn it on again or it will switch to the next level. If yours doesn't memorize levels,perhaps it's defective?

BTW, thanks jenskh for the review, excellent info.

 

[Yapo]

I got my dereelight Q5 3SD last week...my one turns back on the last mode i was on if i turn it off for more than 1.5 sec before turning back on or else it goes to the next mode. I dont have to leave it on for a certain amount of time to remember the mode i was on.

click on High > click off for less than 1.5 sec > click on medium
click on medium > click off for more than 1.5 sec > click on medium

the Last multimode + memory droppin i got was from supertactical.com which required 2 sec + on the mode to remember, which i found a little annoying as well as having Strobe+SOS getting in the way of the low and high mode.

I now keep my dereelight memory on Low mode so when i turn it on i can do an extra quick click to flick to high if i require it. the only slightly annoying thing i found about my 3SD is that it flashes to high for a split sec when chging/turning on at medium and low mode and also a slight buzzing on those 2 modes as well but thats just me being fussy.

 

[neoseikan]

Great work!+1

 

[AFAustin]

Thanks, RE and Yapo, for your comments on the memory.

After playing with my 3SD in 6P setup a bit more, I've found that it does have memory. My scenario is more like Yapo's, except that it needs to be off 2-3 sec. to memorize the last level. Likewise, it doesn't seem to matter how long it was "on" at the last level.

Seems odd that the memory function is different in different hosts....

 

[jenskh]

My CL1H 3SD works just like Yapos, but to be sure it remembers last mode I think I have to use slightly more than a second off.

 

[Yapo]

My CL1H 3SD works just like Yapos, but to be sure it remembers last mode I think I have to use slightly more than a second off.

yep sorry i stand corrected...i just tried timing it and it appears to need bout 1.5sec + to remember the mode. i'll edit my post above

 

[Patsplace]

I got my CL1H a few days after the batteries had arrived from China (18650's) but the charger didn't arrive for weeks due to a communications glitch that Pila straightened out by sending the charger with shipping prepaid.

Well I'd been using the Dereelight with the batteries as they came and was really impressed by the power and long life of the batteries. One of the guys said to hold my judgement until I'd charged the batteries.

Well, the charger arrived, I popped two in and then into the light they went when charged and OH MY GOD is it ever bright!!! I'm really amazed that something that small puts out that kind of light. Amazing it is, just plain amazing.

Needless to say, I'm a happy camper!!!

Regards,
Pat