SunDrop-3S preview

[Kiessling]

Hi boys and girls !


Here's my little preview of Don't upcoming SunDrop evolution: the SunDrop-3S.

For starters, here's a picture comparing a classic SD and a SD-3S:

As you can see, you can't see any difference. The magic is in the new driver Don uses for the 3S head. The body is the same for the two, it is a titanium McClicky 1x123 body with Don's "death grip" ti clip, as usual.

Here's a pic of the 3S-head:

The new driver offers 3 levels of brightness and nothing else, no strobe, no SOS and no fancy blinky modes. It uses PWM as method of dimming which means the color of the beam is always the same on all levels.
The drive current is the same as the original SunDrop, and for the three levels Don measured:

High 48 lm
Med 13 lm
Low 3 lm

The luminous flux is lower than the typical light using a Cree or SSC LED as the High-CRI LEDs aren't as efficient as the standard white LEDs.

For more info from the horse's mouth read this thread where Peter Atwood first revealed the existence of the super-secret instrument of light Don was planning :
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=209635


All this does sound very good, there's more in the same package, after all. But then comes the UI. And usually, when there's a lot of options hiding behind one button, the UI is the deal breaker. At least it is for people like me who are obviously unwilling to dive further into th erealm of lights that require a manual and a learning curve.
Well, I overcame my fear and pressed the button and used the light. :candle:
The UI in this one is pretty simple. Press for "on" at the level you had it before, meaning it has a memory for the last level used. Press for "off". To change levels, simply blink the light once (you can do that without latching the McClicky switch) to enter the next level. The light cycles from dim to bright endlessly. And that's it.
If you blink slower than about 0,5seconds or so, it won't change levels but simply go on and off. There's no programming, no easter eggs and no menue. Nothing.

In the end, I miss the momentary option and especially the momentary high. But then again, I have always something negative to say :green:
Apart from that, the UI is very much KISS and really easy to get used to. No manual required, nothing can go wrong, I can even lend the light to my wife without having to worry about her messing up my light.
I have to say that for the SunDrop the merits of the 3S-driver outweigh the flaws by far, and the flaws are very few in number anyway. I prefer the 3S now that I have both. And that means a lot from my mouth as I really can't stand UIs.


I did some beamshots comparing the SD-3S to other lights. I tried to chose adequate opponents from my littel inventory, and came up with those three lights that will fight it out:

A Zebralight H30 seems the perfect choice as it has a very similar beam pattern, three power levels and everybody seems to have one. Then, a Photon Freedom with the Nichia GS LED will challenge the SD-3S.


All pics are the same exposure which explains the drastic difference in brightness. A camera isn't as good as the human eye. White balance is "daylight" and all settings are fixed.
Note the very warm and "High-CRI"-color of the SD versus the cool and somewhat green touch of the others. Of course, the camera overexaggerates this by a large margin :green:

The SD-3S is always on the left, and it starts with the H30 on the right ... going from low --> med --> high:

Then the Photon Freedom, which is always on max brightness:

High level is just like the classic SunDrop.
Medium is a useful general level with supposedly great runtime.
Low is interesting. When used for walking indoors, it provides are very dim and broad illumination of the surroundings. When used up close, it is easily bright enough to read or study a map, and it is also bright enough to endanger your night vision.
This low level is a very useful work horse, but it is not a find-me beacon of super-duper low. The followers of the "Super-Low Cult" must know this before purchasing.


The end result is:

1) I am pleased with the light. I think it is a very nice improvement over the standard SunDrop.

2) Don has invested all this time and effort to build a light from scratch that gets stomped by a Photon Microlight :nana:

3) We absolutely need a SunDrop-T for "tacticool" that has a secondary menu with a force-mode for full birghtness and a seizure-inducing strobe at 17 Hz


bernie

 

[precisionworks]

Nice review, Bernie

As much as I like & use my SunDrop-1S, there are times when it's just a little too bright for some work. The medium & low levels will be a fine addition to a light that's already ahead of the curve.

If it only had SOS, locator, disorienting strobe, etc., it would be perfect ...

Lacking those, maybe Don will install a couple of trits on either side of the Nichia. That's one of those 'easy' mods that I rather have Don do.

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

I have my 1 x 123 SD head on a E1e body with a Mc2es switch. The low is perfect. I have a feeling people are gonna love this one!! :twothumbs

I would get one, but with the afforementioned SD and a extended play SD, my SD needs are met for now.

 

[Kiessling]

Hey PSM ... I didn't think of the old McE2S trick ... :green:

I think this kind of lights benefits of a low mode more than any other.

bernie

 

[Rico801]

Thanks for the review. I missed the first wave of the SD and really would like a flood type of flashlight. The 3 speed UI sounds great to me. :twothumbs

 

[starfiretoo]

Thanks for the review.:thumbsup:

This one perks my imagination. The original SD met all my needs as a warm emitter. The warmth was so easy on the eyes. Would love to see the warm Nichia replaced with the bright Dragon LED as used in the LS20 series using the "3-speed"

 

[Kiessling]

The warmth is particularly cool in the low mode as it lacks the ghostly look most LEDs have and is more like a small candle. Very nice for reading. It is what our brains seems to expect from a dim light.
bernie

 

[Peter Atwood]

Great review Bernie!

 

[paulr]

Interesting. The original Sundrop has almost killed my interest in other lights, I like it so much. I've been carrying mine every day for months, where I always used to switch from one light to another. But I've sometimes felt that a low level like on the PD's could be useful.

What are the specifics of the driver, or should I be asking in Wayne's forum? I'd mainly want to modify the UI to just have two levels instead of three, if I got one of these.

But, for KISS, you really can't beat a one level light.

 

[Kiessling]

Peter ... thanx

paulr ... the driver is something new and I have no clue about it other than it uses PWM dimming with all its advantages and flaws and that it has 3 levels. No idea if you can od it yourself.

As much as I am KISS myself, the lower levels are a huge bonus with this light, especially for close-up work.

bernie

 

[McGizmo]

Hi guys,
Regarding the driver, I can't provide you much information and don't want to speak out of place regarding it. I have made a friend in Japan who is a flashaholic and he has an online entity, Pro Light Japan. He has a circuit designer under contract who designed the converter I am using. I provided critical criteria along with the functions I wanted from the UI. We did a joint purchase of a run of these converters which I had manufactured in California for us. The controller chips were programed one at a time by the dessigner in Japan and then forwarded to the manufacturer in CA. Mine are of a simple 3 speed as discussed above. I believe the ones that went to Japan have additional levels and some number of strobe functions. The designer is quite adept at different strobe frequencies and profiles but I have no interest in this what so ever. The control chip is programmed prior to installation and to my knowledge can not be reprogrammed once installed. There is no provision for a menu or user adjustment or UI selections. These converters are what they are and that is about it.

The one thing that can be changed on these converters is the sense resister that dictates the high level of constant current(low and medium are reduced "on" cycles of the high). In this regard, these converters are similar to the x2 series of converters that Wayne designed and made. I believe the converter can be pushed up to 700 mA in drive output and I will likely do some experiments with a 3 speed Cree or Dragon light at 525 mA. I will have some options with the driver, moving forward... It is likely that you guys may come up with some questions I might be able to anticipate but frankly, I don't have answers for them at present and don't even want to take the questions into consideration at the moment.

 

[AlanS]

Please forgive a potentially stupid question, but doesn't PWM draw the same amount of juice from the battery regardless of which level the light's on?

(Thought I had heard this with regard to the Photon Freedom, so if there's something very different going on in that light, that would be the source of my confusion.)

Don, I've got PayPal locked and loaded waiting for this one.

 

[Kiessling]

ALan, yes, it drive the LED always at the same current, but for a different duration. The dimmer it gets, the more "off" phases you have and less "on" phases.

So, theoretically you consume proportionally less energy when dimming. However, reality showes that constant current regulation is more efficient when dimming low, but you also get a color shift with this, which you don't get with PWN as the LED is always driven at the same current.
For a light like the SD, color rendition is important, so PWM comes in handy.

bernie

 

[Rico801]

Just out of curiosity, are the pocket clips longer on these than on the AMc Mule? I was just looking at the picture and they appear to be longer than I remember them being.

 

[Data]

Oooo looks real nice! Great write up too bernie.


Cheers
Dave

 

[AlanS]

For a light like the SD, color rendition is important, so PWM comes in handy.

Thanks for the fast reply, Bernie. I agree, in this case I care far more about the color than the battery life.

Nice job on that chart, by the way. I live and breathe Sibelius.

 

[Kiessling]

Thanx guys !

Rico ... the clip is the same. The SD is just a relatively short light.

Alan ... I don't think that the differences in runtime concerning PWM vs constant current are that dramatic, but I admit that I am quite clueless here. However, there was some discussion about this a while back, so the search feature should be able to help you further.

Chart ... not done by me. Some professional did this.

bernie

 

[McGizmo]

Hi guys,

A wave of these is about to be launched and I figured it made more sense to add some thoughts and comments about the SunDrop 3S here instead of adding some "clutter" in the wave thread.

It has been my experience with using the SunDrop 3S that the two lower levels allow this light to be more appropriate in many cases of in close task work as well as unobtrusive navigational illumination. I am real happy with the extended utility the 3 speed provides and the ease of its operation.

I have had a few inquires as well as read some posts where folks have mentioned that they would like the ability to reduce the intensity of flood both from the SunDrop, mules and the LunaSol Nichias. The most obvious answer is reduced drive levels to the LED but of course the mechanics and need for a viable UI stand in the way. There is a quite simple, albeit crude alternative to lumen reduction from these flood sources.

Recently someone resurected a thread about mastering the use of our lights and the alternative I am going to suggest fits in with this theme. Basically if the volume of light exiting the flashlight is too much for the task at hand, block some of the light or loose some in bouncing it. With a flood source, it is quite easy to reduce the amount of light hitting the target as well as reducing the target field size. You don't have a hot concentrated stream of photons that needs to be managed or baffled. You can easily put one or two fingers over the front end of the light and block much of the light if not most of it but the light that does get by is still in an even distribution. You can hold the light backwards in your hand with the head pointed at the palm of your hand and the light bouncing off of your palm. With palm down, you can vary the amount and intensity of light reflecting off your hand and directed downwards. Your hand alone is a readily available and quite effective silencer when coupled with a flood source.

I would guess that we have all used our hands to baffle the light output but if you haven't tried it with a flood source, you may not realize how much more effective it is compared to choking down a collimated beam.

I bring this up now because some will no doubt find the low level of the SunDrop 3S still too much light in certain instances. The chip in the 3S converter can be programmed for any number of levels and relative to each other. The programming is done before the converter is assembled and prior to installation in the light engine. The decision was made to limit the converter to 3 speeds and their relative levels are what they are at this point. It is my opinion that the existing low is quite useful as it is and the run time very respective. I haven't done a run time on the low because it would tie up my computer longer than I am willing to and I know it is well over a day. If less light is required than the existing low provides I think choking the stream of light is a good and reasonable solution and better than setting the low level down further on a permanent basis.

My long ramble here may well be overkill and making much to do about nothing. However, I wanted to be a bit proactive and address some issues I felt would likely come up; especially since the controller chip is programmable. Yes the 3S could be a 15S and it could signal "hello, I am a flashaholic" in morse code but it doesn't and it won't be configured to do so. :nana:

The Nichia 083 High CRI LED is not a stellar flux monster to begin with and now having two additional reduced levels of output obviously doesn't extend its effective range; on the contrary it reduces its effective range. The SunDrop is a relatively quiet light to start with and with the 3S, the drop can now be reduced to a drizzle. I understand the SunDrop 3S will not appeal to many of you and that's cool.

 

[Kiessling]

Show some pride, bud !

THis light offers features no other light has. It is a very interesting and useful device. And it is yours alone to claim.

bk

 

[brucec]

Recently someone resurected a thread about mastering the use of our lights and the alternative I am going to suggest fits in with this theme. Basically if the volume of light exiting the flashlight is too much for the task at hand, block some of the light or loose some in bouncing it.

I pretty much always use my lights on high. If I need low, I point it at the ceiling and presto...instant low level flood of the entire room. In my opinion, this room flood is very useful. Needless to say, except for Surefires, all of my lights can tailstand. For the Surefires, I do a wall bounce.