HighlanderNorth
Flashlight Enthusiast
I was just looking at the Zebralight SC5. Some review sites suggest that the SC5 replaced the SC52, while another site suggested they are both in production. The SC5 is about 50% heavier than the SC52, because it's body is significantly thicker. I read that it needed to be thicker for the new circuitry to fit(???), but that it may have been designed thicker for heat sinking.
It doesn't exactly make sense to me that the body is thicker in order to house the circuitry, because the circuitry is in the head, which is the one part of the SC5 light that ISNT thicker than the SC52. It's the handle that's significantly thicker.
Typically, if all things are equal, you'd want your carry light to be as light and small as possible. However, durability and heat management are important. But the SC52 seemed to be durable enough, and although I never left mine on turbo or high for long periods, it never got very hot.
When designing LED lights that can get hot due to high output, are you better off with relatively thin aluminum in the body of the light(like the SC52), or is it better to have a thicker body? What about the head, would you want thicker or thinner material there?
Now, let's apply those same concerns to a very poor heat conducting material like titanium. Since it doesn't conduct heat well, would you want a titanium light's body to be thin? Obviously youd want an internal heat conducting device made of copper(or silver if you could afford it) to quickly start the process of moving heat away from the LED and circuitry, and outward through the body. But titanium would almost act as an insulator that would probably hold some heat in, because of its poor conduction characteristics.
It doesn't exactly make sense to me that the body is thicker in order to house the circuitry, because the circuitry is in the head, which is the one part of the SC5 light that ISNT thicker than the SC52. It's the handle that's significantly thicker.
Typically, if all things are equal, you'd want your carry light to be as light and small as possible. However, durability and heat management are important. But the SC52 seemed to be durable enough, and although I never left mine on turbo or high for long periods, it never got very hot.
When designing LED lights that can get hot due to high output, are you better off with relatively thin aluminum in the body of the light(like the SC52), or is it better to have a thicker body? What about the head, would you want thicker or thinner material there?
Now, let's apply those same concerns to a very poor heat conducting material like titanium. Since it doesn't conduct heat well, would you want a titanium light's body to be thin? Obviously youd want an internal heat conducting device made of copper(or silver if you could afford it) to quickly start the process of moving heat away from the LED and circuitry, and outward through the body. But titanium would almost act as an insulator that would probably hold some heat in, because of its poor conduction characteristics.
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