v5 Triple BOSS Flashlight (Bright Output Small Size)

[Tejasandre]

Maybe I'll grab the body off the other 35 that hasn't seen the light of day.

 

[peter yetman]

Good idea, it'd stop you worrying.
P

 

[ElectronGuru]

Anyone ever pull their boss out , click the switch & get no response? Gotta tap or shake it, then it lights up.

Maybe I'll grab the body off the other 35 that hasn't seen the light of day.

Let me know if its the switch or not, we'll get you fixed up either way!

 

[Tejasandre]

Let me know if its the switch or not, we'll get you fixed up either way!

Awesome! Thanks.

 

[rebelbayou]

What about a laptop battery in a Boss 70? I have some Sony EnergyTec ST6 18650s but I'm not sure of the mah.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Information

We tend to do things our own way. This leads to the extraordinary but also leads to confusion when its wholly different from previous approaches. Todays example: the engineered gap of 0.010", between the BOSS head and body.

Batteries have two poles/ends, driving electricity to the LED. Positive goes up through the spring/contact. Just about all lights rely on the body to conduct negative up around the cell and back to the head. Many designs use the head/body threads for the final connection. It's already there and works out of the box, but over time contaminants clog up the threads, blocking the power, interrupting, or cutting off power. Cleaning the threads fixes the problem but your light is unreliable in the mean time.

BOSS (and previous TorchLAB designs including Moddoolar) also conduct negative through the body. However, instead of going through the threads, power is directed to a dedicated and protected contact ring inside the head*. The threads can get as dirty as tar with the worst non conducting lubricant, and as long as the top of the battery tube reaches the contact ring, it will turn on. Ensuring this ring is always in reach requires a certain amount of offset with the body (the gap).

*this is the outside ring shown on the left:

 

[scs]

Information

We tend to do things our own way. This leads to the extraordinary but also leads to confusion when its wholly different from previous approaches. Todays example: the engineered gap of 0.010", between the BOSS head and body.

Batteries have two poles/ends, driving electricity to the LED. Positive goes up through the spring/contact. Just about all lights rely on the body to conduct negative up around the cell and back to the head. Many designs use the head/body threads for the final connection. It's already there and works out of the box, but over time contaminants clog up the threads, blocking the power, interrupting, or cutting off power. Cleaning the threads fixes the problem but your light is unreliable in the mean time.

BOSS (and previous TorchLAB designs including Moddoolar) also conduct negative through the body. However, instead of going through the threads, power is directed to a dedicated and protected contact ring inside the head*. The threads can get as dirty as tar with the worst non conducting lubricant, and as long as the top of the battery tube reaches the contact ring, it will turn on. Ensuring this ring is always in reach requires a certain amount of offset with the body (the gap).

*this is the outside ring shown on the left:

E'guru, please correct me if I'm wrong. It's been my understanding that most lights rely on contact between the bare top edge of the body to the driver and the bare bottom edge of the body to the retaining ring of the switch for conduction, not so much the threads (on the side) themselves.

 

[flashlight nut]

A BOSS Copper HCRI in its natural habitat.

 

[tab665]

im able to completly unscrew the head of my light with it turned on. power stays on until theres nothing but air between the head and body. it seems that the negative contact ring comes in direct contact with the head. so if the spring touches the cell, light comes on with the slightest contact between body and head.

edit- im not implying that the gap is unintentional; just wondering out loud if its necessary

 

[dino2024]

 

[rebelbayou]

Beautiful trio you got there dino2024!

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

I really dislike Photobucket.

~ Chance

 

[KITROBASKIN]

im able to completly unscrew the head of my light with it turned on. power stays on until theres nothing but air between the head and body. it seems that the negative contact ring comes in direct contact with the head. so if the spring touches the cell, light comes on with the slightest contact between body and head.

edit- im not implying that the gap is unintentional; just wondering out loud if its necessary

Not so with an anodized threads host, yes? That also allows quarter turn lockout.

And also many Thanks to Chance for avoiding photobucket's detritus.

 

[Stoneking]

I purchased my light for hard use, it's already been scratched quite a bit and today was a slow day at work. This light is going to see some unavoidable but serious and extreme abuse. I'm completely confident this light is designed to withstand whatever my job will throw at it. I appreciate all of the design aspects including the gap in the head. I try to clean my light at the end of the day the best I can but sometimes it's not possible for a weeks. Because of the gap and the protected contact ring I feel I don't have to worry.
It's taken me a long time to find the right light to withstand such harsh conditions, I feel like I've found exactly what I'm looking for. Honestly, I was sold the second I watched the video of a BOSS submerged underwater while a battery was installed and the light turned on. Amazing!!!
Now I just need to find the right lanyard set up so I don't lose this thing, that would be my luck!

 

[Justintoxicated]

So I got a copper 70 boss, but found a post that the 219c is limited to 24 watts with 2 cells (could not find this on the website but found it in this thread). But is it limited to 23 watts with one cell? Because it seems significantly brighter off 2 cells! What is the maximum off a single cell? Can it be changed? Seems to me it should still be 23 watts if the driver can produce it, no reason to clobber the single cell brightness, even if the luxRC designer felt the need to reduce the output off 2 cells ... Kinda disappointed in it's one cell performance.

I tried the copper body with black aluminum head running redomes and the output was quite significantly higher than the same head is off a single cell. (and compared to the 219c is with 2 cells).
The 219c's running on 2 cells are about the same brightness as the the XPL-Hi off a single cell.

Tint is WAY better with the 219c light though.

My Convoy S2+ with 4000k 90+ cri 219c's and MTN driver is brighter than the $600 Copper Boss with 219c (also 4000k 90+ cri) even when the boss is driven off 2x18350. The difference between the S2+ and boss is not as noticeable when the 219c boss is driven off a 2 cells, but the S2+ is still brighter, and off a single cell the boss with 219c is just not that bright (but it could be as the LED's have the potential to be).

I'm sure the boss has better regulation, but 219c performance is not as bright as one would anticipate, especially when run off a single battery, I guess this forces you to have better battery life at the expense of brightness). If there is a reason it has crippled performance off a single battery, please explain!

Trying to figure out where this lights fits in my collection, its a beautiful light to look at, and hold, but it's heavy and has crippled output (on one cell) or reduced battery capacity if you have to run it off 2 cells instead of an 18650)... The 2 cell config, will be both less bright and less capacity than my other 4000k 90+ cri 219c triples.

If anyone knows the maximum level for a single cell please let me know what it is so I can properly space out the modes. As of right now theres not enough spacig between 6.5W and 23W settings. If I were to guess it's about 35% brighter jumping from 6.5W to 23W setting.

Thanks in advance.

 

[xdayv]

AFAIK, the 219C and XPL run on the same maximum output from a single cell configuration -- 17W (1900+lmn).

 

[Justintoxicated]

AFAIK, the 219C and XPL run on the same maximum output from a single cell configuration -- 17W (1900+lmn).

Well that would make allot of sense as to what i am seeing 😀.

the xpl are just that much more efficient at that power I guess. My other triples must just be pushing more than 24watts to them off a single cell in parallel.

219c in this light is less bright off a single cell than my 219b triple single cell.... but it handles the heat much better at that brightness.

 

[ElectronGuru]

I'm off this week but have info that may help this discussion...

One vs two cells
Most other boards are parallel/DD while v5 is serial/boost. Parallel has the specific advantage of huge watts off a single cell but this also means huge amps off the battery and stress on the cell and all other parts.

7135 based drivers also take a significant efficiency loss at full power/charge and regulated output is a challenge. V5 trades these for huge efficiency, low parts stress, solid regulation, and zero PWM, but in return asks for two cells for max output. So the 17w limit is about the board and applies to both the XPL and 219C. 219c will be dimmer at 17w than XPL at 17w and trades this for better color.

219C limits
219c are factory rated up to about 18w. Pushing them to 24w is already overdriving them. We consider this the best compromise between output and lifespan. Your drivers are probably pushing 219c to 30w and make their compromise for more output with less lifespan.

v5's level 33 is a variable level that is generally 30-32 but can go as high as 35w. Its a simple configuration change to make BOSS 219c run at 30-35w but we consider the tradeoffs to be unacceptable. That said, please PM me if you'd like to discuss options.

 

[tab665]

does anyone know a way for me to figure out what kind of amps the leds are being driven at based on the watt level? trying to estimate my runtime with a 2200mah IMR based on my settings.


edit: my high mode is set to level 25, which is 8.8 watts

 

[peter yetman]

Easy enough Tab, convert your Mah to Watt hours for your battery and Hey Presto!
Multiply Cell Mah by Cell Voltage = Wh.
Wh / Watts at emitter = runtime. Give or take losses in the system.
P