# Ultrafire C8 led



## Mr. Nobody (Jan 20, 2015)

Was experimenting and tried two 16340s insted of one 18650 and fried the driver. The led is fine. I see a complete drop in threaded piece on eBay that is $10 shipped in Neutral white 1 mode (which I want) but sellers feedback is bogus. Keep in mind the c8 ultrafire uses a solid aluminum drop in and is unique compared to the other ultrafire lines. So anyone own a c8 and have ordered else where or....?


Am I allowed to link the eBay page ?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=171622246709&alt=web


----------



## Chicken Drumstick (Jan 21, 2015)

Afraid I can't help directly. But bear in mind there likely is not really a company called Ultrafire. It's a brand that may or may not have existed (or still does), but has been cloned and cloned and cloned loads of times.

This means, just because it says Ultrafire on it, doesn't mean it is the same as another Ultrafire. C8's are also popular designs sold by many brands with a fair amount of variation.

If you are up for a project, then you are probably better off buying a new driver. It should be easy to remove and only requires two wires on the LED star to be de-soldered and then the new driver soldered in it's place.

Lots of drivers to choose from, most C8's use a standard 17mm driver board. Something like the Qlite 3.04A driver is a quality driver and will work well in a C8.

http://intl-outdoor.com/qlite-reva-71358-multiple-modes-circuit-board-304a-p-710.html

Can also be sourced from the US:
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52&search=qlite


Or it might just be better to buy an entire new C8. Prices from $14-17 for an entire torch with free shipping. The Convoys are very nice quality too and come with good drivers. Choice of tints and emitter bins available.
http://www.banggood.com/Convoy-C8-AK47-71358-8-Modes-white-light-LED-Flashlight-p-908245.html

BTW - most 18650 lights do not support more than 4.2v, only use 2xCR123a in lights you know are rated for 6v.


----------



## Mr. Nobody (Jan 21, 2015)

Chicken Drumstick said:


> Afraid I can't help directly. But bear in mind there likely is not really a company called Ultrafire. It's a brand that may or may not have existed (or still does), but has been cloned and cloned and cloned loads of times.
> 
> This means, just because it says Ultrafire on it, doesn't mean it is the same as another Ultrafire. C8's are also popular designs sold by many brands with a fair amount of variation.
> 
> ...



How about this? 
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191062917478&alt=web


----------



## more_vampires (Jan 21, 2015)

Mr. Nobody said:


> How about this?
> http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191062917478&alt=web



Avoid the Bay. ($2.75) vs ($5+$1.89) ship. Double the price. I prefer Ilumn.com, but that's personal preference.

http://www.illumn.com/leds-drivers-...s/8xamc7135-3-04a-selectable-mode-driver.html

I post this based on price.

Btw, that driver can be re-configured by soldering a jumper.

Edit: Realised it was mtnelectronics. Post edited. No disrespect intended, just anti-eBay sentiment spoke first.


----------



## Mr. Nobody (Jan 21, 2015)

more_vampires said:


> Avoid the Bay. ($2.75) vs ($5+$1.89) ship. Double the price. I prefer Ilumn.com, but that's personal preference.
> 
> http://www.illumn.com/leds-drivers-...s/8xamc7135-3-04a-selectable-mode-driver.html
> 
> ...



Gotcha no problem. Just noticed the LED is bad too so looks like ill need a LED board. I want a 1000 lumen warm white led.


----------



## a1mu1e (Feb 1, 2015)

If you're looking for a budget C8 host with better quality you could try the Convoy C8. Or go up one step to the XinTD C8


----------



## Poppy (Feb 1, 2015)

Mr. Nobody said:


> Gotcha no problem. Just noticed the LED is bad too so looks like ill need a LED board. *I want a 1000 lumen warm white led*.



An XM-L2 driven at 3 amps will give you about 780 emitter lumens in *warm white*.
I estimate that 4.0 amps will get you about 950 emitter lumens.
See the Cree XM-L2 data sheet.


----------



## Mr. Nobody (Feb 2, 2015)

Poppy said:


> An XM-L2 driven at 3 amps will give you about 780 emitter lumens in *warm white*.
> I estimate that 4.0 amps will get you about 950 emitter lumens.
> See the Cree XM-L2 data sheet.



This looks like a pretty good deal.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=181651341091&alt=web 
Also what does the 7135 do ?


----------



## Poppy (Feb 2, 2015)

Mr. Nobody said:


> This looks like a pretty good deal.
> http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=181651341091&alt=web
> Also what does the 7135 do ?



Do yourself a favor, and get a convoy C8. $16 shipped

You are trying to rebuild a POS light with bogusly advertised parts. $11.75

You want WARM or at least that is what you said. The ebay one you linked to is a U2 bin. Did you look at the data sheet I took the time to find and link to for you? There is NO U2 binned WARM emitter. The ebay listing states... see our store for Cool white. Well... Cool white is the ONLY one that has a U2 bin! What the heck are they talking about?

1600 lumens? Really? even a cool white U2 will give about 1000 lumens at 3 amps, I guess about 1280 at 4 amps, I think it would have to be driven above 5 amps to get 1600 lumens. I don't know if that is possible.


----------



## Chicken Drumstick (Feb 3, 2015)

Poppy said:


> Do yourself a favor, and get a convoy C8. $16 shipped


+1

That ebay advert looks like tat and lies.


----------



## Bob57 (Feb 3, 2015)

I'm also looking at replacing the driver and LED star in a cheap C8, the one I have is a Tangsfire XM L2 U3.
It has to be a 17mm single sided driver.
When it worked it was a very bright thrower with the deep 40mm lens, just wanted to see what I could do with it for a project.


----------



## Mr. Nobody (Feb 3, 2015)

Bob57 said:


> I'm also looking at replacing the driver and LED star in a cheap C8, the one I have is a Tangsfire XM L2 U3.
> It has to be a 17mm single sided driver.
> When it worked it was a very bright thrower with the deep 40mm lens, just wanted to see what I could do with it for a project.



That's pretty much what I am doing I really see no reason to buy another c8 host. The brass pill has been boned so I'm just exploring options for emitters and drivers. I've been thinking about turning the c8 into a mt-g2 host. Get some serious throw with the deep reflector


----------



## Chicken Drumstick (Feb 3, 2015)

Bob57 said:


> I'm also looking at replacing the driver and LED star in a cheap C8, the one I have is a Tangsfire XM L2 U3.
> It has to be a 17mm single sided driver.
> When it worked it was a very bright thrower with the deep 40mm lens, just wanted to see what I could do with it for a project.


if you don't mind soldering, check the links I posted earlier (1st reply in thread). 

A 3.04 17mm Qlite driver and get yourself a Noctigon mounted XM-L2 from Int'l Outdoor also. On a good battery this will work really well.


----------



## Bob57 (Feb 3, 2015)

Chicken Drumstick said:


> if you don't mind soldering, check the links I posted earlier (1st reply in thread).
> 
> A 3.04 17mm Qlite driver and get yourself a Noctigon mounted XM-L2 from Int'l Outdoor also. On a good battery this will work really well.




Thanks CD

Has to be single sided as you can see here, it may be hard to find something like this?
I may have to form a copper wire ring to keep the retaining ring from touching the + center of the board on about every single sided driver I've seen because the locking ring is so big.?
Just wanted to try to get it working as a little DIY project, starting to think it's not worth it after looking at some of the better C8's like the XinTD C8 ?









Bob


----------



## Poppy (Feb 4, 2015)

Bob,
I believe that this is the driver that is in my Convoy C8. The AMC7135 chips on the spring side, fit just inside the locking ring.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/16...c7135-2-group-2-5-modes-led-flashlight-driver


----------



## Bob57 (Feb 4, 2015)

Thanks for the reply Poppy!
I ordered a driver from fasttech :thumbsup:


Bob


----------



## Poppy (Feb 4, 2015)

Bob57 said:


> Thanks for the reply Poppy!
> I ordered a driver from fasttech :thumbsup:
> 
> 
> Bob



Wow!!! Big spender you are 
Just kidding. I hope it works out well for you.

Have fun!


----------



## Bob57 (Feb 4, 2015)

Poppy said:


> Wow!!! Big spender you are
> Just kidding. I hope it works out well for you.
> 
> Have fun!



I got a few extras, gave my Dad the same light so I figure it will need the same repair soon.
Also have a XinTD C8 on the way, I just got a PD35 a week or so ago. 
Finding this forum was a great thing, or maybe a bad thing? :thinking:


----------



## Poppy (Feb 4, 2015)

Bob57 said:


> Finding this forum was a great thing, or maybe a bad thing? :thinking:



Yeah, a definitely maybe!


----------



## more_vampires (Feb 4, 2015)

I hear you. I threw away my wallet when I found this place. No point in carrying around an empty wallet, right?


----------



## ardvaark (Mar 23, 2015)

Poppy said:


> Bob,
> I believe that this is the driver that is in my Convoy C8. The AMC7135 chips on the spring side, fit just inside the locking ring.
> http://www.fasttech.com/products/16...c7135-2-group-2-5-modes-led-flashlight-driver



Perfect, this is exactly what I was going to suggest. There are also variants of that driver for differing power levels.


----------



## Mr. Nobody (Mar 26, 2015)

So I stuffed a mtg2 in this light lastnight DD not much of a hot spot, I figured with the large deep reflector I would get some throw but nope. So removed it and am going to try a XM-L2


----------



## Chicken Drumstick (Mar 26, 2015)

MT-G2 is pretty big in a C8, as a C8 isn't that large really. Ratio wise it's probably akin to an XM-L p60. So I'd expect similar sort of beam profile with a larger hot spot.


----------



## bladesmith3 (Mar 27, 2015)

I also had a MT-G2 c8. I wasn't impressed. not a great beam.


----------

