Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 Flashlight Review
The Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight is available on kickstarter and offers a “no dimming no overheating” experience of 2000 lumens on a large 15,000mAh cell!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight Kickstarter product page. That’s a tracking link.
Versions
There’s just one version but it’s available in green or black (seen here).
Price
The Kickstarter price for the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight is currently still available at the Super Early Bird price of $59! MSRP is 148, so get to the Kickstarter quickly!
What’s Included
- Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight
- 15,000mAh LiFePO4 cell
- Charging cable
- Lanyard
- Spare o-rings (2)
- Extra tailcap (with other features)
- Manual, etc
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
First, this is a big light! This 15,000mAh unusual-chemistry cell is just a large thing! More on the battery later, but it of course greatly affects the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight size. Regardless of the size, the build quality here is great.
Aside from the size, the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight is “identifiably Cyansky.” The button is very familiar, for example.
Both the head and tailcap can be removed. Below you can see the threads on the head. They’re quite long but very smooth, with an appropriate amount of lube.
Both the head and tail have springs.
An alternative tailcap is offered. This one is the same, but with the addition of a tripod screw and a little glass breaker that screws into it. The stock tailcap is actually quite difficult to remove, though!
Size and Comps
184mm x 60mm x 44.8mm and 288 (excluding battery).
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in the fourth photo).
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!
Also above is the light beside a TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats. I also reviewed that specific edition, the “Oveready BOSS FT Collector Vintage Brass” 35. I love it!
Retention and Carry
The only means for carrying the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight is an included lanyard. This lanyard attaches through two holes in the tailcap. Both tailcap options have these holes.
The lanyard is very simple.
If you throw the other tailcap on this light, though, you’ll have a second option. That other tailcap has 1/4″ threads for use on tripods!
Power and Runtime
Here’s the big difference in the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight an other high-lumen quad-emitter lights. This one uses a customized Cyansky BL3815 battery. It’s LiFePO4, which is a different chemistry than most typical enthusiast flashlight cells.
Fortunately it’s included, so you don’t have to worry about sourcing your own. Because this battery has a different chemistry (not lithium-ion), it also has a different voltage range. Fully charged for this cell is around 3.65V! That also means that the driver is (probably) not made for lithium-ion cells (which are fully charged to around 4.2V) and you would (probably) kill the light if you used lithium-ion in this light! (The voltage would be too high.)
The battery goes into the light in the usual way – positive end toward the head.
One of the things Cyansky promotes about this light is that it’s a “no dimming no overheating” light. Output does stay fairly steady but does not meet the claim of 2000 lumens.
Still, around 1500 lumens for nearly 4 hours is pretty solid!
There’s an indicator near the switch, too. In the two tests above, it was blinking red to indicate that the battery was below 20%. Here are the other indications:
100%: Five green
80-90%: Four green
60-80%: Three green
40-60%: Two green
20-40%: One green
>20%: One red
One more point about the battery. Cyansky says the following:
Lithium iron phosphate batteries have the advantages of high operating voltage, high energy density, long cycle life, no precious metals harmful to the human body, good safety performance, low self-discharge rate, and no memory effect.
Charging
The Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight has built in charging. It really has to, of course, because 1) this cell is too big for any other charger I know, and 2) the chemistry isn’t addressed by many other chargers.
There’s a USB-C port in the head. It has a press-in cover.
Cyansky includes a USB-C to USB-C cable.
I’ve only shown C to C below but I did test an A to C. A to C charged at around 2.6A and 5V, so would take much longer than this C to C at 12V.
Powerbank
The 15,000mah battery can serve as a powerbank through the USB-C port on the body of the Carbon flashlight. Some also call this “reverse charging” – those monsters!
These are the same graphs but the first one shows a narrow timeframe of just the output stress testing. Output is good, getting up to around 3A before significant voltage drop.
Duration is also good, as the powerbank output lasts at 2.2A for well over 3 hours. You should be able to emergency-charge your phone just fine with this!
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps @3.48V |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 2000 | 4h | 1739 (0s) 1575 (30s) |
3.66 |
| High | 600 | 14h | 538 (0s) 513 (30s) |
0.85 |
| Medium | 150 | 50h | 148 | 0.36 |
| Low | 30 | 170h | 28 | 0.05 |
| Eco | 3 | 2000h | 2.5 | [low] |
Pulse Width Modulation
Every mode, including turbo, uses PWM.
Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor. Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.
User Interface and Operation
The Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight uses just one switch. It’s an e-switch, and very familiar in the context of Cyansky lights.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | On (mode memory, excluding Eco and Turbo) |
| On | Click | Off |
| On | Hold | Mode advance (ascending) |
| Any | Click 3x | Strobe |
| Strobe or SOS | Click | Off |
| Strobe or SOS | Long press | Exit strobe to mode memory |
| Strobe | Click 3x | SOS |
| Off | Hold | Eco |
| Strobe | Hold | SOS |
| Any Strobe | Double click | Turbo |
| Off | Click 4x | Lockout (blinks twice to indicate lockout) |
| Lockout | Click 4x | Eco |
LED and Beam
Cyansky went with four Luminus SST-20 emitters in the Carbon. They each have a partial reflector, which is smooth.
The bezel is flat.
You should be able to pick it up here, but the beam is amazingly tight with not just a ton of spill on the Carbon. It’s really surprising, considering this is a four-emitter flashlight. The beam is very tight!
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
I was sure I saw a claim of 6500K for the Carbon somewhere – I can’t find that now, but below is a characterization anyway. The lower modes are reasonable at around 5800K but the light does drift toward the cool side. This light isn’t really driven all that hard, though, so the CCT does not change too much. CRI is low.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.
Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)
I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right. These photos are taken around 18 inches from the door.
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Summary and Conclusion
The Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight does seem to bring something quite new to the market. Using a lithium-iron-phosphate seems advantageous for the reasons mentioned above (quoting Cyansky). It’s great this light can be used as a powerbank, and it does seem well suited for long-term storage in a vehicle. Especially at the super early bird rate of $59, the Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight seems like a good deal!
Check it out on Kickstarter! (referral link)
The Big Table
| Cyansky Carbon LiFePO4 flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Luminus SST-20 (Four emitters) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $148.00 |
| Cell: | 1x LiFePO4 15,000mAh battery (included) |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Warning (at least) |
| Switch Type: | E-Switch |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | ? |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | with cell: all modes without cell and/or body: lowest two modes |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 2000 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1575 (78.8% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 38.87 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 450 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 1723lux @ 6.197m = 66168cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 514.5 (114.3% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | 5800-6100 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Cyansky |
| All my Cyansky reviews! | |
^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
What I like
- Meets the claim of 4-hours steady output. Lower than claimed, but still fairly steady 4 hours!
- Easy user interface
- USB-C charging works very quickly at 12V (and still works at lower voltages, too)
- Battery isn’t built in! Whether replacements are available yet or not, it’s great that this cell isn’t soldered in and is accessible
- 1/4″ threads on tailcap
- Very tight beam profile!
What I don’t like
- CCT is cool white – there are better Luminus SST-20s!
- Low CRI
Notes
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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