BLF Q8 color and output measurements

[Tender]

@djozz

I do not recommend it (I already know a case of putting one battery in reversed and the springs nicely acting as a fuse ) , but bypassing the tailsprings will give at least a 500 lumen bump.

Sounds like an unintended safety feature
That’s a nice little boost there

[MRsDNF]

@djozz

@koyotee

Oh well, guess Thorfire wont be the next group buy manufacturer.

I’m not in any other BLF-flashlight team other than the Q8, but despite that it was quite an adventure with Thorfire, especially the communication, they have succesfully finished the Q8 project. They have more or less followed our design demands, did the part of the design that we as Q8-team were not capable of doing in a satisfactory way, stayed within the initial cost goal, and finally produced a light of which the specs are quite a bit better than we hoped for. To mention the most saillant detail: we never thought beforehand that Thorfire was prepared to make the massive copper DTP-board (that is central to the performance) we asked for.

So I believe that this BLF Q8 project in coopereation with Thorfire is as succesful or better than any previous BLF custom light project. A new project with Thorfire will certainly be a challenge again as far as communication goes, and they will certainly again struggle to get the details on the level of premium brand lights, but I’m confident that a next project with Thorfire could be succesful, and expect that if the Q8 project turns out to be profitable for them, the communication thing will only become better.

+1 on this djozz.
Also with the Millers amazing patience and abilities working alongside lots of members here far cleverer and smarter than I has really taken this forum to the next step in one huge leap.
If the Miller or anyone like him has the patience to keep organising projects like this the lessons learnt from previous experiences will only make future projects far better from which most of us here will benefit greatly from by having world class flashlights with leading edge firmware etc at a budget price.
The amount of work that is going on behind the scenes here by most of Millers team is incomprehensible.
These guys and gal do far more charity work here for us than Charity workers do themselves and at times with little thanks so the thanks they do get is warming to the heart especially after the months and months of tireless work when things dont go 100% to plan.
Thanks all involved in the projects and that includes everyone here that has commented on the good and bad things that has happened so far in making this place a new and exciting place to be and for making world class flashlights like nothing else in the universe.

[MAD777]

@MRsDNF

Also with the Millers amazing patience and abilities working alongside lots of members here far cleverer and smarter than I has really taken this forum to the next step in one huge leap. If the Miller or anyone like him has the patience to keep organising projects like this the lessons learnt from previous experiences will only make future projects far better from which most of us here will benefit greatly from by having world class flashlights with leading edge firmware etc at a budget price. The amount of work that is going on behind the scenes here by most of Millers team is incomprehensible. These guys and gal do far more charity work here for us than Charity workers do themselves and at times with little thanks so the thanks they do get is warming to the heart especially after the months and months of tireless work when things dont go 100% to plan. Thanks all involved in the projects and that includes everyone here that has commented on the good and bad things that has happened so far in making this place a new and exciting place to be and for making world class flashlights like nothing else in the universe.

A most excellent post! I can't imagine the effort and patience involved. What a success!

[cabfrank]

Drops the mic…

[Tom_E]

Nice testing! Didn't realize the tint shift on low modes, using just the 7135 - that's strange...

Do this and you should get ~7,000 at start, ~6,500 at 30 seconds:

Notice I added solder on the rings around the screw holes? This is it ensure positive contact to bare shelves where the threads are located. The exposed rings (without the added solder) are actually lower than the surrounding solder mask so I don't see good contact there. Clean/sand those shelves, add light layer of NO-OX-ID. Who cares about conductivity of the screws (poor conductors anyway) when you have much better metal to metal contact from the screw holes to the battery tube. Also drill out the driver mount holes to 1/8", get rid of any burrs in all threaded holes, tail and driver mount threaded holes.

Tinning those rings helps make then do what they were supposed to do. It's also the shortest path from the springs (bypass in this case) to the battery tube. Also totally removes any need for conductivity through the screws.

[maukka]

Thanks for the tips. I’ve been following the Q8 threads and will do the simple mods and remeasure soon.

[Tom_Tom]

@Tom E

Tinning those rings helps make then do what they were supposed to do. It’s also the shortest path from the springs (bypass in this case) to the battery tube. Also totally removes any need for conductivity through the screws

Solder, under good contact pressure, to bare aluminium, as with this mod, starts off pretty well for conduction, but longer term maybe less so, as oxidation perhaps creeps in. You could smear a small dab of some vaseline or battery terminal grease, or silicone grease on it first, as you would on the lead posts of a car battery, to keep the air out, and ensure it holds up long-term.

I do the same with crimp connections, being used to using “grease filled crimps” in critical aerospace applications.

[maukka]

Got my second Q8. Very similar results (cri, tint, output) compared to the first one, which is good.

[Tom_E]

@Tom Tom

@Tom E

Tinning those rings helps make then do what they were supposed to do. It’s also the shortest path from the springs (bypass in this case) to the battery tube. Also totally removes any need for conductivity through the screws

Solder, under good contact pressure, to bare aluminium, as with this mod, starts off pretty well for conduction, but longer term maybe less so, as oxidation perhaps creeps in. You could smear a small dab of some vaseline or battery terminal grease, or silicone grease on it first, as you would on the lead posts of a car battery, to keep the air out, and ensure it holds up long-term. I do the same with crimp connections, being used to using “grease filled crimps” in critical aerospace applications.

Got a small tub of NO-OX-ID from Illumn.com a few years back, recommend here on BLF. Works great! I already used it on these contact surfaces.

[maukka]

Tailboard spring bypass and VTC5A increased the output significantly, over 1000 lumens.

[djozz]

Nice, especially knowing that your lumens are not inflated

[MAD777]

I really need to learn to solder and make spring bypasses. I have to research what type of wire to use.

[maukka]

Some beamshots from Q8 and other high output lights.

[Album] Acebeam X80

[Caleb]

@Tom E

Nice testing! Didn’t realize the tint shift on low modes, using just the 7135 - that’s strange…

Do this and you should get ~7,000 at start, ~6,500 at 30 seconds:

Notice I added solder on the rings around the screw holes? This is it ensure positive contact to bare shelves where the threads are located. The exposed rings (without the added solder) are actually lower than the surrounding solder mask so I don’t see good contact there. Clean/sand those shelves, add light layer of NO-OX-ID. Who cares about conductivity of the screws (poor conductors anyway) when you have much better metal to metal contact from the screw holes to the battery tube. Also drill out the driver mount holes to 1/8”, get rid of any burrs in all threaded holes, tail and driver mount threaded holes.

Tinning those rings helps make then do what they were supposed to do. It’s also the shortest path from the springs (bypass in this case) to the battery tube. Also totally removes any need for conductivity through the screws.

Thanks Tom E. Do you happen to know what the difference in resistance/current your spring bypasses have vs a “standard” spring bypass directly to the base of of the springs?

[Terry_White]

This works very well. I've had a SunWayMan style UltraFire 3 XM-l2 emitter light just sitting around for months now. I still had not decided what I wanted to do with it.

Out of the box with 4 fresh 30q's I got 2500 to 2700 lumen. I just did this spring bypass just to see how much it would help the much cheaper made UltraFire. 3480 lumen after spring mod. Nothing else at all, just bypassed the springs...

Nice....

@Tom E

Nice testing! Didn't realize the tint shift on low modes, using just the 7135 - that's strange...

Do this and you should get ~7,000 at start, ~6,500 at 30 seconds:

Notice I added solder on the rings around the screw holes? This is it ensure positive contact to bare shelves where the threads are located. The exposed rings (without the added solder) are actually lower than the surrounding solder mask so I don't see good contact there. Clean/sand those shelves, add light layer of NO-OX-ID. Who cares about conductivity of the screws (poor conductors anyway) when you have much better metal to metal contact from the screw holes to the battery tube. Also drill out the driver mount holes to 1/8", get rid of any burrs in all threaded holes, tail and driver mount threaded holes.

Tinning those rings helps make then do what they were supposed to do. It's also the shortest path from the springs (bypass in this case) to the battery tube. Also totally removes any need for conductivity through the screws.

[Miguel_79]

@maukka

Some beamshots from Q8 and other high output lights.

Acebeam X80 - Album on Imgur

Stock BLF Q8?

[maukka]

Tail springs bypassed on the Q8.

[The_Miller]

What is up with those beamshots? The MF01 floods much less then I see here in the garden
MF01 is like 180 degree flood, Q8 has a tighter hotspot, et on the beamshots the MF01 looks like having less flood??

[maukka]

The MF01 will probably be brighter at 180 degress, but I’m not using a fisheye lens which would show that. I would think that the Q8 has brighter spill on less steep angles but cuts off before the MF01.

[The_Miller]

yes exactly, but in the pics it is the other way around
Could be the sheer lumens blast of the MF01 making the cam uneasy to cope with