Q8, PMS SEND TO THOSE WITH ISSUES BLF soda can light

It’s always best to do this with fully charged high drain cells so you don’t have wait 2 hours. Lol

I did…but i just ended up with a spring I found in my parts bin and that took a second to solder. Once I bypass the springs, the mismatch current flow compare to the other 3 springs shouldn’t be a problem. Still waiting for my 20awg wires to arrive…was thinking about using 22awg but what the heck might as well go a step further.

Just cleaning up the battery tube, tin the screw holes, removed the small tail springs, and lightly sanded the positive ring…I’ve ready made great improvement on the output according to my light meter. Can’t wait to bypass the springs and replace the screws.

You can try this third party shipment tracking tool to help you retrieve any courier tracking info. Very easy and convenient!

Thanks for sharing that vanessanie. :+1: … :beer::slight_smile:

Received my Q8 today, and I must say that I’m thoroughly impressed. Somehow I ended up in the discrete modes setting and couldn’t get back to ramping while I was walking my dog - but since I’ve got back and read the instructions, it all makes sense! Really looking forward to setting everything up to my liking.

Thanks to those who made this project possible! :slight_smile:

I don’t know if this has been posted, but I just got an email from ThorFire saying they had a limited number of codes for Q8’s on Amazon US for $40. Based on the wording it sounds like it was sent out to other Q8 owners as well.

Took some time, but now my reply:

Yes, you might be right.
I’ve been using the light for some time to light up a room.
During than time, the light was just lying on its side on a windowsill.
The blind spot on the reflector is exactly at the bottom side.
So it might have happened, that some flux was flowing down the reflector, when it got hot…
The LED at this reflector also has a burn or dirt on the dome on the exact opposite side….
Maybe those two things have the same cause.

Strangely this light gets less hot than my second one.
Maybe the mcpcb doesn’t have good contact with the housing? Could it overheat because of such a possible problem?

And btw, I also discovered another minor issue with my second Q8:
Temperature blinkout is always 15°C higher, than actual temperature….
(Measured, immediately after a cold start of the lamp)

Temp calib is all over the place unfortunately. That's why we implemented temperature regulation based on a user defined level. Depending on the temperature being somewhat accurate would be awful.

The diff in heat between 2 lights is not a good sign, but the good thing is the lower temp light should be safer, not more dangerous. Could be lots of reasons for the temp differences - poor ground, maybe poor contact at the ground driver rim, etc.

Really?

My first Q8 was fully accurate, temperature related… (but it measures Voltage 0.2V lower, than actually, and has an AR-layer on the lens, which btw. is not bad)

That’s why I was wondering when the second Q8 was +15°C off…. (this one on the other hand is accurate, when it comes to Voltage measurement)
The second one is also a little bit brighter, maybe because of this it also gets much hotter, and it has NO AR-layer.

I tweaked the temp cal on one Q8 to be dead on, then with the same firmware got results of +3C, -3C, others up to 10C give or take. Range can be +/- 12C or so it seems, so having two at 15C from each other is certainly possible.

Talked to DEL bout it and the variance in the MCU's and Schottky diode can cause this. From DEL it sounds like we would have been better keeping the R1/R2 resistors for better accuracy, as long as the resistors were 1% or better, 0.5% sounds like the way to go. The extra parasitic drain wouldn't have been that bad. I didn't realize the error variance was going to be so great like this. I've been very disappointed with this, depressed I'd call it -- just wish I saw this as a possibility. It probably can be improved by installing a good R1/R2 of 220K/47K and of course the firmware changed accordingly.

I spent a lot of time improving the calculations using the internal ref (non R1/R2) method all for nothing... Again, I'm very down about all this. I don't think a "better" Schottky diode would help - I also spent time on researching alternate parts.

Again, sorry bout all this.

Don’t worry Tom .

Now , after all your (q8 team) hard work i only see lot’s of happy members with a Q8 in their hands .

Yeah, thx Tom. The Q8 has shut down my flashaholic tendencies. (For now anyways), although I did buy another Q8 on amazon!

Thanks for all your efforts. I love both my Q8s, and I just use the stepdown timer. Reminds me of an old joke:

Sounds like a hardware problem to me :smiling_imp:

Tom, nothing to be sorry about.
I am aware of how many variables one has to take into account, when it comes to analog circuitry.

It still is a absolutely gorgeous light.
It’s just the one, I want to take with me… And that’s mainly because of the great interface.

One question: did you do those mentioned design changes for the BLF GT?
So the variance will be less with that light?

Is there a solution for people with the faulty switch LED’s yet?

Did you not get a PM? I got a message some two months ago. I eventually received a new switch assembly, at standard china mail speed (4+ weeks). Works great now.

Oh you.

Why would they send a PM?
They should have made a public announcement if replacement switches are available.

What are the details involved to get one?

I had a switch led issue.

I let The Miller know and he made a record of the problem.I made certain he knew about my issue.

After some time I received a PM from The Miller (with a CC to Thorfire). In that PM Thorfire was informed of what corrective action I needed and they were given my mailing address.

Some weeks later (about 5 weeks IIRC) I received an envelope in the mail. In it was a switch board complete with switch and led’s as well as a plastic/nylon tool for removing and replacing the switch button retaining ring.

If The Miller knew of the issue anyone had, I would have thought the same process should have happened.

I should get the same thing soon , for my Q8 .