It is a proof of concept.
It is slow and you canāt flash the ĀµC while it is communicating. So it is more a thing to configure the lamp. A Russian flashlight manufacturer does it already. But the programming key is for flashing.
When i got the Sofirn Q8, there are 2 sheets of instructions, same as the BLF Q8. The one with the diagram/table/sort of flowchart thingy and the one with heckloads of words and sentences and some tables. Not sure what is meant by cheat sheet thoughā¦ā¦
I thought it might be prudent to mention that Sofirn was kind enough to help me out getting another Q8, this one is slated to become something quite different than was originally intended. I will, of course, keep yāall informed as this little plan of mine begins to unravel.
I use flashlights in a work and security frame of mind. Iāll say it again, when an intruder is coming through a window at 3AM, the at-start lumens is the critical moment. Heās not going to wait around looking at the light expecting it to stabilize in 30 or 40 seconds. And hence, turn on lumens. I also build complete monsters with massive current draw, the cells fall extremely fast so a 30 second read has many of my lights quite depleted. Like measuring a direct drive XM-L2 light on a 10440 cell.
I do include a 30s reading a good deal of the time, for those that have come to expect it.
Take my Meteor M43 for example, it has 4 cells in parallel and Iām using Samsung 25S cells with 2500mAh capacity, so thatās 10,000mAh on tap, but Iām hitting them with a 58.8A draw for nearly a 6C discharge rate. The cells donāt hold up long.
People donāt like to accept my numbers. Most people donāt take the time to modify a light like I do, while itās not hard it can be time consuming to attend to all the minute details. My lightbox has matched or been lower (seldom higher) hundreds of factory ANSI readings. LITERALLY over 500 lights! So I donāt doubt my light box. Canāt stress enough though, every one of our light boxes is for our comparison use to mod lights with, none of them are going to directly compare to each other. I get very nearly identical readings as robo819 who has the first P-Trap box manxbuggy1 and rdrfronty built. I get very nearly identical readings to Richard at MTNElectronics, his box was also built by these 2 brothers. Tom Eās as well. But all of us have different multipliers as the boxes were built at different times, but calibrated with similar lights. (25 or more with quality ANSI numbers, most expensive lights from top names)
If I knew where there was a big expensive sphere to check against Iād drive up to TAās and do side by side readings on his box then go check on a factory sphere, but I donāt know of such a piece of equipment anywhere in this area. Would like to do it, be great if someone came up with a big company that was willing to help us out.
Iāve heard all this so much for the past 4 years or so that Iām about ready to just say āItās bright!ā and leave it at thatā¦
Guess thatās what Iāll do with this Q8 Iām about to build. 12 Samsung LH351D in 80 CRI 5000k with 4 XP-L HI V3 3A in the center. A ā44 Magā Q8. Should be bright.
Manxbuggy1 and his brother, rdrfronty, came over a little while back and rdrfronty had the 25,000 lumens Fenix (I think thatās right). Interestingly enough my light box recorded it almost exactly at the factory ANSI specs. But of course my modified Meteor at 18,940 lumens is questionable. Itās also too hot for Anduril, causes it to glitch and shut down at about 15 seconds. So in this case, as in some others, a 30 second reading is just not possible.
Everyone that seeās this M43 is staggered by itās output, to a person they are all amazed that you canāt even look towards the ceiling due to the intensity. (I ceiling bounce to light the room so they can see the impact of itās power)
Itās along these lines that I intend to build this Q8, only with 4 extra emitters in the XP-L HI variant for some center downrange punch. [The Meteor has 4 triples, hence M43, this one will have 4 quads, so Q8 44 MAG, an acronym for Most Audacious Guffaw, lol ] Yes, 16 emitters vs the 12 in my Meteor. This Q8 will have a new āheadā piece carved from a bar of 4ā 6061. I expect upwards of 24,000 lumens in this light. All the needed bits are either here or en-routeā¦ the carrier style extension tubes will be most welcome when they become available.