Can i get in on this groupbuy?
As miller said it could be that the first reflector made that I have was made at a faster feedrate and thus a bit worse quality. We will let them know that reflector quality is directly related to throw before the next round and see what they look like.
You could use diodes but they would be expensive, take up room and would cause more losses in the carrier that already has too many losses. They would also increase parasitic drain a bit as well.
Compared to a $.05 cent piece of plastic that reaches the same goal.
To be honest if someone can’t remove 10 screws to take out the protector or solder blob their cells, then I would not trust them to put the cells in the correct way 100% of the time. It only takes once to fry things and things could fry in a bad way.
DB has to deal with people making this mistake all the time. Even I have done it before, luckily for me I noticed it before inserting the last cell and completing the circuit.
The last thing I want to have happen is the first BLF light with a carrier to become known as “that light that blows up”, better to do it right from the start.
Also the driver doesn’t have reverse polarity protection for the buck IC, so that would need to be added if there is not some protection earlier in line. This would mean a significant change to the driver.
It is no different then the Q8, the Q8 requires button tops or solder blobbed cells or for the user to remove the plastic mechanical protection. This is exactly the same thing.
Nice report TA. I liked the look of the long tube in your pictures compared to the short tube and the sling is something it needs.
Like I said, I just see it as an extra unneeded part. Say it does have the plastic. It will have to be some sort of thickness. Remove it and then cells may be too long to fit. The carrier may be too short to complete the circuit if removed.
Adding heat to a cell by putting a solder blob is not particularly the “right” thing to do, either.
I dont think a little extra resistance from diodes would really negatively effect the output. Its not like we are pushing the limits of the cells, and diodes are not that expensive.
Personally, I do not think this light should be constructed to limit what cells are used. This is an enthusiast forum, and this is not a $10 light. If you are dropping this kind of cash on a light, you should know how to properly use it.\
This is my opinion. But like I said, if the majority wants it, it is what it is. I just dont think we should have to tear it apart right off the bat to use laptop pulls if we want to. This is not going to be a cheap light to feed as it is
The tripod mount...
This big'ol hunk of flashlight needs a stainless steel threaded insert for the tripod mount. I know most people will never use a tripod but structurally it should be there.
The tripod stud is stainless. The mount on the flashlight should be of the same or greater toughness.
I have to say that I am with TA on this issue. I think some polarity protection is definitely worth the effort, especially if the main vote against it is so a user can salvage batteries from an old laptop instead of buying matched button top cells. It would be a shame to destroy one of these FL because a simple fix was not instituted. I may be 100% wrong but isn’t it a safety issue to use different cells, especially cells who’s age and capacity isn’t known in series? I’ll be happy with whatever the team decides I just think some physical polarity protection is wise.
The cells fitting is a on-issue. The plastic would only effect the spring compression by maybe 1mm. Although the concern would be the cells being too short, not too long.
The amount you heat a cell up during a proper solder blob is still WAY less then the rated temperature. They are generally rated to ~80-100C I can touch the cells the entire time I am blobbing them, it only takes a few seconds.
The diodes resistance is an issue but the voltage drop is a larger issue. We are already having issues keeping things in regulation due to high resistance in the springs. The voltage drop across 4 diodes would only add to this.
You could easily see a 2V voltage drop across all 4 of them , this would mean the light would never be in regulation due to not enough voltage making it to the driver. They would also cost $1 each according to digikey, that is $8 total for the GT, that is a significant amount of the production budget.
If you go with cheaper options they can have voltage drops of over 4V, the light would not even work with them.
On top of all that these carriers should be designed for easy use in future BLF lights, adding diodes would multiple the cost and make them impractical for many lights vs a .05 cent piece of plastic.
This works for the Q8, why would it not work for the GT? The price of the light has nothing to do with the level of skill a user has. Most of those cell carriers that DB has has to repair are from Fenix lights that cost way more then the GT.
Good point!
This is a concern, altough the light is fairly well balanced at that point, so there will not be a lot of stress on the tripod threads unless you have it at some funky angle. I will try bolting it down and see what it feels like.
EDIT: I just tried it, the threads feel pretty strong but sadly the fins are too large to mount on my tripod so I could only mount the plate. I would not be worried about it though unless I was planning on using it all the time.
Still a stainless insert is not a bad idea but that is extra cost, how many people would use the tripod more then occasionally?
At this point it becomes a matter of what items are more important in the given budget? For example I would put a lighted switch above this but others may disagree.
A lighted switch would be awesome… :sunglasses:
Like I said, if the majority wants it then it is what it is. And no, it was not because I want to use salvaged cells, that was just an example. It has been brought up several times in this thread that it can easily be fed laptop pulls. My main concern is all I use is unprotected flat tops, and even if I didnt why limit what kind of cell it can use? I feel a mechanical polarity protection is limiting it to what cells it can use and is unnecessary.
And adding a lip that limits what kind of cells it will take will not stop people from mixing cells either.
The Miller, I’m no longer interested. Please take me off the list
Thanks,
Glenn
Plus it's not like anyone would just mount it on a tripod and leave it sitting still. Their going to tote the whole assembly together, beating and banging around setting up and whatnot.
What about those vehicle window mounts that people use for spotting scopes and cameras? I can see a few people riding around jumping terraces with this thing mounted on the window...
And think about the folks that can't put their gas cap back on the car without cross-threading it at least 2wice before they get it on...
I agree that it is a worthwhile thing to address, there are cases where I could see it being useful.
The question is what will be more useful to the majority of people, something like say a lighted switch to show you cell level for example (not sure what all tom has it programmed to do right now) or a beefed up tripod mount?
It is worth asking about for sure, it is how hard we should ask that I am wondering. That will come down to public response I am sure.
We need more beamshots! 
What is the designed IPX waterproof resistance rating for the flashlight? I assume someone has it on his testing list for the prototypes.
Does LT have lights with an lighted e-switch? Then it would be an off the shelf part but honestly I think we really ask a lot with the quality of the reflector, carriers, now coated glass.
All other things seem not that important
Safety is, so an plastic insert is cheap, causes no power losses and can be removed is people was t to use flattops.
This seems like a real smart solution.
Does any of you guys have something to screw into the tripod hole and apply force one would expect it to endure being hauled around?
Will update the list later.
The LT BLF SD10 has a lit switch. Mine is running Narsil of course 
Do you mean a private mod? Or will it be like an availability that we can choose what we want (XHP70.2 or XHP35hi) while purchasing. Latter is against to the topic and the concept but if possible, it will be a good thing not bad.