Haikelite mt03 mods? Update!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w3i3axfff0mpp4a/IMG_20170114_225831.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/jo6grssucznmc7s/IMG_20170114_225837.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/06zn6gwxbzn14jb/IMG_20170114_225842.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/iz99znf1sfcj8uo/IMG_20170114_225846.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsdu8j6x9jzbqr5/IMG_20170114_225851.jpg?dl=0

Some pics at night with the mt-03, quite bad pics, but still!

Mode 1-5!

Yea you will always break parts when you are pushing the limits. Its part of the game and learning. Just buy heaps of spares and leave them for when you need them. The switch you can always bridge if you need to.

Mad snow! Last night was like 25 degrees Celsius here. I think using this light in the snow would be bad it will reflect and blind you lol

It’s not as much snow as it seems, maybe 10cm. And yeah if you have it on turbo you definately get blinded lol. Mode 3 is good enough for daily use! Yeah! Need to have some spares around!

http://www.kaidomain.com/p/S024013.4-18V-3-Mode-Drive-Circuit-Board-for-3-x-Cree-XHP70Hey I found a triple xhp70 driver on kaidomain. It's rated at 4,5-5A, for 3 leds in series. This would be what I need, but how do you hook a switch up to a driver that don't come with one?

Hi there.
Does anyone modded a 4S driver?
Is the procedure the same as described here for the 2S driver?
I think my MT03 can handle more current than the original driver can supply.
Apreciate any help.

Resistor mod success!
My MT03 4S driver came from Haikelite with R100 + R150 per channel. Not 2 R100 as described by others here. That’s why it was underdrived. After the turbo step down it was warm but not hot to the touch. With a DC power supply attached to test the light originally it was drawing 3.6 amps at 16 volts in turbo mode.

I moded it to 3 R100 resistors per channel. Now the turbo current is higher than the max 5 amps my power supply can output. The ceiling lumens almost double and the body temperature rises to 50C in half minute of turbo.

Another benefit is that the second and third modes are more spaced, different from the original driver behavior, as those modes where almost equal.

Now this thing became a beast!

We were talking for 2s2p version , it’s normal that it has different resistors , it doesn’t mean your mt03 was underdriven.

Anyway the resistor mod gave you a good bump as you see :smiley:

Has anyone else seen quality issues on their MT03? I have a newer version (SS switch plate), and the 2 screw heads on the battery tube are completely stripped out, and the 3 screws holding down the MCPCB just turn and turn - the threads on the shelf are stripped or cut too big.

Also the MCPCB is 1.5 mm thick - fairly thin, thinner than typical Noctigons (1.6 mm). Makes no sense for such a large triple MCPCB - it should be a good 2 mm.

The LED wires are pinched tight going thru the holes in the shelf. I'll be dremeling/drilling those out to make more room. The wires got damaged pulling them out - bad design in this case.

For the double spring on the battery tube, the inner spring is loose - just flopping around, but we now know Haikelites all have poor soldering on their springs.

Also, the grease under the MCPCB is simply a smear roughly in the center - doesn't even cover all the LED's directly underneath - I'd say 50% at best for the most critical area under the LED's.

I'm planning on using the latest Harley Quinn BLF SRK v3.4 driver - I have a 2S2P so should be perfect for this. Gotta work on adapting the Batt+/Batt- contact though. Planning on building up the grnd ring with solder. Also will upgrade to XHP70.2's. Should hit over 20K lumens.

bugger im so tempting to get the newer version but i think i should stay away for now due to poor quality control.

I definitely dont have the money to throw around and take risk. Thanks for the feedback Tom.

Well it looks like I can fix all these issues, but PITA they are there. Dunno if it's a 1 off occurrence though. Certainly the battery tube screws I've seen in review pics were all good, and my MT07 didn't have these problems. I've got two more Haikelite's on the way, SC01 and HT35, and plan on ordering the MT07S, so I'll be sure to check them out carefully.

Hey Tom

Does the newer MT03 have 9000LM output as they claimed?

im still tossing between Astrolux MF01 vs MT03.

I know i like MT03 design more and it’s slightly more compact.

Oh boy, don't have my notes with me and can't recall what it did stock.

My MT03 is fine so far but i never opened it up or tore it apart and i usually baby my MT03.

Ok, @home and got my notes!! I rcv'd the MT03 on May 24th, newer style w/SS square trim button, in 5000K NW tint. My test results on 4 VTC5A solder top cells (best 18650 cells around):

lumens: 9,420 @start, 9,010 @30 secs, 28 kcd (335 m) taken at 5m

Now my MT03 is doing, believe it or not: 27K lumens at turn on. Very warm in 15 secs, so couldn't do a 30 sec reading, but it dropped to ~24K in 15 secs.

Bypassing the springs made a hugh difference. This test was with VTC6's at 4.12V, ot fully charged. It has XHP70.2 P2 3B from KD, and the HQ BLF SRK v3.4 driver running a Hyperion FET. LED wires are 20 AWG, same as stock, but replaced the stock ones - even made them a little longer. Before bypassing the springs I got about 15K lumens.

27k Lumens? :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

Realized last night, it wasn't the spring bypasses making such a hugh difference. In ramping, but I had a configuration problem, where max was much less than max, about 1/3 I'm guessing. The 27K was measuring in mode set operation, so it's real, just the 15K or so I was seeing was not max, probably more like ~22K.

I plan to buy the MT03 II and I need batteries. What do you recommend me? VTC5, VTC6, Sanyo GA, 30Q flat button?

Are you gonna mod it? Probably any of those would do, but the stock battery setup is for button tops only. I ripped off the plastic pieces around the Batt+ contacts in order to use flat tops, but it eliminates the reverse polarity protection.

Sanyo GA, same length as a 30Q but with a protruded flat positive contact.