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

If it it known that a situation might arise where a single cell could be required, do a relatively simple spring bypass and that will save the spring. Really only takes seconds to do. One could prolong the joy of modding the Q8 by taking some time with it and maybe drilling a hole through the pcb for the bypass wire to come through and contact the heavier trace on the back side, but that might be stretching it. (I’ll go further than that, of course, just because I love modding.)

[quote=SawMaster]

This is not quite true. By going to a longer spring we can accommodate all cell lengths due to it’s greater compression range.

Not true again. One or more springs can sag just over time. It’s normal for a spring to loose a little of it’s free height after being compressed for long periods. So only using 4 unprotected cells over time may cause 1 or more springs to sag and eventually you will get some batteries not making contact or intermittent contact. This is the dangerous situation that I mentioned. You could have 3 cells with very light spring pressure against them and one cell that is not making contact. Three cells drain down while one stays charged fully. Then it may make contact and then the fully charged cell will start feeding the lower charged cells and it makes for a very bad situation. This is why we want to increase the spring tension on the very shortest cells. To give them some leeway to account for sag and still have decent spring pressure.

This whole issue with adjusting the springs/battery tube length has only to do with very short cells. This is what we want to get corrected. On the other end of things, we are hoping to not loose use of long cells. Long cell limitations, like 70.2mm max, may come into play, but it is a secondary goal to getting the short cells working just right.

I believe The Miller suggested a longer spring and gave dimensions for it. I was using his information. Here it is, the spring from the Thorfire S70.

One or more springs can sag just over time. It’s normal for a spring to loose a little of it’s free height after being compressed for long periods. So only using 4 unprotected cells over time may cause 1 or more springs to sag and eventually you will get some batteries not making contact or intermittent contact. This is the dangerous situation that I mentioned. You could have 3 cells with very light spring pressure against them and one cell that is not making contact. Three cells drain down while one stays charged fully. Then it may make contact and then the fully charged cell will start feeding the lower charged cells and it makes for a very bad situation. This is why we want to increase the spring tension on the very shortest cells. To give them some leeway to account for sag and still have decent spring pressure.

Certain small wire springs that are very cone shaped can collapse all the way flat, but most do not. If the cone is not tapered enough it will coil bind. If the coil wire is too thick it will coil bind. The springs we are talking about here are pretty big and long and do not compress fully flat.

Yes well we just wait on Thorfire to respond now

Funny all this talk of long cells, I just turned on the Nitecore TM06S on high, then inserted 1 protected Brinyte Panasonic with build in charging in the Q8, stepped outside, and ramped up till the output of the Q8 lighted as far as the TM06S (with its CW tint)
Now that was just plain awesome, the Nitecore became hotter and hotter and the Q8 just did not go beyond warm. And well despite it not doing max output, I really got a kick seeing so much light coming from a single cell that has not be designed for high drain applications.

A longer spring will have more range of travel from it’s fully extended height down to it’s fully compressed height. This longer range of travel has many benefits if the battery tube is also adjusted in length just right. We get more spring pressure on the shortest cells (which we need, as currently they don’t have enough pressure on them to account for future spring sag) as well as still being able to use long protected cells.

On the other hand, it may be cheaper for Thorfire to adjust the battery tube length than to buy a lot of new springs. - I’m just throwing this idea out there. I think longer springs, with a longer range of travel, is the better idea. It’s just that Thorfire may look at the money side of things more than the computer typing side of things.

I was thinking that if longer springs were used, the battery tube might need to be extended maybe 1mm to allow for longer cells (or reduced tension on longer cells) while still giving extra pressure against the shortest cells. Then again, the battery tube length may be fine as is.

well we have to wait what Thorfire will respond right :wink:

Jason, we see your point :wink:

Going camping tomorrow, the Q8 goes with me, but just for show, it is more hanging around with a few families, lots of children and a camp fire than exploring the wild.

And although no rain is forecasted for the coming days, tonight I tried a very mild submersion test on the proto3. I know that the design goal was no more than that the Q8 could withstand some wet weather without actual water pressure, we had the switch redesigned with a silicon cover for that, I reckoned that it should survive a bit more than that.

So I lubed the three o-rings of proto3, and filled a bucket with 12cm (as it turned out) of water.

Switched the light on and dunked it in the water for a minute.

As you can see there’s just one air bubble popping out of the light, right in the beginning, and I believe it was just some trapped air from outside the o-ring, after that first bubble, nothing came out. Afterwards I inspected all entrances of the light, and there were some droplets in the threading that may or may not have passed the o-rings, but the opening of light after the test could as easily have done that. The inside of the light was completely dry everywhere. The switch design is very waterproof, nothing happened there. I mostly feared for the o-ring at the reflector but that one I’m certain of that it stayed dry, no droplets at all could be seen that passed the o-ring.

So I’m pretty happy with that, I will not hesitate to use the Q8 in heavy rain. Would I trust it for 10 minutes submerged instead of 1, or in deeper water? No, the way the Q8 is built, not really.

Teacher, your forgetting one very important thing. Springs sag over time. The fact that the shortest cells have very little spring pressure on them is in fact, a problem. No one measured the spring compression on all the previous prototypes, which was a slight oversight. This hidden problem only came to light when Djozz “accelerated” the sag in a spring and found that they don’t have much compression on them in the first place. We now need to address this and a slightly longer spring seems like a good solution.

Read what I posted earlier:

Nice test djozz.

I could see no reason on my light why the light would leak water at the lens as the oring sits proud of the reflector which would allow a good seal in this area.

What other lights are you taking camping? I couldn’t think of a better light in my arsenal that would do a better job than the Q8. Have fun and dont miss us to much. :slight_smile:

Ha nice bold test Djozz!
That reminds me to tighten the switch thing, I have the LEDs there now at 12 and 6 o’clock position which I like (it comes at 9 and 3)
Please use a plastic cup as diffuser to see how it fares :wink:

Thanks, I will have fun :slight_smile:

And since you asked :innocent: :
Apart from proto3, I will take the driver-less Mitko thrower with Black Flat led, and my Jetbeam E10R that I swapped a 219B V1 sw45 R9080 led in. And as a general light my KD 18650 host with A6 driver and 90CRI 3000K XM-L2 led.

Well, that answers my question, pages back, if it would tolerate rain! I don’t intend to swim with it! If I’m swimming we have far more problems on this planet than me swimming with a light. Thanks!

Enjoy your camping!

Great video djozz…. thanks for sharing it. :+1:
Have fun on your trip…… :slight_smile:

LOL, only a couple hundred, such a noob.

You should try my advanced technique… First I start with a soldering iron, but nothing goes where I want it, so then I put away the iron and zap the thing with my eye lasers. It damages the driver beyond repair, so I toss it and order one pre-built from RMM.

That counts as “technique”, right?

LOL, BLF has a thing with going beyond spec. :slight_smile:

Yep, as far as I am concerned it counts. And a darn good “technique” it is too I might add! :+1:
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:slight_smile:

JasonWW, I’m not forgetting that. In essence that is exactly what we have been discussing. Djozz mentioned what he had found and also what would solve it…… a longer & beefier spring if I remember correctly. Simple as that……
That is about the time when what I referred to above as “unwarranted rhetoric” began…. Really doing nothing more than confuse the issue & start to make a mountain of a mole hill.

Djozz had already stated what would “fix” what he found.

Personally, I think he has enough sense to know what he is talking about.

I also think the rest of the ‘team’ do too. Remember, they also actually have Proto 3 in their possession, to measure, to test, to do whatever be needed to spot any potential “”problems”” so that they may be rectified before production.

None of us in the “peanut gallery” has the option to actually touch or see a Q8. So really, any commentary from us is really little more than speculation that may range from an educated guess to p poor.

At this point I have confidence ‘The Team’, ThorFire included in that; will figure out what is best. :slight_smile:

*munch*

I didn’t know we had a peanut gallery, but I’ve been enjoying the snacks over here in the popcorn gallery.

*munch*

Really though, I’m not worried about the Q8. We’ve got some of the most talented people on BLF working on it, so I’m sure that what we get will be the best anyone could have made in the same situation.

Will it be perfect? Probably not. But what is? I mean, aside from me of course. Obviously. I never make mistakes. Duh. Why would you even imply that? I don’t like you any more.

*munch*

Would someone pass the salt?