Preorder 58 arrived today, in top condition. No switch problem, Leds, reflector, springs and glass lens look flawlessly. The screws seem to be no issue at all. It is an amazing flashlight. I love to play with the Ramping. Only is that the O-ring on battery tube may need little bit lube.
I gave away my charger, so had no charger to charge the Samsung 18650-30 batteries. I had to use my Rofis TR20 flashlight to charge one battery at a time with that integrated 0.3A usb charger. Ran Q8 battery check to find the voltage, it was only 4V. So I guess Rofis TR20 can charge only to 4.0V, or it is not meant for INR batteries. I have now ordered Lii 500 from Fasttech.
Well canât sat more then apologies and no it canât take that long.
All the parts are ready, just need assembling. This is a delay but no months extra.
Anyone have a suggestion on which batteries to get? Iâve never needed 18650s before, was looking at the comparison tool on reddit, but really donât understand much of it.
Yes I know, and itâs at least a relief that this lousy construction is no imminent showstopper for the use with our C8, but Banggood sells these batteries with the declaration âMax. continuous discharge: 20Aâ, so I thought itâs a more substantial electrical connection. For Example (a pair of Sanyo 2600 mAh BT-cells I own):
Remember that the button tops are âmoddedâ batteries. They donât âhave toâ work just like stock. As the various tests that have been posted here show, different button top like mods produce different results. Solder boobs seem to add the least resistance. I would guess that spot welding the button top directly to the top of the cell would be next best, and this jacked up âweld a strap to the battery and a button top to the strapâ would be further down the performance spectrum.
The addition of the button top adds something to the resistance of the cell. So it WILL NOT perform as well as one without.
So it seems to me that most of the reports of faulty switch LEDs goes like this:
1. Load new cells, everything works fine.
2. Play with Q8. Be amazed.
3. Turn of Q8, switch LED is now wonky.
If thatâs whatâs going on, has anybody tried recharging their cells to full to see if that âfixesâ the switch LEDs? Seems to me that if the switch LEDs are operating right on the edge of their Vf due to too much resistance or too weak LEDs or whatever, then using the light, and thereby dropping the voltage some, could be whatâs triggering the âissuesâ. I mean at some low voltage level all of our e-switch LEDs would go out, but due to parts tolerances maybe some are doing it much at higher voltage than expected or desired. Or maybe Iâm missing somethingâŚ
Ahhh, thanks! That was easy. Now looking at the leds and I donât want to do it anymore⌠ha! Plus I was hoping my brand new retaining ring pliers would help but alas, a scratch was inevitable. Nothing a Sharpie canât fix
I've used needlenose with rounded edges on the backside, and was able to loosen the switch retaining ring without scratches, but being careful in doing so.
So both of mine have the switch LED asymmetry â one green LED quite bright (on the same side as the âBLFâ), the other (on the âQ8â side) quite dim.
Just reporting for statistical purpuses, the appearance doesnât bother me.
Iâm puzzled and wonder if itâs related to the flickering others have experienced.
Iâm leaving mine lit up in case the flicker takes a while to emerge.
All respect to ThorFire for doing the QC. If the problem began with a beancounter buying cheap parts, I hope that gets identified as the actual problem.
It so often is not caused by the guys on the production line putting things together. As with aviation, problems often are initiated days before and far from where they appear.
âThereâs three kinds of testers: alpha, beta, and âsorry Charlieââ â a programmer.
I rotated the switch assembly on my proto, in case of uneven brightness I would do the same and have the brightest one at the highest point , brings back symmetry
I'm finding good results with Samsung 35E's, but with DIY solder tops added.
One eBay source sold out of them already - I bought a set of 8 for $40.49 from this eBay store, all seemed good, but he's all sold out now. Just order another set of 8 from eBay here for the same price, just shipped, not received yet, so can't vouch for this source yet.
Again, important to understand they need soldered or added tops of some sort, but still $40 shipped for 8 of these cells is a pretty good deal.
Are those pictures showing how to rotate the switch LED position?
Or â Iâd assume â you need to get at the circuit board underneath the plastic cover to rotate the LEDs?
For me the brightness asymmetry is in the âif you fiddle with it long enough youâre going to break itâ category
(thanks, Mom, for that good lifetime advice)
