Dale , can we bet on the Q8 race ? Haha 
I’m fully qualified for through hole soldering. My experience level with SMD is limited to building Reprap electronics using solder paste & hot plate. Then I’ve also repaired a Nikon flash by replacing a SMD diode and inductor. So you could say I’m a novice with SMD work.
I’ve got a nice Weller Digital Iron. I’ve been wanting to buy a hot air rework station, this might be just the project I needed to justify the purchase.
There will be a voltage sag effect. Oh boy, think we talked bout this wayyy back. I'm not sure if was seen as high as 3.4V, possible though. Others may know better than I, but it sounds like you have good cells there, so may be odd to occur on 4 good 30Q BT's. I don't know off hand what 3.4V represents in terms of percentage capacity, but thinking it's bout 25%. The sag would have to be in the 0.4V range to get what you are seeing, and that's a significant drop in amps draw if it dropped 3-4 times before stabilizing. Effectively it should work the same as any other LVP enabled FET based single cell, single LED light.
Is your Q8 totally stock? If the springs are bypassed, the sag would probably be worse than normal I'd think.
3.4V is practically dead. Like 85% down.
When you put a heavy load on the batteries like going to max output the 3.4V sags down to below 3v triggering the low voltage protection.
Maybe Sweetwater, Tx after dark, needed a little help with the roundup.
It’s like that isn’t it George? This has been an interesting shipping experience, all the lights I have and it’s never happened like this before. Oh, sure, I’ve had one go to Dallas, about 2 hours North of me, and then go to Florida and come back, but that was a zip code mishap. This is a whole new thing, all the hand-offs…
Well , at least it stayed in the US , Dale … I guess they are close !
Yeah, using HKJ’s info as a guide, 15% capacity at 3.4V is pretty optimistic. 3.4V is anywhere between 0% and 13%, for the batteries he measured… that’s at 1A. Even less capacity at higher amps. So effectively unable to provide max power on the Q8.
Can I get the Code for the BLF Q8? How much is it supposed to cost for us?? BG has it listed at $99.99
Hey guys two questions…
1. Is this a compatible charger for these high drain 30Qs?
(I already own a Liitokala but my buddy has the Nitecore charger and needs to know if he needs a new charger for his new 30Q batteries)
2. What mm bit do I need to fit into the threaded tripod hole on the side of the Q8? And with the newer/corrected version of the Q8 will I still need to hack off part of the bit in order to make it fit into the hole?
Thanks in advance…
Within the State of Texas, yes, on the first one, but still about a 3 1/2 hour drive away, or roughly 200 miles. Who knows where it’ll go next though.
1. Yes
2. 1/4”
ElginAgain good
Did you check the driver?
You can ask BLF user M4D M4X for a code to bring the $99 down a lot, maybe other people like Freeme and trevi have codes as well idk.
Welcome to BLF!
Look at the true 30Q discharge curve at like 3 amps here: http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php
3.4V is at about the 2.1 Ah mark, so 2.1 Ah out of 2.86 Ah capacity is about 73.4%, so 26.6% capacity remaining. This is directly off a Samsung 30Q flat top test, so not sure if this is all apples to apples, but this is how I've thought it could be calculated.
I got it on GearBest. It’s a Fura. Supposedly m390 steel… It’s dogtag sized.
Since I just looked this up for a friend, I’m assuming M4D M4X doesn’t mind since he posted this openly, but you can just go here:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/31589/3379
Price is $46.50 while that offer is valid.
My second Q8 arrived.
This time I payed for faster delivery.
My 1th Q8 with
Air Parcel Registered, free shipping
sent: 2017-09-10
arrived: 2017-09-26
16 days
My 2th Q8 with
Priority Air Mail, paid
sent: 2017-09-26
arrived: 2017-10-13
15 days
OK, mathematical it was faster. Kinda 
Thought it could reach the quick delivery times people reported.
Maybe I disect it Sunday
M4DM4X here in the forum has a new coupon, I think it’s $45
The original groupbuy is over, after 1.5 years!
Those measurements are under load, wheras the 3.4v in question wasn’t measured inside the running Q8, it was the state of charge of the cells as per the poster, so likely measured after taking them out.