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

There’s the coolness factor, that means more to some than others. Spare cells in a plastic box is so mundane. :wink: s

The idea is from the MF02 thread, will the Neodymium Magnets be ok to use for contact in the Q8 using non-button batteries instead of soldering the blob?

No, you can’t use magnets on this type of light.

The magnets would get wiped sideways as the head and tube are screwed together

Hello,
I have a new Cheat Sheet for NarsilM v1.2 ready.
NarsilM CS v12 Q8 2017-11-23.pdf

Download

Discussion

I gave my Dad a Q8 for his 89th birthday, you should have seen him “beaming” when he fired it up in Turbo outside. :smiley:

He and Mom both want to punch,punch,punch the switch button, they may end up with it in configuration mode or things changed, but hopefully he’ll get the hang of it. He’ll be taking it tomorrow to their weekly game day and showing it off. :wink:

Edit: Probably worthy to note, Dad grew up poor in the mountains of Virginia. He remembers the only light they had at night was a carbide lantern. (other than a candle or torch, of course) The little carbide pellets reacted with water and gave a gas that would power the light, and they wore this on their head! Yikes! :wink:

Acetylene. Was used in the mine headlamps

Link


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I took my Q8 for a walk. Incredible light.
Thanks to all involved. And thanks to all BLF. :slight_smile:

When I was a child my father brought a carbide lantern from work. I was pretty impressed by the brightness of this light.

Great, now I’m on ebay looking at carbide lamp prices because it would be cool to buy one and have it around in case the power goes out. :confounded:

If you get a carbide lamp, make sure to get a maintenance kit with it.
Here’s one supplier: http://www.4bobandbob.com/pages/01.html

Here’s the caves.org page on carbide lamps, a good resource:

You want spare “tips” (brass and ceramic with a pinhole for the gas, press fit into the gas delivery tube, easily blown out and lost)
And a wing nut that holds the reflector onto the gas delivery tube; backing the wing nut off pulls the tip out if it’s properly been pressed in.
and a tip cleaner (a little bristle-wire brush useful for cleaning out the pinhole when it gets sooted up)
and spare felts (the gas is evolved in the lower container as water drips in; the felt is held onto the water drip delivery tube by a spring clip, and the gas has to move through the felt and a perforated plate to get into the gas delivery tube that goes up and turns 90 degrees to exit (through the tip) and burn at the focus point of the reflector.
When the water gets low, gas can start to back up from the fuel chamber into the upper water chamber through the water delivery tube; if you hear it bubbling, expect a small explosion to be possible, dumping a cup of water down over your face.
(Hey, strapping lights to one’s forehead has always had some hazards.)
And flints. Don’t forget the flints to strike a spark.
And a trash bottle to collect the white lime, you don’t want to be dumping that crap in a cave or anywhere else. Neutralize it properly:
https://www.google.com/search?q=calcium+hydrdoxide+disposal
(Hey, old lithium-ion batteries are a disposal issue too…)

You hold your palm over the reflector, capture some gas behind it, whip your hand off to the side turning the sparker and POP the lamp is lit with a nice flame that hovers in the air a fraction of an inch away from the tip orifice.

There are also 2-hole acetylene burner tips where the flame burns at the point the 2 jets of acetylene intersect in front of the reflector.

If you got it wrong, after the POP your tip has gone for a short flight and you have an unfocused orange flame sooting up your reflector (if the gas stayed lit).

Felts get clogged with the reaction product (calcium hydroxide, a white powder); replace them in the field, wash them out and dry the clogged ones later).

But what tint does it come in?

:wink:

> tint

Very warm white at low gas pressure (short flame that deposits a lot of soot)
Neutral to blue-white at high gas pressure (better combustion in a longer flame)

PS, for those who like parts, the supplier listed above has these:

“4” Parabolic stainless steel reflector $15.50
“:http://www.4bobandbob.com/pages/01.html

Why would you charge a Q8 with a battery bank instead of just putting the batteries IN the Q8? The only reason I could see is if you needed uninterrupted long-run time. This for example can make sense for some bicycle gadgets (camera for example) for long rides if you don't want to get off the bike and stop to change batteries.

I doubt you'll get much over 50% efficiency with an inductive charger off a battery bank. So that's twice the battery weight, twice the cost, plus the weight cost, and bulk of holder and inductive charger, instead of... just carrying batteries.

Yeah, I thought it would be cool to have, but I’m over it. Lol

Yup, that’s the one. It has been used against free software a lot, and recently has gotten much more common in other contexts too. I find I have very little patience for it.

Anyway, my Q8 has been a nice night light and development host, and the batteries seem they’ll last a rather long time per charge. I’m only down to 3.9V on the first charge so far, and it gets used a lot.

Hi, i have my BLF Q8, but something wrong is with switch, if i use off then switch still lighting in Green kolor, please help, thanks

Not sure I understand… the green switch led’s are supposed to be on when the light is off. Is that it? And the switch led’s go off when the light is on.

Hi, thanks, sorry for my bad English, so… If i turn off Q8 then switch led still shiny.