ENEDED

AT LAST! My Haikelite MT03 / 70.2 P2 arrived yesterday. As ordered, the emitters are neutral white. The body color is silver.

After a night of getting familiar with its default setting (ramping with Tom E’s Narsil M v1.3 adapted by Texas Ace) here are my initial impressions. I am using Sony VCT6 button tops.

First: It’s on the heavy side. This was not a surprise to me. I knew the specs when I purchased it. It weighs about 800g with its four 18650 batteries in place. It is heavy by design: It needs its mass to manage the substantial heat generated by the three 70.2 P2 emitters when powered up fully. It does a good job. The heat level is comfortable after long durations at full power. Yet there is no denying: the MT03 is noticeably heavier than a BLF Q8. The included lanyard is substantial and attaches in one of two ways: 1) threaded through a slot in the head or 2) clipped to an included mount that screws into a mounting hole in the head. You might want to reserve the tripod mount hole for using the MT03 with a tripod – more on that later.

Second: This is unabashedly a floodlight. All of its claimed lumens (up to 21,000) spread evenly across a wide field. There is no defined hot spot surrounded by a spill area. This is important to bear in mind. Why? Because if you are looking to see objects in the distance, you will find that the sheer amount of light close to you contracts your eye pupils, shutting down your night vision somewhat. This is very different than the BLF Q8 which throws a strong, relatively tight beam out a few hundred meters but only spills a modest amount of light near you. The MT03 does throw an appreciable amount of light out a couple hundred yards, but the brighter light on the ground near you makes it a challenge to “see through” the field of light close to you. That said, the MT03 is KILLER for lighting up the closest 100 yards. WOW. It’s a portable sun. Put one of these on a tripod and you can play volleyball at midnight as though it were broad daylight.

Third: Ramping UI. Although the MT03 has many clicky mode sets programmed in it, I like its default ramping UI. It is like other ramping interfaces except that it does not ramp all the way up to turbo – at least I could not get it to do so. Accessing turbo took a separate double click from any point on the ramp. Turbo is significantly brighter than the highest level on the ramp. If someone finds a way to ramp all the way to turbo, let me know how you did it.

Fourth: Physical form. The MT03 is a fabulous camping light that transports best in a pack. The MT03’s length is identical to the BLF Q8: 5.1”. Its four-battery barrel is about the same width as the Q8’s too. But, it balances in the hand differently and takes getting used to: The part of the MT03 your hand grips is only half the overall length of the light; there was no room for my pinky on it. The front half, the head of the light, is much wider and it where most of the weight is. Whereas the Q8 balances on your forefinger, the MT03 does not balance. It wants to tip out of your grip. It’s not a big deal. Just hold on tight. I found it a good idea to keep the lanyard around my wrist in case I loosened my grip.

Other good stuff: I like the silver body color. It makes it easier to find the MT03 in the dark. (I untwist the barrel when not using it so the blue side button light is off). Also, there is a glow-in-the dark ring encircling the head just under the lens. It glows in the dark for about 10 minutes after the light is turned off. Finally, my thanks to Freeme for the coupon code.

Ramping (in NarsilM v1.2 and up) is designed to not go all the way to the top.

If you need to stop it at a point between the T.O.R. and Turbo, I’ve heard you can dbl clk to turbo, then ramp down slightly.

The MT09R is the model that has the deeper reflectors and throws a bit farther.

Interested in one in xhp70.2 NW, pls send me any code. thanks. :+1:

Yesterday my MT03 stopped working while using it. The button blue led does not work. I tried both “four clicks” and “double click + press&hold” as the manual states, in case it was accidentally locked. No luck.
Any idea?

Is it getting power? You might unscrew the battery tube from the head and see if it’s putting out voltage (either 6v or 12v, I can’t remember which)

The fact that it stopped working while you were using it kind of points to the driver failing.

Hi. It is. It outputs ~8.4V.

In fact it did not stop while operating. I turned it off and after some time, I tried but it would not turn on. No burnt smell.

After turning it off, I pressed the switch a few times to check its feedback. That’s why I thought that I may have locked it somehow.
If the above is not the case, then it could be driver or switch board damage.

Is there any other click combination that I can try?

IIRC, doesn’t the switch light turn on whenever battery power is connected? When you connect the battery, it stays off?

I can’t think of anything easy to check without pulling the driver out. Do you want to take it apart or do you want to see if you can get it repaired or fixed under warranty?

You can check the MOSFET on the driver to see if it looks okay. I remember someone bypassing the springs and the FET Haikelite uses could not handle the current and burned up. This might have been on a MT09R which has the same basic driver.

Normally it does, but in my case it does not anymore. It stays off.

I will take it apart tonight when I’ll have access to my tools and I will report back.

You still remember which UI settings are you using?

4x clicks is for ramping mode lock out, whereas "double click + press&hold" is for "alternate mode sets (step)".

The MOSFET and the driver in general, look OK. Neither signs nor smell of burnt components.
I will take a picture under good lighting conditions tomorrow and I’ll upload it.

Ramping, but it should exit the lock-out mode whenever I unscrew the head and this is not the case.
Something is wrong either with the driver or with the switch board.

You can put your DMM on the driver pads where the switch makes contact and see if you get continuity when you press the switch.

Since the switch led is not working, I’m betting the driver has lost power.

I tested the switch and I get continuity. It is the driver.

Maybe Texas_Ace can shed some light.

Very strange issue that it would die completely like that. The switch LED should at least light up if the MCU is getting power.

The most likely candidates would be the LDO, R5 resistor or the MCU itself dying.

If you can, check for V+ at both sides of the R5 resistor, if that checks out, then check the voltage at the first “Test” pad above the yellow wire. It should be 5v.

If all of that checks out then the voltage is making it to the MCU so either it is a ground issue or the MCU died somehow. Very strange if that happened, only had an MCU randomly die a few times over the years in a working light.

Hi. It was ridiculous.
After detaching the board to test it, I realised that the spring was not making contact.

Now I have another issue.
While soldering the cables back, the switch V+ metal contact was detached from the board.
It is still connected to the thin, onboard, wire.
Can I take switch V+ from somewhere else on the driver?

Thanks.

On these Texas Avenger drivers, pin 7 Pin 2 on the MCU is always the trigger looking for ground.

You can either attach the switch positive to pin 7 Pin 2 or scratch the coating off next to the original pad that lifted and attach there.

You might have been using too much heat on your iron.

I used some two-ingredient epoxy glue (180 Celsius max) to reattach the pad.
When it dries, I will try to solder the cable very quickly. If this fails I’ll use pin 7.
I will also lower the iron heat.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it! :slight_smile:

Jason is correct but he got the MCU backwards, I flipped the MCU over for this driver, pin 7 is on the other side which he did not know about:

You have it connected to the FET output right now.

Hi and thanks!

The first attempt was a fail and the pad was completely detached.

The second attempt (pin 7) was also a fail and now I know why.

The third attempt was a success. I removed the coating right after the pad and soldered it there.
I also used a small amount of epoxy resin to stick the cable to the board, right after the connection, in order to secure it.

Finally, I have contacted Lexel for a replacement driver to have it as a spare.

By the way, can someone suggest me a good budget adjustable temperature soldering iron/station?

Yes.

I’m currently using this one:

Using these tips:

It works really well for all jobs. It’s actually quite a good soldering iron, and after calibrating the temperature, it is actually quite accurate.

If you want a step up in terms of heating time and handling, as I’ve actually bought one for a friend, and tested it:

You can also install open source firmware on it, and use battery packs for portability.

Tips(I would recommend the TS-D24, as it is a fat flat tip, very useful for connections and most soldering jobs):

I was looking at MINI TS100 when you replied. :slight_smile:

I am currently using this.
It does the job but the temperature regulator seems to be inaccurate.

Will PX-988 make a difference or better go for MINI TS100 when my budget allows it?