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

A solid battery carryer like from the TN36 would be nice for modding. But thats not the classic SRK design.
But please make such a battery carryer. Because the Light should be a good modding Platform too.
A Host version of the flashlight would be nice too. To change the battery configuration it would be enough to deliver with the host two sets of two PCBs to exchange them in the battery carryer for 6V or 12V LEDs.

OK so the idea is…. correct me f i am wrong

A hollow tube with a holder for 4 18650 cells.
default in parallel

But because it is a removeable holder, modders can make it series more easy without having to adapt anything else.
Right?

I think that’s the idea. But a holder is more parts so higher cost, more points of failure, more difficult cell loading, possible issues at high current (more contacts), etc. I’m not entirely certain I’d want all that if I have no use for it.

Ideally, you’d have a design where you just drop the cells in there for 4P setup but you can also insert/mod something to get other configurations.

Why not go series, no need for separate expensive carrier.

You can still run the XPL with the correct driver etc but you can also run the far better options for huge flood output (this should be default anyway ;))

series is a good project for modding
the posibiity to use either 1, 2, 3 or 4 cells in the safe parallel configuration is a key feature of the SRK and our Q8

Why would you carry a bloody great soup can and use less than 4 cells?

Safer, well in theory possibly, BLF users are aware of the balance requirements and hopefully use quality cells. Can you show a single failure in normal use of a quality series setup?

Why keep the flaws of an old design when you can improve?

I use soup cans with one cell all the time.
Love the lights that can take more then one but not NEED it, very fond of the Colrui for example.
Here I give you a real life example.
Walking with my kid, he carries a Uniquefire UF1401 with two cells, I picked up a C8, my C8 starts to blink low voltage. and tadaa, pop 1 cell of the UF1401 in it and two working flashlights again.

I also use (1) cell in my Supfire M6. Not sure why however other than I can :wink:

Parallel cells are safe - even at different discharge levels, they will self level while discharging. Series cells at different levels is an issue - one cell can deplete first and there’s no way for that condition to be detected. This is why series should always use protected cells, parallel is fine unprotected as long as the driver does LVP. Of course protected cells always will be higher resistance, have a lower threshold on amps than unprotected. It’s pretty darn safe to mix different cells at different capacities in parallel configurations. This is the beautiful thing bout SRK’s - 4 mixed bag of cells, whatever you got on hand. The down side is you need a protruding top on the cell.
For cells in series, of course if you know what you are doing and are careful, you can use unprotected cells, and understanding the tech stuff, you can lower risk by using cells either new or of known same age, same charge level, and/or be careful on draining, or knowing the level LVP kicks in, you can play it safe, but the burden is on you.

I think the 4 parallel cells are part of what defines an SRK clone. Personal opinion is if not 4P, it’s not an SRK clone.

Just thinking out loud for the mini one if such a thing becomes reality. Personally I still favour 3x18500. However if it was to stick to 4 batteries. What would offer the best performance:

4P Li-ion - 4x14500. You’d get about 2800mah and 4.2v

Or

4S NiMh - 4xAA Eneloop. You’d have 2000-2500mah 4.8v+

I’ve not worked out the wh but they must be pretty close. If you wanted to run 3amp draw+ which would stand up to it better?

I honestly don’t see the appeal in a 4x14500 light. I’d rather a single 18650 light as it’ll out perform it and be smaller. But a 4xAA one would appeal.

Yes Tom, and if anybody wants to mod the Q8 into a series monster running unprotected cells and know what they are doing I really like to see the mod!

Uhhhh, no one mentioned XPG-3's yet. Hhhmmmm...

https://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut2924, https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/39216

Djozz had seen it if my memory servers me correctly, there is a thread started about them.
So if they are interesting I figured we would see an email appear :wink:
Now that you brought it up our LED connoisseur will certainly kick in about them :slight_smile:

I don’t see any reason for a mini version. A mini 4 cell light will still be too large for a pocketable light, won’t weigh all that much less than a 4 x 18650 and will have a foreshortened run time in comparison. I am still interested in a good 4 x 18650, using parallel cells that can operate the light on a single cell if necessary. If there was some easy enough way to engineer a light that could be easily set up to run a 6 volt XHP50/70 that could be very interesting too, but not an absolute necessity, IMO. That would likely be complicating things.

Yes, this is the aim.
And by making the housing decent, have the driver hold into place by a ring or screws this is supposed to become a light worthy of modding and relatively easy to do it with.

What about a boost driver to run 6v emitters? The cells could stay 4p.

Too much possibility, let stick around with the original plan quad led with 4x18650.
The other setup can be used for future project

Please put me in for quantity of 2. This potentially could be my first SRK style light. Thanks.

Aloha, Put me down for one please.
Mahalo

Agree!

The reason NiMh’s are not often used in (chinese) flashlights is because of the somewhat lower energy density, but mainly their 1.2V nominal voltage requires power-limiting boosting or running at least 4 in series. Our proposed mini-SRK has 4 cells by design idea, so the use of NiMh cells is automatically a consideration.
And then the advantage of NiMh comes in sight: it is safe, well-known to the public, very available, alkalines can be used as back-up. But IMO another main advantage is power capability: good NiMh cells have very low internal resistance and allow high currents just like that. 4 cells in series have enough overhead voltage to deliver a triple or quad well over 10A even when using the relatively higher voltage Cree leds. I have not seen a NiMh-powered triple or quad (anyone know one?), but if well build (especially the battery carrier, there’s many spring connections there, steel springs are not an option) the output must be quite impressive, 2000 lumen should easily be achievable.