Novatac flickers, low battery, full battery, primary battery

jon_slider · 2018-10-26T07:44:57.000Z

Ok, Another Novatac Gold Storm Flicker report

today the light started flickering at the 13 lumen level, same as described in Post 25. Like last time, it also flickered on minimum… Im talking about flicker so obvious a child could see it… not just something my snobby trained eyes can detect in rare circumstances… I mean like, no, I cant use this light like this, kind of flicker.

Nothing I tried solved the problem, not a flash of high mode, not cleaning all the contacts again, not slapping it… nothing… this light just Flickers!

The flicker went away when I installed a fresh battery.

The one I took out was at 3.82v… note that yesterdays flicker report was coincidentally at a very similar voltage, 3.84v. Two different 16340 batteries. My current belief is that this Novatac just does not like 3.8x volts. It works without flickering at lower voltages, including on Primary batteries…

fwiw, I started this thread with a report of Visible flickering on a different Novatac, in that one the battery was at 3.57v.

So, it seems as though there is a Flicker issue with the Novatac circuit, when a LiIon is about 1/2 discharged, not just on one light.

.

I did already do a battery detect reset for LiIon prior to the last 2 Flicker events.
there is more detail about that in this thread
Novatac LiIon Low Battery Voltage Warning System features

At this point I dont think this Flickering is an issue that can be eliminated.
imo The solution is simply to use a fresh battery.

Its a Feature, not a Bug
An undocumented Low Voltage Warning

if there was a line in the manual that said something like:

Note, when using LiIon below 3.85v, the light will flicker to remind you to replace and recharge.

it would have saved me a lot of grief

Im moving on from Clicky UI’s
My next adventure is to experience the HDS Rotary interface… stay tuned for those Investigative Reports of flickers, tints, beams, ergonomics, and UI’s

Now that the Gold Storm is out of my pocket, what took its place?
I went back to my Utorch S1 Mini, modded w N219b 4500k 9080
I love the Aspheric Beam! I call it my Budget Sundrop

Its the one in the middle:

and on the left:

totally different beam, size, weight, than the Novatac… each has its pros and cons… choices are good

.

New Experiment

I changed the Battery Detection on the Gold Storm to Primary

ran the light on its maxiumum of about 85 lumens for 35 minutes, and got the battery down to 3.84 volts.

turned the light on at 13 lumens, and it started to flicker,

just like when it was set to LiIon Battery detect

sooo… I ran it on high for another 5 minutes, to see if I can have some NoFlicker time, below 3.84v…

YES! after 5 minutes on high the battery is at 3.77v and the light does not flicker on the 13 lumen mode anymore

so, the type of battery detection has nothing to do with the 3.8x flicker, and it not only has an identifyable start of flicker voltage, theres a point after which it no longer flickers… about 5 minutes on high, or less…

so I reset battery detection to LiIon

and to confirm it was enabled I inserted a battery that was at 3.04 v and as expected, the light stepped down from High and refused to give more than 27 lumens… I knew where this was headed… to the 3v low mode blinking, where no other mode works…

then, to see if I could get under the low voltage blinks, I inserted a battery at 2.92 volts and found it would power the light with no low voltage warning… except that it stepped down to 64 lumens, and would not give more, but it also did not blink or flash

so again, there is a cut off below which the Low Voltage warning stops interfering with normal use…

.
moral of the story, if a Novatac blinks at you when the battery is up around 3.8v, and you want it to stop, force high mode for a while, maybe it will get over its need for attention…

jon_slider · 2018-10-26T19:51:47.000Z

Todays Update

since it is now clear to me that the Gold Storm has a LiIon flicker problem at 3.84v, I have decided not to use LiIon in this light.

I reset the battery detect to Primary, and inserted a Primary CR123… all is well… No Flicker to report today.

In this Battery Detect mode, there will be NO Low Voltage warning at 3v either. I can still use LiIon, and since I only use Protected cells, it matters not at all, to me, that the 3v Low Voltage Blinking is DisAbled.

In fact, its better with NO LiIon Battery Detection, since I can use a 3v primary without ending up with a light that is Blinking on Lowest mode.

On to the next Adventures!

Lithium · 2018-10-28T21:46:37.000Z

Jon,

Please send that Gold Novatac to me, I’m willing to make it a triple with H17f driver…or probably more realistically, keep the single led and just change the driver

jon_slider · 2018-10-29T03:02:13.000Z

Thanks for the offer to help. Very much appreciated.

I will think on that H17f after i hear how the black 120t works out. I have been offered the stock driver that CRX is replacing w H17f

chadvone · 2018-10-29T03:10:57.000Z

I want to see the Novatac H17f for sure.

Lithium · 2018-10-29T09:16:14.000Z

Oh, stock driver is even better…well, not for power, but I like the original UI, as you know

jon_slider · 2018-10-29T23:12:54.000Z

I like the stock UI too… when it does not flicker

The H17f driver in the triple Novatac that CRX is building for a friend, may be done in the next week. Im looking forward to his impressions.

Lithium · 2018-10-30T00:51:00.000Z

Looking forward to that too!

CRX · 2018-10-30T01:20:09.000Z

Shame, I’m away for three months

lumenzilla · 2018-10-31T07:14:58.000Z

Lithium:

Oh, stock driver is even better…well, not for power, but I like the original UI, as you know

I second that.
Been looking for driver (17mm) with same UI but none the result.

jon_slider · 2018-11-01T19:45:26.000Z

CRX:

Shame, I’m away for three months

LOL
when you return, please share a link to your H17f driven Triple Nova

I have received some spy satellite photos, so I know what you’re up to…
but will not steal your thunder

chadvone · 2018-11-02T00:18:07.000Z

I am exited to see this. One of my favorite lights meets my favorite clicky driver.
I don’t know how you do it CRX. I have stared at my Novatac and a clicky switch for hours and couldn’t come up with a way to make it work.

CRX · 2018-11-02T01:22:20.000Z

chadvone · 2018-11-02T01:26:25.000Z

Tease

CRX · 2018-11-02T01:27:00.000Z

Lithium · 2018-11-02T01:35:25.000Z

Stop teasing and show the real goodies! We want full pictures and lumens measurements

CRX · 2018-11-02T12:53:43.000Z

jon_slider · 2018-11-02T16:54:34.000Z

CRX:

aha! I see the meat and potatoes are here:

NovaTac 120T Triple Nichia 219C - H17Fx - 18350 - Tail Clicky Featured Mods

[image]Stock Light: Low - 40lm High - 122lm[image] . On to the moddin'... [image] There is no way these drivers will come out in one piece, had quite a job breaking it out as it is fully potted in hard black resin.[image] Aluminium heatsink filed into shape to fit the fit the internal contour of the flashlight head and make contact with pill insert, potted in place. 22mm brass tube cut & filed down to fit inside the aluminium pill with brass mounting ring inside for 17mm driver, all sold…

woohoo! a 2300!!! lumen Novatac!
Mind Blowing!

xevious · 2019-07-07T15:20:19.000Z

CRX:

I’m curious — how’s the thermal management on this modified NovaTac? Also, how would you compare performance to the FW3A with “similar” emitter choice? I was, once upon a time, going to modify my NovaTac 120P, but for one reason or another I shelved the plans. Then when the FW3A came out, I figuratively tossed out the plans completely… as I think the Anduril UI is phenomenal (a good deal of what the NovaTac does isn’t within my needs). The only thing missing with Anduril that I’d like is the low drain locator beacon.

jon_slider · 2019-07-07T16:48:38.000Z

xevious:

how’s the thermal management on this modified NovaTac? Also, how would you compare performance to the FW3A with “similar” emitter choice?

CRX installed an H17f driver that has built in thermal management. He also eliminated the Novatac body spring (signal wire), which made the Novatac 18350 compatible, with a bit of CRX magic.

the main differences from the CRX Triple Nova and the fw3a are battery size and UI. Both have thermal management features.

Anduril is basically a 1 mode UI, with electronic ramping in 150 steps, and memory.

H17f is a clicky UI, with up to 7 modes in each of two user groups, w programmable levels divided into 24 hops in brightness, similar to an HDS clicky or Novatac. Memory can be turned on and off.

I dont know which UI offers the lowest low, or highest high, but imo, both drivers could achieve similar brightness levels, ceteris paribus