Not a fan of carriers, more stuff in the loop, and expensive when well-done.
TBH I don’t know how the latest Astrolux thingy (the one with masses of LEDs behind TIRs ) can be done, at the discount price. Together with it’s three buck drivers, which (no disrespect) are a bit more sophisticated than what we have here (firmware not included).
Double springs, particularly when the inner one is much smaller gauge, and they are just plated steel, seem like a cosmetic thing, with little functionality. Particularly once bypassed. I’m with Tom E here. I could do the maths to demonstrate, but fundamentally the smaller gauge of the inner spring means it will barely share much current with the outer (even assuming it makes good contact with the outer at the pointy end, which is not something to rely on.)
Just bypass them.
(I suppose they are a useful “fuse” to protect the inexperienced)
Agree, it's more advanced, but have you seen the reported failures? One bank of LED's not lighting up means one of those buck drivers fail - 3X times the chance for a failure. Don't think the Q8 has had 1 driver failure reported, accept a loose wire, and think the Q8 has way more quantity delivered.
All those amps, though split up in 3, is a either a lot of money, or they are using parts past their rated specs.
Tom E, did you intend for the bypass solder pads to occur under the battery tube points. Seems like it might be lumpy.
Only a few “failures” which are not, just one of the three drivers doesn’t quite match the other two at the lowest level. Which is impressive, they are managing to dim down 18 LEDs to a pretty low level. Once you divide by 18 and realise how little current per LED that means, it’s rather good I think. Would still be annoyed though if I had one with that issue, not that it matters a jot as regards light out of the front.
Yes, the MF (what does that stand for ?)
But I think we are straying off-topic.
Thanks for posting your spring bypass method, Tom! I now have four bypassed springs just like yours.
I pulled mine out too, but on the fourth I managed to pull the outer spring right off the board! No damage to the pad and it was easily resoldered, but figure I’d warn anyone else using this method.
You get bonus points for specifying the 23mm length of the bypass wires. :+1:
I did this, too. FWIW, my screws and shelf had no ‘glue’ residue some are reporting.
I also swapped in two pink 0603 LEDs for the switch. Mine call for 3.0V - 3.2V and are nice and dim with the stock resistor. Barely visible in normal lighting, and perfect in a darkened room.
I scorched the PCB a bit because I was too impatient to let the iron cool to swap in a smaller tip. These 0603 emitters are TINY! Here’s one sitting next to a grain of Jasmine rice. I was still somehow able to work without magnification. :partying_face:
soldering such small LEDs its better to heat the MCPCB from the other side pressing the tip onto it
Check his photos again. He got as close as possible without causing interference with the ‘clover leaf.’ 
that one bank is not lightning up at moonlight level is rather a cosmetical thing
I am happy that a 12000 lumens light has the lowest level so dim that it is below 0.1% of the max brightness
matching 3 Buck drivers at such low levels is not easy and its a budget light
having 3 buck regulators with medium current is easier and cheaper to get done than one big one
Thanks, Lexel. I saw your post earlier and actually tried your method first.
Even at 750 degrees Fahrenheit I didn’t have any luck right away, and I was nervous about dislodging the switch and resistor and creating more work for myself. 
I was also too lazy to walk a block to my friend’s house to use his hot air rework station.
It could also be a loose wire for this particular MF-01 “Bad solder joint” & “budget flashlight” coexist sometimes in the same sentence.
I’d wished they had a BLF team working on the MF-01 to take the most out of it…but mine is working fine so far. 
MONSTER FLOODER…. :laughing:
Yes, measured it all out - used the thru hole as a marker. The body shelves there taper off. I think it worked out well. If I wanted the heavy gauge wire loop for measuring amps, it would all be different, working from the backside, etc.
Dunno if you guys have seen low lows - I got lights where you can barely see the LED's glow - you can't see light accept in total darkness, only a slight color change of the phosphor - amaz'n. My 16 X XHP50 light is like that sub 0.1 lumens to 37K lumens, pretty incredible.
Actually if you play with setting moon mode levels in the the Q8, might be able to see what I'm talking about. Think I reproduced it in a Q8 at level 1, not sure though...
That’s not it. It is a tiny mis-match of one driver out of three. Crank it up a bit and all is good. But I say again, we are drifting off-topic, this is a Q8 modding thread.
What about the MF-02 ?
That sounds, err, very useful ?
The lowest moon mode is undetectable to me, unless I cup the lens and hold it to my eyes. Haven’t looked at it in the dark though, still sure it’s super low.
Left Off, Right Lowest moon mode.
