So, here’s the thing. We are a critical bunch, and a lot has been posted about the Q8. Most of the concerns are about things like buggered heads on screws that you will NEVER be messing with in the field. The issue with the switch LED’s is unfortunate and is being addressed, but except for being able to find the Q8 in the dark, does not affect function. I would not worry about the Q8 failing while camping. You may run the batteries down, but that is not a failure. Note that if you are playing with the Q8 in the dark and trying to understand the cheat sheet and familiarize yourself with Narsil, you will need a second light to read the manual while clicking away.
Having said all the above - I think it is a good idea to have a list to go through when you get your Q8. Please understand that the Q8 will likely be fine out of the box, this list includes some VERY basic suggestions for improving things. I hope that it is close to complete, and I will revise anything that is suggested.
Checking a new Q8.
Before putting cells in.
- Inspect the exterior of the light for any sharp edges or scratches that may catch on skin or clothes. Smooth as necessary.
- Check the reflector and LED’s for centering, realign as necessary.
- Inspect the exterior of the light for any cosmetic issues. Minor scratches in the annodizing may be coverable with Sharpie marker.
- Unscrew the head and inspect the battery tube. There has been one light reported with burrs on the tube that damaged a cell wrapper. Scrape or abrade if necessary.
Tail and battery tube.
- Unscrew tail cap, inspect PCB and retaining screws.
- Remove PCB retaining screws (4 - M2.5 wafer head) - many of the first lights have buggered heads. Replace if absolutely necessary.
- Use an M2.5 bottoming tap to chase the threads in the battery tube.
- Chamfer the top of the four holes to ensure that the tail PCB lays flat on the whole ledge rather than on the displaced material on top of the four holes.
- Look for any glue residue near the holes. Remove any residue from both PCB and tube.
- Polish to your level of OCD the ledge that the PCB sits on. This is what contacts the tail PCB and carries current from the battery negative up to the head.
- Clean any sand blast residue and tapping chips from inside the screw holes. Compressed air or a spray solvent should work.
- Apply very thin layer of NO-OX-ID to the ledge.
- Inspect and manipulate the springs, there has been a report of cold solder joints leading to loose springs.
- Perform spring bypass / upgrade if desired. See post by Tom E for one method.
- Find screws and carefully reinstall tail PCB. (Note 1)
- Fold cheat sheet according to instructions.
- Lube tail cap threads and O-ring with your prefered sauce and screw tail cap over the cheat sheet.
- Inspect threads and contact ring on top side of battery tube. There have been some reports of rough surfaces. Polish smooth as necessary.
Head and driver PCB.
- Inspect driver PCB retaining screws (2 - M3.0) - many of the first lights have buggered heads. Replace if absolutely necessary.
- Using an appropriately sized drill bit (1/8” is 3.125mm) drill the driver PCB mounting holes out to clearance size. The screws should not bite into the PCB as this can cause the PCB to not sit flat. I recommend against using a drill motor, try just using your fingers.
- If desired or necessary, chamfer the driver mounting screw holes.
- Clean any dust and debris from head.
- Inspect driver board solder joints. The ONE reported DOA had a poorly soldered wire.
- Upgrade If you are concerned about an impact turning off the light, there is a mod being discussed in the Q8 Modding thread that may change that behavior. This is developing and is not yet tested completely.
- Check centering of positive battery contact ring - this is a cosmetic issue only (IMHO).
- Clean and polish the battery contact ring and perimeter ring of PCB to your level of OCD .
- Find screws and reinsert driver PCB, taking care not to pinch any wires. (Note 1)
- Lube threads and O-ring with your prefered sauce.
Powering up.
- Install batteries. Pay attention to the polarity. Positive UP, negative on springs.
- I printed a copy of the cheat sheet a little larger (75 mm high after cutting) and rolled it up - it now fits perfectly between the four cells. I can read this larger version.
- Thread head onto battery tube. Point emitters away from eyes while doing this, and watch the switch as it makes contact. Emitters and switch should blink twice on full contact.
- Emitters should turn off and switch LED should stay on after power up.
- Inspect the switch LED’s - this is where the few problems that have been reported lie.
- There are LED’s on either side of the switch. Some lights show one of these LED’s brighter than the the other. This is cosmetic and will not affect the use of the light. If the asymmetry bugs you, suggest rotating the switch board so that the LED’s are front and back rather than left and right of the switch.
- Some switch LED’s flicker or do not come on at all. This is a known issue and the switchboard has been redesigned to hopefully avoid this. The functionality of the light and switch is not affected, only the switch LED’s.
- If your light exhibits this behavior and the flickering is distracting, suggest turning off the switch light via the menus until a solution is devised for these first batch lights. If you are a modder, adjusting the current limiting resistor on the switch PCB seems to help, or swap them to a different color. See the excellent video posted by DJOZZ for a guide.
1 Note on installing screws. ANY time there is more than one screw mounting something, start ALL the screws and leave them loose, then get them all just barely tight, THEN tighten them.
[edit] added a few items per a post by g_sintornillos[/edit]