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

Kentuckywindage · 2017-06-10T14:51:02.000Z

Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, the Q8 steps up to the plate…

teacher · 2017-06-10T15:46:11.000Z

Kentuckywindage:

Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, the Q8 steps up to the plate…

Good one!! I like it…. :+1:

sparkyDK · 2017-06-10T15:55:36.000Z

The Q8 take a massive swing at the first ball, he hits, and its out of here.

hank · 2017-06-10T16:43:46.000Z

BLF’s got another chance to make history.
Or to be history.

teacher · 2017-06-10T16:47:36.000Z

hank:

BLF’s got another chance to make history.
Or to be history.

Yep… and if I take your meaning correctly…… Let’s hope it is “make history”!! .

blinker · 2017-06-10T20:31:34.000Z

Don’t know if this has been covered but won’t Panasonic NCR 18650B 3400mAh button top work for the Q8?

The_Miller · 2017-06-10T20:37:29.000Z

Yes they work fine
See my beamshots a few pages back, it is a little less bright

Jesjes · 2017-06-10T20:43:43.000Z

blinker:

Don’t know if this has been covered but won’t Panasonic NCR 18650B 3400mAh button top work for the Q8?

Is there any GB of code for them??

The_Miller · 2017-06-10T20:47:24.000Z

not aware of that but the are not expensive

beamshots with Q8 on 30Qs and Pana 3400 protected

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

BEAMSHOTS House 25 meters, camera on “live” setting for it shows what I see irl very closely SRK (stock, quad LBs with a pretty nice tint) [image] . . Haikelight Trekker (stock XHP50.2 CW Sanyo GA cells) [image] . . Nitecore TM06S (stock regulated driver, 4000lumens on all decent cells at all voltages above 3, CW) [image] . . Convoy L6 (stock, NW, Liitokala 26650 cells, fully charged before making the beamshots) [image] . . BLF Q8 (Panasonic protected 3400mAh) [image] . . B…

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

BEAMSHOTS House 100 meters, camera on “live” setting for it shows what I see irl very closely [image] . . SRK (stock, quad LBs with a pretty nice tint) [image] . . Haikelight Trekker (stock XHP50.2 CW Sanyo GA cells) [image] . . Nitecore TM06S (stock regulated driver, 4000lumens on all decent cells at all voltages above 3, CW) [image] . . Convoy L6 (stock, NW, Liitokala 26650 cells, fully charged before making the beamshots) [image] . . BLF Q8 (Panasonic protected 3400mAh) […

Lazy-R-us · 2017-06-10T21:42:47.000Z

nqcken:

so is the general concensus that solder blobs are more appropriate than copper nubbs soldered on for the Q8? I had been thinking a copper washer with a blob center, not sure if that would be possible…

The thing is that solder boobs do the job quite well, are softer than the contacts, so will not damage the contacts, and are simple to refresh if they do wear. Copper washers or balls or magnets all need to either be soldered on anyway or rely on glue or some other mechanical means to keep them in place.

So why complicate things? Tom’s testing appears to show that simple solder boobs marginally outperform even commercial button tops.

The_Miller · 2017-06-10T22:05:20.000Z

The respect we (ought to) have for our cells probably plays a big role in the not being all that happy to solder on them.
For me for sure
I am happy with the 30Q BT I bought and to be honest even on Panasonic protected cells the Q8 is very bright
But I am no solder-whizz like others, maybe if I was I’d blob them too

Tom_E · 2017-06-10T22:19:11.000Z

Just solder boobed 8 VTC6's. I call it "ST" (Solder Top) vs "FT" (Flat Top) or "BT" (Button Top). I bypassed the springs in the round #3 proto with 22 AWG wire.

Pretty much all the spring issues go away when you bypass them - they stiffen slightly but might still disengage on a good bump. I also gave the stock ones a little stretching so they sit at 11 mm now. There's no risk of over heating the springs with the bypass.

From the best I could figure, there's 73.6 mm of space for the cell and spring. VTC6's are about 65 mm dead on, and the solder adds about 0.8 - 1.0 mm. So in theory, a 10 mm spring would have to compress 2.4 mm, or with a 11 mm spring, 3.4 mm.

10 mm spring: 63.6 mm of space for the cell, a 66 mm cell compresses 66 - 63.6 = 2.4

11 mm spring: 62.6 mm of space for the cell, a 66 mm cell compresses 66 - 62.6 = 3.4

I measured a 30Q BT at 66.75 mm, so you would get 0.75 mm more compression. The issue is the range 1 spring needs to support, figure shortest cell is a GA FT at 65.3 and I got 2 protected cells at 69.7 and 70 mm each. So the one spring has to support a variance of close to 5 mm. On many (most) lights, this variance is easier supported by two springs, one at the driver, one at the tail.

So with my newly wired up tail PCB, rigged with an 18 AWG loop for a clamp meter, and also cut down the 18 AWG LED wires and soldered/shrink tubed them to 16 AWG wires, and on a new set of VTC6 ST's:

at 4.20V: 21.2A at the tail, lumens: 6,800 @start, 6,375 @ 30 secs, throw: 66 kcd (514 meters)

I'm thinking that if we had a 13 mm spring, might be better to stay with a relative soft spring, so the 70 mm cells aren't a problem threading up. I dunno - maybe these guys doing the design of the lights understand all this well, but certainly there's an optimum zone the light should be designed for. If we picked a cell range of 66 mm to 70 mm, a 12 mm spring would give you 4.4 mm compression on the shortest, and 8.4 mm compression on the longest. Now 8.4 mm is a lot of compression and force, specially x 4 for 4 cells. A soft 12 mm springs could handle that, but a stiff spring might be hard.

JasonWW · 2017-06-10T22:33:39.000Z

Tom E:

Just solder boobed 8 VTC6’s. I call it “ST” (Solder Top) vs “FT” (Flat Top) or “BT” (Button Top). I bypassed the springs in the round #3 proto with 22 AWG wire.

Pretty much all the spring issues go away when you bypass them - they stiffen slightly but might still disengage on a good bump. I also gave the stock ones a little stretching so they sit at 11 mm now. There’s no risk of over heating the springs with the bypass.

From the best I could figure, there’s 73.6 mm of space for the cell and spring. VTC6’s are about 65 mm dead on, and the solder adds about 0.8 - 1.0 mm. So in theory, a 10 mm spring would have to compress 2.4 mm, or with a 11 mm spring, 3.4 mm.

10 mm spring: 63.6 mm of space for the cell, a 66 mm cell compresses 66 - 63.6 = 2.4

11 mm spring: 62.6 mm of space for the cell, a 66 mm cell compresses 66 - 62.6 = 3.4

I measured a 30Q BT at 66.75 mm, so you would get 0.75 mm more compression. The issue is the range 1 spring needs to support, figure shortest cell is a GA FT at 65.3 and I got 2 protected cells at 69.7 and 70 mm each. So the one spring has to support a variance of close to 5 mm. On many (most) lights, this variance is easier supported by two springs, one at the driver, one at the tail.

So with my newly wired up tail PCB, rigged with an 18 AWG loop for a clamp meter, and also cut down the 18 AWG LED wires and soldered/shrink tubed them to 16 AWG wires, and on a new set of VTC6 ST’s:

at 4.20V: 21.2A at the tail, lumens: 6,800 start, 6,375 30 secs, throw: 66 kcd (514 meters)

I’m thinking that if we had a 13 mm spring, might be better to stay with a relative soft spring, so the 70 mm cells aren’t a problem threading up. I dunno - maybe these guys doing the design of the lights understand all this well, but certainly there’s an optimum zone the light should be designed for. If we picked a cell range of 66 mm to 70 mm, a 12 mm spring would give you 4.4 mm compression on the shortest, and 8.4 mm compression on the longest. Now 8.4 mm is a lot of compression and force, specially x 4 for 4 cells. A soft 12 mm springs could handle that, but a stiff spring might be hard.

I’m so proud. :cry:

Lol

Tom_E · 2017-06-10T23:32:47.000Z

Quick pictorial run through of the tail mods Removed the springs:

Cut traces and added solder pads (scraped off solder mask) to isolate the connection down to one wire:

Made up jumpers to connect the 4 screws for contact to the tube, spring side:

Drilled out center holes for the bypass wires:

Re-mounted the bigger springs (tossing the small ones):

Bypass wires all prepped. Little long but will be clipped after soldered on top:

Bypasses installed, soldered on bottom of the PCB:

18 AWG meter loop installed. Notice the solder blobs for the bypass wires:

Don't think they are necessary, but added 20 AWG teflon coated jumpers for lowering resistance:

This is the conversion of the stock 18 AWG to 16 AWG wires. They overlap and are soldered together. The theory is it reduces resistance, if my understanding is correct (?). They are little longer than the stock wires to allow easier re-programming, access, etc.:

As DEL reported, the shelf is pretty well machined, and think it's better without the anodizing. All I did here was use 2000 GRIT paper to sand smooth/shiny the back of the MCPCB, then used Arctic MX-4:

Shelf thickness: 4.7 mm

MCPCB: 38.04 mm x 2.00 mm

Definitely don't want to re-solder the LED wire connections on this MCPCB with all the bubbling around those pads.

KawiBoy1428 · 2017-06-11T00:06:02.000Z

Nice work Tom! :+1:

Tom_E · 2017-06-11T00:14:24.000Z

Thanks! What I like about this built-in loop is that you know the amps measurement is as real as can be - nothing changed between amps, lumens, throw, or actual usage. I've done several of these now, but the heavy gauge wire has been taking a beating. With this slightly modified method, I think there's less wear and tear on the loop wire. 18 AWG barely fits, otherwise I might have gone with 16 AWG, since it's carrying the full 20+ amps.

Jeffstanton · 2017-06-11T03:20:38.000Z

please sign me up for 3 of these.

The_Miller · 2017-06-11T03:34:50.000Z

Welcome to BLF!
Three , sure will update list later!

Nice work Tom!
So professional!

blinker · 2017-06-11T04:15:12.000Z

A flash sale at GB for the Pana batteries. Correction, that’s for flat top batteries. Guess that’s not needed.

Yokiamy · 2017-06-11T15:05:03.000Z

Can anyone tell how it works when you signed up for more then one Q8?
when available, do you have to buy the amount you’ve given up for? Or is it possible to split orders?

Still thinking about buying more then 1