My pimped-out Nuwai Quantum-III

[milkyspit]

Absolite, thanks for the compliment on my pimpin'. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Okay, let's see... it's the same reflector in both cases, so sidespill is identical in diameter, but throw with the Dorcy circuit is maybe 20% less than with stock. (That still leaves plenty of throw, though!) The main reason for the Dorcy circuit was twofold: it runs for at least TWICE as long as the stock circuit; and it fails far more gracefully. On the latter point, I did a runtime test on my MilkMite mod, which also uses the Dorcy circuit, and even after 8 HOURS of continuous runtime on a single 123 cell, there was enough light to navigate the rooms of my house and find things in drawers. Simply put, I just trust the Dorcy circuit far more than I do the stock circuit not to let me down when I need it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yes, the dual brightness switch could be installed in the stock OR pimped Q3, but you'll need to be comfortable soldering and unsoldering things on circuit boards. If not, you could always send it to me for modding... I'd probably only need the tailcap, not the entire light. The stock switch sits on a little circuit board in the tailcap, and basically you'd need to desolder and remove that one, then solder down the new one, and finally run a resistor from one of the outputs of the new switch to the output pad on the little circuit board.

I haven't received the switches yet, so it's a little premature to put a price on them... but I'm sure it'll be under $10 shipped! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif Okay, maybe that doesn't say much, but the point is it won't be a backbreaker for anyone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[absoLite]

Thanks alot for your answers, and I would like to take such a switch when it's available.
Soldering should be no problem for me (at least I'll try) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Anglepoise]

Milky.
When you had your Q-III apart, did you by any chance happen to measure the diameter of the lens??

 

[milkyspit]

Nope, sorry about that, Anglepoise. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif I didn't remove the reflector and didn't even think about swapping out the lens, so I never bothered to measure it, either. But roughly speaking, I'd guess the reflector itself is 20mm in diameter, so the lens must be something slightly larger, like maybe 22mm, or just a fraction larger than that? Just a guess!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[AW]

I would like to have the new switch when you have it. Probably, I would like the output to be half of the high. Also, my QIII is running much brigher on R123 than CR123, would it damage the LS because I believe the regulation circuit is not very efficient with the QIII.

 

[red_robby]

i changed my lens with a mineral lens from the sandwich shop
the 22.5mm fit...

 

[milkyspit]

[ QUOTE ]
AW said:
I would like to have the new switch when you have it. Probably, I would like the output to be half of the high. Also, my QIII is running much brigher on R123 than CR123, would it damage the LS because I believe the regulation circuit is not very efficient with the QIII.

[/ QUOTE ]

AW, I don't own any R123 cells myself, but it sounds like you're bypassing the circuit completely on those and driving the LS as if it's a direct drive light... in other words, as if you had wired the battery directly to the LS with no circuitry in between. The reason it looks much brighter on those cells is that MUCH more current is flowing through the LS! If memory serves, an R123 will put out something like 4.2V when it's fresh.

Direct drive lights aren't necessarily bad. 4sevens has designed several nice ones, so has roguesoul, so have I and many others... then there's the godfather of all direct drivers, the great MR Bulk himself, who built a number of CPF classics (like the Space Needle II) on the principle of direct drive! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

There are two possible problems, though. First problem would be that you fry your LS. If your light is generating lots of heat, or you can measure more than 1 amp of current coming from the battery (you can test this with a DMM, or digital multimeter, by removing the tailcap, touching one lead to the battery, and the other to some exposed aluminum on the barrel of the light), you might have a potential problem.

I'd bet, though, that the LS won't be your main concern. The second problem is that you may end up frying one or more components in the QIII's boost circuit, which would mean your light either would no longer work properly with regular 123 cells, or in the worst case, wouldn't work at all! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Well, I'm already on record here on CPF as pretty much hating that circuit, so to me that would be no great loss. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif And rechargeables are of course a great idea. Just be careful, dude! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you end up toasting your light, send it over and we'll pimp 'er up! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

 

[AW]

It says here Q-III are passed for those R123s:
http://www.justbright.com/cells.htm
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[Haesslich]

[ QUOTE ]
AW said:
It says here Q-III are passed for those R123s:
http://www.justbright.com/cells.htm
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh, it's cheap enough that toasting the circuit board won't matter much, especially since a cheap $5 Dorcy has a good replacement board in it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif And you could get Scott there to pimp up the switch and the LED for you, so you would a) know the LED was rated for the 4.2-3.7V of the rechargables, and b) not have to worry about overdischarging cells.

Still, it's not a bad light for $40, is it?

 

[AW]

I would say $48 is a good deal considering my Q-III is brighter than my ARC4+ (rev2) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

 

[Haesslich]

Aye. I love the death out of it, even if I use my Aleph 3 more these days, due to the two-stage switch.

 

[AW]

Milkyspit,
I measure the current draw of my QIII with the R123 and it is a whopping 1.25A while on a CR123A is only 0.85A. However, not much heat was generated and the runtime was a nonstop 30 minutes with full regulation brightness. Will the R123 damage my LS running a current that high?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/au.gif

 

[milkyspit]

AW, something sounds a little strange. At 1.25A, I would have guessed SOMETHING ought to get pretty warm... but you might need to leave the light sitting upright for a few minutes or something. Held in your hand, the heat may be transferred to your hand before it gets much chance to heat up the light's housing.

It does sound like the circuit is being bypassed with the R123. That makes sense because the circuit is designed for boost, but no boost is needed at the higher voltage the R123 supplies.

The one other possibility might be that the heatsinking in the light is really bad. I think 4sevens was replacing the stock heatsink when he was converting his QIII to direct drive... maybe he's got some thoughts on all this?
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[Mr_Dead]

I don't suppose the 2-stage switch mod changes the action so that it connects on the "down" stroke, making momentary possible? Probably wishing for too much...

 

[milkyspit]

The two stage switch works in same the reverse tactical style as the stock switch, unfortunately. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[junior]

Nice up grades. However, when i think of pimped out, i think of fake/real gold, diamonds and pimp colors like pink, red etc.,

 

[milkyspit]

[ QUOTE ]
junior said:
Nice up grades. However, when i think of pimped out, i think of fake/real gold, diamonds and pimp colors like pink, red etc.,

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, junior, we could pimp yours up real nice! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[absoLite]

Somwhere here I read that a Kroll switch fits in the QIII instead of the stock switch.
This would give you momentary and the Kroll can be modded to have 2 stages.

What resistor values do you guys use for your 2-stage QIII ?

 

[milkyspit]

Absolite, I could be badly mistaken, but in my own experiments a Kroll will NOT fit into the tail of a QIII unless some sort of aluminum threaded sleeve were made to adapt the Kroll to the slightly wider inner diameter of the QIII. Also, the Kroll two-stage mods I've seen all involve loosening the tailcap or partially unscrewing the Kroll itself to achieve the dual brightness effect. The swith I've FINALLY located (which isn't a Kroll) will allow low and high to be two switch settings, in addition to off. For example, you could setup your light for click to low, click again to high, click again to off, then repeat.

 

[absoLite]

Scott,
You're right, the Kroll doesn't fit. The OP said it does fit in the QI and should also fit in the QIII, but later it came out that it doesn't.

I think the switch you found will be better anyway, because (as you said) there is no need to loosen the thread (which would be bad since the O-ring is right at the edge of the tailcap).

So I can't wait to get one of your switches /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif, did you receive them already ?

BTW, what resistor did you use for the low stage ? I think the brightness of an ARC AAA would be be nice ..