NovaTac EDC T and E Models CRACKED! Back Door/Easter egg found!

[LLCoolBeans]

LL, thanks for the info. Any hacks for 120P?
I am jealous of Henry's RA170. I want to make my 120p to 180P!!

Regrettably, I have no magical powers.

I merely invested the 2 hours, and clicked the living nightlights out of my NovaTac. I appreciate all of your praise, but I didn't do anything magical.

My suggestion to you, is to buy a Ra-Clicky. It may seem expensive, but once you have it, you won't regret spending the extra money. The Ra may be $80 more than the NT, but it's much more than $80 better.

 

[JJV]

I just tried this with my 120E and it appears to have worked. The programming is somewhat confusing and I am at work now, so the bulk of it will have to wait. But I've set it up to 1 click is min and 2 is max. The rest I still have to figure out.

Thanks LL! Might have to get the endcap with the flush button now...

 

[streetmaster]

I just tried this with my 120E and it appears to have worked. The programming is somewhat confusing and I am at work now, so the bulk of it will have to wait. But I've set it up to 1 click is min and 2 is max. The rest I still have to figure out.

Thanks LL! Might have to get the endcap with the flush button now...

After you mess around with it for a while it becomes much easier to program. It seems really complicated at first, but it doesn't take too long to learn. After one evening of tinkering, I don't need the instructions anymore.

 

[tx101]

Finally, the got the blasted thing to work :naughty:

Mr Bean .... you are a legend

 

[kaichu dento]

If you don't have access to a lightmeter, the next best thing is a side-by-side comparison with a known source with a similar beam pattern and brightness.

I have a real P, so I'll set one of my Es as a T and leave the other one be :twothumbs

SnWnMe, could you do a side-by-side and verify the brightness levels are still the same?

 

[gottawearshades]

This is great, LLCB!

NT 120P: $120.
NT 120E: $90.
Hacking your flashlight and feeling really smart: Priceless.

 

[streetmaster]

This is great, LLCB!

NT 120P: $100.
NT 120E: $90.
Hacking your flashlight and feeling really smart: Priceless.

Where did you find a 120P for 100 bucks?

 

[Sgt. LED]

Be carefull!

This is just to warn you all that on click 328 it will explode.

 

[JJV]

After you mess around with it for a while it becomes much easier to program. It seems really complicated at first, but it doesn't take too long to learn. After one evening of tinkering, I don't need the instructions anymore.

Of course I have not been able to leave well enough alone today and I think I am getting the hang of at least setting the levels...the options will be another time.

Funny how such a little thing like this can totally captivate you.

 

[RichS]

I just successfully (after about 3 attempts) turned my NovaTac 120E into a 120E-P! I kept forgetting to press and hold after it started flashing at 250 clicks and I had to start over...

This is awesome - I now have 2 fully programmable NovaTacs that come on at < 1 lumen!

Several folks posted concerns regarding the max output possibly changing after making this modification. So I compared my newly programmable 120E to my 120P on max. Let me put your minds at ease. There's no question, the 120E retained it's 120 lumen output on max. I took a beamshot to hopefully demonstrate the output comparison between the two after I set up the 120E to be programmable.

My 120P has a slightly warmer tint to it than my 120E, so the beam looks just slightly different in the photo, but I can assure you they both have the same level of output on max.

Black 120E-P (Left) / Pewter 120P (Right)

Black 120E-P (Left) / Pewter 120P (Right)

Thanks LL!! Your gonna get many folks' vote for "Most Valuable Thread in 2008" for this one!!:twothumbs

 

[The Sun]

brightness levels stay the same 120 stays 120. i have two 120T's did one first then compared the beams, the one that i cracked was the brighter of the two to begin with, and it still is (barely, but i can tell, a lot to do with the difference of tint in the two, one cool white, one more warm). the only difference is...now i have two 120P's one black one olive, the black serial is 20K, and the olive is the 30K series. no problems with either of them. THIS IS SO COOL!!!! THANK YOU LLCOOLBEANS...YOU ARE IN FACT...COOL!!!! whats really cool is that with this hack is i can now take the brightness to the lowest level, and now that i have, i've found i have no PWM flicker issues!!!!! Right On!!!!! everything works perfect, i'm so stoked!!! also, when i got the lights i got them with flat tailcaps, and they said 120P on them instead of "T" and now you would never know +1 to BEANS, and +1 to me!!!!!!!!!! mwwwaaaahhhhhh haaa haaa haaa!!!!!

 

[StandardBattery]

I must say this is very cool, and if I had a E or a T model I'd be clicking away with the biggest grin . I though about getting an E just to hack, but that makes little sense since I already have an 85P, a 120P and a dead 120P. So I'll spend the money towards an Ra Clicky and support Henry and his great lights.

When production ramps up we might see a price drop on the Ra Clickys and they will be alot closer to the cost of any of thre current NT like what happened with the Twisty... or better yet the 170 model could finally be released.

To those doing the clicking... welcome to the P Universe... it's bigger and a lot more fun!

 

[matrixshaman]

Yep I'm still getting a Ra Clicky for sure but in the meantime this is way cool. I'm still waiting on the 120E to arrive but when it does I'll put it on the light meter before and after reprogramming and report here just for the book. It sounds like it may be retaining full power from what I'm reading but I should be able to verify that for sure with the light meter.

I see since I started this message a couple people have confirmed the output as being the same. Thanks RichS! And Thanks TheSun.

 

[SnWnMe]

SnWnMe, could you do a side-by-side and verify the brightness levels are still the same?

:huh: Ugh, it's hard to stare down 120 lm. I can't see crap right now. LOL.

But yeah, @ max setting, the E was just as bright as the P. I have no reason to believe that the various settings will be any different.

 

[streetmaster]

@RichS, Thanks for setting my mind at ease. It was driving me nuts not knowing for sure. I was pretty sure at first, then people planted seeds of doubt in my head.

:rock:+1 for the most valuable thread of 2008! :buddies:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention mine has no flicker whatsoever at any of the lower settings!! I use the absolute low every night when going to bed. It's the only light I have that goes low enough to not wake up the wife. :candle:

 

[Everett]

In case anyone is curious, I tried it on my 120P. After ~250 clicks it starts flashing as reported for E or T, and you can press to enter the menu. The menu is just the same though. I had the tiniest glimmer of hope that there would be some secret 10th option in there, but no.
Of course, you can end with a press at any point to enter the menu--3 click press, 10 click press, 100 click press, etc., all go to the menu but at 250 something is definitely triggered that makes it start to flash. Apparently it does nothing different though.

 

[matrixshaman]

Sorry if I planted seeds of doubt there streetmaster - just sounded like others had some varied results at first.

Everett - don't give up so easy - you might be on to something there. Maybe a 170 Lumen burst mode :naughty:

I'm wondering at this point if the new Ra Clicky doesn't have a backdoor like this too. I thought about this even before seeing this thread. I thought it might be there waiting for someone to discover how to unleash the 170 Lumen mode that was originally planned in this light. Just speculating or more like dreaming of course....

 

[LLCoolBeans]

In case anyone is curious, I tried it on my 120P. After ~250 clicks it starts flashing as reported for E or T, and you can press to enter the menu.

It would make sense that the back door would be there on the P model as well. After all, they are all the same light with the same software. That would seem to be all too clear at this point.

I'm going to update my original post to make note of this.

I'm wondering at this point if the new Ra Clicky doesn't have a backdoor like this too.

Well, in a way it does. "Customization mode" can be turned on and off, just like with the NovaTac. Only with the Clicky it's 20 clicks to enter, instead of 250.

I thought about this even before seeing this thread. I thought it might be there waiting for someone to discover how to unleash the 170 Lumen mode that was originally planned in this light. Just speculating or more like dreaming of course....

Hmmm... Definitely possible, but unlikely. If it did exist, it would be a nightmare to find as it would be difficult to tell if you successfully enabled it. There is not much difference between 140 and 170 lumens.

 

[SnWnMe]

This is really cool. I have locator flash enabled on all three NTs I have. Having four programmable lights sort of pushed the Clicky from a must have to a nice to have on my list.
These NTs and my Twisty will tide me over until Clicky production picks up and the pre orders and inevitable backorders are filled. Hopefully the prices will go down as well like the Tw.

 

[LLCoolBeans]

Alright, I have cleaned up, revamped and beefed up my original post. Those of you that were copying it and saving it for their personal records may want to copy the new and improved version.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't change the title as well. Is that a bad idea?