• You must be a Supporting Member to participate in the Candle Power Forums Marketplace.

    You can become a Supporting Member.

Would this system choice make sense to other users?

manoloco

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
690
Location
Lima, Perú
Hi, i have been reading a bit about lights with QTC pills, and while the operating time of the material is more than enough, one always looks for ways to make it last longer.

1000 operations on full compression are interesting, but with a momentary switch its harder to control the compression, so its use would not be comfortable nor efficient, and it will definitely last less.

I was thinking that since that is the case and that when one uses the momentary switch its only for a moment (Obviously), would it be a useful idea to make the QTC models with a momentary that bypasses the pill and just makes contact another way?

The light will be useful as an efficient ramping twisty with the QTC, and quick to turn on for momentary full when needed with the switch, without reducing the life of the pill.

I am looking to buy a AA light soon so El Capitan has been my choice after reading about the QTC, the momentary, while useful, is not vital in my case, but surely would like to use it without reducing the QTC pill life.
 

fyrstormer

Banned
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
6,617
Location
Maryland, Near DC, USA
I agree that a twisty configuration is the best configuration to use with a QTC pill, because you can control the pressure more finely.

Using the QTC pill with a momentary switch shouldn't cause any long-term problems because you can't apply more pressure to the switch than you can by twisting the head.
 

jorgen

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 31, 2010
Messages
325
Not so much a bad idea as an impratical aspiration.
It the months since Peak QTC were announced only 3 of the 11 series are available.
The El Cap is supposed to be next, maybe in a week or so, but I think Peak is concentrating on production of complete lights and any mods to a momentary aren't being considered. Many were willing to buy a modified momentary for QTC but the last I saw was Curt saying you can "do it yourself".
 

Lumenz

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
344
Location
Bay Area, CA
The "1,000" number you were quoting is how many times Curt fully compressed the QTC before giving up. The QTC could last 2,000 or 20,000 cycles; nobody knows for sure. Since Peak will send a replacement pill if I need one, the life span does not concern me.
 

manoloco

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
690
Location
Lima, Perú
I did mention that the 1000 cycles were on full compression, but you are right i didnt mention that its not the limit, and you will definitely not reach full compression on the flashlight because its probably not designed to compress that much, most probably you wont even be close since full output is rarely necessary.

The guarantee with replacements is good too, but its not improbable that the pill might give in a moment you cant replace it, still the light will turn on on full output, but that will eat your batteries faster.

I was not trying to make the current system look as not useful, far from it, i was looking for ways to improve its use/durability because it seems very useful.
 
Last edited:
Top