Question about a flickering LumaPower MRV /Q5 (updated)

[gunfighter]

I just got my first high-powered LED light back from The Battery Junction. They were nice enough to fix it for me after I incorrectly inserted the batteries!

I had a chance to play with it last night. I'm running it from a 18650 Li-Ion.

After about 20 minutes of strong white light it started blinking and sputtering. It did this for about 1 minute, then stabilized back to the original strong white light.

This process of blinking and sputtering occurs every 5-10 minutes now.

What am I experiencing?

Thanks

 

[Steve L]

Re: Question about a flickering LumaPower MRV /Q5

A couple of things. 1. It could be a battery problem,(I think the MRV uses a buck driver, if the VF of the Q5 with losses is higher then the voltage of the battery it could cause problems) try a freshly charged 18650 also try 2 CR123's or 2RCR123's. 2. Make sure the contacts are clean. 3. Make sure the switch retainer ring inside the tail-cap is screwed down snugly. Good Luck!

 

[StefanFS]

Re: Question about a flickering LumaPower MRV /Q5

J*sus, you do seem to be having a spell of bad luck when it comes to flashlights. What you describe does sound like a driver related problem. If the things Steve L suggested doesn't help you will need a new driver. With emphasis on running it for a while on RCR123 or CR123 to see if it works ok. Then try it again on 18650, if it starts to sputter, but it works good on the other type of cells, it's probably the driver, unless your 18650 is faulty/damaged. Do test it with another 18650 cell to see if it works like it should.
Stefan

 

[gunfighter]

Well I installed my 2nd 18650 battery and everything was fine. I ran it for over an hour with zero flickering.

I then put the orginal 18650 back in and the flickering started all over.

I would say this is was a battery issue. I trashed the first 18650 and I think I'll quit buying the Terergy brand.

Thanks for the insight