SureFire C series two-stage tail?

[fulee9999]

Hey everyone,

The last couple of days I've started messing around with my older non-user lights, and modding some of them made a huge difference ( go figure ) and I came to an impass with some.
So my issue is that I detest the click X times for Y mode, so my EDC lights are always high-only or twist to change mode. BUT.
I know SureFire has the "throttle" like switch for the E-series ( twist for ON, medium press for low, firm press for high ) but is there something like that in the McClicky format?

What would be perfect is a half press for low, press more for high, press all the way in for latching, sort of like the McClicky but with a stage in between.
Does a switch exist...? From a technical point of view I imagine it would be simple enough to manufacture, but did anyone bother to make such a thing?

It would be a great mod for light that use the McClicky switch I think.

 

[carrot]

Olight has done this sort of thing with the Warrior Mini 2 and Warrior 3 (previously the Warrior Mini and M2R Pro).

It works very well.

Fenix is also using the same kind of switch (two stage "camera shutter" switch) to some neat effect too in the PD25 v2.0 and maybe some others I'm forgetting.

There's nothing on the P60 platform that would support this functionality due to the way the switch works on those lights however.

 

[fulee9999]

ah, that's a bummer ): truth of the matter is, I'm not worried about the P60 platform, my Malkoffs do head twisty hi-lo and my Elzetta does the tailcap hi-lo, so I'm all good there, but there are some ( custom ) lights that use a McClicky and there is no way you can change the tail of those.
Guess they'll gonna be high-only then!

 

[LEDphile]

There's nothing on the P60 platform that would support this functionality due to the way the switch works on those lights however.

A 2-stage resistored tailcap (like the Surefire tailcaps for the L1 and A2 in the E-series) works in essentially the same way as the Malkoff high/low ring, so the Malkoff drop-ins at least should theoretically support a "gas-pedal" tailcap

 

[Kestrel]

A 2-stage resistored tailcap (like the Surefire tailcaps for the L1 and A2 in the E-series) works in essentially the same way as the Malkoff high/low ring, so the Malkoff drop-ins at least should theoretically support a "gas-pedal" tailcap

To be chronologically accurate; the Malkoff drop-ins supported a two-stage tailcap like the McC2S/Z41, so then also supported the Malkoff high/low ring once that product/option was released - much later.

We were doing two-level Malkoff M60 setups, something like 13-14 years ago.

 

[fresh eddie fresh]

The older Surefire AZ2 had this type of tail combined with an E-series head.

 

[euroken]

There used to be a gas pedal C series tailcap that came with Milspec Kroma. I had one tailcap that I sold a long a go...don't know what the callout was though...

Regardless, it wasn't a clicky but a two stage twisty.

 

[sween1911]

I tried a Kroma tailcap on a 6P with a Malkoff drop-in. It "worked" but the levels were so close together it didn't do anything useful.

 

[euroken]

Can't speak for the usability, but just wanted to state there 'was' a two stage C series tailcap.

McC2S, as Kestrel mentioned, was a great option when it was available since you can purchase different resistor values for the board that control the levels. It's an unfortunate history now.

 

[sween1911]

Can't speak for the usability, but just wanted to state there 'was' a two stage C series tailcap.

McC2S, as Kestrel mentioned, was a great option when it was available since you can purchase different resistor values for the board that control the levels. It's an unfortunate history now.

Absolutely! McC2S is legendary. (For those who haven't been here for thousands of years, it was a 2-stage tailcap piece by Don McLeish of McGizmo fame. Like you punch out the innards of a Surefire tailcap today and put in a Mcclicky, this was a similar affair, but it was a momentary/tighten for constant-on tailcap button and had a little spring loaded plate inside to give you 2 levels. And you could change the resistor to get your desired levels)

As much as I hate the click-for-modes OEM offerings, I've loved the Dr. Jones H17Fx board. Sure it's got clicks for modes and such, but the programming is such that you can set it up with as many or as little modes as you want, and you can change the memory method, it can be memory, no memory, or short-cycle memory which means it always starts as the beginning so you can hide lesser used modes behind the rest AND it has a mode-lock, so you can click it into a single-mode light.

 

[vicv]

Isn’t the elzetta two stage tailcap what you’re looking for? Can they be bought separately? I know the high/low is a twist but that’s better than clicking through the modes since that’s what you’re looking for?
You don’t want a constant on low?

 

[euroken]

Isn’t the elzetta two stage tailcap what you’re looking for? Can they be bought separately? I know the high/low is a twist but that’s better than clicking through the modes since that’s what you’re looking for?
You don’t want a constant on low?

Elzetta innards have different dimensions than the standard C tailcap (I've personally tried this when it came out lol). It will fit and can work on C size tailcap but your tailcap will stick out much too far out and may not engage the o-rings for water tightness. I believe the innards are made of white delrin and springs (well it used to be).

 

[fresh eddie fresh]

The AZ-2 tail I mentioned earlier works on both Malkoff and Surefire hosts (it doesn’t fit my Elzettas), at 6v and 9v the difference in levels is very slight, but at 3v it works really well.

M61 HCRI2 (2xCR123) using the high/low ring works meh on high (levels too close in brightness), does not turn on on low.

M31NL (2x lithium AA) works pretty darn great in here.

 

[fulee9999]

Isn’t the elzetta two stage tailcap what you’re looking for? Can they be bought separately? I know the high/low is a twist but that’s better than clicking through the modes since that’s what you’re looking for?
You don’t want a constant on low?

You can buy them separately no issues there, but that tail works just like the hi-lo ring from Malkoff, so the switching is not inside the switch, but there is a resistor next to it giving you the low.
My issues is that I would want something that has the same for factor as a McClicky switch, but has a half-engaged position, sort of like how DSLR camera triggers have an "armed" position before going off.
Also I'd look for something like that, because there are several lights that use a McClicky, but they are not on the P60 or E-series platform, so can't use an Elzetta tail or a SureFire EDCL2 tail.