QIII two stage mod?

Anybody have a link on how this can be done?

search the archives, this has been done numerous times.

Ryan

That was my first thought. Couldnt find anything clear though.

I think you'll find that this thread started by chimo and this thread that milkyspit started have all the info your after.

Ooo perfect! Gratzi. :touche:

Digikey has the switches.

This one is On1-On2-Off - Part No. 542PB-ND

http://rocky.digikey.com/scripts/ProductInfo.dll?Site=US&V=78&M=50-0088-00


There is another with the same form factor that is On1-Off-On2
Part no. 529PB-ND

Well these ckts are NOT really regulators but VOLTAGE boost ckts.

By adding a resistor inline to the circuit it will start to draw current from the battery through the resistor. As the current increases the voltage input seen by the circuit decreases.

Since the input voltage to the circuit is lower the circuit cant boost as high to the LED and the LED current is down as well as the current used by the circuit.

Basically the resistor just makes the circuit think the battery is almost dead and you operate further in the discharge curve of the light.

It DOES drastically increase the run time on low.

wwglen

Oh you DO lose some power to the resistor but since the current is lower the run time is longer even with the lose of effeciency.

wwglen

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense now.

Just a warning to Soniq7, I did this and accidentally overheated the copper pads on the PCB (they're very thin) making them come off. Now, my "2-stage" switch goes off-high-off-off-high-off most of the time. On the seldom times it works somewhat, it goes low-high-low-low-high-off. One the virtually never times it works perfectly, it goes low-high-off-low-high-off. I need a better soldering iron!

Anyone have a spare Q3 switch PCB?

jsr said:

Just a warning to Soniq7, I did this and accidentally overheated the copper pads on the PCB (they're very thin) making them come off. Now, my "2-stage" switch goes off-high-off-off-high-off most of the time. On the seldom times it works somewhat, it goes low-high-low-low-high-off. One the virtually never times it works perfectly, it goes low-high-off-low-high-off. I need a better soldering iron!
Anyone have a spare Q3 switch PCB?

Click to expand...

You may be able to repair this with the liquid electrical tape repair available at RadioShack. I saw it next to the ProGold contacts cleaner stuff. Supposed to be used to fix this type of problem and rear window defrosters without soldering.
Build up a few layers for heat resistance, OR solder on some copper braided wicking wire in place of the pad that came off. I did this on my Big Q3 that was damaged in a fall.

jsr said:

Anyone have a spare Q3 switch PCB?

Click to expand...

Warren had a slew of spare Q3 parts a while back. Email him at his Litemania site to see if he still has an extra switch pcb kicking around.

If you plan on using your q3 with rechargables, you should check out goldserve's FluPic board. This will give you up to 20 brightness levels. Depending on how you set-up your firmware you can change the order of these things High (user selectable) / Low (user selectable / Burst / strobe / SOS. The thing I like most about FluPic over a standard 2 stage switch is if you've had your light on for longer than a few seconds, turning it off starts the cylcle from point a. 2 stage clickies ususally work like this.

Low - High - Off - annoying because if you've used low to keep your night vision - you have to cycle through high which kills it.

High - low - off - annoying because if you really want low, you have to cycle through high first which kills your night vision

High - Off - Low - Off - Annoying because you never really know what you will get... unless you have a really good memory of what setting you used last, or you always cycle through all 4 clicks.

FluPic always starts at point A of whatever mode you choose (5 modes to choose from) I chose mine to work this way High (which i have set to more of a medium) - Low - Burst - Strobe - SOS.

Awwww, the link won't work for me It says the dataset has expired and to try the search again.
I want to see that. Maybe order a bunch. Do you have the part numbers?

Desert_AIP said:

Digikey has the switches.

This one is On1-On2-Off

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?Ref=37169&Row=187174&Site=US


There is another with the same form factor that is On1-Off-On2

Click to expand...

I need that part number too. I also need a link for Goldserve's Flupic board. Does the Flupic go in the tailcap switch, or replace/attach to the regulator PCB?

Bernie

Replaces the board. Check my signature for links.

FluPic. That sounds like the way to do this properly. Ill have to read up on that. Thanks for all the help so far.

blindasabat - thanks for the info on the RS liquid electrical tape. Honestly, I'm not sure what the problem is. On occasion, the low does work...it seems to be dependent somewhat (not solely) to how far I screw the tailcap in and sometimes even the battery I use (R123A vs. 123A).

lumenhound - yeah, I knew Warren carries/carried them, but he's a tough guy to get a hold of usually. I was hoping someone had one more readily available.

No prob jsr, I try to help if I can, I have received so much help here.
Sounds like you may have another problem though. Are you sure your side spring is contacting the body consistantly? Read through Milkyspit's directions on installing the 2-stage if you haven't already. If I remember correctly, he has lots of advice on troubleshooting.

I have often thought about ordering a bunch of certain high demand parts from Emilion and Litmania to have on hand if I (or other CPFers) need them, but then I know I'd end up being stuck with a bunch of parts. Q3 parts, 22.2mm glass for Q3, Jil parts...

jsr said:

blindasabat - thanks for the info on the RS liquid electrical tape. Honestly, I'm not sure what the problem is. On occasion, the low does work...it seems to be dependent somewhat (not solely) to how far I screw the tailcap in and sometimes even the battery I use (R123A vs. 123A).

lumenhound - yeah, I knew Warren carries/carried them, but he's a tough guy to get a hold of usually. I was hoping someone had one more readily available.

Click to expand...