Hidden "TURBO" mode in the Deal Extreme MTE 1xAA SSCP4 42180-U

Turbo DV8

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If you own this light, listen up, people! If I wanted, I could just give you the short story, but it wouldn't be as fun as relating how I stumbled upon this! It's kind of a long story, and maybe a bit confusing to follow, but I shall try. If you don't want the long story, go to the last paragraph!

I received the MTE 1xAA SSCP4 42180-U light today from Deal Extreme. The first thing I noticed was that the end surface of the body which mates with the tail cap had some anodizing on it. So, I lightly sanded it on a flat surface. (I was under the mistaken impression that the end of the barrel must make a negative contact with the aluminum switch retainer ring in the end cap.) However, the second thing I noticed was that the threads on the tail cap only engaged one full turn before the end of the cap bottomed out on the flange on the body. Once tightened, only one lefty-loosey turn was required before the tail cap popped right off. And the threads were very loose. This was all very cheesy and not acceptable to me. I made a couple measurements and discovered that the ground is made through the threads, not the end of the barrel-to-switch retainer ring. There is no contact made there. The end of the tail cap bottoms out on the outer flange of the body before contact is made with the end of the barrel.

Anyway, I measured and found that I could shave 1.1 mm off the end of the tail cap, near where the O-ring snuggles into, before the end of the body barrel bottoms into the switch retainer ring. And 1.1 mm more forward travel of the tail cap would give me about two more turns of thread engagement, for a total of three. That should still leave enough of a smooth "snuggle zone" for the O-ring. I felt good about that, so I went ahead and ground 1.1 mm off the end of the switch and deburred it (it would rip the O-ring to shreds if you don't!) Well, bloody hell, for some reason by doing that I did get three full turns, but after that the cap just keeps turning! The threads were such crap that by realigning where the cap/body threads engaged by shaving 1.1 mm off the cap, it moved the engagement point just far enough forward to where the one good thread in the cap no longer came to rest on the one good turn of thread on the body! This is my life, you understand.

Although the tail cap keeps turning, it is engaged enough so that I cannot easily just pull it off the body. So I thought, what the hell, why don't I just leave the tail cap in place, and do battery replacements through the head-end. So I tossed in a Rayovac Hybrid AA and tightened the head. Damn blazes, now the light turns on all the time even when the switch is off! Turns out that the plastic wrap on the Rayovac Hybrid does not extend onto the negative contact of the cell, so when I tightened the head far enough, the negative end of the cell came into contact with the switch retainer ring, which then grounded the light out through the threads. I think, "Fine! I'll just turn this thing into a twisty instead of a clickie." So I wrapped several layers of Teflon tape around the stripped threads which gave them more than enough increased bite to stay in place, and after several tightening and loosening cycles, the threads cut through enough of the Teflon tape to make a good ground. Here's where it gets good.

I go outside to play with my new butchered, hacked POS made-in-China-but-reengineered-in-USA light. I twist it on and shine it on a 60' tall redwood tree. Damn, this little thing is bright! Play some more then twist it off. Go back inside for a while and come back out for more fun and games. This time I clicked the light on through the tail switch. Pretty bright, but this battery must be getting tired because it doesn't seem as bright as before. Oh well, I don't expect regulation for $13! But then while the switch was on, I twisted the head down, and BLAMMO! The light got at least 30% brighter! Back and forth I went, and each time I tightened the head down, it was almost like having a "Turbo" mode!

Bottom line, folks, the switch on this light is CRAP! Do whatever you need to do to shunt that tail switch and turn it into a twisty, and you will be amazed at what you gain. First, your battery needs to have a reasonably flat bottom, with no plastic wrap from the side extending down over the negative electrode. The Rayovac Hybrid works as-is, but all my other Ni-MH did not. You may have to just take a razor and trim the bottom strip of plastic wrap off the bottom of the cell. Then, if your cell still won't bottom out on the switch's aluminum retainer ring, you'll have to use a suitable nicely conductive washer or something over the spring to fill the small gap. Then it will be a twisty for sure, and you are on your way to experiencing "Turbo" mode on your MTE 42180-U light!
 
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FlashCrazy

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Interesting. My friend just got this light, I'll have to let him know about it. Do you have a multimeter? I wonder what the resistance is on the switch...maybe there's a resistor in it? I wouldn't think so, since the light has a boost circuit...but who knows.
 

waiklau

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or maybe you just have a faulty tailcap switch (oil and dirt on the contacts could also resist the total current through).
 

Yapo

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any beamshots comparing it to other lights? i found that the connection problem was at the head of the light and mine increased from about L1P brightness to a little less than P1D medium
 

Turbo DV8

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Yapo said:
any beamshots comparing it to other lights? i found that the connection problem was at the head of the light and mine increased from about L1P brightness to a little less than P1D medium

Definitely the tail switch in my light. It doesn't flicker at all, though. Maybe the easiest way to tell if you have a crappy switch is to maybe place a layer of aluminum foil in the tailcap to bypass the switch, then thighten the head to turn it on (with a battery denuded of it's lower plastic wrap) and see if it is brighter.
 
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edc3

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Mine, without any tinkering is a little brighter than my P1D on medium, but I had some flickering. I also determined that the contact problem was in the head and put one of those little magentic spacers from Kai on the positive terminal of the battery. Voila! the flickering is gone. I think it's a cool and impressively bright light for the money.
 

Lighthouse one

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I also have this light, and had to fiddle a bit with the thread issue...but I like the output from it. THe spot is larger and blends into the spill very nicely. A cree is usually a tighter spot with dark until the spill catches up. It's a great close up light because it doesn't blind you with flash back. I bought some e2 lithiums. IT draws 1.2 amps. With an alkaline about 1 amp, and with a AA recharge..about 800 ma. I'm suprised it doesn't seem to get hot- even with the 1.2 amp draw. I went night hiking several days ago, and this light was great- I could see nearly 100 feet with a wide spill in the woods. My other lights are much stronger, but this was fine if needed.
 

Turbo DV8

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Lighthouse one said:
I'm suprised it doesn't seem to get hot- even with the 1.2 amp draw.

That is interesting, because I meant to bring up the fact that mine on Ni-MH gets very warm - almost hot - in about ten minutes of continuous use. But then again, this is in "Turbo" mode! I can feel it getting warm around the head in just a couple minutes. I gather that this is a good sign in terms of the LED's ability to sink heat to the body, but It is interesting to note that yours does not get hot. I read in another thread of at least one person claiming that the LED in his was not properly heatsinked, which would prevent heat transfer to the body.
 

Lighthouse one

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The seoul will turn blue real quick if it overheats. I have another light that I modded, but put too much Artic Silver under the Led, and man, that Led turned blue in 30 seconds! It may be that the MTE is using some of the amps I measured in the circuit, and the Led is only seeing 70 % or so of the draw. I had the light on a good while on my hike with no problem. It got warm, but I may not have been using the light continuously for more than a few minutes at a time...I switch lights a lot.
 

light_emitting_dude

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Got mine today and noticed a copper ring between the head and body. Anyone else have this? This thing is bright as HELL and I am very impressed! Using a eneloop and could not be happier! Can't beat it for $15!!!!!
 

Bertrik

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I noticed the "hidden turbo mode" too. I think the lower brightness in normal mode is caused by resistance in the switch or the spring. Mine gets quite hot too when running in hidden turbo mode. I tried to estimate the difference by taking two pictures (at exactly the same camera settings), one in normal mode and one in turbo, then use a paint program to compare the max brightness. I found the difference is about 30%.

Too bad I can't seem to open it from the head end...
 
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jirik_cz

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Today I tried to mount MTE C2 5-mode head on a Ultrafire C3 1xAA body and it fits without problems :thumbsup: The great thing is, that with ultrafire body it runs on "hidden turbo". I cleaned all contacts on MTE, so it looks like ultrafire switch has lower resistance. see beamshot comparison.:eek:
 

bspofford

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The MTE 1X11 SSCP4 42180-U switch doesn't tolerate 4.2V with fully charged Li-ion cells, but I haven't had any trouble with 3.0V 14500 size lithium primaries. The light output seems more than double. Unfortunately these cells have been hard to find, but now I have something even better. Kai Domain is selling 3.0V LiFePO4 "safe" lithium cells in various sizes including 14500.
 

paulr

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Mine has adequate threads but as you say the switch is crap. I guess I will try getting hold of a pin spanner to get the retaining ring out (if it's not loctited :() and attack the switch with contact cleaner and progold.

I wish someone would make a light like this with a simple twisty. It is hard to get those too far wrong.
 

bspofford

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Mine has adequate threads but as you say the switch is crap. I guess I will try getting hold of a pin spanner to get the retaining ring out (if it's not loctited :() and attack the switch with contact cleaner and progold.

I wish someone would make a light like this with a simple twisty. It is hard to get those too far wrong.

The retaining ring is easy to remove with the tip of an awl in one of the conical dips. Alternatively, you can use fine needle nose pliers.
 

paulr

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I just tried with an SAK awl, no luck. It's in there pretty tight. I was afraid to really apply a lot of force because of thoughts of popping the awl out of the hole and jabbing myself in the leg. The other thing is the head of mine doesn't come off, at least not easily. It does have reasonably plentiful threads in the tail so there's no issue of the tail popping off.

It's too bad about that crappy switch, which pretty much turns a good light into a POS. I'll keep looking for ways to get the switch out.

I tried cleaning the threads and treating the threads and battery contacts with Deoxit D100. I don't think it helped even though I got a lot of gunk out of the threads.
 

bspofford

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If you have some fine needle nose pliers, the tips often fit into the two depressions on the retaining ring.
 

paulr

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Yeah I meant to mention I don't have any fine needlenose pliers around here at the moment. I had some a long time ago but have no idea where they are now. I'd go to the hardware store for another pair or for a pin spanner but I'm not that optimistic about being able to improve the switch much even if I can get it out, given that it's a POS to begin with.
 

Bertrik

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In my case, it appears that there is indeed glue in the threads on the head. I forced it open, but may have damaged the threads a bit. I suspect that the switch retaining ring is also glued, since it won't come off easily.
Mine has the copper ring between the body and the head (this should also be visible by looking through the body towards the head), maybe that's an indication for the head and switch being glued.
 

EDP

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Today I tried to mount MTE C2 5-mode head on a Ultrafire C3 1xAA body and it fits without problems :thumbsup: The great thing is, that with ultrafire body it runs on "hidden turbo". I cleaned all contacts on MTE, so it looks like ultrafire switch has lower resistance. see beamshot comparison.:eek:
I tried your swap with the single-mode MTE 1xAA SSC-P4 42180-U and I much prefer the C3 in this configuration to the Cree head. Brighter and better beam pattern. This is now my favorite AA light. Have you tried it with the 2xAA extension tube, or would that burn out the boost circuit?
 
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