Arc6 Wish

I have used HDS U42 and U60 both upgraded to P4's and I am happy with there functionality. I am a click switch fan and do not like twisties. I am always looking for something smaller, brighter and more modern so I tried an E10 and realized there is a huge difference in the feel, fit, finish and overall build quality when compared to a HDS or ARC. I did like the way that the E10 functioned with the piston drive yet it worked like a clicky. The killer was the immediate darkness when the battery was depleted. The low battery warning that the HDS and ARC has is a must. Most of the time when I reach for my light it will usually be on for a at least a minute. I have no desire to hold a piston for that long nor do I usually have a second hand to twist it on. Before the Arc6 came out there was a lot of discussion about options and capabilities and upgrades. I have not read a lot about updates to the ui but I seem to remember someone talking about the ability to change the way the piston drive operates to more like a E-10 works. Is that a possibility?

I have tried searching for this and came up with nothing.

Thanks

Clicky's are nice & convienent & I do own a few for around the house use. In a true reliable never fail light in a survival situation it is Twisty only for me. I even had a Maglight clicky go out.. fortunantly it was not a dire situation.

Yeah, but the D10/EX10 is not a clicky in the conventional sense
I hope its a secondary option if offered and doesn't replace the 2.5 mode UI that the current Arc 6 has. (it's ingenous, press gently for low, press harder for high, press quickly all the way down for blow your retinas out)

I know at least one person who has modded a McLux PD to use the EX10 driver. It may be more difficult to do in the Arc6 because of the much smaller head but may still be possible. Don't bother asking who the person is because he no longer does mods after a certain fiasco.

I don't think the physical design of the Arc6 lends itself to working the same as a SmartPD very well. The reason is, when you fully tighten the head of a SmartPD light, the piston still isn't pushing against both negative contacts -- it's only touching the ring, not pressing it in place against the driver board. That's why you can still push the piston button a little bit on a SmartPD light. On the Arc6 and other "traditional" McLuxIII-style lights, when the head is fully tightened the piston is touching both contacts constantly. This would confuse the hell out of the SmartPD programming.

You could probably make it work by putting a suitably-thick O-ring between the outer part of the head and the battery tube, to prevent the head from tightening as far as its original design intends. But as for how complex the driver would need to be, to allow you to switch between two totally different modes of operation (low/high vs. tap-on/tap-off)...that I can only guess at. I doubt there's even room on the board for that many components.

Thanks for all the responses. I was hoping Peter would chime in. Putting in an EX engine really would not solve my issue of immediate darkness. I did not know how the mechanics of the switch system worked.

You are talking about push on/off with latching? At one point I discussed here on the CPF a software mode that did that. You would twist to stage 1 and then activate the single brightness level by pushing on/off. This mode did not have 2-stages of course which is one of the reason is was in the optional feature list and never got implimented. There is probably a hardware way of doing this too but that would require a good size minimum order.

peter

Peter,
Yes I am talking about a latching push on/off. Would this be a major programing change or something that would be relatively inexpensive. Could this be a mode in addition to the current programming or a replacement to a current mode? Maybe I should read the manual on the the current operation.

Thanks,
Rhett

Hmm, come to think of it if you really want it and are willing to spend the cash you can turn it into a clicky with existing parts...

McGizmo once sold a special C-pak, as he called it, for the McLux III PD, which allowed you to operate the McLux as a clicky. It has nothing to do with the type of electronic clicky you described (EX10 style) but it will make your Arc6 into a clicky light. It will work on the Arc6 as the Arc is thread-compatible with the PD lights.

He didn't just used to sell C-Paks, he still does sell them. There was a mix-up at the shop and he ended up with a whole box of the things. I have one for my LS20, and I know a few people are using them with their PD-S and XR19 heads, so they should work just as well with the Arc6. In fact, some might even prefer the ability to pre-set the brightness mode before turning the light on.

Gransee said:

You are talking about push on/off with latching? At one point I discussed here on the CPF a software mode that did that. You would twist to stage 1 and then activate the single brightness level by pushing on/off. This mode did not have 2-stages of course which is one of the reason is was in the optional feature list and never got implimented. There is probably a hardware way of doing this too but that would require a good size minimum order.

peter

Click to expand...

Peter, I would add to this a second programming change that would cause the light to ramp up/down/up/down through the seven available brightness levels if the user holds the button down for more than a second or so, and then retain the mode in-use when the user lets go of the button. Basically it would work similarly to the Nitecore SmartPD. Given the software development needed to make the driver do this, I bet you could even charge a small reprogramming fee for people who want the new software.

In reading some other post I noticed that the Christmas special would be coming to an end, so I went ahead and ordered one. I want to get a K2 and swap it out and send it back to to get it re-calibrated. Then see what can be done to program it to function like we have discussed.

Peter, any do's or don'ts for currently available k2 emitters. I would hate to buy and install the "wrong" one.