Those "anonymous" Quark heads

I have two 123x2 Quark R5's, one Quark 123 and one 2x123 R2 on order. None of the heads are labeled, they are truly "anonymous". In contrast, when I pick up any Fenix I know exactly what I'm getting.

4Sevens' thoughtful approach to the Quark line has paid off; they are excellent lights, and I would hope that future products would carry head ID and perhaps serial numbers.

Brightnorm

Hmmmm... so you can potentially mix-and-match and blow up your 123 head on your 2*123 body? Without any visual clues before "POFF"? (Of course YOU will never do that, but someone will, sooner or later).

I love 47's light, but the different head could do with a little bit of external code that shows what kind of head we're dealing with. Or even better: What voltage range we're dealing with. You shouldn't have to verify that it is in deed a 2*123 head because a 1.5 volt alkaline won't fire it up. Or am I missing something?

They are model number labelled (and serial numbered also) inside the head on the contact ring near the threads where the body screws on. I always change my batteries from that point instead of the tailcap so I can see if necessary what voltage head I'm trying not to blow up.

JaguarDave's observations are the same as mine, if you look on the contact ring you'll see the writing, e.g. my AA Tactical has QAAT on it.

And of course, to differentiate between your R2s and R5s, just look at the die size, it's fairly easy to tell since the R2 is an XP-E and the R5 is an XP-G.

JaguarDave-in-Oz said:

They are model number labelled (and serial numbered also) inside the head on the contact ring near the threads where the body screws on. I always change my batteries from that point instead of the tailcap so I can see if necessary what voltage head I'm trying not to blow up.

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Negative. That may be true of your light, but it certainly is not true of mine. My AA2 Tactical has no writing and/or markings of any kind inside the head. I'm looking at it now- nope.

Do the PCBs look different at all?

My NW AA2 Tactical has what looks like "QAA * 2T" on the ring around the inside edge of the head. It is very tiny and faint, and must be printed rather than engraved because it disappears unless the light hits it just right. I didn't see anything indicating it was a neutral white head.

In situations where you can get similar looking heads that have different voltage ranges, I would appreciate some fine print on the outside or inside the head to indicate the voltage range to help reduce the chance of accidentally making a head go

brightnorm said:

I have two 123x2 Quark R5's, one Quark 123 and one 2x123 R2 on order. None of the heads are labeled, they are truly "anonymous". In contrast, when I pick up any Fenix I know exactly what I'm getting.

4Sevens' thoughtful approach to the Quark line has paid off; they are excellent lights, and I would hope that future products would carry head ID and perhaps serial numbers.

Brightnorm

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My Q123-2/QAA-2 Turbo are labelled inside the head on the outer contact ring. Not very visible, so it may not be obvious at first sight.

As for the missing labeling outside on the head, I would guess that this might be related to this:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3287365&postcount=10

MiniLux

Flip a coin. Just kidding. If you get a high voltage head mixed up with a low voltage head then test the heads on a body with 1 or 2xAA batteries if possible and the high voltage head will be easy to pick out.

The Quark heads will screw onto the Fenix bodies enough to run the lower levels in an emergency if you only have one battery on hand and only have a Fenix one cell body available and want longer runtime than the Fenix can provide.

GregY said:

Negative. That may be true of your light, but it certainly is not true of mine. My AA2 Tactical has no writing and/or markings of any kind inside the head. I'm looking at it now- nope.

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maybe use a loupe, it should be there. Do you know what I mean by the contact ring? It's the etched copper ring that encircles the outer diameter of the circuit board.

My two R2 Quarks, 123 and AA, have the serial number and model designation, but my R5 123 doesn't have anything.

All three of mine have designation markings.

Just checked my two Quark 123x2 R5's. Nothing, no marks anywhere, even under magnification.

It's not just a matter of LED safety, but also one of convenience. This is certainly not a major complaint, but it would be nice for Quark to do this as an additional feature of their already superior products.

BN

As for the missing labeling outside on the head, I would guess that this might be related to this:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3287365&postcount=10

MiniLux

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Fenix has avoided this problem by only indicating the model and emitter while excluding the brand name. Quark could do the same.

BN

brightnorm said:

Just checked my two Quark 123x2 R5's. Nothing, no marks anywhere, even under magnification.

It's not just a matter of LED safety, but also one of convenience. This is certainly not a major complaint,

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That's bad news and it would be a major complaint if I found it that way on any of mine (only R5's I have are Turbos so I don't have any of the newest ones so thi sproblem hasn't cropped up for me).

I have quite a few quark torches and the last thing I need is to not be able to tell which head was compatible with which battery setup because I'm swapping tubes and heads all the time. They were supposedly designed to be "lego-able" and deleting the voltage identifier would be a silly idea.

I don't know if it will help, and I don't know if it carries across the board but the R5 boards I have in my Turbos are different between AA2 and 123-2. Amongst other differences, my 123-2 has six little component leg holes in an arc around the bottom whereas the AA2 has only five and they are in a straight line.

GregY said:

Negative. That may be true of your light, but it certainly is not true of mine. My AA2 Tactical has no writing and/or markings of any kind inside the head. I'm looking at it now- nope.

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My AA^2 NW Tactical R2 has 0.9-4.2v printed on the top of the outer trace, and C07090028 on the bottom (looks like a manufacturing date of July 28, 2009, in the 3rd batch, maybe).

~Brian

JaguarDave-in-Oz said:

maybe use a loupe, it should be there. Do you know what I mean by the contact ring? It's the etched copper ring that encircles the outer diameter of the circuit board.

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Oh yes. I suppose I could clean my light, there are some smudges on the contact ring- but not that bad. For any writing to be completely covered, it would have to be painfully tiny.

If it makes a difference my light is a very new R5. I've only had it a few weeks, it came in as part of a very recent shipment- I know because I was on backorder for a bit.

brightnorm said:

I have two 123x2 Quark R5's, one Quark 123 and one 2x123 R2 on order. None of the heads are labeled, they are truly "anonymous". In contrast, when I pick up any Fenix I know exactly what I'm getting.

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Did you order your Quark 123 from parts? I've not seen a 123 that was sold as a complete unit that didn't say "Quark 123" on the head. Mine does. There is no label on the 123 body.

No markings of any kind on the outside or inside of the head on my Quark RGB. Mind you, that's one head that probably doesn't need 'em

As for the missing labeling outside on the head, I would guess that this might be related to this:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...5&postcount=10

MiniLux

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Could be, although my D10 proudly states "Nitecore" and the website on the head and they don't seem to have been hauled up before the beak . . .

As I mentioned above:

brightnorm said:

Fenix has avoided this problem by only indicating the model and emitter while excluding the brand name. Quark could do the same.

BN

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