help troubleshoot 4Sevens Quark AA^2 Standard

Hi all,
I just got my Quark AA^2 Standard edition. I'm having trouble with it, the interface doesn't seem to be what I expected even with all the reading I did. This is the published interface sequence from 4sevens:

Loosened Bezel: Moonlight -> Low -> Medium -> High -> SOS -> Beacon
Tightened Bezel: Max -> Strobe

With the bezel tightened, I click on, it goes to max. I click off, then on again after 1 second, it goes to Strobe. Shouldn't it return to max?? It turns out that I need to wait more than 3 seconds for it to "reset" to max when turned on. But I thought strobe should only happen on half-clicks, not on/off/on transitions? I made sure to make my clicks very "clean", and not hesitate.

With the bezel loosened, it's even worst. Click On, I get Moonlight, as expected. Click off and then on, I get Low. Click off, then on again, I get Medium. It progresses to the next mode in the sequence when it transitions off then on, instead of the the LAST mode.

As it turns out, with the bezel loose, I need to wait greater than 10 seconds for the light to "reset" back to moonlight. Again, I tried my best to make my clicks clean.

It's almost like a full click is interpreted as a half press, even if I'm full clicking to turn off.

Does anyone's Quark AA^2 operate like this? Is mine just weird? Or did I misunderstand Quark's published interface?

Note: half-clicks/depressions work like it should; it progresses to the next mode in the sequence.

Thanks for all the help I've gotten on here. Appreciate it.

I have a Quark 123, same head, just different batteries. It behaves exactly as yours does. I estimate mine is around 8 or 9 seconds before it resets back to the beginning mode. I think yours is operating properly.

The emitter head doesn't differentiate between a soft tap/full click. All it sees is an interruption in power.

I suspect you might like the Quark Tactical interface better. It has all the same outputs as the Quark standard, you just program which two output modes you want for bezel tight and bezel loose, and it remembers them.

Hey,

I see your point about this, and I think you just got one thats a bit touchy, because mine is not like that. It is fairly quick for mine. I would say that I have to count no more than 2 good seconds with the bezel tight. I very rarely get any mode change that was not intentional. With it loose mine defaults back to moonlight in at most a 4/1000 count

If its a real problem for ya I would contact 47s, they have the best customer service I know of.

pinetree89 said:

I have a Quark 123, same head, just different batteries. It behaves exactly as yours does. I estimate mine is around 8 or 9 seconds before it resets back to the beginning mode. I think yours is operating properly.

The emitter head doesn't differentiate between a soft tap/full click. All it sees is an interruption in power.

I suspect you might like the Quark Tactical interface better. It has all the same outputs as the Quark standard, you just program which two output modes you want for bezel tight and bezel loose, and it remembers them.

Click to expand...

Well said, I prefer the tactical interface myself.

I suspected that something was wrong with my unit AA^2 standard. I did try the tactical one, but didn't like it for my use. Although it was nice, it restricted me to two modes all the time. Not quite as versatile. Eh. Interfaces. Wish I could design my own.

coachclass said:

I suspected that something was wrong with my unit AA^2 standard. I did try the tactical one, but didn't like it for my use. Although it was nice, it restricted me to two modes all the time. Not quite as versatile. Eh. Interfaces. Wish I could design my own.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. Interfaces tend to be quite personal. Lights with electronic switches such as HDS lights and Zebralight products often provide a more nuanced interface that might be more to your liking. Traditional "clicky" lights are often produced whereby you switch modes with a twist of the collar rather than tapping the button. This allows you to predict what mode the light will come on with. For the ultimate "design your own" interface you might want to watch the company Armytek. They produce only a single model right now and it isn't in the same class as a Quark AA^2 but more models are on the way. The interfaces is totally programmable (and quite complex to program) but it is designed to work with a forward clicky and give you two default turn-on modes (loose bezel / tight bezel) like the Quark Tactical but also allow as many additional loose / tight modes in whatever lumen level or disco mode you like. They seem likely to produce more models and one might suit you.

Both my XP-E and XP-G standard models require 3 sec.

Quark RGB is like this too. Really annoying - you have to count to four after switching the light off before you can use it again :scowl:

As pinetree says, the electronics have no way to tell the difference between a half and full click - it just works on the interruption of power.

Still easily fixed though: if only they would cut the delay to half a second or something, then a quick half-click would advance you to the next mode, but a full click (taking a bit longer) wouldn't.

Thanks for the responses.

I just wanted to include this in case others in the future read this thread. When I researched the Quark lights, I didn't realize that the AA^2 doesn't differentiate between a full click off and a half-click. That changes the operation quite a bit. At loose bezel, if you keep full clicking, you will inevitably run into the SOS and beacon modes unless you let it stay off for more than X seconds. On my unit, the reset time is 10 seconds, but it should be 3 seconds.

The nice guys at 4seven did answer my email request - the 10 second until reset issue is a problem, and they're looking at it.