4Sevens Quark Mini AA-R5 with annoying high pitch noise on low and medium

I contacted 4Sevens about a Quark Mini AA R5 I received with an annoying high pitch noise on low mode, and an even louder and more annoying high pitch noise on medium mode, and asked for a replacement or credit if the noise is normal. Following is their response.

Please read Rule #12 All you really need to say is 4seven communication says the light is normal - Norm

I'm done with Quarks. I have several Quark 123-2 units that are great lights, but with all the thread problems with the Mini's and now the noise issue, I have moved on to a Nitecore EZ AA R5 and love the light.

No more Quark's for me!

I ha the same issue with a S2 emitter but I put a LiIon in it an it stopped. Hasn't done it since.

Inductor whine is an uncommon, but not unheard of, problem that can happen to any regulated flashlights. It's nonexistent nearly most of the time, but sometimes you pick the short straw.

A fair number of lights suffer from this. It's kinda something you just have to deal with, or sell the light. The fact that they offered to refund you for the light considering it is a pretty well known phenomenon is pretty nice, IMO.

Brightsun did you notice the whine from the beginning, or it only developed later?

nbp said:

A fair number of lights suffer from this. It's kinda something you just have to deal with, or sell the light. The fact that they offered to refund you for the light considering it is a pretty well known phenomenon is pretty nice, IMO.

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I don't think they did offer a refund or at least that is what it says to me given the conditions of this refund. Then again maybe I am the only one who tosses out boxes. In any case my Mini AA has a very very very very very very very low hum on med. I do agree the hum/whine is hit or miss with lights. On a side note I question if it has anything to do with an Inductor as they all would then sound the same and most of my lights have zero or a very low hum and then not on all modes. But no expert on this topic. Only my TK20 is loud but still like the light.

Depending if the inductor is exposed or not, it can probably be fixed or reduced on your own. If you're sure it is an inductor, take the driver apart, and run it outside the head (for VERY brief period, there is no real heatsink on the light!)

Use a thin tube (like a straw) and while the whining is happening, put one end of the straw up to your ear and the other passing over and around the board to try to find the whining component.

Once you find it, you can try coating it in several things. Some use wax though if you don't have parafin wax or some other higher temp wax it will probably just melt in the head of your light.

What others try is silicone (preferably high temp stuff) or hot glue. Not sure how hot it gets in the light, but try similar things like this and I've personally got rid of whine totally, or at the very least, reduced it a lot.

Another way to find it, is if coils are exposed, sometimes touching them you can hear the frequency change and this could help identify the coil giving you trouble.

Good luck!

Leon- with all due respect, this is not Jeer worthy. It is a simple case of a person who is dissatisfied with a product. The buyer contacted the vendor, and the vendor offered a recourse (refund) but the buyer didn't qualify for it. It doesn't fit within the framework of what the Jeers forum was designed for.

Brightsun said:

I have moved on to a Nitecore...

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Bad move.

I've had three lights, all different makers, that whined on some level or another, one loud enough to be heard ten feet away when placed tail down on a wooden nightstand. It just seems to be a quirk that occasionally happens.

Personally it doesn't bother me; all in all it's just another whine in the hall.

Do what I did. Play in a rock band for many years with amps that go up to 11. I don't hear any inductor whine at all from any of my lights.