Smoother ramping depending on battery brand for QTC installed Peaks?

I used some Trustfire 10440 in my Brass Volcan, and the ramping is gawdawful. I couldn't figure out why. I thought I had a bunk QTC pill.
I decided to try and put in a Energizer, and it made a world of difference. The ramping is as smooth as can be. It's a shame the light isn't nearly as bright than on 10440.
I suspect that one the Energizer, the negative end has a protrusions that is similar, but not as pronounced as the positive side. The 10440 batteries are flat. I am wondering if I should try and put a bit of solder on the flat side of the 10440 and see if there's any improvement.
It's really a wonder why the difference in ramping between the 10440 and the alkalines that I used are like night and day.

Dude, I believe it's all about the size of the battery. With more compression, your ramping won't seem as smooth because it takes less movement to adjust the output. With a smaller battery the ramping will seem smoother since you're turning the head/body more for the same effect, making it appear smoother...

I am using a Trustfire protected 10440 in my brass Volcan and the ramping is smooth and and very responsive to the lower levels as well as high. I tried the smaller ultrafire 10440s and they were less responsive and required a lot more twisting as do alkys.
OTOH, the protected cell is too long for my Eiger so I use the ultrafire there to avoid losing the head.

I have both Trustfire and Ultrafire batteries. The Ultrafire 10440 does not ramp smoothly, and the Trustfire battery doesn't even fit in my Volcan. I even have a Moodoo clip installed, so I would think that there would be even more room in the body.

I am supprised to hear that. Is your Trustfire a protected 10440 in a grey sleeve like mine?

jorgen said:

I am supprised to hear that. Is your Trustfire a protected 10440 in a grey sleeve like mine?

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Yeah. I think there are only a handful of 10440s right? Blue Ultrafires. Grey Trustfires, and blue no-name brands. And from what I've seen, all flat bottoms.
I'm thinking if putting a drop of solder on the bottom of one of my Ultrafires to see what happens.

Do you have a buffer device for your QTC pill, such as a foam ring?

shao.fu.tzer said:

Do you have a buffer device for your QTC pill, such as a foam ring?

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On the Volcan and Eiger, there is no foam ring. There is one on the Logans though.

Make one! Make it about twice as tall as the QTC pill itself and donut shaped then glue it in! Let us know how it works!!!

There have been quite a few posts in the battery sub-forum warning against solder on batteries, so be careful. More problematic might be the fact that solder blogs can and do deform with twisty compression - as was always an issue with the Arc AAA - so the solder blob might work only for a time, particularly because of the greater compression required for full power.

And what Shao said about battery length seems correct to me. I've experimented a lot with this and have found that a shorter battery, combined with a donut, seems to provide the smoothest ramping.

Gunga mentioned to me that cutting the QTC material itself in half seemed to smooth things out. Perhaps he can jump in here and comment. I may have misunderstood him.

eala

Foam donut eh? Hmm, something to think about.

Actually, my issue was with a lot of pressure needed to get the QTC to ramp. I ended up opening the pills on my El Cap and Logan and replacing the QTC with my own piece. The Peak ones have a cut out in them, to reduce required pressure. I find that mine needed more pressure.

I don't know how to dig a pill out of an Eiger pocket body though, those will be hard to extract and I believe have different pieces of QTC in them.

I don't use 10440s because I can't seem to get a real low mode. I have been using ultrafires. Will try an AW...

EDIT: after further testing, I can get lower modes, but I tend to ramp too fast. AW's are a bit better (shorter) because the head screws farther into the body, engaging the o-ring more and making it a bit smoother. It still goes from off to max in less than 1/4 turn, hard to regulate. The logan is a lot easier...


Foam donuts don't really fit in the eiger with QTC.

Yes, the Eiger is a real challenge to ramp. That's why I went with the Volcan.
I went with a different Trustfire, and just got some new lube in, and my light seems to be ramping better. I think I need to lube the o-ring better because it seems to be grabbing a bit when I twist the head, so it causes the ramping to be jerky. It doesn't seem to be happening as often as before now, but from time to time, the light still turns all the way on when either twisting the head or pushing on the momentary switch. It is functioning much more reliable now though.

I have been tinkering with my peak logan QTC for almost two months now trying to figure out why it sometimes ramps smoothly and sometimes jumps to high without ramping.

I've found that the QTC shifts and moves around between the two metal discs. Sometimes the corner of the qtc gets lodged on the lip of the lower disc. When that happens the corner of the QTC compresses to HIGH before the rest of the QTC, and that causes the sudden jump without ramping.

I found this hard to believe, but I have observed two phenomenons to support this hypothesis. First, when my logan starts jumping to high without ramping, I loosen the head until the battery rattles, then bump the body against my hand to try to move the QTC away from the lip of the lower disc. After that ramping is back to normal. Second, I have disassembled my QTC pill and observed the corners of the QTC have frayed.

So I wanted to secure my QTC in the center of the disc and prevent it from shifting. I took a new piece of QTC, dipped two of the corners in just the smallest possible amount of glue, and held it in the center of the lower disc until the glue set. I was VERY careful not to get too much glue, as I dont want to disrupt the electrical contact of the QTC.

The light has ramped perfectly ever since, with primary and AW RCR123 cells.

I can't figure out how to disassemble my pill without damaging it. Because I'd like to replace the QTC as needed as well.
But I haven't noticed the QTC coming out of my pill at all. It's in there good.
I noticed the same thing on my lights with the ramping up slow at times and going straight to high other times. But I have noticed that it gets jumpy if I haven't used the light in a while, it seems the twisty action gets just a tad sticky.

try replacing the peak QTC piece (with hole in it) with a solid piece, I think it shifts less and ramps more smoothly, tho this could change with extended use...

gunga said:

try replacing the peak QTC piece (with hole in it) with a solid piece, I think it shifts less and ramps more smoothly, tho this could change with extended use...

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Are talking about the donut?

He's talking about the QTC material itself.

Yep. Open up the pill and put in your own qtc.