Turbo Nano-Mate

A couple or three days ago I received an e-mail from Lambda. He said that he had been messing around with some spare parts and had put together a Turbo Head for the Nano-Mate and wanted to know if I'd like to test it for him. Silly man! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

The little package was in my mailbox yesterday. I was a bit underwhelmed when I opened the package. I was expecting a head maybe 2 inches in diameter but what I found appeared to be a stock Key-Mate head.

Fired up the Extech mdl 401021 Light Meter Adapter and took five quick readings on the Nano-Mate and got and average of 57 Fc. Put the Turbo Head on and did another five readings and got an average of 112 Fc! That is so close to exactly double the footcandles as to make no difference! The measurments were made in the brightest part of the hotspot.
Here again are the numbers:

Key-Mate 34Fc
Nano-Mate 57Fc
Turbo Nano-Mate 112Fc

Here are some beam shots....the order L to R is Key-Mate, Nano-Mate, and Turbo Nano Mate.


Don't start hounding Lambda to death for one of these just yet! What he did was to put a reflector from a Brinkmann 1xAAA flashlight in a Streamlight Key-Mate Head! So far he hasn't found a source of those Brinkmann AAA reflectors that aren't mounted in a flashlight! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Did run into one real problem in mounting the Turbo head... it would NOT screw into my Titianum Nano-Mate body! Luckly, I had a unmodified Key-Mate that did accept the turbo head! Trust me to have the only Key-Mate with non-interchangable parts! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif

Once again.....twice the footcandles with no increase in power consumption! Amazing!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

Yikes! That's cool.

hmm time to find a brinkman to canibalize /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Roy,
Thanks much for showing this to us! I'm really becoming ADDICTED to Lambda's tiny lights! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I've had my Nano-Mate for about a week now and I really like it and especially it's tiny size. It has a fine beam but I compared it with my Micro Illuminator the other night and I just LOVE the MI's long throw! What a fabulous little light the MI is and all this from one AAA cell. The dim, blue-beamed and almost as large ARC-AAA is a DISTANT memory ever since I received the MI! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I almost e-mailed Lambda the other day asking if there was any way he could improve my Nano-Mate's throw. Looks like he's already done it!

Kevin, if you're reading this, I'm one of the first-in-line for one of the Key-Mate, (titanium colored!), heads, (or the complete light sans the pill), with this conversion done to it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Please keep us posted on this!

Turbo! MicroIlluminator beam throw for your Nano.

As Roy noted, you don't always have to move up to a bigger head for turbo output. At least not if a larger reflector fits in the same head.

To complete the turbo head, I'll need to find a thinner o-ring. I was so proud of myself, I was able to press the lens in place with the original o-ring and a Brinkmann AAA reflector. Looked really sharp; nice and professional.

But, by the next day the o-ring had oozed it's way out of place and into the reflector. It's just too thick and won't take that much compression. But somewhere, there's an o-ring that will fit .......

When I finish making the Nano mods, the left over heads due to bad reflectors will get turned into Turbo heads. So, look for a few turbo heads to be available in a couple weeks.

lambda,

Just an idea- can you put a chamfer on the front of the reflector that forces the O-ring outward as it compresses? I used a similar scheme with the lense gaskets on the 123s and Cr2s, except it was the inside of the bezel lip that was angled.

Larry

Hi Larry,

Yes, I did that and decided a thinner o-ring would be MUCH easier than screwing with these small reflectors. The plastic is so soft and brittle, it's hard to get a tight enough grip to cut anything without cracking it.

Lambda,
So, the Nano-Mate bodies with Turbo heads will be available without the pill? That would mean I can swap the pill out of my Micro and have a Nano-Mate Turbo? Soooooo, how much for a Nano-Mate Turbo without the pill? That would be a home run from the cheap seats /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif I will keep my eye on the BST forum...