NiteCore MT10C Head on P12 Body

MarkF786

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I got an idea from Flight Deck who bought a EC21 to use its body tube to run his EC11 on a 18650. I wanted to try the same thing on for my MT10C since it has such a great UI and feature set, but I don't have a MT20C - so I tried my P12 and the body fits perfectly, and the final light is about 1.5cm shorter than the P12.

Here's the P12 next to a Fenix P35TAC for comparison:
IMG_0006_zpsq1mfdpsx.jpg


And now with the MT10C head:
IMG_0007_zps9gs275qp.jpg


I'm sure this isn't very surprising for most people, but very cool to a newb like myself. I need to find me the cheapest NiteCore 18650 light to use it's body tube! It would be cool if NiteCore sold separate tubes since I suspect the MT20C, MT10A, and MT20A would all work, offering a wide choice of batteries.
 
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hiuintahs

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...........I suspect the MT20C, MT10A, and MT20A would all work, offering a wide choice of batteries.
Yes mechanically, but the MT20C has a different driver and I'm not sure about the MT20A. What you did with moving the MT10C to a 18650 tube will not give you any issues and you will get longer run times. But some combinations don't work so well as I explain below.


I thought about doing something similar between my MT20C and MT10A. I was a little disappointed that Nitecore only put an XP-G2 LED on the MT20C. They put an XM-L2 on the MT10A and it can hit higher lumens than the MT20C which has the 18650. So I thought about switching the heads around. There is no problem with threads at all...........but the problem is with the voltage range. The MT20C utilizes a 18650 or 2x CR123A and as such the driver is only a buck type.............so when putting that head on the the smaller body which is geared to run AA's and 14500............it will not output anything with an Eneloop and only works with lithium ion.

The MT10A head on the MT20C body works but its now always PWM as the MT10A utilizes a boost circuit for the lower voltages of AA and utilizes PWM for the higher voltages of lithium ion. So I was a bit disappointed with the MT10A and MT10C when I got them. They push out the lumens but its not a solid current regulated light at voltage above Vf of the LED. The MT10A is very well regulated when in boost mode on the Eneloop which is where I use the light. And the MT20C is very well regulated because of the buck driver. But most on CPF will opt for the lithium ion and max lumens for the small size of light that it is............well anyhow I digress.

It would be neat if one of the well known manufacturers like Nitecore would offer the ability to hand pick a few of these components kind of like you do when buying a computer (you have the option to pick hard drive, memory, etc). Wouldn't it be neat if you could pick your tube, head, tail cap, LED, battery voltage range, etc?
 
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MarkF786

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Good reply. The MT10C already uses PWM with a 18350, so the performance with the 18650 was the same. What I'd be curious to know is if the 18350 would drive the MT20C head; it couldn't drive the P12 head.

If the heads & bodies of the two lights were indeed interchangeable, I would probably keep the heads swapped (longer life for the brighter MT10C head, and smaller size for the less bright MT20C head) - though occasionally swamp them depending on need.

Or I just wait for NiteCore to upgrade the MT20C to have the similar specs to the MT10C.
 

hiuintahs

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I'm puzzled as to why you would not get any output from the P12 head on the MT10C body. I wonder if the battery wasn't making contact or some other electrical connection issue in the body. Because from an electronics standpoint the voltage of an imr18350 battery is the same as a 18650 and the P12 head isn't going to know what battery is powering it. I test heads all the time with my power supply and just set the voltage to a level I want to see what the output and current is doing...........so I'm kind of puzzled with that.

And yes the 18350 should drive the MT20C. Again as long as the body tubes all line up and make electrical contact via their chassis.
 

MarkF786

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I figured out why. The threaded part of the body is a couple millimeters shorter on the MT10C tube, so it never makes a connection between the negative side of the battery and the head.
 
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