Quantum III mod

Chop

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Hey guys,

I've been sick as a dog and haven't been able to leave the house for a couple of days, but I felt better for a bit today and I got on the lathe for an hour or so.

Anyway, a fellow CPFer sent me a Q3 to play with. He had already gotten into it, so getting it open was a matter of twisting the head.

There have been a few mods for the Q3, which included simply swapping stars and swapping circuits. Well, this light strikes me as being very mod friendly too and has lots of potential.

I wanted to do something that would be flexible and allow people to take advantage of what is already readily available.

OK, enough chatter. This is what I came up with...

picture.JPG


picture.JPG


Yes, it's an adapter that allows the use of a standard sandwiche in the Q3. This adapter wound up standing the reflector off of the luxeon and the reflector no longer sits on the shoulder of the luxeon. I thought that this might have an adverse affect on the beam, but oddly enough, I think it actually tightened it up a bit. I don't have much experience with this reflector, so I'm going to have to play with it a bit.

Here's a beam shot about 20' from a white wall. The sandwiche is a TX1J/NG667 combo.

picture.JPG


This is pretty neat and would allow all of those sandwiches out there another host. If there is enough interest, I may consider seeing about having a run of these made to modify Q3s with. I may even be able to source some Q3s at a reasonable price. I'm only mentioning that because I don't know how consistent the internals of the Q3 are from unit to unit and the adapter MAY require fitting to each individual light. What this may consist of is adjusting how tightly the reflector is screwed in against the lens. At this point I don't know.

The adapter is the first iteration and modifications to the design may be necessary.

Thanks for looking,
 

Chop

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Actually, putting the converter of your choice and a star that you like into the Q3 is pretty simple, but with this adapter, you could pull the sammie out of your FF or Mini M@g and drop it into the Q3 to take advantage of that nice reflector and form factor.

If you'd like your Q3 modded, drop me a line.
 

jeffb

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I have a Q3,I've been carrying; also have a new one in package........I might be intersted also in the NG667 and TWOJ;
would really like a "low" option as well?
Believe that I have read in other threads that this is rather easily done?

Thanks,

jeffb
 

wasBlinded

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Sounds great to me! I have a couple Q1s I wouldn't mind upgrading to a more efficient circuit and whiter star.
 

TrueBlue

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I think it is a great idea. I have extra drop-ins that could use an adapter like that for my Q3. How much? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

ICUDoc

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Chop

Great idea I would be interested in a sandwich holder (you could call it a Lunchbox!!)

Also if you packaged it up with an adaptor to allow low level QIII operation it would be great.
Good luck
 

Hallis

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Hahaha awesome idea for a name David,

"The QIII Lunchbox. Feed your need!"

Shane
 

Chop

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There might be some real interest in these things. As I said above, this was the first attempt at this. Yesterday was the first real opportunity I had to play with a Q3, and within 15 minutes of having it in my hands, I was turning aluminum, so it really wasn't very well thought out.

I'm going to guess that I'll need a minimum order of maybe 100 units to get the price out of the stratosphere.

What do you guys think would be a fair price for such a thing? I'm sure you guys understand that I'll have to make this worth my while, but I'm not greedy.

As for the two stag switch. I know it can be done. It's just a matter of cost effectiveness. As I said, I haven't spent a lot of time with this light and don't want to bite off more than I can chew, so I want to tackle the "lunchbox" design first.

I'm really trying to keep the cost down on this mod. That's why I designed it around a sandwiche. I've never found the sense in dumping $100 worth of mod work into a $35 or so light. On the other hand, the Q3 is a pretty nice light, although a bit large for a single cell. What's inside just sucks. I mean, I put the circuit on a bench supply and got just over 500mA at 3v and it only goes down from there. Definitely not constant current.

Give me some feedback. If there is enough interest to justify a run of these, this may very well wind up being my first run of anything.

I'm going to work on the two stage switch. If I can do a drop in that cost effective, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

BTW, I like the name "Lunch Box." IF I do a run of these, I think I'm going to have to give Dave one for free. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

AuroraLite

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What Koala said. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

I too agree it will be silly to put down multiple of the original price of a light to mod it. If we could put a special together for QIII and 'Lunchbox' adapter, I bet it would be a do-able idea. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

TrueBlue

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Well, you see, you buy stocks in the Nuwai company. Then you make this "Lunch Box" mod available to people. When the people show their friend what a nice light the Nuwai is compared to a Gaglite then people will want the Nuwai light then the mod. And Nuwai's stock price goes up and you sell your stock. You make money. But that is not all there is!

You then buy out the withering Gaglite company with your profits and you make your lights just the way you want 'em. Then make Gaglite look good again!

I think that is good incentive to make the mod available.

Hmmm...you think I've been reading the business section of the newspaper too much? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Mags

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Wow this encourages me to buy a Q III! Gotta start getting better grades first though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 

McGizmo

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Cool mod Tony! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

oracle2

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Mar 29, 2004
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Very nice idea. would like one when they become available.
What about a kit including a glass lens.
Can anyone give me an idea of the runtime for a sandwich
on 2xaa verses 1xcr123
 

Chop

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What's a Q1? I guess you can tell that I don't mess with these much. Is the Q1 the very same light only with a 1W and appropriate driver?
 
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