Outrider, PM will be replied in a couple minutes... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
LightObsession, I once made a particularly harsh (for me) post about the circuitry inside a Q3. If I can find that post quickly, I'll link it below. But let me offer a couple comments in the meantime...
1. I've learned not to put much faith in Nuwai's runtime and brightness claims. They're so routinely wrong, and wrong by a LOT for that matter! that you should consider them as mainly entertainment value. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
2. The Q3 is NOT regulated. It DOES have a boost circuit, and if you delve into a whole bunch of technical mumbo jumbo you can almost make it sound like the thing is regulated, but here's the deal in the real world: the light starts out bright, and it grows gradually dimmer from there, until it either goes very dim all at once, or even worse, just goes completely dark with no warning. Lights that get continuously dimmer are NOT regulated! NO REGULATION.
Contrast that with a UK eLED (to pick just one arbitrary example), for which the output graph is a perfectly flat line for 10+ hours! THAT is a regulated light. The Q3 isn't. Sorry dude! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
(BTW, even with its flaws, I still like the overall design of the Q3!)
Let's see now... that link... hmm... (searching, searching... Bueller? Bueller?)... here it is! I'll quote it first...
[ QUOTE ]
Some milky geek /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif said:
Okay, before anybody flames me, let me first say that I've got a Nuwai Quantum III and really like it. I've already done a few mods to address some deficiencies, and use this light often. As usual, Quickbeam has posted a fantastic review... I love your site, dude! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Okay, all that said, I must beg to differ from the majority in some key points about this light. Remember, I
LIKE the Q-III, but it's got some problems, too, and IMHO there's some misinformation floating around about this particular light.
For those in a hurry, the short assessment is that you've essentially got the exterior of a great light with absolutely TERRIBLE internals... although I will say that the reflector itself is terrific.
Longer version...
This light is NOT regulated! Sorry guys, but it's just not. It's running a boost circuit and isn't all that efficient about that, either. I've looked at the circuit and although I don't claim to be an electrical engineer, it looks pretty simplistic. In fact, here it is, with apologies for my mediocre photography skills...
Now as I've said, I'm no expert, but I believe a truly current regulated circuit would have more parts on the board than this. There would also be at least one capacitor somewhere on the board to improve efficiency. This one has none of that, and the result is a not-so-efficient flashlight with no regulation at all, just a simple voltage boost.
On that efficiency point, keep in mind that I respectfully beg to differ with Quickbeam on the length of runtime... my Q-III only gives me about 1 hour of bright light, then drops to pretty much nothing VERY quickly. I've read others' comments around here that have similar things to say. Maybe Quickbeam's light was a particularly good sample, but I don't believe the majority of these Q-III's are capable of 1 hour 30 minutes of bright light.
A typical 123 cell has 1400mAh capacity. For simplicity, let's say the Q-III consumes 1000mAh for one hour of bright output. Let's further assume the voltage of the 123 cell sags to 2.4V under load (it probably doesn't really sag that much), and that the LED requires 3.6V to operate (it probably has a lower Vf in most cases). The LED is receiving at best perhaps 400mA of current flow during this time. Before you decide that I must be smoking something to make such a statement, consider this: Quickbeam's overall output chart shows that a BadBoy 400 with a Q2 binned LED (lower flux than the LuxIII's in the Quantum III) has relative overall output of 18, and the Q-III only achieves a score of 19. That tiny difference could easily be explained by the higher flux of the Q-III's Luxeon III emitter. Some other overall output scores for known 350mA-400mA lights: EverLED running on 2D cells scores 17.4; SureFire KL1 scores
21.5; SureFire L1 scores
22; even the Streamlight Propolymer 4AA 7 LED (that's 7 NICHIAS, not even a Luxeon!) scores
21.5! The boldfaced scores are higher than that of the Q-III, meaning the amount of light they generate exceeds that of the Q-III. So I believe it fairly generous to assume that the Q-III is driving 400mA through its LuxIII emitter.
Doing some quick math, I come up with the following: the light consumes 2.4W of power on the input side (using the above estimates) and generates 1.44W of power on the output side. That's only 60% efficiency! I'm sure my assumptions could be challenged in any number of ways, but believe the result will essentially be the same: this is simply NOT an efficient circuit, and it is NOT regulated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Another terrible aspect of this circuit is its end of runtime behavior. With the first battery I ran through the light, I was in the basement one day looking for some stuff. The light was bright, then flickered a little, and suddenly went dark. I switched it off then on again, which would give me about half a second of light, then again darkness. There was no nice, soft moon mode, no lingering flicker to warn me, just a plunge into sudden, unexpected darkness. Maybe that battery was defective in some way, but coupled with the other dubious aspects of this circuit, I'm biased at the moment to believe that, too, was a byproduct of the circuit, not the battery.
Next, let's consider the beam color, which many have hailed as being pure white. If viewed alone, I could see how it might look like a cool white beam, but when comparing it to other lights I've got in my home, including my VIP (which truly IS pure white, to the best of my eyes' judgment, plus that of my wife's, and she's an artist quite sensitive to colors), the Q-III's beam color is BLUE! Well, it still qualifies as a white Luxeon, but there's an unmistakable, HEAVY dose of blue in the beam. Upon opening my light, I found my LuxIII emitter to be binned as SYAK (shown in the above photo), which supports the subjective findings. The YA tint is about as blue as a white LED can get. I understand that others may have gotten differently binned emitters in their lights, but I find it hard to believe that I got the only non-white light of the bunch. Suffice to say, at least a good proportion of these lights are probably NOT putting out a pure white beam.
Then there's the tailcap. It's a reverse tactical clickie, but that doesn't overly bother me. What really annoys me is that the tailswitch is recessed, yet Nuwai STILL managed to install a rubber boot that protrudes just enough so this light does NOT stand upright! WHY, NUWAI, WHY!?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif I've owned a few different Nuwai lights, and for some bizarre reason, they keep making the same mistake. If the tailcap is going to be recessed, shouldn't the light at least be capable of standing upright?
The reflector of this light is superb! The body is compact and stylish. The clickie has a good feel to it. The $50 price tag is reasonable for us flashaholics, though I think something more in the $35 range would make this light a big winner with the more mainstream public. But as usual, Nuwai has hobbled what should be a HUGE winner by providing all the battery consumption of a high performance Luxeon III light, coupled with all the performance of an ordinary 1W light. If it weren't for the saving grace of that great reflector, this thing would be a massive disappointment, but as it is, it's only a moderate disappointment.
One contrasting example: SureFire will sell you a KL1 head for $56 on their website, and you should be able to locate one for $45 shipped on B/S/T without much trouble. Granted, you'll need to provide your own battery tube, but consider this: the KL1 according to SureFire will run on 1x123 in regulation for 90 minutes, then provide 30 minutes of decreasing brightness, and settle into 3 hours of emergency light, or moon mode. (Incidentally, this information is derived from the SureFire website, which usually understates the capabilities of its products.) Besides this, it has a more durable surface finish, and can also run on 2x123 and 3x123 with increases in regulated runtime in conjunction with the increase in number of 123 cells. Put in perspective, it exceeds the Q-III's overall output score, offers far greater flexibility, and even approaches the Q-III's score for throw (24.49 for the Q-III vs. 20 for the KL1). With a simple mod to install a reflector in the KL1 head, it very well may exceed the Q-III in throw as well.
Yet the KL1 is cited on these boards as running with an inefficient circuit, while the Q-III is hyped as being super bright and regulated! But it's not, folks, and that's just the plain truth to the best of my ability to perceive it.
What the Nuwai Quantum-III
really is, is this: it's a well-styled, handy little utility light that puts out a great beam for a variety of purposes, but wastes much of the energy in a 123 cell and doesn't even come close to extracting the full benefits of the Luxeon III emitter inside.
If you're still reading (thank you!) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif and aren't quite ready to bean me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif then you might be curious as to what I did to make my Q-III into what IMHO it should have been from the start. First I modded the tailcap to recess the switch enough so the light DOES stand upright. Then I replaced the Luxeon III emitter with an SY0J, that underdriven at 350-400mA, comes very close to a pure white color. Finally, I replaced the stock circuit with the one from the lowly Dorcy 1aaa LED flashlight, available for $5.94 at pretty much any WalMart. The result is a light that can stand upright, is a little less bright (though you'd be hard pressed to notice unless comparing stock vs. modded side by side), still has that great beam, and runs for more than 2 hours 30 minutes at essentially the same brightness, then drops gradually into a lingering moon mode. THIS is IMHO what the Nuwai Quantum-III should have been! With these mods in place, it truly is a killer light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
The thread this came from is
over here.
