Possible 2-stage Q3 mod

As indicated in an earlier post, I'm interested in a decent 2-stage LED light and am considering the SL TL2 and the SF L1. However because I'm cheap, an engineer and a male, I thought I'd look and see what I could do with my Q3. Those of you who have removed the PCB from the tail cap know there is hole for a third pin from the push button and a spot for a resistor (RX). The unused hole for the button connects directly to the center pad (spring connection) while the present pin goes through Rx which is jumpered. I got to thinking (generally dangerous) that there must be a ON-ON-OFF or ON-OFF-ON-OFF equivalent part for the button. Here are links to the ON-ON-OFF and the ON-OFF-ON-OFF
parts. As you can see the BPS-38D03 would be a drop in replacement. Then you would replace the RX jumper with whatever value you wanted for your low-beam. The only problem with this plan is I have no idea where to get these switches. I didn't get too many hits from Google for Switch Hill. I was hoping some of you modders might know of a source for these switches or a compatible part. For grins here's the link to the SPST that comes in the Q3.

Let me know if I'm all wet or this is possible. Also I'm sorry for not including any photos. If you have seen the switch PCB the above discussion will make more sense.

Just took apart the switch assembly and snapped a pic of the circuit for ya.

Thanks Robban!! The pic helps make sense of my above gibberish. The unused hole at the far right of the top pic is for the 3rd pin on the on-on-off push button.

I was hoping for a little more discussion than this. Perhaps it has been discussed before and I've missed it?

deleted

no post here

hey, is the SL TL2 LED a 2 stage?

-David

cheapo,
I was refering to the newish Streamlight tasklight with the 3W LED and two-stage switch. It might not be called the TL2.

Robban,
Perhaps you are right and we missed this discussion the first time around. I didn't find much by searching. I think that the same on-on-off switch I'm looking for is used in the flashlight refered around here as the Q3's "mother". I was just hoping to be able to find a source for the switches themselves and then mod my own light. I think a two-stage Q3 would be perfect for EDC.

Three CPF members are offering 2-stage mods in Custom B/S/T but they have all found the on-off-on-off switches and not the on-on-off switches.

on-on-off, especially low-high-off, would be a really great mod!

"Milkyspit" has a thread with the switch and resistor mods photographed and documented. He also has the switches available for sale, 2 for $10 shipped.

AFAIK, milkyspit sells the on-off-on-off version.
on-on-off would be great, though.
nice finding, saber !

Thanks for the heads-up on Milkyspit's switches.
The Streamlight Twin Task lights use this mode
and I never know which mode will come on
when I first turn the light on. I was hoping,
now that I identified a possible contender, someone
might know where to get them. I'll try some more
research.

Sorry for coming late to the party, folks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif

I've currently got a whole pile of the on-off-on-off switches, but sadly, no on-on-off switches. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif

That said (and I know you guys should be skeptical... I would!), I have one QIII modded with each of the above types of switches. I thought I'd like the low-high-off better, and in the beginning I did! ...but once I played around with the low-off-high-off a little, I came to like that arrangement better and better. The other day I picked up the low-high-off QIII again after a long while, and had to relearn that switch configuration! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

IMHO the low-off-high-off works MUCH better when changing brightness than it does in something like a SL TwinTask, where you're going from Nichias to a Xenon bulb. That's just too jarring a difference! But low/high isn't so bad. In fact, I realized that it turns the QIII into a kinda poor man's Arc 4+... single click for on and off, and once the light's on, double click to toggle between low and high beams. When you think about it that way, it makes a lot more sense! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Of course, I should mention that I'm always careful when putting away the light to set the switch so the low beam will come on first... that way I feel more comfortable in knowing what to expect. Slightly annoying, but really not that big a deal.

I've still got switches for $5 each postage paid CONUS, with minimum order of 2 switches. I'd also be happy to do tailcap mods, including recessing the rubber boot itself so the light stands up, for $25 postage paid.

If I can find a source of the low/high/off variety of switch, I'd be happy to order a bunch for you guys, too! Then there'd be a choice either way. For what it's worth, though, the switches I presently have seem to be a little better quality than the other... but take that with a grain of salt, because it's just how they FEEL to me, and I only have ONE of the low/high/off variety... that's not much of a sample size for testing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

Last but not least, I recently took 69 photos of a QIII switch mod while working on a fellow CPFer's light. Got busy last week, but I intend to post a "pimping for dummies" style thread as soon as I get a chance. Hopefully that'll show folks what's involved! At that point everyone will have the info to handle things either way... do the mod yourself if you're comfortable, or send it my way (or to 4sevens... or possibly goldserve?) to handle it for you if not. Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming pimpadelic post! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif