My first encounter with a Novatac Spa Defense 120T

[ven]

:laughing: oh i feel your pain!

 

[jon_slider]

Well
Ive been obsessed. If anybody wants help cracking a Novatac, feel free to PM me.. I dont want to turbopost any more

I will leave you with a link to a list of what the 120T defaults are, and how to mod them to 120P defaults

Meanwhile, Just Get a Rotary!:twothumbs

and if anybody wants this cracked Novatac, set up as a Fully Stock 120P, or any other configuration, PM me with your best offers..

 

[Lithium466]

I'll PM you

 

[jon_slider]

btw, I confirmed that the SPA does not mind having the more than half drainded 16340 removed and reinserted... I wanted to test where the low voltage step downs start

it steps down at 3.2v with LiIon.. a good thing.

It did not get confused about the low voltage meaning it might be CR123.. I intentionally did not do a Battery Reset, the unit is acting like its being fed LiIon, and that is what I want.. I like using 16340

more details here

 

[ven]

They are great lights Jon, hope you see why i and many others are fans of this little chunk. Luckily my ano stripped starts in a low mode(around 26lm) which i like anyway(dont need to adjust this as i dont do sub lumen levels).

The only one for me really is the SPA coming on in high, but it really is no big deal. It was more a case of getting those 250 clicks as that pi55ed me orf bad!!!! Its done, yes not programmed, but the 250 clicks was done at least 6 or 7 times yesterday. So i will use either which suits the use, and yes rotary to.

 

[jon_slider]

youre so close ven
I hope you get your SPA to start in a lower mode too

when in that preset, do click click hold, keep holding, it will ramp up past high to strobe, and then come back around in Low and continue to ramp up

let go at a level you like and click off
thats it
Bobs your Uncle

I do like the programmability a lot
and I like the tight beam and the tint is pretty good too

definitely a chunk, about double the size and weight of my Olight, which has a much simpler UI, but none of the programmability

thanks for your encouragement to expand my horizons
Xmas is coming.. a Ti Rotary w sw45 sounds like a beautiful dream ;-)

choices for courses:
2000k Nichia E21A, Nichia 219b 4500k 9080, SSC P4

 

[jon_slider]

On the HDS, when you rech the brightness level that you want, you have to hold the button in until a dim to bright shows, then it's saved. is it worth trying that with the Novatac?
P

you are correct for the new HDS firmware

on the new firmware, you do double click hold release to access brightness settings, then click to advance a brightness level, then press hold to save, as you said

on Novatac its double click hold, but do not release. The ramp steps through brightness levels automatically during button hold down. When we release, it selects the level it has ramped to, then instead of press hold, we click off to save

 

[Lithium466]

Or change mode to avoid saving Very practical!

 

[jon_slider]

Or change mode to avoid saving Very practical!

thanks for the coaching
sometimes Im not sure how to avoid saving.. a clicking off saves, so I think the trick(s) to not save is either double click, tripple click or press hold.. I will add that to my bag of clicks

 

[bigburly912]

On my Novatac I can't get into programming anymore. 250 clicks the light just cuts off. Not sure what happened. I've changed batteries. Done resets. Who knows. I'm leaving it alone. May swap the emitter and be done with it.

 

[jon_slider]

Sorry the hack is so daunting. Feel free to PM me if you want step by step coaching. My first suggestion is that the process after the 250 click is to press hold release, at which point the light would be flashing.

IF your 250 click already worked, you get to lumen ramping by double click hold from ON (do not release). While holding ramping happens... release stops the ramping, and click off to save the new brightness level.

note that the brighness ramp will double flash when it reaches max bright, and if you continue to hold, you enter strobe and a couple other flashy modes.... and if you keep holding, after the flashy modes finish cycling, you get the lumen ramp again, starting from the lowest level

 

[bigburly912]

It's just aggravating I literally programmed my HDS the first time I ever touched it in about 30 seconds and I can't do anything with this one. I had it to where I could program it but it wouldn't save. I picked my levels and it somehow lost the programming. It may possibly be faulty. Hard to say.

 

[jon_slider]

It may possibly be faulty.

I agree it can be frustrating. If you want I will do the 250 crack for you.. pm me for my mailing

otoh, some people have figured it out.. some people give up.
If someone cannot crack a Tactical to become Programmable, it is an operator defect, not a light defect.

 

[ven]

It's just aggravating I literally programmed my HDS the first time I ever touched it in about 30 seconds and I can't do anything with this one. I had it to where I could program it but it wouldn't save. I picked my levels and it somehow lost the programming. It may possibly be faulty. Hard to say.

*beep* the 250 clicks, i have done it lots of times..................dont care anymore. LED swap is by far the best thing for this light. Transforms it completely , even though the original is far from bad! . As i have a couple of tacs, i just decided on the 5000k 219c in this, having a 4000k 219b in my other. Both i enjoy, regardless of ramping or level options. Heck i have been happy with a single 425lm level CW md2 for the last few days, so 200-300lm of hi cri goodness is hardly an issue for me anyway. Besides, its only a double click for a super useful 20-35lm ish low...............

Enjoy it as is , i am and no regrets tbh. All this 250 clicks just pi55es me off more than anything, dont even need it to do anything else as i have other options if i do need X lumens. We are all different and all want different levels as we do colour temps, but the low on both my tacs are great around the house in the evening as a do it all level(i am no moon mode junkie though).

 

[jon_slider]

whatever gives you the biggest smile is best

some people have a lot more persistence, or free time, on their hands.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...HDS-universe&p=5030327&viewfull=1#post5030327

This is the newest addition to my HDS "herd":



A very beaten up EDC Basic 60LE. It arrived with a beaten up inox bezel, a very scratched acrylic lens, and an almost new gen 1 battery compartment.
I replaced the o-ring in the head, the lens with a "genuine" HDS glass lens (from another U60), and it was good to go to the second stage "tuning", programming :devil:

When I bought it, I didn't pay attention to the "LE" part, meaning it always start on max, then double click is a lower level, another double click is an even lower level, and triple click is minimum (0,3lm)..

Being a basic, programming is 250+ clicks from off. So first I did a factory reset, to be sure to start from fresh, then 250 click to get to the programming menu, to disable the "force setting" option (on these old HDS, you can only set a brightness level by disabling the force setting option, switching the light on to the level you want to modify, than doing the 250 click routine to get to the brightness setting menu, and so on for each brightness level you want to modify).

So I did the 250 click once routine to disable the force setting option, once to modify the turn on level to an equivalent of the primary level on the "non LE" lights, then another time to set the low setting to the lowest level the light can do, then another time to activate pseudo momentary, and finally once again to enable the force settings, since you exit automatically the programming menu when enabling/disabling an option. I let you imagine how my thumbs were feeling after that!
Programming on newer light is much more user-friendly, and programming on Ultimate series was only 10 clicks instead of 250, so much more doable.

Anyway, after having it programmed to my tastes, it was put to edc duty, and soon I understood why it came with an acrylic lens!



It didn't even fall or whatever, I just switched it to maximum for a few minutes, and I heard a "crack", lens was shattered. On its defense, lens was perhaps weakened by some previous use, don't know, since it's 1,5mm thick it's not that easy to crack. Or maybe I tightened the bezel too much?

So a Novatac classic was chosen as organ donor, and the HDS got a new acrylic lens (gosh these scratch sooo easily! Or these late Novatac lens are crap), and a new glass lens with LDF went to the Novatac. And now the HDS is my new EDC, pretty funny since it's 10+ year old, but I like the "small" form factor compared to newer series.
Hope you enjoyed the story of this Basic 60LE!

Weve got it easy with the Novatacs, the 250 click is only a ONE TIME event, the Novatac 120T and Spa 120T stay unlocked as long as no Factory Reset is used.

 

[Lithium466]

Haha, I remember is as if it was yesterday

I had to retire this light maybe 6-7 months ago ? The threads in the head are so worn out I'm afraid the battery compartment will pop out every time I change the battery. I should Loctite a battery compartment that opens in the bottom (like the Novatac) to the head, and only change the batteries from the bottom, but I chose to retire it and keep it as it. Actually I don't have a matching ano battery compartment that opens in the bottom, so it's a souvenir light Whatever floats your boat !

 

[jon_slider]

There are 3 distinct weapon mounts on the SPA Defense SPL-120 (see CAGE number 1g6y3)
made in Usa in small letters, no company mark, just BK2 mark (BK2 mark is shared with Surefire 1" mount), 2010 to 2014
very pointy aggressive knurling, bezel same color as body

MADE IN USA in large letters, also marked CAA, which is an Israeli company with a USA presence (pre 2010, second run?)
very pointy aggressive knurling, bezel same color as body

MADE in ISRAEL, marked TDi Arms (a California company), 2008-2009?
flat knurling, black bezel

fwiw, the weapon mount fits not only longarms, but also handguns:

Novatac 120M has 2 versions, one with black bezel and flat knurling, plus a pocket clip, another with bezel that matches the body color, pointy aggressive knurling, and a pocket clip

The 120M shared the pocket clip and weapon mount with the Novatac 120T

and for knurling comparison reference, here is the flat knurling on a 2006? first run Novatac with black bezel and 3 nipple positive contact in the head

then theres that 1 of 5, Gold Plated One with the 3 nipple head:

not to be confused with the Gold Ano Storm, that came late to the party

 

[Hogokansatsukan]

When I die, they better bury me with some flashlights and FunTac so I can stay busy.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

That claymation flashlight royalty picture is too funny. That might be the best flashlight picture I've seen yet.

 

[Hogokansatsukan]

That claymation flashlight royalty picture is too funny. That might be the best flashlight picture I've seen yet.

There is definitely something not right with me... http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...rney-of-Shorty-and-Longman-by-HOGOKANSATSUKAN