The way I try to keep the solder from creeping up the braid is by covering most of it with pliers that absorb the heat and prevent the solder from going up the only thing exposed is the piece of braid that is being soldered. Hope it made sense…
I am currently looking for a silicone wand diffuser that can be attached to the head for use as a lantern like the klarus silicone diffuser that fits perfect for the Manker U11
Swapped the switch leds to orange. I video-ed doing it but watching a 12 minute video with crappy focus is a lot to ask for the reader of this post :party: . Still here it is, to show how messy the act of modding can be, at least my way of modding. :laughing:
Thanks djozz for the ‘uncut’ video. Those leds are so small… but you make it look rather easy, not even removing power on the light - but at least you know right away if it works. I didn’t hear any cursing either…
I was expecting that you would ‘try out’ each led on the board to determine which way to solder them, but you seem to know this off hand… How do you know the +/- on the leds before soldering?
There’s usually a marking on the back of the led pointing from + to - . The Q8 switchboard conveniently shows an arrow too (a diode symbol to be precise) too, between the solder pads.
On the front of the leds you can figure it out too, the - is the cup containing the die, the + is the wire going into the cup from above. And if there’s a green dot on the front, it is on the minus side.
Nitpicking, but ballsy to do it powered, to demonstrate.
I think you were shorting out the MCU output to the LEDs a couple of times when removing them (when both went out) ?. Encouraging that it survived a couple of brief shorts to ground. Maybe a “don’t try this at home” warning ?
Don’t tell Tom, but I flashed ToyKeeper’s new ‘Andúril’ UI to one of my Q8s. It’s awesome! :heart_eyes: ‘Lightning Mode’ is soooooo fun!
I mentioned my pink 0603s in an earlier post. Here they are compared to the stock green emitters.
They’re rated for 3.0 - 3.2V and are running dimmer than the green ones with the stock resistor, just as I had hoped.
I got the ‘T’ straight but must’ve bumped the PCB.
BTW, ToyKeeper is currently working on adding indicator LED support to Andúril, so my green switch is dark for now. This photo is from before the reflash.
It's ok, no prob. I'll just slowly fade away..... Replaced by a newer, younger, no doubt prettier, and probably smarter programmer.
Ohh - on the 3rd modded Q8, got this: 7,110 @start, 6,510 @30 secs Dang!! All 3 within 200 lumens of each other, and again, not touching the LED's, LED wires, or FET.
Should be possible to hit 1,800 lumens per LED (7,200). Thinking the LED wires to 16 AWG and FET to SIR404DP, maybe improvements under the MCPCB (better grease, sand surfaces to 2000-2500 GRIT.
Placed an order for the minimum qty (3) and the price was $0.95 with standard USPS shipping. Currently going through the posts to find the switch and resistor related comments.