It is possible that they used bypasses at first as they thought it would be cheaper. I kept telling them to do double springs but they didn’t seem to listen at first. My guess is that after doing a few they realized that the labor was going to cost more then double springs and be less reliable.
The good news is that any lights with bypasses should be the early ones if this is the case and thus they should have drivers made with the components I sent them that includes the correct FET.
If you get a picture of the FET we should be able to tell for sure. I know they have 100 drivers with all the correct parts floating around.
We (german TLF) have a Sample in a Passaround. It has a green driver board an a bypass only on the main spring. I have made pictures of the FET, but they are now only on my camera, I have had no time to report my impressions and mesurements. I think only 2 legs of the triangle has the same length.
It looks more as on @Lexels pictures ([♛ FreemeGB] Haikelite MT09R 3x XHP70.2 25,000lm & 3x XHP35 Hi 6500LM Flashlight Group Buy -【 ACTIVE 】 - #280 by Lexel) and the double S looks more like a S and not like a 8 as on the fake FET. And the last line begins with a W.
Yeah, that is not one of mine for sure, I learned long ago to not do bypasses like that. This is what I was worried about when they said they would start doing bypasses.
Yes, this is the style I was thinking of with the bypass on the outside. The person changed it to an inner mounted bypass. It’s good to know I haven’t lost my mind. LOL
Is there a writeup of tips for doing proper bypasses? I don’t know if you want to keep your techniques secret, but I’d like to hear them if you’re willing to share. :+1:
Now this may sound stupid to some of you, but what’s even a good way to hold the wire in place until it’s soldered?
Tips especially for spring bypasses. There are some on youtube, but I doubt any of them shows the best way to do it. I do believe though texas_ace has a very good way figured out.
Yes, Tweezers are the best idea to hold them in place. Although now days I generally just use my fingers, it ensures I get it done quickly lol.
Far as the technique, it is not secrete, there are a fair amount of pictures of my bypasses floating around.
In a nut shell the idea is to minimize the bending / flex of the wire when the spring is compressed. This causes failures over time as no matter how hard you try the wire will wick up solder and become hard.
So I find that wrapping the wire around the spring about ~90-180 degrees depending on the light to minimize the bending of the wire gives the most reliable bypass.
You end up with a longer bypass then other methods and a little more resistance but well worth the extra reliability IMHO.
I have had basically all my other styles of bypasses break over time but have not had one of these fail yet that I know of outside of a soldering mistake by me.
My XHP35 CW has arrived a week ago. But I notice that there is a purplish glare inside the glass when the flashlight is on and my friend also notice this. If I unscrew the head and pull out the glass, it’s gone. So definitely the glass has a problem.
