Solarstorm SC01 disassembly

When I disassembeled the olight s15 I had PC’d pink for my wife I ripped a piece of silicone that was a “nub” on the button that made contact with the switch and had to rig it, is there any such possibility of that happening on this one?

Also on the S15 I pressed the pill out from the back, just sayin, it seemed to work well (except for the button issue).

Yupp, I have already edited a line and made that bit more clear.

When I "opened up" this light, I wast even sure it was a pill that could be pushed out. So I tried my gentle approach.

One time, long time ago, I crushed a driver going in from the back. Because you had to unscrew something from the front first. It was a junk driver, so no harm done. :)

Reminds me of the time I destroyed the driver in a Jetbeam RRT-01. Accidentally turned the wrong part of the light before desoldering the driver wires from the star. This caused the driver wires to break.

Even worse, the driver was one of those that consisted of 2 stacked boards. The wires were attached to the inside of the bottom board and passed through holes in the top board. I found it impossible to fit even a small soldering iron tip into position so I couldn’t attach fresh driver wires.

@ Firelight 2. That was my main reason for ruining scratching the pill. I wanted to take a look at the driver.

[quote=Racer] I've been wanting to dip my toes into modding and the SC series seems like a good starting point because they have so much potential and fall just short of being a superb light in my opinion. [/quote]

It could became a really nice light when modded, not that it was bad when stock IMO.

I think the host is nice. This is not what I would consider a beginner friendly light to mod though.

The SC02 might be much easier to mod due to its larger size. I wonder how it compares to ZY-T11.


Thanks for the pictures and data, I'm pushing hard on the driver of my SC01 when I saw your post. I have not yet used the hammer, it is possible that in the end I have to take it.

If I can get the pill without damage, I'll post

Agreed.

From the pictures you posted I feel confident that I could mod one of those to put in a Nanjg 105c with filed down edges and appropriate firmware and switch. It wouldn’t be a beginner level mod though.

I’m starting to wonder whether this is the sk68 clone killer/replacement :slight_smile:

Oh, he made a little scratch there…
“It will buff out” LOL

That brings some bad memories to my mind. Been there, done that.. https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/24027

Reminds me also about the light sitting on the shelf, waiting for an inspiration to fix the switch. Naah, maybe tomorrow. ;)

Maybe you guys will have good luck with the SC02 and I could always repo mine from the missus :slight_smile:

Currently I’m infatuated with the Roche F6 which has no detectable PWM and a build quality rivaling more expensive lights. That’s why I coughed up the SC02 so easily.

It looks like it may not be an issue with this SC series cause they left a notch in the pill.

To fix mine I just filled in the pill with a little bit of some thick plastic insulating sheet cut to fit (similar to emitter insulators [not centering rings, just the insulating disk material]) if you PM me I can explain more indepth, I was able to fix that one for no cost.

Thanks. I think I got it. Let's see when I have extra time & motivation to fix it. :)

Good thing that SC series have the notch there -> makes it possible to remove the pill without breaking the switch, unlike in Olights.

If they sold them for $5 maybe
A wee bit pricey…but definitely a GREAT general run of the mill AA light for as someone lovingly referred to people as “muggles” (ones not exposed to the power/brightness of Cree emitters yet)

With the difficulty of teardown, this is definitely going to be a “non-beginners” modder light, actually it’s not bad in it’s stock form other than the PWM frequency sucks…but hey all stock Chinese PWM is horrible

and Racer…went all “Mongo” on the pill…heh…love it

Possibly the OSHPark 15mm 15DD would be a good direct drive driver replacement but getting the clicky position would be the difficult part, cool to see a 17mm drops right in sorta

This is one of those “is it really worth it” to tear into it and mod it kinda lights…sure…tinkerers like us LOVE to get in there and “scratch” things :smiley: but would many others even consider it?

And RacerR86 has coined a new phrase here at BLF…if it’s completely trashed and totalled…it’s not destroyed…its “scratched” :smiley:

“Honey, I scratched the car.”

But it doesn’t zoom! :open_mouth:

man that driver looks nasty, thanks for the pics :beer:

Thanks I’ll have a go at pulling mine apart. I think I have a short someplace, it’s flickering now.

How about heating a bit outer casing (with hot water for example), to expand slightly, maybe that would help to push out the pill easier!

Funny, was about to report on my take-apart success this eve and came across this thread! I got the pill out of my SC03 by one tap of the hammer on a copper pipe that fit in the battery tube pretty well (1/2" copper pipe with a 16 mm OD). Basically same stuff as above, but no damage really. I measured 15.6 mm for the driver diameter -- that kind of stinks, and also noticed nothing obvious for resistor modding.

Maybe a BLF 15DD could be squeezed in there? Don't think there's clearance. My SC03 has a high parasitic drain, while my SC01 doesn't. I don't see anything obviously wrong with the SC03 driver so far.

Those screws have nothing but a hollow cylinder shape in the heads - nothing shaped to use a tool on. I was able to get them out with a larger needlenose by gripping them on the outside edge -- weird.

Nice Tom. I had a feeling a hammer would be the better way (as mentioned in OP) Thanks for verifying. Any special plans for yours?

[quote=WarHawk-AVG] And RacerR86 has coined a new phrase here at BLF...if it's completely trashed and totalled...it's not destroyed...its "scratched" :D [/quote]

:D