BLF A6 FET+7135 Light Troubleshooting and Mod thread

realista, are you able to de-solder the leads on the emitter star and remove it? You can file off or sand off the edges so the star will fit better and then it will seat properly.

I have no idea why they made the emitter shelf area that tiny bit too small instead of the other way around.

Sorry to hear about the issues.

I gotta say folks, having just recently started working with a lathe (the BLF Lathe of all Lathes) I am learning that every tiny detail MUST be right or the other bits and pieces dont’ fit cleanly. It’s much more difficult than one might think.

sincerely speaking…… i’m not convinced about the power of this flashlight. i compared it with my thrunite tn12 2014 and brightness is EQUAL …. but A6 white temp is something cooler than the “cool” tn 12 2014. The tint is too much cool…

and however i expected to see about 1350 / 1400 lumens as advertised ( and 1600 with mod spring) but i can tell you there is no real difference with 1000 real lumens from the thrunite.

sorry but as “not advanced ” user i only see a flashlightsold at good price 25 usd and about 1000 lumens….maybe i should had ordered the IMALENT DM21 …. at similar price ( after coupon) but at least microusb port and infinite output….

Thanks for all the responses. I’ll try to cover all the points raised.

1. The paperclip spacer (hat tip to ToyKeeper) was a temporary solution to test the hypothesis that one tailpiece was shorter than the other two. In that role, it succeeded. I’m way too perfectionistic to treat that as a long-term solution. But I do appreciate the links to spacers providing a better compromise.

2. The two “shorter” battery tubes are both shorter in an absolute sense. They are specifically shorter in the section from the end of the battery tube knurling to the tail tip. As well, the length of the threaded section of the battery tube at the tail end is shorter.

3. Yes, I am certain the battery tube is oriented correctly. Still, it’s always good to check the easy solution.

4. I was able to combine sections of the three lights I purchased to form three functioning lights. My issues are: a) the concept of interchangeable parts, dating back to the third century, b.c. was violated, and (on a more personal level), b) if part of one of my lights fails in the field, I cannot replace it with the equivalent part of another.

I do appreciate the opportunity of this group buy, and in no way seek to appear ungrateful, or denigrate the good work done by the BLF members behind it. Honestly, thank you all. My issues are with the execution by the factory—??—in manufacturing tolerances, with the manufacturer—Manker—in assuring a wothy output is produced, and good faith of the vendor—Banggood—regarding the responsibility they assume in making these flashlights available to the end-user. I am optimistic about the resolution of all issues we experience. And I genuinely hope they address these concerns; both for selfish reasons and for the good it will do the community and Manker and Banggood.

5. By way of an update, I contacted heyanquing1@banggood.com and am attempting to have appropriately sized replacement parts delivered.

Pending resolution of these matters, I have friends who want to order some of these flashlights for themselves (because they are not getting mine!)

I hadn’t heard of the TN12 before, but I looked it up and I think I might see what’s going on. The TN12 2014 seems to get about 12 kcd worth of throw, while the BLF A6 gets about 8 kcd of throw. So, the TN12 hotspot should be more intense than the A6 hotspot, even with fewer lumens.

Human eyes (and light sensors) can’t easily see a difference in lumens, only a difference in lux. To measure lumens you need an integrating sphere to spread the light around evenly.

Ok

i think my problem is just that the thermal paste was added and pressed, but the 2 wires are SLIGLHLY FORCING8 pressing) up… and then separate the star from the paste.
Maybe in production phase they won’t wait the right time the thermal paste becomes HARD…… so this problem occurs.
i need to desolder wires and then use some thermal paste, WAIT………… then resolder wires trying to do a GENTLE CURVE which does “not push up” the led star base. is it right?

When assembled, the reflector pushes the mcpcb down onto the shelf. The only way this doesn’t happen is if the mcpcb has rough edges/corners preventing it from seating.

So, yes, you might see it standing up off the shelf when you take it apart but when it’s put back together the parts are in the right placement.

And it’s not typical for thermal compound to harden, depending on whether an actual compound or adhesive is used.

I always cut the wires off so that they just reach the pads. No slack. Shortest wire possible for maximum current possible. If I need to disassemble it, I have to de-solder the leads.

Question 1

I bought two BLF A6s with tint 3D. One works perfectly, and the tint appears to be very close to white in white-wall tests. The other one is broken. Its moonlight mode does not work. In addition, in side-by-side white wall tests with the working flashlight, the tint is distinctly yellow on the broken one. In this test, both flashlights were set to one of the lower modes.

Is it possible that the broken moonlight mode has caused a tint shift?

(I checked carefully, and the emitter on the flashlight that has yellow tint has not been inadvertently dedomed.)

Question 2

Banggood offered 300 points if I am willing to keep the broken flashlight without repair. If I would rather have it repaired, Banggood has offered to send a new driver free of charge. Installation would be my responsibility.

Am I right in assuming that a replacement driver would not include a replacement emitter? What soldering is necessary to install a replacement driver, just the two leads that connect the driver to the emitter board?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

you have two separate problems in your light: the 7135 chip is not soldered correctly or is broken, and the dome of the led is sheared off, it may still be there but it has come loose and that results in tint shift.

You could remove the emitter dome entirely and be happy with the shiffted tint (and improved throw), and you could try to resolder the 7135 chip. But if you're not happy doing that, because there are 2 problems I would just ask Banggood to repair/replace the entire flashlight.

Well, Neal and Banggood never replied to PMs and emails, and I’m stuck with a broken un-useable light. I opened a PayPal ticket, I hope that will get some attention. I’m disappointed though.

Good Day Chenko,

Have you sent your emails to Neal's assistant: heyanqing1@banggood.com

Make sure you include your order number in the email's subject title, and have patience as Banggood is only working with less staff during China National Day holiday.

And remember their english is limited, so adhere to the KISS principle.

Tell them what is wrong, what testing you have done to determine the cause(s), and finally what you want them to do for you.

In my experience, Neal & Banggood have till now done the right thing, and taken care of any issues.

Best Regards,

George

Yeah, I waited, then resent after a week, waited some other days, but nothing.
I did not know about the assistant’s email, nor of his existence to be honest, I’ll give this address a shot.
Thank you!

Neil’s assistant, Professional Guy (lol) replied after just 2 days and my longer tube is on its way.
So give it some more time because Chinese are celebrating National day.

burnsd, you’re right; you’ve written a good summary. Nicely worded. Bugsy and the others who made this happen have heard this all before, more than twice.

Patience. We’re all hoping the people who made the Manker first round parts are not also making parts for China’s aircraft or fission power plants.

The history of the development of how to make interchangeable parts is being repeated in China now. From scratch, apparently.

Ironically, this rediscovery is (we can hope) teaching people who made our parts what they could have learned from history.

As Marx pointed out, history repeats itself, for those who did not learn the history, and repeats “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Our flashlights this round must be the farce. We can laugh so we don’t cry over the imperfections and appreciate the result, imperfect as it is, is wonderful.

So it can be improved.

Marx further wrote there that success happens when those involved “… constantly criticize themselves, constantly interrupt themselves in their own course, return to the apparently accomplished, in order to begin anew; they deride with cruel thoroughness the half-measures, weaknesses, and paltriness of their first attempts ….”

Yep.

We’ll see better work coming, to the extent the people at the bottom of the heap there learn this stuff.

And there you have it, philosophy applied to a $20 Budget Chinese flashlight.

I’m not saying we can’t WANT perfection, but if you expect it at these prices there’s some soul searching you need to do…

Edit: Honestly, just being realistic. What lengths do YOU go to for $20?

They replied promptly to my request for a new tube, and I received it last week.

> DBCustom

Chuckle. Hey, I have no objection to “craftsman” one-off creations — that’s art, like you do.

For mass production work, well, that’s where the basic, lowest level skill is turning out interchangeable parts reliably.

Burnsd’s new here, and as you’ve noticed, new folks come in and make the same observations Bugsy36 and the rest of the creative team have heard all too often.

We don’t want to wear down our treasured creative folks, as they’ve done wonders with this light.
They also ended up being teachers about how to do QA and QC. Above and beyond the call. Awesome.

Just saying, this is interesting — Burnsd’s link tells us when interchangeable parts were invented in China (hey, I didn’t know that — did they over there?) Bronze crossbow parts, field-exchangeable. Wow.

What a story that would be if anyone has written it up. And the idea is being reinvented, now, one little shop at a time.

So I applaud everyone for accepting that this round sunk below the threshold for interchangeable parts — and even the cheapest work, maybe especially the cheapest machine tool work — should rise above that threshold.

I want their new trainee machine tool operators — the ones who get assigned to cheap flashlight pieces — to raise the lowest level of skill, and keep improving — so they can make more money, get better jobs, and make things that are much more important than flashlights. Aircraft. Fission plants. Bridges. Trains. Not fall down.

But as I keep saying, I’ve said too much. Again. mmmmmmpfh

I posted this in the other thread.

Thanks THAO916! I’m sorry that in a way I made things more confusing with this thread. Thanks for posting in both!

I’ve been stuck with a DOA BLF A6 since August 24th. I ordered two and one works flawlessly. I was able to take the tail cap from the working light and it makes both lights work. The tail cap from the non-working light will not work on either light. The switch is fine, the contact point is the issue. Neal sent a new tube, which I received yesterday and it didn’t fix the issue. I asked him to send a tail cap to begin with but he said that it was an issue with the tube. The light is still dead…