Could be a good idea to inspect driver board and soldered connection for cold joints
I have already inspected the board twice & all looks fine, nothing obviously amiss.
I wonder why I originally had a very very slight extremely weak flicker from the led when I very first turned it on & nothing since.
I am at a loss & have pm”d Neal (BG) explaining my problems.
I suppose I will just have to wait for a reply from him now.
Nice video ‘Jeansy’, thank’s for sharing it!!! 
Mine works fine with the 18650 adapter tube. Not going to try a 26650 until I address the potential shorting problem with the pill. Ordering some 26650 wraps and will shrink wrap to cover most of the flat top on the 26650. Will also pull the retaining ring and smooth it out with some 1000 grit sand paper so there is no chance of it cutting into the shrink wrap on the cell.
Will the flashlights from the EU Warehouse have this insulation already installed?
When do we get the code for the EU Warehouse?
After some days i am back.
I am desolate and embittered of the problems incurred to some members. I have spent many hours (days) of my life to this project and i am angry that something go wrong. The fact that this occurs to people with my same passion in flashlights makes me more sad.
1) From when i received the sample i never had a shortcircuit or malfunction, it is obvious that i would have say. I tested KeePPower 26650 5200 protected, LG HE2, Panasonic PF.
The problem as i read in the previous posts is the difference in the diameter of the positive pole: Efest have a wider + pole than KeePPower. So only with some battery the positive contact touch the brass pill creating a shortcircuit. Neal has find a solution with adopting a plastic washer on the pill. This will be included in the next batch.
I will remember that i have NEVER requested a 17 mm driver but a 22 one because of the dimension of the JAX Z1 pill in fact if this had been respected this problem never happen.
2) Some members report a possible short on the anodized cover with cables soldered on MCPCB. The anodized aluminum don’t conducts electricity (thanks to anodized threads a 1/4 turn on most flashlights permits lock out). The only reason why this cover can cause short is some sort of damage on anodization in some lights. I will ask Neal to make some type of insulation on next batch.
Members that had short circuit with melted springs or a light that doesn’t work please send me a PM i will try to find a solution.
Some specs not respected in production.
-In the OP of this thread i declare the use of 20 AWG cables. Now i see 24 on production one. I don’t understand why change a spec commonly agreed with manufacturer.
Thanks for all the hard work and addressing the issues Cyberscudo!
Bella-Headlight, connect a cell directly to the ledstar (correct polarity!) to see if that is working. Or three 1,2v ones
Not 2,4v but 3,6-4,2v range.
Ok, I’m not 100% if the 2.4v would light the LED but I would have thought it would. If 2.4v is enough, you have proved the LED itself is faulty, the driver still unknown.
Next step, try the 2.4v on another LED, if it lights, replace the LED I think.
Not your fault Cyberescudo, you are as much if not more a victim of the uncertainties when dealing with China than we are, surely some satisfying outcome will be met for all parties.
Now i had this on the back of my mind since the first reports of fried drivers, did someone check if the driver can short in the pill on the components side ?
2.4v should have lit the led I think even if not brightly.
Anyway I have just put 3.6v directly on to the led positive & negative & nothing.
Put the same on a known good led & it lit up so my led is dead.
Whether the driver works or not I do not know.
Either way at the end of the day I have been delivered a light with a damaged lens that dosen”t power up for some reason.
If an insulation is put on the pill the positive side of even a large flat top battery can touch only the spring and so the short is impossible.
What i had on my mind was a potential short on the components side of the driver, i know about the problem on the spring side i believe i was the first to bring that up in this thread including it’s relatively obvious solution.
What causes are you thinking that can generate this?
A design oversight, like a rest/shoulder for the driver in the pill that could make contact with components ===> frying the driver, i still don’t have my Cometa, so can’t check.
Opened the pill in the sample and there is space around the driver so the components can’t touch the brass.
Thanks Cyberescudo.
I reexamined my two Cometas, and think the front end issue is a possible red herring in this troubleshooting unless there is anodizing missing in at least two places.
The current has to have a path to return, so even if the anodizing is worn off in one location, it has no path. Now if it is worn off in a minimum of two places and those places are contacting both leads, or the return path to the body from the + lead, then you have a short. The entire MCPCB cover is anodized, so this may not be as big an issue as it seems…
Now for best practice, cover your leads with some insulator… This prevents a catastrophic short should the anodizing wear off. As for those that doubt anodizing as an insulator, you are doubting chemistry… The only issue with anodizing is wear, so prevent wear and it is an insulator.
I think the main issue is the pill diameter in the back, and with the apparent change of the driver diameter, this is the main issue. Plus the occasional snafu like Bella headlights apparent bad driver or other issues…
I put some kapton tape on my leads regardless, I think this is a good practice for all of my lights…
Sounds like Banggood is on to a fix and thanks again Cyberescudo for a great light, even with these easy to fix issues…. Sincerely know how you feel when things get changed and you are not aware of them…
Don’t take that personally, it’s a conflict of cultures — they’ve had 15 years of capitalism, and are learning the same lessons other countries did.
People buying crap from the USA a hundred years ago got the same treatment — milk with powdered chalk, snake oil medicine, lead in cosmetics, all the abuses.
We can expect it because we’re descendants of people who profited by this same kind of cheating.
Also, we have an idea how to improve our culture — inspection, quality assurance, quality control, pride in work
Long history of this all around the world. China’s got problems we can recognize and try to point out ways to grow past this kind of trouble.
Maybe.
Usually — until now — there have been intermediaries
With the Internet, we final buyers become the front line for quality inspection.
BLF has quite a bit of history about this sort of stuff.
Seriously, read the back story: site:budgetlightforum.com "poorly made in China" - Google Search
Also seriously, in that stuff there’s a link to Amazon reviews, many of which (both favorable and unfavorable) are very helpful about understanding this business method.
Rule of thumb quoting from the above sources
they keep cutting costs until you become vocally angry or walk away from the deal
Then they back up slightly, promise many improvenents, make one or two, send you a few samples handcrafted to look better
Lather rinse repeat.
Think of it as a competitive sport (in which they win if you don’t learn their rules)
Remember, their suppliers are each playing the same game — every component has to be checked and rechecked each time.
Do you know the story about the frog and the scorpion?
On anodizing, there’s a lot of tech discussion out there:
https://www.google.com/search?q=anodize+as+insulation%3F
It may be fine at first and not age well, according to that.
From a “researchgage” link in those results:
If the plate was designed assuming the solder blobs would never contact it, then they may not have specced it as an insulator that would stand up to repeated abrasion.
That stuff matters.
If it was specced to insulate, ask
What type of anodizing? Is it HA2 (color matches but not strong)?
or is it HA3 (less color choice and supposedly much harder/stronger)?
How many layers?
Was the thread size cut assuming anodizing would be present:
All those (from my little bit of reading above) will make a difference in how much insulating value the anodizing has.
Threads cut to fit without anodizing, then anodized, are going to be just that much tighter and wear that much more when assembled
(I recall discussion that the bare X6 lights wouldn’t “lego” with the anodized X6 lights because of that slight difference
Remember the cover plate and the LED board will both get hot when the light is running — and expand, and press any contact point, either on the cone or the threads, maybe enough to break it down.
So this area will change with time and use — it needs to be tested by repeated cycles, not just once, for adequate insulation there, IF the solder blobs are contacting the anodized layer
Its my nature said the Scorpion