Convoy L2...Guess who's back???

Yes I think I used an acid one… Was this the problem? :person_facepalming: Oh thank you very much, you could save my life… :person_facepalming:

“Yellow freighter,” I love it! :smiley:

I’m sure Shadow had fun ‘working,’ and I’m glad the two canines didn’t meet face to face.

I don’t know that for sure but it sounds likely. Someone else might chime in and confirm or deny…

Still, contact Simon through his Convoy site on AliExpress and get a new reflector.

I tried to write him, but when I click the simon’s contact, it show me there is a problem and I can’t write him yet…

Have you joined AliExpress as a member? I think they want you to be signed in to leave a message…

Ok i contact him, 9€ and I can buy it, so the problem now is, how can I stop the corrosive effect? I don’t want to broke another reflector, could I clear contact with electric clear spray? Or do you have a better way? I have in my flashlight: driver Fet +1, xpl hi with noctigon and normal dissipating paste for CPU, then I used solder paste to solder driver and led, I think is this last paste the problem, but not 100% sure…

I’m not understanding why anything in the lights head would cause vapor once the light was reassembled. Seems odd to me, I would have bet everything, once cooled down, was neutral and wouldn’t do that to the vapor deposition of the reflector. But obviously something did, so yeah it’s pretty crucial to figure out just what caused it so you don’t do the same to the new reflector.

What is the brand and type of solder paste you used? And how did you go about soldering the driver and led… the reflector was nowhere near those when you were working, right?

Edit: Some solder pastes and flux core solders are no-clean while others demand being cleaned after application. Find out if you need to use an alcohol cleaner or a water based cleaner to clean up everything before reassembly. :wink:

The reflector start to broken after 1h after I was using the flashlight,so I think something vapor went there with the hot… the conduct paste and solder past were economical, but the solder paste have the acid icon, I think depend by acid vapor because the mirroring was clear when I reassembled the flashlight, and it become Grey when was closed, I didn’t rub it…

Hmmmm, must have been the acid flux getting hot from running it. I haven’t been soldering for a long time, but I use the no-clean solder and top brand solder paste as well, Kester for both, and I don’t ever clean up. I’ve heard people talk about clean-up of the flux though, so this must be why.

Did your emitter get burned? Sometimes flux will splash on the silicone dome and then it burns when in use, this can smoke up the reflector as well.

Mmm I saw same paste on top of led silicon come to think of it, maybe it burned on top of led and did an acid smoke… Could be this one the problem? How can I clear the emitter good?
But the reflector is corroded, can this kind of smoke corrode the mirroring?

Oh yeah, that can do it for sure!

If I see any flux spatter on the dome I clean it with de-natured alcohol. Many use regular alcohol I think. I’ve even heard of people washing it with water, but … alcohol evaporates almost immediately. De-natured alcohol doesn’t leave a film, or that’s why I use it (could be wrong, don’t trust my memory! Get more feedback…)

Edit: To be honest, I’ve flicked off the spatter with a careful fingernail before. But man, I’ve killed a lot of emitters in a few hundred mods, I don’t sweat it anymore because I have so much stache it’s not a big deal… used to HATE having to order a new part and wait for it to get here! Now I have boxes and boxes of pieces parts of all kinds. Stuff I forget I have.

Oh, thank you very much for help man :smiley: I’ll clear the emitter tomorror and I’ll start to wait the reflector from aliexpress, yesterday I tried to clear the emitter with a fingernail, I’m lucky I didn’t broke it… :person_facepalming: it’s like 3 months I’m modding and waiting for parts, all the times somethings went wrong: Fet driver 17mm and flashlight 20mm, spring oring adapter too much big, burned led because not noctigon, and now corroded reflector, I hope this will be the last problem… :laughing:

This is the emitter at the moment

And THAT, my friend, is how you learn and get addicted! :smiley:

Good luck!

You are in good company here friend. This forum is filled with a great variety of people from beginners with questions and lots of problems to advanced mad scientists (like Dale) who are happy to help beginners while dreaming up incredible new levels of flashlight technology and pushing boundaries.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

We all learn from each other here. That is the magic of BLF. :slight_smile:

Cheers!

Oh yes, is very magnific forum, I found the problem 99% thank to all of you… My l2 have driver Fet +1 with original 24awg, led xpl hi neutral with noctigon base,I made bypass to tailcap’s spring and to driver’s spring, I’m using keepower IMR 4200 mAh, do you think is enough as a mod, or maybe I can do better mod?

20 ga leads would allow more current. There are a few other cells that would probably give more power as well, although that one is fairly sufficient. I tend to use the Efest 26650 4200mAh (dark purple) and have had good luck with Basen cells from Banggood.

You want to watch and make sure the reflector is clearing the top of the leads on the mcpcb. Sometimes I file a bevel on the edge to clear the pads and I’ve taken to covering the base of the reflector with 2” wide Kapton tape then cut the opening out with a scalpel or X-Acto knife. You still have to watch though as the Kapton tape can get torn on the soldered contact and still allow a short circuit. To counter this, I press on the lens when screwing the bezel down in an effort to keep the reflector from turning. :wink:

Using a flat edge like the blunt end of a small file or a large flat blade screwdriver to press the wire flat while soldering it onto the mcpcb can help a lot as well, keeps it as low and smooth as possible.

this is what i did to my L2:
i puted tape in reflector

the i put a oring on the driver to avoid short circuit

this is the emitter with some paste around that i tried to clear with alcool

so you think is better put some tape on the solder leads on the mcpcb as well? to isolate it from reflector? does the tap could do smoke with hot emitter or is not a problem?

Say sorry to butte in here, very interesting topic, wanted to tell JDub and Dale thanks for the suggestions and help re: my goofed up reflector, and Dales offer to sand out my reflector, thanks very much I appreciate that but I had to exhaust all avenues before taking up so much of your valuable time Dale and Simon did sell me a new reflector for the L2, cost 0.01 cents x 655, or $6.65, but that is a lot of times to push that little button on his penny link and I think he made me buy a new clear L6 also, I can’t recall I think, not really sure if that was his doing or I just loved the heck out of the looks of that light, well either way, light and reflector on it’s way, ye ha…