I have taken a lot of lights apart, usually trying to fix them.
I’ve wondered if anodizing is conductive or not.
In the negative current path (using the body of the light), some lights seem to use the body threads, others use the end of the tubes, with the anodizing removed (on purpose or not, i don’t know) and touching a gold circuit board contact.
Are there types or thicknesses that define conductivity, or is it just always the same, and if so, what? Conductor or insulator?
wle
not
No, sometimes it is used as dielectric layer in multi-coated electric (and military) cases.
Electric conductivity cant be tested with you real conditions. Tests are made with high voltage AC while you are going to use low voltage DC. If you are sure with mechanical quality of this anodizing, test it once with DMM and believe that it wont conduct electricity.
not conductive i think, that is why some flashlights with anodized thread can be lockout.
Not for the purpouse of low voltages and currents in a flashlight.
Agreed, not conductive. I bought a Convoy M2 host and after I put everything together, it would not turn on. At first I was worried I screwed something up, like mixing up the positive and negative wires. But then I noticed that about a quarter of the end of the battery tube had anodizing on it. It didn’t seem like that was the culprit, but after sanding it off the flashlight worked.
This. It is conductive if you really crank up the voltage, but practically nonconductive at levels seen in flashlights.
Anodizing essentially”grows” a layer of Aluminum Oxide on the surface. Aluminum Oxide is not electrically conductive, but has a relatively high thermal conductivity.
EXACTLY
i have done the same thing
sanded off some anodizing and voila, problem solved
wle
Aluminum oxide is a really good electrical insulator,
it is used to insulate things with high voltage that need to be cooled like big transistors
I bet most of you had used aluminumoxide insulators before
here a typical picture of the device I mean
If you were able to clean the part with acetone and got conductivity then it was for sure NOT anodized. You have to scratch through the anodize to get some conductivity.