I got the SS bezel off easy enough with a strap wrench, gently pryed the lens out, then the reflector, but suspecting the remaining housing going down to the pill is removable, threaded? Is that the tough nut to crack? I just can't see any threaded connection there - it would be very difficult working on the emitter from that high up. Anyone who's been there, done that, can provide any input?
Also, I was really expecting to find an extra wire, at least, for the mode selection inpout to the driver, and I don't see anything. Anyone knows how the mode selection works as inputs to the driver?It must be obvious, I'm just not seeing it...
Tom, I haven’t been able to remove the head down to the pill as well, but my soldering iron is long enough to reach in to desolder/solder the MCPCB connections.
The mode changes are triggered magnetically via the rotating mode selecting ring. You’ll see some small chips around half the outer circumference of the driver, those are the magnetic sensors.
Ahhh, mystery solved bout the mode switching - of course, duh on me...
Ok - cracked her all open now - got the tailcap off with a strap wrench - it was heavily glued, appears. Got the head off the pill section - it was threaded with blue LockTite, so it appears, so can get a lot closer to the LED now. I used 2 strap wrenches as _the_ did - didn't need heat, just slow pressure til she started to slip, then it was very stiff getting small movements, then she loosened. The loosening seemed identical to when I opend a 7G9, only this time I didn't scratch the hell out of the housing , you learn...
the best way to open the head of the TN31 is by puting it in boiling hot water for around 2 minutes inside a ziplock bag, then use strap wrenches, not much force needed.
Thought I'd give it a try with the wrenches first, and it was do-able. I posted this on your mod thread, but that thread is not too active:
Alex - on your resistor mod to the TN31, did you piggyback your 0.12R resistor on one of those 2 shown in the pic in the other thread? Or just cut it in with wire, laying it along side somewhere. Spasmod is saying there's not enough height space to piggyback. Also, have you taken any light meter readings of results?
, you learn...