Here we go.
guess i just got a crappy pair. i didnt try all my 10440s. i just grabbed the closest one and didnt bother to keep going after the first. i have noticed a lot of variance in the length of my red/black trustfire 18650s, so its np surprise that some fit
It looks like it has a decent brass pill. Can anyone confirm that?
What I'm also wondering is if the R5 star and driver from the Ultrafire A2 R5 may transplant. Shouldn't be too much of a problem if the S1 has a decent pill.
I kinda fancy this dinky small SkyRay S1 with an R5.
QTC isnt easy to get to work in this one.
The base has a spring that is about 1/2 inch long so QTC wont work there without major modification. On the nose, the contact is made between the head and a shelf at the base of the threads so again, not a good spot. I tried it between the head and the nose on the battery but couldn't get it to line up and work very well as the base spring seems to have more give than the QTC.
That's disappointing news.. Are you using a 10440? Maybe try using some spacers?
tried with both a 10440 and a standard alkaline. it is just not a good arrangement for Qtc. I think the tank E07 is a much better bet although being a AA is a larger light.
The way this one is designed, the positive contact is made full time because the spring keeps the battery in contact with the center of the driver, the negative contact is made between the outer ring on the driver and the light body only if/when the head is screwed all the way down. There is no way to use the qtc unless you could pin it between the shelf on the body and the driver rim. That shelf is maybe .5mm wide and sloped thus making it extremely difficult to get anything to fit and stay in place.
I had hoped it might be a good one for QTC use but it isnt. I'll probably get a black cat next. I found a pic of one disassembled and it looks like a good candidate for Qtc treatment.
I had one of these that I had purchased for the sole purpose of modding to a QTC light. I would take pics but I gave it away as a gift already to my stepbrother. To make it work with QTC, you're going to need to remove the base spring, find or cut a solid metal disc that will rest at the bottom (this is where the experimentation comes in to find the right size. Drop a QTC pill on top of the disc and try it out - if it doesn't turn on, you're going to have to raise or change the size of the disc. Once the proper height/size is achieved, you can use electrically conductive epoxy to hold the pill in place, or if you have the machining capabilities - make a divot in the disc to hold it. Works great!
Edit: I did strip the ano and sand the light first, so the threads may need to be bare to work perfectly. It's a fairly easy light to get apart and the ano comes off like mud on dirty shoes if you use Super Clean.
Edit edit: Conversely, you can just remove the base spring, then use small neodymium magnet discs (the thinner the better) and attach them to the positive end (be careful not to short out your light) to find the proper height, then fabricate a post of the same height and solder it to the positive contact of the light.
My S1 decided to give up the ghost on me after 7 months as my keychain light (10440 only). Getting it apart wasn't as easy as I had hoped: while the driver is press-fit on my other S1, someone at the factory had decided to glue the head into place with two drops of adhesive on this one. Fixing what turned out to be a broken connection was pretty easy after I had the pill out (but that's some blood, swears, uh I mean, sweat and tears right there; protip: use some proper tools to work on this one, not the tip off a knife you happen to have on you).
Here are some 'before' pictures. There was way more dirt inside the reflector than there should have been: what started life as a SMO reflector, now looks more like (VL)OP. The finish is showing signs of wear but until today the light had been completely reliable.
For now, it has been replaced with a Fenix E01. As for my experience with the S1, I have to say I has really served me well. If you need to use a keychain light for extended periods of time, if runtime or heat is a concern or if you need modes, you'll have to look elsewhere. And if you want a light that can take a lot of abuse, this probably isn't what you're looking for. As a dirt cheap, pocket rocket single-mode keychain light, however, the S1 rocks.
