ALIVE: Astrolux S42 groupbuy: US$ 25.95

with all the solder boob jobs I’m doing for the Q8 and now for the S42(Cometa)
I may just move to Hollywood and set up practice :wink:

Yep, just did that, posted here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/45615/94, but it's not enough. Battery still getting crushed - very tight.

Hmmm… :frowning:

Do you have a pic of the tailcap spring?
Is it on a PCB? (probably not)

Ask and you shall receive :

It's a chunky one, but just sitting in that machined out spot. Seen this many times before. It's gotta collapse maybe 1-2 mm above the bottom for the cell to fit w/solder boob.

Thanks. :+1:
So with a shorter tail spring it will be okay?

This is my temp solution. Banggood should still make good this faulty designed flashlight and send us the proper tube.

Remove the tail spring and fit 3 magnets to the -ve end of the 18350. Tail spring can be easily pulled out of the cap, and no soldering required. It then fit quite nicely, provided you happens to have the magnets.




Nice! With the solder job I did, the S41 tail works great with it. The S41 tail spring is real soft, plus it's got more clearance.

Battery tubes are identical between the S41 and S42, though the S41 feels slightly heavier.

A shorter or softer tail spring would probably work well, but dunno what options you'd have. Can't just solder in a replacement. Maybe can cut down the stock one, then solder a softer one to the remaining bottom ring of the stock spring.

Maybe just cut off a coil or more from the stock tail spring?

It seems like the simplest solution is to send retaining rings to thread into the head and give some more length to the tube?

Is that simpler than removing the driver spring and cutting off a coil from the tail spring?
You’ll have to wait a month for an extra part and it will not look nice when the tube is not screwed in the head all the way.

Dang, taking off the bezel, thought I was real careful, but the first movement I heard something that didn't sound right - broke a post off the quad optic . Super thin and tall posts - wow.

I think with the solder blob for the driver spring, there's something that can be done for a soft spring in the tail. Didn't check any 18650 tubes yet i got around.

No, I’m hoping there is a simple solution that BangGood/Astrolux can send out which will solve the problem definitively. Pulling the tail spring and putting in spacers seems fine for a temporary solution. I am astounded that they manged to hose it up given that this is really an incremental change from the S41. A different length tube just seems like another opportunity to mess up.

Does anyone who has an S42 in hand have an 18650 tube to see if the same problem exists with the long tube?

Aargh…!
That’s horrible…
Is it the same optic as the S41?

Wow, what a trainwreck. Y’alls feedback in this thread is appreciated. I had an S42 in my cart…

I think so. I just got mine and 16340 wouldn’t work… I’m waiting on my tube to come

Can't tell - never was able to open the head of my S41 - glued up tight.

Well, if it is, and i suspect it is the same, Banggood sells spare optics, in case it’s necessary to replace it.

Geez… To be honest i think it’s kind of fun and satisfying when you have to modify a light a little to have it work, but breaking off a leg of the optic like that is just disheartening… :frowning:

So any thoughts as to what Banggood might do to make this right? Send out the 18650 tubes and an 18650 cell? Would it be easier to simply return it? Do they offer free return shipping labels?

what a wonderful idea…

in my dreams, too

Dang.