[Review] Astrolux S42 4xNichia 219C Rechargeable Mini LED Flashlight supplied by Banggood

Banggood stopped selling those to fix the issues

No.They will fix usb cover and make longer tube instead shorter springs. But not ugly crazy UI and primitive driver with direct drive only without any stabilization.

if you can sell us for 26$ a quad light with 10A regulated driver go ahead and do it

such pocket rockets have drawbacks

regulated drivers produce heat you have to deal with, like putting the FET to the MCPCB, which is not going to happen with a quad

this is a chineese budget light not a Surefire

But they sell it as flashlight, not as photoflash :slight_smile:

Chineese budget lights are Convoy, Eagle Eye, Skilhunt etc. But s42 is chineese scrap, imo.

There is much space between the driver. Is it possible to shorten the distanc-pieces to make more space for the battery?

the 20.5mm base of the driver rests on a rim of the body, the slave board does not have physical contact to the head in any way

Ok- You all know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I just got my Astrolux S42 today and just now found out that no buttontops or protected cells work. And I contacted banggood right away to get the 40mm tube abd silicone cover. BUT- Just how are batteries orientated in this thing if both ends have springs? I always thought that the negative end of a battery went to the spring end of anything and the positive end the other way. I know I’m not stupid but I don’t even want to try the flashlight out with the smaller 18350/16340’s. Please help me as the springs on both ends make no sense to what I’m used to… Thanks onnha

the positive end goes to the head
there will be a new 18350 tube and USB cover
Banggood replied to the 18650 tube and say its the right one, only fitting unprotected flat tops

Thanks so much- I’m frustrated as banggood assured me before I purchased it that buttontops AND protected 18650’s both worked or I would not have purchased a light that I needed to go out and buy yet MORE 18650’s as mine as all protected. And I hope that they intend on still sending out the 40mm tubes. Thanks again

If you replace the driver spring with a brass button or a spring that collapse fully protected will fit

another for the time being fix, till new 18350 tube comes, is add a copper solid wire ring or washer in the tail cap, but then the O ring can get exposed

Thanks for the help !!

I’m thinking of doing that regardless…then I don’t need to do a spring bypass.

What’s a good way to bypass the tail spring?

So I am getting into modding this light with TA Narsil driver

the original FET is this one g16n03 with 22mOhms

its resistance is no where near top ones like SIR800 or PSMN3R0-30YLDX

VDS (V)
30V

Rds(on) @10V(Typ)
0.022Ω

IDS (A)
16A

So sorry I don’t know. I’m not mechanical enough to mess with flashlights. Sorry

SIR800DP, SIR404DP, or the high performance Infinity FET is the best way to go. The 800 and 404 stay cool at high amps, better than the 3R0.

Thanks for the teardown :+1:

So I am in the final stage of getting the electronics sorted out

there are basically 2 options to go:

- The charging circuit works without the old MCU, but no status indicator LEDs as they are controlled with the MCU

- Letting the old MCU active but disconnecting the switch, the light shows proper charging indication and is always in the breathing mode draining 1mA from the cell down to 2.38V, when the MCU shuts down, physical lockout needed like lighted tailcap

I'd scrap the charger, least that's what I'm gonna do. More room then - I plan on adding some copper under the shelf, least it's some added mass. Probably use thermal glue to hold it to the shelf.

I have thought about scrapping the charger

thought about it, but not about extending the shelf with a copper block from inside, you can easily double the heads thermal mass
yes adding some mass helps getting a longer turbo mode
The main issue with NarsilM is it does not support timed step down plus temperature, like v1.4 did, so I stick with v1.4

it is a lot easier to get it mechanical done scrapping the slave board with MCU and charger

Still can't figure why you would want both. Don't think I ever heard of any light using both. Are there? That's why I did away with it - could not figure a reason to have both active. Shame because there are bug fixes and enhancements in NarsilM.

I probably could get a compile switch in there to enable both modes somehow, just gotta figure out the UI for it the combined version. I got a ton of other things to do on NarsilM though, and haven't spent any time on it as of late at all.