A suggestion for those who have some conductive lubricant like Nyogel — wipe the driver board contact ring and the end of the battery tube clean of the lube that’s on them now.
I wiped off a lot of dark discoloration, presumably metal powder.
Then —
Run a thumbnail along the bare metal surface of the end of the battery tube to feel for any rough spots.
I found one little ding on that metal face, a tiny notch with a raised edge and a missing chip of anodizing just outward from that. I cleaned up that rough spot (rubbed it with a bit of hardwood til I could no longer feel the raised edge).
Figured that was likely abrading the contact ring.
Added dabs of Nyogel to the bare metal surfaces.
Figured I don’t know if the lubricant supplied on the flashlight is electrically conductive or not. Has anyone a way to check that?
When I was a kid my Dad owned a Lumber Yard. I remember the finer grades of lumber had to be slid into bins by hand… I used that manual labor time to let my mind wander and focus on issues. For me, modding lights is a hobby, a manual labor where my mind can be free and I tend to work a light as a matter of habit more than giving it deep thought, the learned things that time has shown after hundreds of mods. So, with health issues in mind, I mod for the escape with the ever elusive maximum in mind as a target goal. It’s not electrical engineering or deep science, it’s pure fun, by design, to escape the serious issues that cause me mental anguish and physical pain. In the end, it matters not one whit to me if TA or Jerommel or TomTom or whoever is actually “right” or not, I’m all about results. For the most part, the 140+ lights I’m surrounded by are the provenance to that way of thinking. (And the hole in my bank records.)
How about lightly tinning the ground contact ring near the FET? That’s where you’ll want contact first as otherwise the current has to go around the driver through a trace of unknown resistance. And a bit of relatively soft solder with good tightening of the tube should mean a good contact after a little wear. At least that’s my theory
I did this with a SRK mod (but the whole trace not only a part) and it worked out ok - but it is not beautiful. And after some usage you may have to reheat the solder since it gets flattened by the tube.
I will check the wear on the outer ground contact ring in the near future more often. And if its get to much i will put solder on it or put a brass ring on it if i can make one (making it by hand without proper machinery will be a challenge)! A driver retaining ring would solve the “problem” clean and would also look good. But my “first aid approche” will be to polish the tubes contact surface to reduce the wear.
Would the wear and tear be reduced on this ground ring if the effort was made to only “snug” the battery tube instead of cranking it down tight? Just a thought…
We discussed this wear&tear on the ground ring before, when TF first introduced us to the nightmare of removing the brass retaining ring for the driver. It's barely hitting the outer edge.
I see now what you guys are talking about with the screws pulling the driver up, resulting in poor contact -- this is why I drilled out the screw holes and am using low profile button head screws now. Believe I posted pics of this earlier. The wear is still an issue - we asked TF to use a thicker layer trace there, but doesn't look like they did. Dunno bout the follow-up on this, or if it was dropped. Think DEL, Miller, or djozz could recall better than I can.
Only on BLF, I may have to ship my 2, when they get here, to Texas as some of this is getting over my skill level but certainly is really interesting. Meteor mod is an amazing idea as are all of the others as well.
I hear ya T18, that triple triple/quad insert is appealing enough that I might just have to put my 4-jaw chuck on the lathe and learn how to do offset bore. Been meaning to do that anyway, but always seems to be something in the way… (pain, mostly)
That’s the sort of thing I use, but my cunning trick is to wedge a suitable metal rod between the jaws, which I pull towards the handle to lock the jaws open whilst I twist. Difficult to explain, but dead easy once you grasp the idea. First two fingers pull the bar towards the handles, rest of hand twists.
Texas, and just who I was thinking about ha ha and TA of course as well, but you Texas guys being relatively local for shipping really have this down that’s for sure and I think this meteor idea would really keep your mind off other issues for quit sometime perhaps or not since your rather a quick study IMHO.
By the way I love your lumber story, I still have that Ti X6 for you someday… ha ha, I’ve been so swamped for the last 3 years with a intestate probate mess that I haven’t been able to do much of anything that I really love, like mod lights which does help keep the mind off my own DD issues, I feel you there pal…! Hope you are improving albeit most likely slowly, I do know what your going through. Keep on
Let me try. I believe that DBC has the same concern that I do. That is a tilted driver may not make adequate electrical contact with the battery tube. A driver that is flat against the driver shelf should theoretically make maximum contact with the tube. Assuming, the shelf is parallel to the battery tube end. When you attempt to fasten two threaded objects together via a screw, you often get a gap between the two objects as the threads will line up with the screws threads and the only thing that will actually be tight is the screw head against the first object.
Are there real issues here or is it “if this is done like this we gain that so that is what I’ll do next”?
Sorry, lots of new posts, got a PM about this thread , trying to read up I see things like “corners cut” and Tom saying “oh gosh” which is not a good sign.
I don't think this is a real issue. It's just the driver mounting screw holes being too tight and sometimes not letting the driver sit properly. I would think most lights will work fine the way they are, but one may want to check it if they are using good cells and the light is underperforming. All that needs to be done to fix it is remove the 2 screws, open the holes just a smidgen, then rescrew the driver down flat.
EDIT2: OTH, it would be a good idea to make the manufacturer aware of the issue. If they have the 2000 drivers loose, it will just take a few seconds per driver to ream out the holes to a slightly larger diameter.
