BLF GT official support thread [FAQ updated 11 Jan 2018]

After tearing up several cheap plastic strap wrenches (Sears, northern tool, harborfreight, ebay, etc…) I received a great tip from TomE to try out the BOA BO13010 Constrictor Aluminum Strap Wrenches. Available through Amazon and other places. I lend mine out frequently, and they have paid for themselves 100 fold over the past 4 years that they have been abused. Also great for many other uses around the shop.

Thanks again TomE!

Has anyone else noticed any bad parasitic drain?

I charged up all my cells just before I got my GT, I used it a little to show off and what not, then it has been off ever since. Got it out today and it wouldn’t ramp up past about half way. Put the cells on the charger and they are almost completely flat… Its only been a little over a month…

That is much faster then it should be but this light does have some parasitic drain. I think I measured around 250-300ua (0.25-0.3ma) IIRC.

It should last around 1.5 years with 3500ma cells IIRC.

Maybe you just used it more then you thought?

I dont think so, but I will certainly try again… There is probably some way to hook up a meter to measure it too…

Yes, if you have a reasonably good multimeter you can measure the parasitic drain directly without a lot of work, although you might need a second set of hands to hold wires in place.

I just measured 7ma with my meter. That would mostly deplete the batteries in about a month, which is exactly the result I just found.

EDIT: Is there some kind of indicator LED timeout that kicks in to save power? I would have to measure again after that happens…

I double checked with the meter, it reads 7ma for about 3 seconds, then it drops down to something like 0.25ma. Its got to be the atiny powering down? Anyway… I’m going to make sure to loosen the body before storage from now on…

Yes, that is exactly what should happen. I think it is 5 second that the MCU says powered up and after that it goes to sleep mode to reduce power down to around 0.25ma like you saw.

Which should get you over 1.5 years with 4 cells or twice that with 8 cells.

No idea why yours died so fast.

Locking out any e-swich light is the est idea if it will not be used for awhile.

Edit: Sorry this is a support thread, not what I think is a nifty carry case for the GT thread, deleted.

I have Issues with the anodisation on my today arrived GT.
There are scratches on the Pill-section and on the first fin of the reflector on both sides of the Pill.

It seem that the Tool is verry dirty and makes scratches.

I will pass this on once they return from CNY. I would send Neal a message about this to see what can be done.

Thanks for answering. I could wipe it away with a little wet fingers. That means anodisation is ok.

Great, I kinda figured it might be the case, the ano on these lights is super tough from what I have seen.

Tough maybe, but not as tough as the person tightening this one.

I have broken two straps due to using piping to get more leverage :weary:
And it is still not open.

Just so no one thinks it arrived like that, it did not, the second strap to break did it.

Cheers David

Pommie, I had the same thing going on with the two I bought, I started with Harbor Freight strap wrenches but had to buy two sets just so I would have 2 large wrenches and snapped both of those, then bought some other of Amazon and broke them as well.
I’ve seen this wrench mentioned before on one of the GT threads but this is definitely worth mentioning again because with this wrench the GT came apart easily.
It’s on Amazon called the BOA Constrictor, it’s more expensive than the others but it works great, BOA strap wrench

Edit: You might need 2 of them really, but it worked well using the big Harbor Freight strap wrench to hold the light in place and this BOA for for breaking the bezel and heat fin sections apart.

Jeez David, what strap wrench did you use?

Knowing the person I borrowed them from they would be mid priced, not top quality but they were all metal so not cheap either, all I have to do now is ask that person what I owe him to buy two replacements :money_mouth_face:

I will find a way, even if I damage it more :smiling_imp: I got it to mod which I cannot do if I can’t get into it.

Cheers David

Maybe we need to replace the o-ring against the glass with something that has less friction. A silicone o-ring?

Maybe we can coat the O-ring in something slippery that won’t dry up?

Now I have found a dead led-die on my gt. I can see it with my eyes if I look to the LED at the lowest mode.
Is this the first DOA-GT?
Thats hard to check for Lumintop and to notice that fault.

Here you can see the spot at a distance of 1.5m:

I put a lens on the GT to show the LED better:

And here you can see, what the lens is projecting:

That’s very strange. Since the xhp35 is 4 dies wired in series. If one die loses power, they should all turn off.

Do you think maybe a dark piece of dust or debris landed on the die and then got burned up?

Now it may be blocking light output.