Drastic Troubleshooting

That was what I was trying to achieve - glad I managed it. I think I'll probably hide the scars under heatshrink tubing once I've got the thing apart.

What's amazing to me is how patient you are Don because I would have pounded it into a flat piece of crap if that were me. I have what I call 'blind rage episodes' and when it happens, whatever I'm doing or working on gets destroyed. Then after that I feel like crap for destroying whatever it was because I realize that I just pissed away more money. Oh well....:(

It still isn't all that bright, but an LED and driver swap will soon sort that. Wonder how well an XP-G would work in there.

If I couldn't be horribly patient, or at least fake it well I'd not be able to do my day job. Actually, it is more that I'm good at faking it.

Some of the stuff I come across is just too horrible to let minor stuff get to you - I've been a pastor in a psychiatric hospital for the last 21 years and have just heard too much to let little stuff get to me any more.

Except when it does..........

Not very bright

But with a hotspot this tight it should throw approximately forever when I get more current into a brighter LED. And lose the resistor switch.

It is on the left, the right hand side is a Solarforce L2R with a low voltage R2 dropin running on a pair of Eneloops.

But one does wonder if it was worth all the effort. It is now about 1000x brighter than when it arrived, but pretty it isn't.

Hi Don.

Should try to freeze for some hours and then try to apply brute force.

It works for me sometimes with glued heads.The strongest glue becomes brittle below freezing.

That was going to be the next thing I tried, but a pair of 90cm wrenches and a lot of force got it apart.

Maybe you can post a pic so we can see the battle scars on the torch.

Take a look at post #4.....like the rainbow effect of the ano.....

The camera flash was wiping out the colour changes.

The scars!

Note the interesting colour matching.....

More scars

The cosmetic cover.

Which hasn't shrunk quite enough and is removable.

Now those are some serious battle scars. That's what I would make my beater torch to leave inside my toolbox.

It isn't really suitable for a general purpose toolbox light, it is too much of a thrower for that. But then, it'll only ever get used in the dark....

Wow...

I wonder if my HS-801 would require such punishment to take it apart. The moment it arrives i will try it for a min then it's going to be reworked completely. I was thinking (if glued) to freeze it overnight then use some strong pliers like:

Hoping to succeed by wrapping plenty of cardboard over the flashlight grip (to avoid damage) and try to unscrew the head barehandedly since i managed to pack some muscle over the years.

Btw, since mine is HS-801 and also 2 mode there is some chance that we have the same resistor based switch. It is moddable or it is best to throw it away and never look back?

I don't know about the switch, but it seems likely. Plenty switch mechanisms at DX.

HS-801 is easily dismantled. I found that KD version of HS-802 is much better than DX one. Looks the same at the first sight, but KD version is more robust (so more mass to heatsinking), easy to moddification and not a single part is glued.

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=5634

Hrvoje

I bought this for under 20USD with a bunch of referrals and coupon codes floating the net :P :

http://www.buyincoins.com/uniquefire-hs-801-cree-r2-18650-led-2-mode-flashlight-torch-lamp-product-97.html

I hope they skimped on glue since it's cheaper. :P

Should be here just a bit after new year. I just tracked my XM-L flashlight from KD and it has already left Switzerland which means it is in my hand in 2-3days max. Yay!

Wow-you sound like me!! Thank God I do yoga to get nice and zoned out! <g>

I can elevate profanity to an art form when working on stuff, so I pace myself and do slow, deep belly breathing when I get uptight-or know when to drop everything and walk away. Works much better for me and I enjoy the modding a lot more.

It's late now, but I just found this post. If you look at the thread on the Kl3 floodlight I just did, you'll know that the Surefire KL3 is the worst bastard in the world to get open. Solution: Heat gun (a real one, not a hair dryer) applied in the appropriate places will break glue eventually.

Rich

I tend to set things on fire with a heat gun. Prefer a welding torch when I have gas for it. You can really set stuff on fire with those!

Never owned a Surefire and probably never will as my day job doesn't pay all that much, and if it did, I'd spend the money elsewhere. My creditors usually prefer I spend my money elsewhere. Like paying them.

As for profanity, my day job doesn't really allow it most of the time, so I try to keep my tongue in rein. Especially since one of the customers said to me, "You eat with that mouth?"

But don't listen to me in heavy traffic or when playing the Sex Pistols.

Or when dealing with any dental practice management software. (Don't ask)

Or even get into any vehicle I'm driving under the influence of the Sex Pistols. You re not going to enjoy what ensues.

Jimi Hendrix' Hey Joe has similar effects.

But I gave up on illegal stimulants 35 years ago. They did do rather bad things to my vocabulary.

These days my response to most stressors is that "life is too short, come to that, I'm too short for this." And I get a lot of stressful stuff every day. Sort of goes with the territory when you work in mental health services.

I'll be in your general area some time next summer when I have to appear in Pittsburgh for a course I'm on. Or at least i think I'm on. I paid the fees in September and that was the last I heard from them.

Don what driver did you put in this HS-802, and what LED?

An XM-L on a 16mm star and an eBay 3A driver. Went to eBay for a supplier shipping stuff from the UK for speed - worked too, go the driver in 3 days.