According to this post the current to the tailcap leds is dependent on the number of amc7135’s.
wtf wont my bleeder resistor work? - #3 by Henk4U2.
I would think adding a bleed resistor would allow the leds to get what ever current the bleed resistor would allow. I seen several post talking about the plastic ring around the metal switch being black and wouldn’t let light through. I’m assuming you have a metal switch that’s made to light up with the clear washer and all.
Yep, the rubber around the metal is clear, it lets light through:
And the kit came with a clear washer. Interesting, I would have thought that with no resistor, they’d be brighter given that it’s direct voltage? But an interesting read nonetheless.
If I move the tail pcb over to another light with the Convoy 5A CC driver, it does the exact same, so it’s like the actual LEDs are restricted to this amount of brightness inherently.
It’s just really not that bright…
It’s a matter of just how much current the driver will allow from the positive of the battery to run through it and back down the tube to the switch. The current is running in reverse of normal operation. Thats why a bleed resistor is needed in some lights and some need it for the firmware to behave properly.
I know your going to need more current with the metal switch to get light through than a clear rubber boot switch. For my clear boot lighted tailcap switches I usually use 120k resistors at the leds. Its hardly visible in daylight but at night on my bedside table its easily found. If its too bright (resistor value to low) it looks like a night light shinning on the ceiling and the wife complains 
. 120k and above works good for me and last 1 1/2 years or more with the parasitic drain. If you get the parasitic drain to high the battery could be drained in weeks to a few months.
Even tritium vials are too much for mine. I don’t know how she sees them through her eyelids 
I guess my issue is that it isn’t anywhere near bright enough - I’ve removed resistance from the switch board, and it’s on a CC driver. Might find a bunch of replacement LEDs and then swap them out, see what goes brightest (although I thought blue was usually pretty bright).
I only tried an S2+ once and took it back out. But I didn’t try too hard, I gave up too early.
Check out this post from ZozzV6: Clear anodized Convoy S2+ (switch poll closed) now just discussion - #144 by ZozzV6
And now that I do 3D printing, I’m curious about this (in clear, if course). Haven’t tried it yet though. What did you mod today? - #4644 by SpAwN
Okay, sounds like I need that PD68 board.
Green LEDs are the most efficient by far and will be much more brighter than blue. For my tailcaps, green uses 0.03 milliamps vs blue at 0.21 for the same comparative brightness.
So if you’re having problems seeing light thru the S2+ metal switch, you may want to swap the LEDs to green. Unless you don’t mind lowering the resistance and putting more amps into blue. Any color will eventually work if you lower the resistance enough, but I prefer to get a year or more out of my lighted tailcaps before I need to recharge the battery.
I have a Rev3, I put a 560 ohms resistor, and in my tail cap switch, I changed the resistor to 2.7k ohms, and finally, it works all modes well. The only thing I experienced is when I try to use the 1k ohms has a problem, based on my case, using from 2k ohms above will work fine on the tail cap.
All of the said resistors, I took to my electronic device which is not working at all, ( tv receiver).
Hoping that this experience might give an additional idea to others.
Thank you
Usually a certain bleeder resistor value is needed for a driver to work and the switch resistors just impact the brightness/current. But strange things can happen with various drivers and firmware.
Did you try a different bleeder resistor when you used the 1K ohms switch resistors? If the brightness is good enough with 2.7K, then no worries.
Using 1K Ohms is a little bit lighter but noticeable. I did not try yet to changed the value of the bleeder. As of now, i am planning to add 0805 Led and a resistor as well on tail switch, to mix colors. That might be the time to changed the value of the resistor if that will not work.
At first, I only wish to work all fine after this modified, but now I am seeking more to make this project more impressive.
I finally have a true yellow tailcap that is efficient! It measures 0.15 mA - so with a 30Q battery, it will last over 2 years. I would consider it a bright (canary) yellow.
I combined warm white and green 0805 LEDs:
Here it is compared to my green and warm white tailcaps:
Just wanted to stop in to say these are really beautiful, man. Glad I could inspire people.
Can someone please help me to get the tailcaps working right?
I have an orange and a blue one,
and I have 2 Convoy S2s with the same driver
The blue one works on both, but the orange one is messing with modes of both and puts the drivers into the low battery flashing mode when I try switching modes by pressing the switch
I have checked the LED resistors, both are 300ohm
Should I put a lower value resistor for the blue?
[Edit] It shouldn’t be a bleeder resistor problem since the flashlights work with one, right?
Since everything affects everything in this way of making a tailcap light, an orange led instead of a blue led could already make a difference,it is a matter of trying to find a configuration that works, and yes the bleeder resistor is the one to try first: if the user interface is messed up, try lowering the bleeder value.
From what I’ve read in this thread people use up to 47k LED resistors, are 300ohm OK ??
There is currently no bleeder - stock 105C drivers
I’ve also read about a person using a 6.9k bleeder for a 7135 based driver, so I think I’ll start there
I nearly always use a 750 or 840 Ohm resistor for the bleeder, especially in my 105c’s. Start there, as djozz said.
Tailcap resistors in the realm of 47k are for the ring-style tailcap boards, not for when the LEDs are on the switch’s PCB. Since the ring-style boards are right below the switch cover, they don’t need to be as bright in order to appear brighter.
Switch convertion kit from Simon for gray and black S2+, this only works for standard 2 led switchboard, ice blue led on this one.
Looks nice Ryley. Pretty cool that Simon started offering these. Does the flashlight still tail stand?