Quick and simple mod tonight:
O-ring mod to Noctigon KR4.
The KR4 is a great light, but the switch is a bit too easy to depress. I had done the o-ring mod on every FW3 series light I own so decided to give it a shot on the KR4. Here’s what I did:
- Unscrew the tailcap retaining ring. It was stiff, but not glued. Needle-nosed pliers in the retaining ring coupled with some 3M grip tape on the outside of the tailcap for better grip and it came right off.
- Remove the switch mechanism. Unlike with the FW3 series, the switch mechanism did not fall out of the light when the retaining ring was off. Fortunately, this mechanism was also quite easy to remove. Just grip the tailcap and press the button quite hard to push the switch guts out. The switch board wasn’t glued. It just had a stiff press-fit.
- Pull the brass nubbin off the bottom of the switch boot.
- Insert the o-ring. I used the same size o-ring I used for the FW3 switch.
- This worked, but wasn’t reliable and required an unacceptably hard press. The o-ring itself didn’t provide enough pressure on the switch to actually cause it to cycle. Perhaps a thicker o-ring would work. Or maybe fill a bit of the switch boot with filler, such as a few layers of tape, to make it shallower.
- I might try that later, but what I ended up doing was cutting a single tiny square of gaffer’s tape and sticking that on the end of the rubber post in the center of the switchboot where it depresses the switch. This provided just enough extra reach to make the switch reliably cycle. It now requires noticeably more pressure than before. I still have the extra o-ring in the switch, but I’m not sure it’s actually doing anything.
- Note however that a piece of tape on the end of the thin rubber post doesn’t provide nearly the support of the original brass nubbin. The stock build will be more durable.
Guess I’ll give it a shot like this for a bit and see if it lasts and if I like it.