D.I.Y. Illuminated tailcap

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?

I spent too much time trying to assemble that together into a metal button S2
Yours was rubber button from factory, wasn’t it?

So I’ve tried playing around a bit and I’ve stuck with a 2.2k bleeder for the blue LED switch,

The orange LED switch seemingly doesn’t care about the bleeder resistor,
(or more accurately the driver is still bothered by the combination)

I’ll try playing with the LED resistors at next opportunity

I guess I’ve been missing some stuff lately :stuck_out_tongue:
Nice and well done! It looks quite nice on the blue/gray version! I guess I’ll have to try one myself :smiley:
Thanks for sharing! :+1:

Thanks NeutralFan. The metal switch is slightly (very slightly) protruding from the tailcap, but it can still tailstand nicely and gives cool glow effect. I’ll take a photo later.

Yes, mine is rubber button S2+.

Thanks MascaratumB :smiley:

This is the convertion kit, also available for bigger light like M series and S series Convoy.

I have never seen an S2 with a metal button. Did you mean an S2? The S2 switch assembly is a lot different than an S2.

How does a bleeder resistor work electrically/how is one connected?

It’s connected from Bat+ (Pos) to Bat- (Gnd) on the driver. It provides a path for current to get to the tailcap without going thru all of the driver’s electronics (which could power up the MCU and make mode switching funky).

Of course, my bad.

[Edit]: The 105C drivers now work properly with 2.2k bleeders;
Blue LEDs have the stock 330ohm,
Orange LEDs resistors have been increased to 4.7k
Both draw 0.5mA

From my experience, blue requires less than half the current of orange.

Of the 4 variety of blues that I have, the highest is 0.21 mA and the lowest is 0.15 at 4.1 volts.

I try to keep all my different color lighted switches at the same relative brightness.

Hi, does anyone have experience with H17A driver from KD nor similar problem with me? I have a problem with the bleeder resistor value, which causing the memory mode didn’t work.

I tried from 220 until 1.36K Ohm for the bleeder, and 300, 330, 15K, 22K Ohm for the led resistor (they’re stock lighted tailcap from convoy & astrolux). None of the setup that I made make the memory mode back.

For reference, no bleeder and 300 or 330 Ohm led resistor sometimes work, but no longer after that the flashlight/emitter won’t turn on. And sometimes make the emitter and tail led blinking themself.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

I usually start with the switch LEDs. Figure out how bright you want the lighted tailcap by trying different resistors. And I found that different drivers may require different resistors for similar brightness.

Once you determined the brightness, then see how the driver behaves. Usually the issue is that the flashlight has next memory mode, which should be resolved with a bleeder resistor. I would start with a low resistor, like 220 ohms, and then increase until the driver works well. But some drivers will continue to have issues regardless of the bleeder resistor.