Soldered pill on S2+

Yup, like I suspected, that is the driver soldered to the pill!
These drivers with 4 chips on the back make it more difficult to use the brass retaining ring that these lights normally bring (see the brass ring in the image: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1715111464.html), because the ring is large and would make contact with the chips’s legs, provoking a short.

So, Simon opts to solder the ring directly to the pill, so that it makes contact and makes the electric circuit.

In case you want to modify that flashlight you’ll and use the same driver, you can opt for different things:
a) unsolder the driver from the pill and try to get a thinner brass ring from kiriba-ru, so that instead of solder you can use a ring there
b) unsolder the driver from the pill and try to modify the regular brass ring that comes from Simon (maybe you’d need to aks him to send it to you), you’d need to make it slimmer but still maintaining the grooves for you to pick the tweezers/pliers and screw it in. I would prefer the frist option, though.

As for drivers, you can keep that one in case you can perfom the process above, or you can check some other drivers from led4power or eventually from MTN Electronics .

My current favourite one is the H17F from MTN electronics :heart_eyes: But actually, the light I EDC has a driver from led4power.

BTW, the pill has to be rotated anticlockwise, not clockwise as i mentioned above ! :person_facepalming:

Sorry for the mistake!

This is odd, I tried to swap the heads for these two lights, which are both S2, and it seems that each pill will only fit the head that it came with. If i try to screw it into the other one is goes a bit and then jams, as if the threads don’t line up. Each pill is completely smooth in its original light. Are there different versions of the S2?

There are. Simon swapped the thread design a bit ago. How old is each light? Can you take a close up photo of each pill?

Ehh its ok I’ve put them back together now, that explains it though

Yes, there are. Some time ago Simon has switched from triangular to trapezoidal threads. This has been discussed on this forum on several occasions

Hmm that’s annoying! I wanted to swap the heads but the newer light came with square threads and the other one I have on order is probably the same. Oh well, more incentive to build a new one xD

If you get an S2+ with a driver retaining ring, you can easily grind down the inside of the ring to make room for the components on the battery side.

Here’s an example of one of mine:

Are the trapezoid hosts available for sale anywhere?

Maybe you can ask Simon if he still has them. There are different stores selling S2+ lights, but I’d guess it would be a lottery trying to find a specific one. So, maybe the source is the best solution :wink:

I thought the difference was

The Older S2 Grey or Black They had the bigger pill Slightly longer head

The Newer S2+ All colors ( labeled S2+ on the tube ) shorter pill

Almost correct :wink:

The older S2 has a slightly longer head, has a long reflector and a short pill (left)
The newer S2+ (that we know now), has a short reflector and a longer pill (right)

The left combo fits the S2+, but the right combo does not fit the S2.
The inside thread in the S2 head does not go “down” as far as the S2+ thread.

Simon apparently doesn’t have any hosts with the trapezoid threads.

Is there any way to identify the ones with the old threads other than by the threads themselves?

Oh well I tried —- I’ve only built 20-30 S2s—- You turn 60 and everything goes to S—T

After seeing your picture I started to wonder, if you could built S2+ with S2 pill and S2+ reflector. Then it might be possibe to use 18500 tube with 18650 battery. Kind of full size shorty S2+.

With a TIR lens, and possibly needing to replace the driver spring with a brass nubbin, you can stick an 18500 in an S2+ with a shorty tube.

Well, maybe I someday try to build 18650 using S2+ with Jaxman 18500 tube and S2 pill. Kaidomain has those pills separately for sale if I remember correctly.

I wish Jaxman still sold hosts. I’ve thought about buying an E2L, but I don’t think dealing with the thermal glue would be worth it.