I am checking on current capacity, waiting for a return call.
Looks like it’s 22ga wire in a copper/beryllium alloy with silver plating, so the current capacity should be quite high. Again though, I’m waiting for confirmation and will post that when I find out.
Definitely need the details from Lee Spring Co, however given the material and the coating, the current carrying capacity of these springs will be high and the resistance low.
Silver is second only to carbon in terms of electrical conductivity, and one above copper. Beryllium is an allow of copper that makes it more suitable for various applications than plain old copper because it has higher strength and better workability. The best part is that unlike gold plated contacts, silver can be directly applied to copper without any intermediate coating, which means the silver can conduct the current and actually use the cross sectional area of the copper spring to carry current as well. With gold plated contacts the actual contact does sweet F.A as the nickle coating required for the gold to stick is non-conductive. So you lose the cross sectional area of the contact and only get what the gold can handle.
Or something like that.
The point is, other than a solid copper contact or braided spring (both of which would be improved with silver coating) these springs are hands down the best battery contacts we could use.
I'll be in for as many as we need to bump this up to 1000. Give it a few weeks to let people express interest, and I'll cover the remainder. I want a few hundred at least. Hopefully I wont end up with 950 lol.
- Matt
Sounds like I'll be in for 15 to 50,early days.
Subscribed.
did someone say Beryllium Sphe-oh wait, that’s Spring, not sphere. 0:)
Interesting, does someone have some data on the resistance on these springs compared to regular ones with copper braids?
If it could eliminate copper braiding, I'd buy a bunch (10-40), depending on prices. Would be interesting to look at bigger ones (long) to replace tailcap springs too.
+1
These springs will have a lower resistance in comparison to copper braided springs due to the materials in use and the fact it's a solid chunk of wire rather than thousands of thin strands (relatively) loosely packed together. However the overall cross-sectional area of the spring is probably lower than the copper braiding, so while these springs will introduce less resistance into the system (lower voltage drop) their maximum current carrying ability may be slightly lower. I'm going to say it will not be noticeable but I am guesstimating here.
It's all conjecture until Lee Springs gets back to us or someone gets their hands on one. I know OMGLumens use these springs in their DEFT lights.The original FETtie switch also used copper Beryllium springs and that switch demonstrated excellent efficiency gains. Mostly down to the FET of course but the spring certainly did not hinder the system.
For my use these springs will be perfect :)
I would be in for about 30 but not until after the first of the year. I would also get more if we can get longer ones for switches.
Sweet, thanks for the info.
I’m in for $15 worth of springs excluding shipping if we get over 600 units price cut.
I could use 10. Any chance they could be made thicker?
20-30 for me 
+2
The only problem with longer/thicker springs for tailcaps is that it’s in addition to the driver springs. So, with these being special order due to their material it would be another starting place. 100-200 on the initial step at more than $1.50 ea. That’s another $150-300.
If we can get enough people wanting that larger tail spring I reckon we can do it both ways, but they’re going to be quite expensive as there’s not much chance we’ll get 1000 together in a group buy. Remember, longer and thicker will be exponentially more expensive than these. And at some point if the spring rate doesn’t match top and bottom then the stronger spring is not going to be compressed much if any while the weaker spring will take all the slack.
Recently, I’ve been making 5/16” diameter brass rod connections on the driver and allowing the tail spring to take up all the slack itself. This is because I’ve been stacking chips on the outside of the driver, so I used the solid rod to avoid a compressed spring shorting out the whole thing.
Do you have a pic of the type of spring we are talking about? Current capacity? How compressible are they? I could use a few if the specs are right
Alex, I’m waiting for those specifics. Being a custom spring, the info I posted is all I have at the moment. When they get back to me with specifics on the silver plated beryllium I’ll add it to the original post and make a notation in the thread title.
This is just talking out my butt since I don’t have much knowledge in this area
But if we got longer tail springs with a good taper couldn’t we flip it upside down and clip excess length of to use on the drivers
Just my thought if it’s total nonsense then please ignore this
Page 257 of the catalog PDF;
Silver Plated Beryllium Copper
For a C cell 0.81mm Diameter wire, O.D. of coil base is 0.54 inches, inner diameter is 0.33 inches and a free length of 0.52 inches and is a “Stock” item but I think the code is “Special Order”
If the springs are plated with silver, don’t they tarnish quite quickly?