My very first SRK light from Amazon had the amazing ability to turn itself on after taken out of lockout; this in turn bubbled the top of dresser before I returned to room 
. Point is I want to ensure good lockout if batteries not pulled for the road.
ToyKeeper , nice build and shots!
I’m not too worried about anodizing or lockout. I’ve had this light for about 2 years now, with batteries in it most of that time, and it has never had any issues. I loosen the battery tube a half turn when not in use, and that gives it enough space that I can’t turn it on no matter how hard I press the two halves together.
Since I got a SRK fairly early from a good batch, I ended up paying more for it… but it has basically none of the issues the clones have.
However, the driver is no longer glued into place, so it’s possible the driver could pop up and touch the non-anodized part of the tube. Hasn’t been an issue yet, but I’ll keep an eye on it. For now, I’ve simply made sure to store it bezel-down so the weight of the batteries will help hold the driver in place.
When (or if?) I finish mucking about with firmware, I’ll see about gluing (or maybe shimming) the driver down to prevent this potential failure mode. I don’t want to make it too stuck though, in case I decide to upgrade it again later.
Cigars? 
Looks like you pretty much intuitively figured out some of the potential hiccups. You might want to clean up the battery side of the board by snipping off or filing off where the wires come through. I don’t like any possibility of a positive cell top touching that negative wire, or vice verse. Sometimes an attempt to solder the ground can allow a cold joint, and this might end up sloughing off and floating around in the light, possibly touching a wire top and cell at the same time. Stuff happens.
When locating the emitters, I find it easier to use Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive, place the stars with centering rings on the emitters onto the reflector, with it upside down and adhesive on the stars (no wires showing through the shelf) place the light down over the reflector assembly and looking through the driver side make sure your wire holes are clear. Screw in the screw, make it firm, and go get yourself a drink, a snack, the clothes out of the dryer…whatever. After about 10 minutes you can pull the reflector and the stars will be firmly in position exactly where they go. Wire em up, easy peasy…no moving around from the wire tension. I find too that using the Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive to dab over the wired connections insulates them from the reflector quite effectively without worrying about tape slipping and then a short. I also mix enough extra at this point to re-enforce the positive and negative connections on the board, also ensuring they don’t short or come loose under tension. Potting the wires, as it were.
Other than that, you’ve done an excellent job already and handled the little bumps with aplomb! Nicely done.
(If an occasion demands removal of a star or wire that is glued in the above manner, heat it with the iron for a short time and it will generally release fairly easily )
Nichia NVSL219BT 4500K 92 CRI LED on 16mm Noctigon from RMM.
This is what I want to try next just to see….
We used to use colored gels and dichroic filters on rented stage lights, during my AV work in the N.O. Marriott, when requested to make the colors “pop” on stage. This was 30 years ago so forgotten a lot. I just want to see what a so called full spectrum LED can do compared to lower CRI single LED.
If you have BTDT then I’ll just move on to something else.
Very nicely built, very well written!
“Hard writing makes easy reading”
Thanks! I had wondered a bit if I should trim the wires on the battery side of the board, but hadn’t thought of any of the other things you suggested. That’s a really great way to get the emitters centered without fuss or risk of scratching things. Sharp objects make me nervous near the easily-scratched reflector and the soft dome of the LED. And although my quick search for “alternative to kapton tape” did bring up the idea of non-conductive paint, it didn’t occur to me to try the arctic alumina sitting right next to me. The electrical tape I used is pretty much guaranteed to make a mess and need to be re-done if I ever take the reflector out again.
I bought two of those emitters from RMM. One went into a Convoy S7, and the other went into a UF-HD2011. They seem to be cooler than 4500K, closer to 5000K, but that result is consistent with everything I’ve heard from others about this emitter. The old 219A tends to shine right at 4500K, but for some reason the 219B is a bit cooler (even when picked from the same tint bin).
The S7-219B I made gives me what I consider to be the best single-emitter tint and CRI of any light in my collection. Plus, it’s a beautiful host and practically bulletproof, so I’ve been carrying and using it a lot. The HD2011 is brighter and has better modes (thanks to a Qlite driver with NLITE firmware), but its tint is even cooler and doesn’t seem to have as much CRI. I might add diffuser film to that one too, to see if it helps.
As for filtering a high-CRI light to isolate specific colors, I think it would probably work well. My television screen behaves a little bit like a prism, and although I couldn’t get a very good picture, here is roughly what it looks like with the spectrum divided: (click for much bigger version)
The upper left light is a XP-G2 3B from my CNQG brass light, and the lower right is my Convoy S7-219B. Both have DC-Fix on the lens. The effect is much more vivid in person, and in person it’s a lot easier to see that there are somewhat dark bands in the XP-G2 but the Nichia 219B forms a pretty smooth rainbow.
Great writeup and sweet pictures. Thank you for the effort for all of us :-)
The o-ring below the switch PCB seems ideal. I didn’t even realize that the “OG” SRKs had an o-ring there, but I like it. I’d double check to make sure the vias on the PCB are completely sealed (make sure the via holes got enough resist in them to keep them from being a straight shot from one side to the other. If any need to be sealed just paint a little nail polish over the back. As long as the button assembly presses the PCB firmly against the o-ring I think you’re set at that point. I wouldn’t worry about getting the microswitch wet.
Great mod ToyKeeper, and a really detailed account. I love mod threads where’s you can follow every detail of the build.
A bit off topic but love your camera work. Are you using a macro or just close focus and cropping?
Your switch, I have 0-ring on top of my switch board and use a dab of Dow 111 to water “tight” switch due to low voltage. The grease will repel water all over the board. The O-ring on top or bottom should not matter as these are barely splash proof lights, imho.
We have silicone threaded metal ring top covers on some of our push to start switches at work in reference to your, um, “protected” switch ideas. A lighted water resistant switch would be cool. Saw a lighted one on another post…
I didn’t do anything special. I have a fairly small, inexpensive snapshot camera with very limited manual controls. It’s an ELPH 110 HS. I think I got it for about $100. It’s out of production now though, and the current model (130 HS) is a downgrade, so new ones now go for quite a bit more.
It’d be nice to have a digital SLR, but I would almost never use one because they’re too big to carry daily. So, instead I have the smallest decent camera I could find, and a nice purple neoprene case for it.
Lol, have ELPH 300 in my collection so to speak. When I get a good picture it’s more an accident, so firmly believe it the photographer, not the camera
One thing I’m sure helps your photos is the diffuse lighting you use. I assume it’s pretty bright lighting as well, but I won’t venture any guesses as to the source. Diffuse daylight is probably best. Many members have a tiny workbench crammed in a basement corner with a single fluorescent or similar. When they take pictures there the lighting ends up being direct, dim, and extremely low CRI. Small cameras struggle with dim lighting, and harsh/direct light typically causes shadows that ruin photos even with a “big” camera. By hook or crook you seem to have avoided most of that.
Toward the beginning of the thread, I had the window blinds open and 2400 lumens of overhead light on and another 800 lumen light pointed at the ceiling above my desk. My partner walked into the room and was confused, “What’s the matter? You never open the blinds!”. But that was only near the beginning, and only for relatively far-away shots. For most of the thread, the outside light had already dimmed and I was mostly just using the single 800-lumen fluorescent desk lamp, aimed in whatever way would make the shot look okay without me having too slow of an exposure. I also locked the camera to a maximum of 200 ISO, to force myself to fix the lighting if there wasn’t enough. Some of the exposures were as long as half a second with no tripod.
In any case, most of the pictures were effectively taken on a tiny workbench crammed in a dark corner with only a single fluorescent light.
Oops.
I finally started writing some new firmware for momentary-switch lights today, using my SRK as a test host. Things were going well until I managed to break one of the switch wires. I guess I should have made those longer after all…
At least it’s an easy fix. I wonder if my 22AWG wire will be thin enough, or if I need to find something smaller.
For the momentary switch, you can use very thin wires 28-32 ga, it’s not passing current but a simple ground signal, the wires to the emitters, those are carrying heavy current and need to be thick to prevent losses
wrestling with clip on tiny 13? Where’s all that 26-28AWG wire when you need just a bit? Any stores in your area on Sunday? Lowes or such may work if you don’t do with 24awg.
GL
When the situation gets rough in that way I tend to look to old IDE cables from computers. The wires are all joined together and you just peel off however many you need! (still joined up if desired)
idea for you and I that do have old IDE cables around. I have some of my heirloom scuzzy cables ready to throw away but have serious pack rat disease.
Well have to see if Toykeeper is part pack rat…