Awesome job on the light! I'm impressed! :)
Any more pictures?!
Using a finishing washer around the switch worked way better than the cut aluminum sheet I originally used. The finishing washer looks like the light was manufactured with it!
Here’s what I did:
- I started with a #6 nickel plated brass finishing washer.
- The opening in the washer was too small for the button. I inserted needle nose pliers then expanded the jaws to widen the hole. At first this made the washer oval shaped, so I rotated and repeated until the washer was circular and the opening was much wider.
- It still wasn’t quite wide enough though. I inserted a round needle file and filed the inside of the washer till it was sufficiently wide.
- The washer was too tall. I couldn’t press the button with finger. I filed the bottom of the washer with a hand file until it was short enough that I could easily press it with a finger or thumb, but not too far… I still wanted a raised ridge around the button to prevent accidental pocket activation.
- I glued the washer using some conductive silver epoxy I had on hand. Alternatively, I’d use arctic alumina epoxy. I paid special attention to make sure there was epoxy below the washer on all sides. I didn’t want it getting caught in my pocket and having the washer ripped off. Before I put on the epoxy I wrapped the entire light in black gaffers tape except for a small opening at the switch. That way I didn’t have to worry about epoxy accidentally getting spread to other parts of the light.
- After the epoxy cured I trimmed it, making sure the portion below the sides of the washer was vertical. I also removed excess epoxy from inside the knurling near the button.
- I then painted the epoxy to match surrounding anodizing, using acrylic hobby paint. I used grey primer mixed with some tan and medium metalizer to get as close a match as possible. I shaded the paint to be slightly darker at the top and bottom.
- To protect the paint I brushed on a layer of liquid super glue.
- After the super glue dried I brushed a layer of dullcoat on to reduce the sheen.
Note: the above pictures are the switch mod done to an otherwise unmodified DQG Tiny III. I’ll likely destroy the internals on this one and transfer over the internals from my completed Tiny III triple. That way I’ll have a triple without a scratched up body.
WTH man… these things are not growing on trees… Seriously, I like the light with damage, it makes it look like you kicked someones A$$ with it, or you used it to secure your climbing rope on K2 when you ran out of chocks or, well, you get the point……
On the ulterior motive side, I want to see what you do the second time around on one of these…
And the finish washer mod looks great, I like the epoxy trimming and painting to match, seriously nice work. I did this with a stainless steel #6 finish washer, and have not put it on yet, but I can guarantee the stainless was MUCH harder than the brass. I still have a flat spot on the tip of one of my filing fingers…
Heh.
I went ahead anyways and tried to mod my second DQG Tiny III. Ran into a problem though and still haven’t been able to figure out what’s causing it.
The mod seemed to go off without a hitch. I performed all the steps as per the previous mod. But something isn’t working right!
The driver works fine. All modes work perfectly. But when the light is off, the LEDs will still light up in a low moonlight mode. This won’t happen right away. After I do the driver install and screw it all back together. Then after 10 minutes or so it flickers in off mode then turns on with that low moonlight. Only doing a tailcap lockout disables it.
So far I haven’t been able to isolate the cause. I tried:
- Building and installing an alternate identical driver, with completely different driver and switch wires.
- Checking positive and negative leads on the star to verify there’s no accidental ground connection.
- Repeatedly scraping the bottom of the remains of the stock MPCB and checking to be sure I didn’t miss any SMDs.
But so far nothing works! I don’t think it’s the driver. The driver I’m using doesn’t even have a low moonlight mode. Also I tried a duplicate driver and still got the unintended moonlight. And the same driver works fine in my other DQG host without this problem.
I’m at a loss to figure out what the problem is though. Could it be the switch? Perhaps the switch is defective and leaving a high resistance connection even in off mode? Not sure how that would cause the LED to light up though. Also, how is the LED lighting up when the driver is off when the only connection to positive is by going through the driver? And why only in this host and not the other identical one?
Anyone have any ideas? I’m thinking the next thing to try is to bypass the switch and see if that removes the unintended moonlight. If that’s the case then, I’ll have to see if I can replace the switch… could be difficult as I’m not sure how to get it out.
what driver and firmware are you using?
Nanjg 105c with 4 extra 7135 chips added (12 total). Firmware is DrJones Mokkadrv.
I find it rather odd that this unintended “moonlight” only appears when the driver is used in one host and not the other.
And I don’t think it’s a fault in the driver construction, as a I built a duplicate driver that had the same exact problem… but only when used in the one host.
hmm I’ve seen weird things with e-switches on dual channel drivers, but I’m afraid I can’t be much help on the Nanjg
GADzoooks!
I would bypass the switch, if that doesn’t work, then another driver (or swap it in from the old Triple cubed) . In my experience with trailer lights, it is ALWAYS the ground if you hooked up the wires in the right order. I don’t know if that applies here though… The switch may have some issues with that specific driver, sometimes the tolerances do not stack in our favor….
I think I figured out the problem.
Keeps fingers crossed hoping I got it right
For the bottom of the driver I was using a copper post made of 3 pieces of sheet copper layered on top of each other. I don’t think I made the post quite high enough so with flat top cells part of the cathode might’ve been touching the tops of the lower layer of 7135 chips or possibly the resistor. Not sure if that’s the issue, but I noticed the light worked better with button top cells.
I stuck the remains of the foam ring that was on the underside of the original driver around the copper post and now it seems to work fine. Hopefully it will continue to do so.
After insulating everything possible with arctic alumina or Kapton tape I fixed the problem with the unintended moonlight. I also discovered and fixed a loose ground connection from the driver to the body.
Trouble-shooting this was an exhaustive process. The leadwires and bondpads on the star are really showing wear. There’s a real risk that with too many more desolders I might have to install fresh driver wires. I might even need to reflow to and grind down a fresh star.
I discovered another problem. The switch PCB seems to be press-fit from the inside of the light. Somehow it got pushed down making the switch take an excessive amount of force to operate. I pushed it back up and used arctic alumina to fix it in place. Unfortunately, I got a little too enthusiastic with the probe pushing it in and think I damaged one of the vias through the board to the switch. Result is the switch in the unscratched host no longer works! GRRRR.
I’m not sure any of the microswitches I have on hand will fit. I’m going to have to see if I can pry out the PCB and install a different switch, or maybe bypass the PCB. Oh well… task for another day.
Took the host with the broken switch and tried to remove the switch.
Prying it out from the inside didn’t work. I ended up completely destroying and removing the switch mechanism… everything up to the metal cover cap. I did come across a thin rubber membrane inside the switch mechanism. I think this does mean the stock switch is waterproof.
Not so the replacement switch I’m going to try to install though…
Finally got it all working in the new unscratched host.
4.5 amp DrJones Mokkdrv driver
3x XPG2 neutral 4000k 5A2 tint.
After destroying the original switch I had to install a replacement switch. I glued a small micro momentary switch I had on hand in the pocket where the original switch went with arctic alumina. Was a pain to get working after I accidentally ripped one of the contacts off, but it works now. All modes function fine. The new switch has a softer touch and is more responsive than the old switch. The old one didn’t always function even when I felt it click. New one always functions with a click.
This light still has a downside though: Now that I have everything working I’m thinking 4.5 amps is too much! At max power it gets hot quite fast. Too hot to touch in 1 minute or so. Thinking I might strip off 2 or 3 of the 7135 chips.
I am in awe of your persistence sir….
Great stories again, the failures and subsequent repairs sound all too familiar exept that I am not half as persistant as you are!
Thanks. Took a lot more time and effort than I thought it would.
Near the end I was thinking I’d have to make a fresh star. The pad for the positive wire was no longer even visible. Its inner edge had already rubbed off long before and I’d covered that portion of the pad with arctic alumina to prevent getting a short to ground. Unfortunately, the outer portion of the pad was now no longer visible either. I couldn’t get the solder to stick without a visible pad.
For the first time I tried using solder paste in the area where the pad was. That actually worked. It cleaned off the gunk around the pad and created a solid bond. My bondwires are looking raggedy though. Hopefully I won’t wear through them removing the driver to take off 7135 chips.
On the upside, the outside of the light looks absolutely pristine and it works great (except for being a little too high current).
The thin glass lens I was using in front of the Carclo optic cracked. I was worried that would happen as it was very thin and had a lot of pressure on it with no o-ring. I was also concerned it might shatter if the light fell bezel first. I ended up removing it and replacing it with a much thicker coated acrylic lens.
Ordinarily this would have prevented the bezel from screwing on because the new lens was so thick. But I modified the lens by filing down a ring on the outer edge. Result is the lens is quite thick, but the portion under the bezel ring is quite thin.
This actually makes the optic look more balanced in the light because the Tiny III’s stock TIR lens was built in a similar manner: with a flat ring going under the bezel slightly back from the front surface of the lens.
Problem solved.
The issue I was having with the light not turning off was caused by a bad ground connection. The driver was soldered directly to a leftover trace from the stock driver. However, the new driver was flexing or moving slightly each time the battery was installed and this was putting stress on the trace. I added more arctic alumina to help anchor the new driver in place, and changed the ground connection from direct solder to a small jumper wire to allow for flexing. Light has worked flawlessly since.
I’m currently running it with DrJones Mokkadrv in a Nanjg 105c with 10x7135 chips. Gets quite hot to touch at the head after a bit, but not quite burning hot.
I think I should order some of the new 2015 Mokkadrv. I’ll bump up output back to 12x7135 and use the configurable turbo timer in that version.
I was planning to convert many of my triples to CREE high-intensity XPL, but I think this one isn’t a good candidate for it. At 3.8 amps, I don’t think it draws enough current for the XPL to make much of a difference over XPG2.
Or I could change the driver to a custom FET from RMM with special modes. Perhaps 100% with configurable turbo timer, followed by ramp down to 25 or 30% (50% is too high), and then have other modes below 30%. That way I could have ridiculous lumens (probably 3000+) for something like 10 seconds before the turbo timer drops output down to 1200 lumens or so.
Actually, as much as I like Mokkadrv, I have to admit the idea of installing a FET driver that gives ridiculous lumens for 10 or 15 seconds sounds pretty appealing.
Guess I’ll have to check with RMM to see if he can program the turbo timer to ramp down to less than 50. With a FET driver and a Samsung 25R even 50 is too much for this light.
You sound like you are on to something, that would be a jaw dropper to pull out the Tiny III and pop ~3000 lumen off, then casually drop it back to 800 or so to finish looking around… Turbo from off would make that thing a good option for disengaging from anyone not wearing a welders helmet at night… Let us know what you decide on and how it works out. Fantastic thread for me so far…