BLF A6 FET+7135 Light Troubleshooting and Mod thread

Hint: the fact that BG says it’s the same driver is not evidence that it is, in fact, the same driver with the same quality components or care in building it.
Nor is there a reason to assume you’ll get the same thing tomorrow as you’d get if you bought it today. They don’t usually know what they’re selling you.

Go to MtnElectronics if you want something well made that accomplishes the same thing — ask the people who designed the product you want to buy who to trust.

Yes it would work well. No not limited to 6 amps. I saw 10+ in a triple.

Thanks for the advice hank and tristanxoxo. Sounds like you had a few bad experience with bg hank. I have been lucky so far. Checked Mtn out, most of there drivers are out of stock. There on hoilday for a few more days as well. Looks like I’ll have to wait. :frowning:

Not so much personally with this specific item, but I’ve been warned off about cheapening driver components over time.
Look up “poorly made in China” for the pattern, which is quite general and widely confirmed.

I do know the more general problem of rarely getting the same thing twice, and
I have found the support folks often don’t know what they’re selling.

In theory, the BLF A6 driver should be able to handle the power from a triple pretty easily. In practice, your mileage may vary.

If you want a top-quality one, wait until MtnElectronics gets back from holiday and order stuff there.

Trying to set mode memory.
Does the light has to be ON or OFF before I do the 15+ taps to enter configure ?
After the 15 taps, what would I see ? the light start the 2 blink cycles ?
According to the diagram, each mode choice is indicated by 2 blinks. To choose mode Lock, I should wait for “blink blink” then “blink” and do a full press before the 2nd blink ?
Sorry for being dense, but I’m not getting anywhere after over an hour :frowning:

Flashlight on, 15 taps then it turns off followed by the two blinks. Gotta tap the switch between the two blinks two change the mode. Thats how it works for me anyway. Good luck……….

Thanks…finally got it !!
I had the light off, and ended up accidentally turning it on…enter turbo…flashing, while tapping it, numerous times. My cat scampered away from my lap after a few minutes of self blinding. LOL
I think the instructions should be amended :-

  1. turn ON light
  2. WITHOUT LOOKING AT IT, keep tapping for 15+ times while it goes through it’s cycles, until 2 weak blinks appear.
    Fun night, I should have gone to bed, but the lure of venturing out into the dark to play was too overwhelming to resist.
    Now I got to go find my cat :smiley:

Yesterday I got my replacement head. The moonlight works perfect also do the other modes. Hopefully this one lasts longer :slight_smile:

Ok, I love your forum!

Please forgive me for my ignorance, but I’ve spent some time looking for my problem and couldn’t find anything. I just received my BLF A6 today. I put my nitecore 3400mah 18650 battery in and turned it on. WOW, what a beam. However, this is where things went south. While still on, I proceeded to screw off the top lens portion. (Not sure what I was trying to accomplish) Anyway, it came off and that’s when I saw a very little stream off thick smoke come from the LED and then it went out. And now it won’t come back on. Does anyone know what I did? The reflector portion didn’t come off as cleanly as it could have, and now that I think about it, I guess I could have shorted something on that little board… any ideas? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

By taking the bezel off, you put pressure on the silicone dome and broke a bond wire. The emitter is toast.

Purchase a new emitter on a 16mm Noctigon and replace that one. Most basic of soldering skills, remove a wire, re-solder it on the new star. DON’T touch the dome with the iron!

As far as group changes go, it is said to half press 16 times OR UNTIL THE LIGHT STOPS RESPONDING, then the first 2 blinks will set group and the second 2 blinks will set memory. Should be pretty obvious, the light has to be on to respond.

So for clarity, yes, turn the light on, then rapidly half press 16 times (the light will cycle through the levels repeatedly during this process) When the light quits producing light (stops responding) watch for the set of 2 blinks and click off during this time to set group mode, or wait for a second set of 2 blinks to set memory mode by clicking off within the 2 blink time frame.

I am very very forgetful, but this UI sticks in my mind easily for some reason. I’ve found it easy and pleasurable to use since it was first introduced to me months and months ago.

i got my flashlight yesterday as well. i haven’t seen anything about the issue I’m having.

the flashlight cycles through all the modes perfectly, but it will not turn off. full clicks just cycle through the modes as if it is a half click. any thoughts?

Did you try to do a spring bypass and toast the switch?

i haven’t done anything to it yet.

Agree with Dale’s assessment.

If his repair recommendation is beyond your skill knowledge set, I’d suggest you post a new topic - something like “Need help fixing my BLF A6”. Explain the situation and what you need help for. Include a copy of (or a link to) DB’s post. You may find someone willing to do the work for no cost/low cost in your immediate area.

AFAIK, what happened to you is rare. What’s been reported by others is shearing off of the dome. The flashlights still worked, albeit with a more tightly focused beam and a slight shift in tint.

I think that if you read this discussion thread from start to finish, you’ll find some admonishments to be VERY careful when unscrewing the head. Not that this is your fault, it was just an unfortunate manufacturing choice to use a square die and a square centering ring. I understand that some of the later models had this flaw corrected by using a circular die and a circular centering ring. Here was my solution: Bare BLF A6 Interest List (coupon now public)

I only ask because a friend of a friend may or may not have done that to his and had the same result. Light wouldn’t true off it would just cycle modes.

Sorry to hear about the busted flashlight.

For future reference, you should not unscrew the bezel while the flashlight head is hot. Turn it off, and let it cool down first. It is much easier to damage the emitter when it is hot.

I like to press the eraser of a pencil against the lens when I screw or unscrew the bezel. That way the lens does not rotate when the bezel turns. And it's not just the lens. The reflector and the white plastic centering ring are also prevented from rotating when you push down on the lens.

Go to an Art supply store and ask for a “Mars” eraser. These are very soft and ‘grabby’ on glass, much better than the usual kind.

Phil

If the light won’t turn off it’s probably due to the little nub in the center of the rubber boot being too long. You can click the light on, but the nub won’t let it come back out far enough to disengage.

Take the retaining ring out of the tail cap, pull out the switch board and the boot/spacer assembly and try them outside the light to see if that’s the issue. Easy enough to trim a slice off this nub, just don’t get carried away or the boot actuation will be mushy. The rubber boot should sit on top of the switch cleanly, not be held up above it. Cut off the nub as much as it’s being held high. This might not make sense reading it, but if you’re holding the switch in your hand and see it, you’ll understand. Just remember that the piece that looks like a washer is a spacer, the switch sits against this with the switch post going through the middle. So the boot should sit flat on the washer.

This is really easy, no soldering involved. Simply use tweezers or needle nose pliers to unscrew the brass retaining ring, then pull the parts out or push the rubber boot through with your finger from back to front.