BLF A6 FET+7135 Light Troubleshooting and Mod thread

yes, it appears to. i have a second light that works perfectly, so i took the switch out to compare. they both look and sound the same.

i should add that every once it a while it does turn off. however, i’ll leave it sitting on a desk and it’ll randomly come back on. blinded me a few times, haha.

I have my A6 driver that I ordered from Banggood on December 3rd. It looks nice.

Take the switch and test it for continuity with a meter. It shouldn’t stay on. Check it both installed and out of the tail cap. I had one with abnormally high resistance that I had to swap. Fortunately this is easy to do.

Sounds like the switch is heat damaged from soldering it onto the pcb. Too much heat traveling into the plastic switch via the metal tabs can soften and deform the plastic inside the switch, causing it to hang up. Just a little and it might only hang up from time to time, very much and it won’t work at all.

I’d say the switch needs to be replaced. This is relatively easy, it’s always a good idea to hold the tab where it goes into the body of the switch with a pair of tweezers or hemostats or needle nosed pliers to act as a heat sink and hold back that heat from entering the body of the switch.

Also a good idea to touch some solder, or use solder paste, on the pre-fitted tab end where it is going onto the board. The idea is to make it as quick a solder joint as possible and still be solid.

Care also needs be taken when on the other side of the pcb, doing a spring bypass can actually flow plastic into the via’s from the switch getting too hot, and more often than not the switch action will be compromised after an event like this. I like to take the switch off, do the spring through bypass or standard just-inside-the-spring bypass, then re-mount the switch.

Ask me how I’ve learned all this. :wink: By burning up switches and stuff, of course! lol

I did the exact same thing.

Anyone know where to buy these centering rings?
Is it possible to get the kind that sticks onto the LED board instead of sticks to the reflector, so it stays in place when the reflector is removed?

Yeah, I like to experiment with optics.

The butterfly type aren’t sticky but are a tight press fit to the substrate and stay put when the reflector is removed. The lip is not as prominent either.

Is it possible to select the 4 mode group WITH memory function?

I can get the 7 mode w/MEM , but cannot yet attain the 4 mode w/MEM.

You should be able to fast click to the first two blinks then shut it down between blinks. Turn light on again fast click and wait for second set of blinks and shut it down. Be sure to check the diagram on the first page. :slight_smile:

You are already in mode memory by the “second” set of 2-blinks. The “first” set of 2-blinks toggles the 7/4 modes. Turn off after the first blink of the first set of 2-blinks for the 4-mode.

Got it!

Thanks for the tip.

Shutting the light off during the 2 blinks in the configuration mode enables that option. So if you want to toggle between 7 and 4 modes, turn it off during the blinks on the first set. To enable or disable memory, turn the light off during the second set of blinks. I usually click it off between the two blinks, but even immediately after the second blink will do the job.

4/7 and memory are independent of each other, but it does take entering the configuration mode a second time to access either or.

I received my A6 and had the same issue with the switch never disconnecting, so the light was always on. Switch worked fine outside of the tailcap, but once any pressure was applied to the switch housing, which happens when the retaining ring is tightened in the tailcap, it never disconnects. Luckily I had a spare switch lying around that I swapped onto the board (no clue how many amps it can handle) to make the light work correctly.

I'm contacting the email address in the first post to see if they can send out a replacement. However, is this the best switch to go with? Is there a better one I can swap in there?

Side note: huge thanks to everyone involved. I honestly didn't read much about the light, just saw the specs and the huge amount of people in the group buy, so I ordered. I'm seriously impressed with the firmware, makes me jealous that TK was able to pack so much logic into one tiny 13a :)

This sounds like something we saw in our get-together in Oakland on Sunday. The rubber switch cover is too tight, so it presses ever so slightly on the switch, breaking the connection.

That's what I thought at first too, but it was actually a faulty switch. Just giving a heads up in case anyone else has the problem. I ordered a few switches from Mtn Electronics, so we'll see how they do (although the one I swapped in seems to be holding up fine so far).

Not sure if this is the right size. Pretty sure it would work. But I’m guessing if RMM carries it that it will handle direct drive. I also keep hearing about omten. But someone more experienced will know what you need.

Seems to have large traces :wink: and some via’s to help out the load.

I went with this, the Omten 1288, and will solder it to the included board.

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_83&product_id=404

Too tall by almost 5 mm. The mini omten is only 8 mm tall. It might work if you trim the rubber post in the cap.

Is there a red filter similar to the one below that fits the BLF A6? I think it’ll be useful with moonlight mode for stargazing or astrophotography.

I’m interested as well; with the 18350 tube it would be especially useful to use while fishing. I’ve looked around a little, but since I don’t know all the places to look for parts, I have no idea whether something is available or not.