This DQG Tiny18650 flashlight has stopped working. It was dropped and it never came on again. I cannot see what is wrong. No parts fell off when I removed the tail-cap, head or bezel. That is the extent of my troubleshooting on something like this. I did try feeding power from a cell in a battery holder to the positive center and negative ring on the driver. Clicking the switch did nothing. The switch and other components do not wiggle or move when prodded.
I have it dismantled. It was not all that difficult. There was minimal potting as can be seen in the images. Basically, I would like it to go to someone who might stand a chance to repair it, modify it, or somehow make use of it.
I will carefully pack all the parts in a box and ship it anywhere for the cost of postage, rounded up to the nearest dollar.
It looks like postage most anywhere in the US would be $5.10 unless I can shave an ounce off the packaging and still have it packed well enough. So that would be $6 total.
Let me repeat… THIS IS NOT WORKING IN ITS PRESENT FORM. The images are clickable to see a larger view.
You get everything shown in the first picture, packaged, rattle-free in a small mailing box. The tailcap is shown affixed to the body tube.
It will take me a week to ten days to get this in the mail should anyone wish to have it.
Gray stuff is some kind of substance (glue? crappy epoxy?) used to hold the driver in place. But it only took a finger push to pop the driver assy free.
I suppose I could try hitting the switch solder joints with some hot air?
One of my favourite lights….it’s sad to see it dead. I killed one of mine as well. But it ended up as a triple, modded by pink panda. Anyone willing to take the challenge?
The switch has 4 solder joints. Two for mounting and 2 for electrical contact. I forget which is which.
In your photos, I do not see solder around the right-most solder joint (as viewed from the top). It might be worth applying a bit of solder paste to that joint along with a fine tip soldering iron.
I also love these lights. Great form factor. Feels great in hand… very grippy.
I’ve got a bunch of them actually:
DQG Tiny 18650 III (metal button): Modded into a triple with a Mountain FET driver. It works, but I messed up the knurling and it looks really messy on the outside. I’ve since salvaged parts from it.
DQG Tiny 18650 III (metal button) 2nd light: modded into a triple with a FET+1 driver and Anduril firmware. Had to completely rebuild the button and button mount, but looks and feels great. Incidentally, the Tiny IIIs are much harder to mod than the Tiny IVs. The Tiny IIIs use so much threadlocker the head cannot be removed without a blowtorch. The Tiny IVs use much less and can be unscrewed to remove the driver.
DQG Tiny 18650 IV grey (rubber button): Modded into a triple high-CRI with FET+1 driver, Anduril firmware, lighted switch. This one is very reliable and looks great.
DQG Tiny 18650 IV black (rubber button): Tried swapping the XML2 for an SST40. Worked for about a day, but then all higher modes stopped working. All connections look good so at a guess something burned out internally. Ugh!
I also have an old DQG 18650 I: This one was a really crappy design. It’s a twisty instead of a sideswitch. And the battery compartment was narrow and tapered. If you put in all but the narrowest 18650 it would slide in and never come out.
Another similar light is a Titanium 18650 light from CN Quality Goods I got years ago. It’s basically a titanium DQG Tiny 18650, with same diameter head, bezel, identical optic, and a sideswitch. It’s overall a bit longer though due to separate driver and star, and a spring in the battery compartment instead of the size-adjusting compartment on the DQG III and IV.
The switch looks like it is a little bit crooked, can’t tell if it was knocked when it was dropped or if it was just soldered that way. As Firelight2 suggested, might want to see if you can resolder the switch to see if it helps.
I think I’d be inclined to try a poor man’s reflow. Button-side-down maybe with a little support for the button and three chips (crumpled foil if not something better/more elaborate), then crank up the oven to 450F (broiler better than normal mode if possible)…flux everything on top, let it cool, and see what it does. Maybe inspect closely with a 10x magnifier or better beforehand to see if there are any obvious solder cracks or other damage. The emitter should handle that temp ok if you keep it in there briefly at max temp (reflow specs for good emitters often say around 30 seconds or so once max temp is reached). Even if it’s lead-free solder and that temp doesn’t cause it to fully melt it may still correct any cracks.
If you have a hot air station or even a craft grade heat gun, warm the area up taking care to aim the flow away from the other components and I bet she will work.
Thanks for all the ideas. I intend to put this WTS on hiatus for a short time, hopefully just a short time. The smoke is bothering us a little and we have a very ill relative in Colorado we are going to visit. Everything real important is safely somewhere else and I’ll see where I’m at next week.
