I fell down the dark hole of flashlight dorkery about a month ago, which is to say that while I’ve always had a more than average interest in flashlights, I had no idea what the potential was currently. Wow.
After a lot of reading on ZeroAir and BLF, I picked up an Acebeam Pokelit AA with 14500 included and Nichia 219f, which is my EDC light (fits nicely on the side of the Leatherman Charge+ sheath). No modding there.
Then went to Simon’s shop and picked up a black Convoy S2+ with Nichia 519a, LiitoKala 18650 3500 mAH battery included, the short body, a KeepPower 18350, snap-on clip, LiitoKala Lii-S2 charger, and a lighted tail switch.
The S2+ arrived surprisingly quickly (2 weeks, though missing the 18350). Very nice light, though as a noob I don’t have much to compare to.
For the lighted tail cap, Simon notes that amp draws over 3A need a spring bypass, and the ZeroAir review shows a max draw of 5.43A for the 519a version. What I have not been able to figure out is whether the reason for the bypass is to avoid melting the spring, or to enable full performance of the 519a. Without metering, 100% with the lighted tailcap looks the same as the non-lighted tailcap, so I’m guessing if I left it on 100% long enough that would be the end of the spring and maybe more.
Also the specs indicate an average draw of 10 mA for the orange light, which would presumably drain the 3500 mAH battery in roughly two weeks. That means I might use the lighted tail cap when camping, but probably not for regular use, particularly if I need to bypass the spring for safety reasons.
Regarding bypass: doing it would provide a marginal boost in output, but not doing it is completely fine. I have a S2+ triple running 5A driver that is not bypassed because the long protected cell tends to crush and break the bypass.
For lit switch, I think Simon's number are not accurate in actual usage. Another user (cannga) and I measured 1mA or less for blue, and 3-ish mA for orange while both are installed in the flashlight. The 10mA numbers are likely obtained by hooking the battery directly to the tailcap, which does not happen in practice because the driver has a role in regulating current.
Since your 519A S2+ came without a spring bypass, you should be fine to install the lighted switch as is also without a spring bypass. The last lighted switches I got from Simon had thicker springs, so if the springs look the same between them, you should be good.
A concur with Simon that a spring bypass (or a low resistance spring) should be done with amps over 3, but since the driver maxes out at 5, you should be fine without it regardless of battery. The spring won’t melt, but a bypass may give you some additional lumens although probably not noticeable.
If you’re at all concerned about it, just bypass the spring since it’s fairly easy to do.
Lucky you! Did you measure on a full battery? The amount of current consumed by the tailcap increases with battery voltage.
One interesting thing I noticed is that the 3mA my orange switch draws is actually enough to mess with certain drivers like the Convoy ramping driver. On the other hand, the driver works fine with a blue switch.
