BLF A6 FET+7135 Light Troubleshooting and Mod thread

Thanks a lot bugsy , what wires should I choose for bypasses and emitter ? Right now , without mods and protected ICR18650-26FM hits 3 amps!

Cheers from Greece

I do not know what gauge wire because I do not mod that often.

A lot of the information is here....much easier than trying to read the original BLF A6 thread. I think most of it is in the first or second post of this thread. Also...DB Custom (Dale aka FrankenDale will probably also chime in...as will a bunch of others).

One thing though...DO NOT take the light apart until 100% cooled off and be careful not to let reflector spin. You can keep the reflector from spinning by keeping light pressure on the lens when turning the bezel.

Thanks again for your help and tips!

I did double check the retainer ring on both sides. They were fairly tight. I was only able to tighten very slightly. Did not help my problems. :frowning:

Easiest would be to get a 16 mm Noctogon with the led already on it. Then it’s just a matter of desoldering the wires from the old star and installing the new on with a dab of thermal grease under it.

You did all the usual checks with A6 problems, time to contact BG CS for a replacement. There is a contact information on page 1.

[EDIT]
From: Code now public! BLF A6 FET+7135 Light. Short 18350 tubes and Unanodized Lights Available

8/31/15:

For those that are having issues with their light, you can use this email address: heyanqing1@banggood.com

That is directly to Neal’s assistant. They will help us get any problems ironed out.

I gave up asking for clips, as the answer was always to offer to replace the clip (I broke two of them within days of getting my lights, early on) but they never knew anything about a better made clip, though rumors abounded.

The wires on these are ok, I’ve done several with spring bypass top and bottom and a good cell has done high 5’s to low 6’s in the current dept.

The main issue here is to protect the trace on the switch pcb from frying. So by drilling a small hole through the pcb next to the switch then running a 22ga wire through the board and attaching it to the positive switch terminal on one end and to the top of the spring on the other, the current will follow the wire and the spring won’t collapse under the combined heat/compression. (there are holes in the edge of the pcb, vias, that take the ground through the board to the inside where the switch is. This is how to tell which side of the switch to put your positive wire on, use the side that is not connected at those vias.)

20ga can work well, but isn’t required here as the wires are short enough that 22ga does the trick coming from the driver to the emitter.

Just had the “always on” problem

After having left an A6 with short tube and a 16340 cell on overnight — still on and useful in the morning — the switch wouldn’t do anything.
Wouldn’t cycle levels nor turn the light off.

Spent quite a while clicking away with the tail switch — light stayed at moonlight no matter what.

Took the tailcap off and put it back on again and I had a couple of levels.

Took the tailcap off and waited a few seconds, put the tailcap back on again and the light has been behaving normally since.

So what the heck, it’s a tiny little computer, and when it’s munged, power cycle it, flushout all the old electrons and get a new batch in to make it work for a while.

I added an extra feature to my BLF-A6 (5A tint) that I already had equipped with a red lighted tailcap. I use it as a bike light and keep forgetting taking it off the bike when I go inside the house (my bicycle lives outside on the street). The lighted tailcap helps a lot with that, I can still see the light on the handlebar when it is switched off. But it appears that when I use the light at medium power and do not switch it off upon arrival, I miss noticing it when I go indoors, even though there is light coming out of the front (Amsterdam is very light, even at night). So as silly as it sounds, I wanted an indicator light on the side while the light is on .

It is not the best or neatest mod I have done, and perhaps not that safe, but I spent an evening on it so I may as well tell you about it :-)

First I drilled a hole, I figured the easiest spot would be sort of in between the driver reataining ring and the driver, three quarters hitting the ring, one quarter through the side of the driver. The chipping ano does not make this a very goodlooking hole :-(

The hole was filled with Norland-61 by sticking a bit of tape to the outside over the hole and filling the hole from the inside. Cured with 365nm UV-light. Then an extra blob on the outside to get a shiny finish, cured, then an extra blob on the inside for a bit extra body, cured, done. No pictures because you just can not see the process on a picture.

The brass ring was filed wider on the inside to help inserting the led diagonally from above (see later on).

Then I made a led-circuit from two tiny wires, a green 603-led and a 100 Ohm resistor.

Heatshrinktubed it

soldered it in (used the solder points of the bleeder resistor that was already there)

Inserted the led into the hole. It just stays there without glue or anything. The whole assembly is flatter than the thickness of the compressed spring, so there will be no pressure on it by the battery.

It works, and luckily the resulting lowered resistance because of the extra resistance placed parallel to the bleeder resistor does not interfere with the user interface! :-)

It is not great looking because of the chipped-off anodisation, but I hope that it stops me from forgetting the light on my handlebar and getting it stolen overnight.

What can I say but very creative you forgetful person. I hope I never get like that.

Can’t get the light to work with the shorty tube

Just received 2 Keeppower 18350’s from BG

Topped up the batteries with an Xtar MC1, both took about an hour to go from red to green.

Already had the A6 shorty tube

Put on the o-rings, lubed the threads but no go.

With the regular tube and a 30Q and the tail cap off the light works using a paper clip to make the connection but doesn’t work with the shorty tube and 18350’s

Seems battery related but both of them

Any ideas welcome

cheers

Did you check both the tail side and driver side of the short tube for electrical connection? My shorty tube for the A6 did not work because the anodisation was also on the top side of the tube, preventing electrical connection to the head. Had to sand the ano off to get it working.

I put the oring in the wrong spot and the tail wouldn’t screw down and connect the first time, remove orings if installed, see if it works then reevaluate

Thanx

It looked the same as the 18650 tube (maybe a bit thinner) but after a little sanding I was able to get a connection….BUT, only with tube backwards. When I compare the shorty and regular tubes it looks like the front/driver end of the shorty tube is short meaning it can’t make a connection no matter how hard I sand. Looks like a known if not common problem from what I see on the original thread

Looks like I’m back to Banggood for a replacement

Thanks again for the response

cheers

You could also just shim under the driver side retaining ring. To work the end of the battery tube must screw in far enough to make contact with it.

Don’t forget the paper clip mod! Sorry not certain this will help…. But it is a common issue. :slight_smile:

Fix is linked in the first post

Finally got my a6 triple put together! Working well except strobe with Fully charged battery (just too dang much with my Samsungs). If I see any amount of interest I can provide a detailed walk through - although it ain’t pretty I ordered the wrong spacer. But what I will say is the triple from RMM has awesome tint and my friends seemed impressed! :smiley:

Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Goodnight my fellow flasholics. I hope you all find, use and give away many lights this coming year!

Where did you get the parts from dudunphy ? Mtn electronics ?

Happy new year to everyone :smiley: