Buried Treasure...

[Dimbo_The_Blinky]

More buried treasure:

Springs!!

The usual steel springs that are found at the tail and on the driver of our beloved budget flashlights are real voltage eaters, for single li-ion lights that is something you do not want, it means a lower current or shorter regulation periods, depending on battery, current and driver type. If you want to improve your flashlight, one of the most effective ways is to improve the springs. A common and very good way to improve them is soldering a piece of 'copper braid' through the middle of the spr…

@DB Custom

I like to clamp my curved jaw hemostats on the coil of the spring just below the end I’m soldering the wire to, then do the soldering with the solder wire directly applied to the spring/22Ga wire to get the most of the resin core inside. The stats absorb heat to keep the entire spring from overheating.

Flip it and do the other end, then you already have solder on the spring when you solder it to the switch/driver pad, which makes that go much easier as well.

The exception is when bypassing the pcb the switch is on, in which case I like to remove the switch, mount the spring, solder the wire to the top of the spring once passed through the board, then replace the switch and make the wire to switch connection simultaneously while attaching that side of the switch to the board. Again, clamping the stats to the part of the switch lead that comes out of the plastic housing keeps that connection from melting the plastic. This process keeps the switch pristine, so it’s not overheated internally and works smoothly.

Gosh, takes much more to say it than it does to simply do it.

Just a little nugget of gold I found lying there…