I can’t think of an easy way to get a clear boot in the colored s2+ versions, so the clear gasket and lighted switch board seems to be the easiest. I think @emarkd did it with a separate board, but used a rubber lunch lady glove instead of the boot we are talking about.
My other thought would be if the rubber boot could be trimmed down, you might fit another board in there.
I thought about trimming it down but not sure if it would still work if I did that?
My understanding is that the new gasket does 2 things. First it is clear to allow for light between the switch piston and ring. Second, the bigger ring was added to improve the water resistance rating. Trimming it down would still work, but would be less waterproof. Probably ok for most uses.
Convoy should sell those metal button assemblies (ring, silicone rubber and button) separately.
I would certainly buy some.
And why are they not available on the black and grey S2+ ?
The metal button is threaded in the tailcap. It need a different process to manufacture tailcaps for metal button.
I don’t care.
I have grey epoxy. 
(JB WELD without metal in it)
It’s a bit silly i.m.o. to have to buy a candy coloured S2+ to obtain that nice button.
I don’t even like the S2+ design that much.
Maybe i should look for alternatives, like this:
Having the black / grey S2+ designs use the rubber switch covers means that people who need full IPX8 waterproofing can opt for those versions, while those who are fine with IPX6 water resistance can opt for the coloured versions.
Although it would be nice to have the choice of either rubber or metal switch covers for every S2+ version, that would double the number of options Simon would have to keep in stock and reduce the flow of stock in any one option. Basically, he’d need more storage space, he’d have to lock up more working capital in his stock, and he wouldn’t be able to consolidate as many shared parts into larger cheaper orders with his suppliers.
Unfortunately, those points mean that the idea is almost certainly uneconomic.
This is pretty much spot on regarding why we don’t have the option of either switch in any/all S series lights. If it were a simple thing it would have been done long ago. Each design currently requires a completely different tailcap. If we do a redesign of the metal switch then swappability may be factored in but I can’t make any promises. The main reason for redesign would be to bring the metal switch up to IPX8 which is of course the reason this thread was started. It’s not far from IPX8 now really and seems to pass most IPX8 type tests but it’s close enough to “not quite waterproof” that Simon won’t put an IPX8 rating on it.
just posting to subscribe, sorry. Didn’t find any other way …
You can click on Click to Subscribe at the end of the 1st post.
I have an S2+ metal switch with clear gasket using the lighted daughter board from PD86. It fits fine if you order both the switch board and the daughter board with the 0.8mm thickness option from OSH Park, at least in my light.
Interesting, I will have to try that next time, I ordered the normal 1.6mm for the top PCB this time around as it fits better with the normal switch.
Rather than pull this thread off topic, I’m going to post my build information here
First of all, my apologizes if I am pulling this old thread up again, since my below post goes about Convoy metal switch, I didn’t want to open a new thread since all information is already here.
Yesterday after doing a lighted switch on my grey S2+ with a transparent rubber button, I got 3 desert tan S2’s so I wanted also lighted switch on my desert tan S2. This model has a black metal button, but I have seen lighted black buttons just working fine, I will post pictures below.
It is known issue that metal buttons don’t let the light through, so I went for 6 green LED’s and dial the potentiometer till the usage was 150µA, put everything back together but there was no light shining through the sides of the button, so I took the PCB out and crank it up till 600µA just to test and still nothing shining through, to make sure that the LED’s where working in the tail cap I tested directly on the tail cap and there was same current draw but nothing was getting through the button.
After this I was bit disappointed and went to work, it was bugging me all day. I thought it has to do with black painting on the button, but after little research I saw lighted black buttons just working fine. I also saw what my problem was.
Picture borrowed from ZozzV6 from this thread, this is factory delivered lighted black button:
Here another picture from a website selling desert tan’s with black button, pay attention to the white plastic ring between the button housing and the button itself:
All non painted buttons have this plastic ring too. Another picture borrowed this time from emarkd at first page second post:
But here is my button, there is no plastic ring and the button fits right in there and there is no gap so there is no need for a plastic ring too, but this does not allow the light shine through:
I checked all 3 desert tans I have and all have the same button.
I post this just so you know, there are 2 variants of the black metal buttons, if you want to light your desert tan S2+ tail cap, check if there is a nylon/plastic ring between the button housing and the button itself.
I am planning to get a shiny metal button with the plastic ring how easy/difficult is it to get the button housing out? Is it clockwise to loosen or anti-clockwise?
The metal switch has the same problem, might be even worse, take a look at this thread
Opening is easy, just unscrew it, standard right threading
Yokiamy, I think I couldn’t explain myself, the button I got is different than the buttons delivered before, there is no gap between the button and button housing, even the one you post it has that gap and I can understand it doesn’t shine through there because he was using original Convoy 2 LED board, that’s why I used 6 LED board with a potentiometer so I can make it bright as I want, but like I said, my button is different than all others shown in this topic or other topics before. I already ordered a metal button with a nylon ring in there.
Did Simon ever solve the water resistance with these buttons, or are they still leaky?
They are still the same but they aren’t “leaky”. They simply aren’t as water tight as the solid rubber switch boot. You could still drop it in the deep end of a pool, fish it out and it would be just fine in 95% of cases, I just wouldn’t leave it in that pool overnight. If left submersed for periods of many hours like overnight a few tests had a small droplet of water that passed the seal and others in the same test had no water invasion at all. It’s not meant as a diving light but for general use in rain and such there is no problem.
Thanks for the reply, too bad though! If the new colors end up being released with the metal buttons, could they be converted to the traditional tailcap boots just by opening up the hole in the tail?
