I am noticing that if I do not get my driver seated almost perfect the connection drops out. would a little wick around the outer edges of the driver then a touch of solder after seating it help or hurt?
Wick, probably, for a compression fit. Solder, probably not, as Al doesn’t take solder like Cu does.
Also, Cu doesn’t “flow” under constant pressure, like Al does. That’s why having Cu wires in crimp connectors is fine (they “spring back” against the crimp), whereas Al wires end up “loosening” over time.
I pushed it in a little farther and it seemed to solve the issue. A couple of these sk98 clones just have a tiny little lip for the driver to sit on so it is not making the same contact that a better designed pill would. It shows in the numbers too. The best of the Ultrafire clones has a current well above 3 all the others 2.7 or 2.9. The driver alone is 3 then add 8 7135’s they should all be above 3. A couple of them are older throwers you can get cheap everywhere and they really reach out now. All of the clones I swapped out to XM-L2’s are 1000 plus lumens easy.
Hollow pill for the emitter, or solid?
My ’98 only has a shelf for the emitter star, big gaping hole underneath. If I tried pushing 3A through it, well, that’s a good way to turn an LED into an incandescent…
The generic C8 pill would be “close” with some machining, but don’t have the equipment to do it.
It’s hollow. It does deal with heat better than any I’ve seen. I would like to drop a copper pill in it with the same board and emitter.
I had actually planned to sell it along with the clones that have been given real electronics but I may keep it to experiment with. I have a picture of it beside a pill from a real Ultrafire that is about as old. Both are zoomies but this one reaches out better than any Ultrafire I’ve seen. Makes it look huge.
Just sold that one…