I am very new to this - TR-J18 is my first led flashlight. It suddenly stopped working, only producing occasional flash when screwing together. Checked the switch, it is working. So my quess is a faulty driver board.
But here my “wisdom” ends - for some reason I am not able to make purchase from Trustfire’s site so I could get their driver. But as of reading here, I understand it can be replaced with others.
But have no idea which one to choose (which will fit physically and also electronically). I am not looking for serious “overclocking” vs the stock version - some is ok, but i need to be able to use the light for longer periods (up to 30m a time).
I anyone could point me to a suitable driver for my TR-J18 (on abovementioned or other website) I’d be very grateful!
I would suggest that you check and tighten the driver retaining ring before you buy a new driver. I’d also recommend that you physically measure your existing driver to ensure that they are the same size.
I have one of the UniqueFire S7 which is cosmetically the same, but has a different pill design and driver size…
Are you using protected cells? If yes, have you checked the voltage of each cell to make sure on isn’t shut down?
Also, you may still have a protection circuit issue even if all the cells have good voltage. Do you have a single-cell light that is capable of decent output? If you do, you should see if the light works on high with each cell.
Also, make sure the button tops have not become so flattened that they don’t make contact with each other.
Regarding the tail cap. You tested the switch, but did you try to by-pass the tail cap all together by using a paper clip or something to connect the bottom cell to an non-anodized part of the battery tube?
Finally, if you are certain its the driver, you will need to pull it to replace it. Go ahead and pull it and look for damage such loose or burned components. You may be able to fix the driver at very little cost. A closeup picture of it here will go miles to helping us help you.
How should I measure the driver ( i do have basic electronic multimeter/ohmmeter/ampermeter on hand ) - meaning from what points and what, resistance, voltage, … (pretty stupid on electronics though not complete idiot ?
Hmmmm, not seeing any obvious problems with the components that I can see in the pics. There are several components on it that could fail and show no sign though. Given that you are not using protected cells and based on your other info, I agree that it does sound like your driver has most likely failed. Strong, reliable boost drivers are hard to find. I generally avoid them altogether (except for small AAA/AA lights). Hopefully, someone knows of a boost driver that will fit and be reliable.
A search shows a number of folks reporting failed drivers in that light. This thread has the same driver as yours, but not all J18’s seem to use that same drivers.
If you can’t find a satisfactory boost driver, you may want to consider taking the light another direction. You could do something like replace the center emitter with a 6v emitter like the MTG2 and then wire all the XML’s parallel to each other and in series with the MTG2. You could then use a Direct Drive driver if you use 3S cells. You would use the lower modes to get long run times. You would want to put the 6v emitter on a copper base as it would see a lot of current in High mode.
Went with easy route - hacked myself through trustfire website (horribly broken in every way) and ordered a spare driver from there.
We’ll see when it arrives, how it performs. Will let you know.
as far as of replacing emitters and rewiring them - sound way too complicated for me
I just need a reliable, fairly bright flashlight - I am quite fed up with the clicking-through-the-modes functionality tho. If anybody can suggest a similar power/price flashlight as J18, but with a separate mode selection button/ring, that’d be also great.
My UniqueFire S7, similarly equipped as the J18, is not making the best use of the emitters’ potential. My driver-modded three-emitter Skyray King with the original old T6 emitters was brighter than my seven-emitter S7. This is a properly driven light with updated emitters; it should easily overpower your J18.
It won’t have a separate mode selection button, but you might like the driver operation better than a click-through.
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