I hate flashlight modding with a passion! Who else?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

In the past, read 6+ years ago, I modded some flashlights, but never really enjoyed it.... maybe because I didn't have the right tools nor the right parts.

Often things didn't go well, and I just lost the patience with it. So I quit modding... about 6 years ago.

Now, fast forward.

A few weeks ago, I burned the SBT90.2 of my Lumintop GT90 because I used the wrong battery carriers. I used them from the BLF GT....16V instead of 3V?

So I ordered a bare SBT90.2 from Neal since this is not a cheap flashlight and don't want it to go to waste. You know, just thinking that I can get the iron out and fix this myself. Who wants to waste a few hundred dollars?

..... But oh... boy....

My hate for modding just reached its peak. (Edit: after 1 hour I have calmed down a bit.. Yokiami has helped me trying to fix it.. Appreciate that)

First I couldn't unsolder the 4 wires from the MCPCB... not even with a 100W solder gun.

Then I unsoldered them from the driver side...

Tried to heat up the board to reflow the LED... with the 100W solder gun.. didn't work.. probably too much copper?

Found an old frying pan and unsoldered the LED... the 4 wires stayed attached to the board... so it was hot enough, but not too hot.

Then put everything back together... the light turns on.. and couldn't be turned off.. It would ramp up and then back down.. but still very bright.. The lowest output wasn't really low.

So I thought.. crap.. I love this stufffffff ... not.

Maybe a short? Tried everything, unsoldered again, resoldered again.

Then I reflowed it again.. and this time the pan became too hot.. the 4 wires just fell off and couldn't be reattached....

Now I have a light that turns on... and doesn't turn off anymore.

Love this #$%^&

Who else has the same experience?

some pics

2

All the time. Lights with e switches seem more complicated than clickers usually and there are more wires to get wrong. It might be the switch wires aren’t attached right? That can cause the situation you’re describing. Definitely check for shorts. If one of those wires is touching bare aluminum you can get a short. I have ripped off solder pads on mcpcbs before. I’ve killed probably a half dozen drivers before too, and toasted LEDs too (shorts mostly). I’ve melted stuff, cut/ground stuff accidentally, cut too short so it won’t fit, almost caused a li-ion battery disaster a couple times (don’t short out 4S VTC6’s). It’s not fun making stuff sometimes, but still worth it in the end I think.

3

I don’t know if I would hate modding with a passion, because I haven’t tried yet. So my solution is to pay someone who loves to do it.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Do you like Joplin?

I don’t know, I never joppled.

4

Yeah, I wouldn’t use a frying pan to try to reflow an LED. It’s too easy to end up with a fried-egg beam.

5

I wish I had the skills to modify flashlights. I would fix my Astrolux FT02.

6

The solder joints are dry or its probably lead free solder? Use some flux or use more solder to unsolder the wires that won’t budge. Reflow the joints.
Also if you had a short the driver would not ramp.

7

Goed gereedschap is het halve werk :slight_smile:

But it is love and hate. Sometimes you need to put a project away and just come back later.

8

:+1:

9

Sometimes I don’t like modding. I find that it takes patience to do it the right way, and experience to know what the right way is. Sometimes I don’t have one or the other. :smiley:

As for your problem, a light not turning off is usually an indication of a short from LED negative to ground. This short bypasses the driver which is why you can’t turn it off. Since you reflowed the LED it could be there. Check the residence with a multimeter between the LED negative and the MCPCB base. I’m not very familiar with how the GT90 is put together, but that would be my guess.

As for not being able to solder the wires on the MCPCB, some MCPCBs have better thermal connection between the solder point and the copper base which makes it harder to get the solder point up to temperature. Get your solder iron nice and hot and put some solder on the tip of the iron to increase the surface area to transfer more heat to the joint quicker.

10

:+1:

11

Love modding when it goes well, hate it when it fails.

Also hate that I can not predict which ones will fail. I have many unfinished projects, the ideas were always good ( :innocent: ) but the mod just did not want to be done, things break, many things break, will burn, do not fit and will never fit, make ugly beams, ugly tints, were the wrong parts. Or a succesfully finished light is simply not as good as another light that I already had.

But every now and then a mod turns out wonderfully, way better than anything that I can buy stock. So I keep modding as long as I have the time, the ideas, and the motivation to creep behind the cupboard into my 2m2 universe.

12

Well said :+1: .
I just can’t leave things alone even when they work as intended. I’m cursed with always thinking I can make it better, faster, brighter or stronger.
Its cost me over the years with this mentality, a few failed projects but I have also made some really cool stuff and learned alot along the way.
Part of the fun is just learning how to. But I do feel your pain.
Machining something is similar. Nothing like working hours on the lathe or mill to make something and take a final pass cut and check your measurements to only realize you have overshot the dimension. :person_facepalming: Scrap it and start all over again. :rage:

13

Happened to me once. The workpiece was nearing perfection.
Then I decided to do a last run. Same increment …… with a slower forward speed. And cut too deep.
I should have used sandpaper :wink:

This still happens to me. Sometimes I have to stop myself when things are not getting any better.
Then I put it away and (try to) get it out of my mind. And some time later start over with a fresh look.
And most of all: realising that if something is 99% perfect, the next action possibly makes it 90% perfect, in stead of 100% perfect.

14

I agree with djozz and 007. It’s not for the faint of heart and is often more expensive.

However repairing a pricey light makes sense. Good luck with it or send it to someone willing to help.

15

This is why I don’t mod.
Messing around with wires, LEDs, cookware & stuff no way man! :smiley:
You should maybe take the switch out as you may have tugged a wire from there.

16

I just have to say that the more I mod, the more I like it and need it :wink:
I don’t do complicated or elaborate stuff, but I like to mod! Right now, I’m in deprivation waiting eagerly for stuff to arrive! :smiling_imp:
Maybe in some years I’ll retire from it or I don’t have more patience to do it, but right now I’m against your flow ChibiM :stuck_out_tongue:
I wish you luck on getting things back together and working :wink:

17

Preaching to the choir on this one…I bought some parts a few years back because I had an idea for a tube light with a little more throw, better UI etc. By the time all the parts arrived BG or GB was selling the same build. I left everything in a drawer until the Bat-flu crud this year, slapped it all together and didn’t even get a puff of smoke for my troubles. DOA

I’ll break out the soldering iron during the next pandemic and see if I can get a better result LOL

18

Some days everything goes wrong, even the simplest of things, and i hate it. Other days things just flow like i wish solder would on those bad days.
Now i assume i’m going to have a bad day and if that doesn’t put me off i know i’m going to be alright, otherwise i leave it until i have more patience. Patience is everything.

19

.
I could tell you some stories on this subject too ” moderator007 “. And after scrapping it, telling the Bossman was unbearable :weary:
.

20

You don’t hate modding. You just don’t have the proper tools :smiley: