As you can tell by my join date I am a new flashaholic but I have already acquired 10 lights in my 3months here, so I guess it is safe to say I AM hooked. I have never attempted to do any modding whatsoever and the only soldering I have done until recently was with an old wood burner that my mom had left over from cub scouts back in the 50s(she was also my den mother). However I just recently purchased a battery powered 900 degree soldering iron to repair a tailight on my motorcycle. It gets hot quick and it seemed to work great(for that anyway). Back on topic, I doubt I will ever get into any ‘serious modding’ and I am very aware that this may change in the future, but at present I AM interested in trying a spring bypass. I have 2-A6s, 1-S1s, 2-X5s, & 2-X6s. I read the thread about the A6 spring bypass @ BLF A6 FET+7135 Light Troubleshooting and Mod thread but did not completely understand how it was done. Maybe there are ‘more detailed’ instuctions somewhere that I missed.
At any rate, I am still a little wary of bricking one of my new and already fantastic lights, even though I do consider myself handy just not real ‘quick’ to understand. Here is what I am unsure about.
1)- If I DO mess something up, can I get a replacement part?
2)- Are ALL of the lights mentioned (A6,S1,X5,X6) spring bypassable?
3)- Is the bypass done on the head or the tail(or both)……… Heck, Im still not sure where the driver is! (Im guessing the head?)
4)- What size silicon insulated wire(.023?) should I use and where is the best place to get it and how much will I need per light?
5)- What is the best solder for this job(60/40 rosin core or leaded 63/37 ? I saw both mentioned) & do I need to use soldering paste or flux?
6)- Should I try to do a “through pcb bypass” or something simplier (I dont even know what a PCB is :o) )
7)- I read somewhere about replacing or doubling the spring…. is this a better option?
8)- What special tools will I need to dis-assemble & re-assemble the lights
and finally
Should I try to find someone else to do this for me…… I would REALLY like to give it a try, at least once.
If the answer is “you better get someone that knows what they are doing”……… Are there members here willing to help?
If the answer is “Yes you can do it”…… I need a patient volunteer to explain the actual procedure to me in detail when I get the needed stuff and decide to do it.
Thanks for ANY advice ~
C
Although I prefer to use stranded wire (usually 20ga) instead of braided copper , here is a link that shows fairly well what needs to be done if you do not want to go through the board. I am not sure that you get much more by going through , but it may be that it does give a little extra. I am sure one of the “real” modders will chime in, just be patient if this is not the route you want to go with the bypass.
Bypass can be done on driver spring, tail spring or both. You will get maximum benefit if both are done (provided both ends have a spring as some drivers do not)
A dab of flux is always helpful to reduce any acids or oils that even your fingers can get on the wire.
A pair of small pair needle nose pliers, circlip pliers or anything of that nature , that will fit the little holes to unscrew the switch retainer ring and driver retainer if needed.
I would be sure of the replacement parts before I tried it in case you do mess something up. You can only stay on the solder joint like a second or 2 at most or you will fry the little traces if you are close to them.
I have killed a few switches and a couple of drivers learning , but it gets easier each time so I would start with a less expensive light and work my way up personally.
The best mentor is practice! I often use 24AWG silicone wire for single LED builds and 22AWG for DD triples. Depending how much spring compression is needed, sometimes using copper braid is the only option (but very rarely). If you are willing to drill the PCB, a pass-through wire is the best method. Use low-melt solder to avoid melting the switch.
Make sure that you use rosen core solder and NOT acid core solder. Rosen core solder is for electronics; acid core solder is for piping.
An alligator clip makes a terrific “heat sink” (device to absorb excess heat) if you are concerned about heat traveling down the spring damaging something and you have room to place it I between the point you are soldering and what you are concerned about damaging.
You can also use it on the wire or braid that you are soldering in to stop the solder from wicking down the braid or braided wire. Stopping the heat stops the wicking effect.
Well I’m just starting out as well but I can share a couple things I have learned, or should say have observed since what I have observed may not be indicative of what is generally experienced.
1. The first thing I noticed was that I needed a lot of heat! I turn my iron(60w station) to the max. I hold it there till the solder liquifies and flows(not just melts).
2. Use lots of flux or the solder will not heat and flow well.
3. Use premium high stranded silicone wire or forget it. 22-26ga. Anything else will either keep your springs compressed or begin to break with repeated use.
4. When using flux you will notice the the flux sucks the solder up into the enclosed wire making it stiff causing your spring from fully decompressing. At first I thought well I’ll just not use flux. This seemed to work fine. With enough temp I could get the solder to flow well. But I quickly noticed that without some solder up between the strands into the casing, the wire will fail rather quickly. I did some test and the number of compressions before the wire broke was much less without the flux/solder filled wire. So, you kind of have to give and take here and find what works best.
In addition to what others have said I’ve found that wires from dead power supplies work well. Easy to solder and seemingly provides the same benefits as copper braided wires. My gut and totally unscientific opinion is that it doesn’t matter what type of wire you use given how short it is.
When soldering the spring on the driver I usually don’t bother removing it. It’s not that hard to solder in when it’s still in the head if you take your time and are careful. The tail cap spring is another story and I always remove it when soldering a wire to it.
I think most if not all of the light you mentioned use omten 1288 switches which are 40 cents each from Simon’s store. So if you crater one it’s not expensive to replace it. You should consider buying some just to have on hand rather than waiting months to get a replacement if a switch goes bad.
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond but I kinda got sidetracked with other ‘spring’ projects.
I appreciate all of the good advice, but with my lack of experience with a soldering iron I have had second thoughts about trying to do it for fear I might screw up one of my perfectly fantastic lights. Maybe with a little more time and knowledge I will be able to tackle it without trepidation.
Thanks again for your time and advice.
C~