So you guys give up because no pics.
Yeah, pretty much.
Anyone who’s into diving and might know the brand (I never heard of it before), is probably not a modder.
Anyone who’s into modding is similarly likely not a diver.
Odds of finding someone who’s both are pretty slim.
That’s why you need to dump an overabundance of info (including pix) to try getting help. Every little bit helps… us and you.
I even have issues with f’n POS imgur. Might display embedded pix in peoples’ posts (but sometimes not even then), but click on ’em or even rightclick to [view image] and I pretty much only get that dark gray-brown page and nothing else. Doesn’t matter if at work or at home.
I have issues with Imgur also…but yes, need pictures please.
What do you want pics of??
Pictures of the switch, the battery tube, flashlight head, reflector, LED, driver if you can get to it.
Just a helpful hint… reread the whole thread, start to finish, especially all the posts asking questions, saying there are zero details, etc. Still no idea what Mystery 12V LED it is, what’s the switch, the driver, etc. We’re not psychic. You want help, you gotta meet us halfway.
Yeah pic posting the image using the thing doesn’t work for me either.
I just paste the “bare” URL directly like this:
Then you can just click it or copy-paste it into a browser.
But yes you will need to post detailed pics of the tailcap so members can see exactly what it is… and more importantly theorize how to take it apart to access the parts inside. Dive light switches are not always trivial, and many have different internal mechanics.
If it uses a printed circuit board theres a chance the added voltage + current is too much for the trace. But its impossible to say without at least seeing its internals.
I took the tail piece apart (that’s the switch) and it has a PCB, so I am assuming a hall effect as the push button is isolated from the internals of the light completely.
I will try again with the URL’s
Like what Lightbringer said. Running a 4.5V light at 8.4V is a bad idea and usually burns the driver. Based on your descriptions it seems that the driver is on the tail switch side and might have some overvoltage protection since it’s still alive after you applied 2 lithium-ion batteries in series (2S). What you seem to have is a mismatched setup. 12V led, 4.5V driver, and 8.4V power source? My guess is that the leds are 6V not 12V since you said that it turns on very bright when you connect 2S directly. I am not sure a 12V led would turn on at 8.4V. So I think your options are either change the driver to something more suitable for your led and power source (highly unlikely unless you can build your own) or just bypass the tail switch/driver all together with a thick wire or something that can handle high current (not recommended). The switch would not work of course and you’re left with a 1 mode tighten the tail twisty light running at direct drive. Also not a good idea for a dive light since the chances of failure is high since the host and components are not designed for this.
A better suggestion would be to use a 3V led instead and use a single 26650 + spacer. That would be less bright but the tail switch/driver should work properly and would be more reliable. For spacer you can mod one of those 3 x aaa adapters and just connect the + and - with a wire.
I believe the driver is not in the switch (tail piece ) as I ran a wire from the bottom of the 2x 26650 battery ( -) to the flashlight housing and the LED worked.
I am not sure if the LED is 12 volt as there is no labeling on it.
I thought about using the tail piece as a twisty, as you recommended, , but I had to turn it many turns for the light to turn off and that would affect the lights underwater isolation ( the two ’O-rings” would no longer make the seal required)
Not sure if this helps… I have a really old Seoul-P7 light with a switch that behaves almost exactly as you describe. Its a reverse clicky, and to switch modes you firm-click it every time. From OFF, firm-click HI, firm click LO, and firm click again for OFF. It does not use soft clicks or half-press to mode cycle.
I am not exactly sure how it works internally, but I do know the circuit board uses a small resistor to throttle current for its LO mode. The light is direct drive, with current limiting features in the switch. It’s only made for 18650, 4.2Vin. I am pretty sure it would fry it if I tried running it with 2x18350.
Heres an image of my switch:
Good luck!! Hope this helps
If the switch has a resistor to limit current then it could be that the voltage becomes too low to activate the led with the switch attached. You can always remove or replace that with a more appropriate resistor. I would still not recommend this since the switch, driver and wires might not be able to handle the high current. It might turn on for a while but could burn something later on.
Maybe try the bypass without the tail cap for a while (maybe 30 mins or until the battery runs out) with the flashlight head submerged in water. See if it can handle the voltage, current and heat. Make sure everything that is submerged is watertight of course. My guess is that something will break either the driver or the led if the heat transfer is not good enough. But if it survives unscathed then removing or replacing the current limiting resistor in the tail switch might work. Would still not recommend but if you want to experiment and know the risks then to each his/her own.
FWIW… this sounds like the OPs light: Model# SL1
I could not find any technical information about this light with respect to its tail switch or driver circuit.
http://www.scubastoreandmore.net/search-light.html
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tovatec-search-light-800-lumen-dive-1810079607
[EDIT]… you should also post pics of the 12V LED you are trying to use as well.
Thats the light in question
Reinforces my earlier guess that the driver’s in the tail, if it has a magswitch in the tail.
Unless it’s a dual-tube design like the FWwhatevers, it’s probably just like the Tacklife and a coupla LuxPro lights I got.
In those the driver’s in the tail and needs some bleed-through current at the LED end. LED off, the controller in the tail gets a brief pulse of power to carry it through to the next pulse. Once it’s juiced up, it works like a regular driver, passing through heavier current to the LED. When it senses it’s running low, it turns off the LED to get juiced up with another pulse. Rinse, repeat.
Meaning that max current to the LED is like 98–99 PWMed, not 100% full-on.
Short the tail, and the LED will go full-on, but zero control.
Change the LED, change the cells, and all Hell breaks loose. Without KNOWING what’s in there or what was replaced (like the Mystery 12V LED), there’s no way to know what it’ll do or why. Frankly, I’m amazed the little beastie didn’t fry when hit with twice the voltage it’s used to.
I don’t think the driver is in the tail as the light works without the tail screwed in if you run a wire from the neg of the 26650 battery to the light shell.
The original LED did burn out with 2x 26650’s (8.4Volts applied)
The 12 volt Led installed after this burned out is unknown as it was given to me by a friend and he did not know what it came out of.
I believe the tail switch is hall effect and it cannot handle the higher voltage or amperage.
Is there a way I can mod this PCB hall effect to work ?
Yes, I agree, but the driver must be in the upper part of the light correct?
Nope.