No, sorry. Life has been a little too interesting lately.
The plan wasn’t to change the firmware though… instead, I was planning to swap out the driver completely. I have a couple suitable drivers here already, but I haven’t done it yet.
I need better tools before I can even open it, since the retaining ring is really tight and a bit slippery. Actually, this is a problem on a few projects right now, in case anyone has suggestions on a good tool for disagreeable retaining rings.
I’ve been using one of these, but it’s too soft (the metal bends before the ring moves) and doesn’t get leverage on sloped indents:
TK, reverse snap ring pliers! The more you squeeze the harder the tips push into the cutouts. What driver are you planning to use? My pineapple and lan run on NiMH AA’s almost all the time. I love the mode spacing on a true AA.
I’ll have to see if I can get some of those around here.
I was going to use a 15mm Mtn driver in this light. I haven’t been very motivated though, because the stock driver is pretty nice already and it works with NiMH.
TK, I use a pair of round nose jewelry pliers. I used them at first because it’s all I had. I was afraid of breaking them but they continued on until I realized that I can put nearly my full force(still haven’t braved going all out when tightening) without affecting the pliers. The tips still line up perfectly with little to no play. In contrast, I purchased a heftier pair just for retaining rings. I figured it would be safer than continuing to use the thin jewelers pair. The tips bent out of alignment after just a few uses. Go figure?
My technique:
I grab the pliers with the hearty part of my thumb between the handles. Then I wrap my index finger around one side of the pliers joint and middle finger around the other. The rest of the fingers continue on grasping that handle with the middle finger. It’s basically a cigar grip of sorts. i adjust the tips so they are apart as much as needed, push, and turn. This works much better than trying to use the pliers in the traditional way. Much less slipping and scratching up polished surfaces:) this meathid works best with the jewelers plier as its smaller.
