According to the listing the S41 I ordered uses the same tail board as the X5/X6 but lacking leds and resistors. Has anyone done a lighted tailcap mod on the S41 or A6? If so, what value bleeder resistor was used and where? If I can do this, I plan to make a mould of the button cover using jb weld and new covers using permatex copper rtv silicone and a clear rtv silicone. A ‘copper’ silicone cover with illuminated ring should look really good with the post-bake S41.
I’ve done an S41 (well, S41S). Details about it here. But I didn’t use the original switch board. I upgraded it to one of PD68’s Rev5.3 boards. They’re a bit more efficient than the original style.
For the bleeder location, I put it in the spring side. One end at the base of the spring. For the other end, I scraped off a bit of solder mask just the right distance from the spring so that the resistor would fit.
Here’s a pic. Sorry it looks like crud, I didn’t bother to clean up the flux. Now that I look at it again, I might not have scraped any solder mask on this one. I might have just used that pad.
Just did one today, 560 ohm resistor was perfect! Done on the spring side as well.
Thanks. Resistors ordered. I’ll upgrade the tailboard to a newer design eventually but I’ll add the components to the stock board for basic functionality.
how about pics of the finished light? i have an s41 colored and would love a lighted tailcap, does anyone does these for a price?
ken
I’ve got a link in the 2nd post of this thread to a post about my colored S41S with lighted tailcap (including pics).
You can’t really just buy them ready to roll, but there are routes you can take to make it easier.
Installing the bleeder can be the hardest part, though not really bad at all. An alternative to installing your own bleeder is to use the X5/X6 driver from Banggood since it has a bleeder built in. But if you’re running high amps in your S41, the X6 driver has issues at ~8+ amps unless you modify it.
As far as the tailcap itself, you have two basic options. Banggood sells the illuminated tailcap that was used in the X5/X6, that should swap right in. But it’s not as efficient as PilotDog’s diy tailcaps. Building one can be tedious, but isn’t really difficult.
Tried it with mine at 560ohms… mess up the modes as a result… im using the astrolux lighted tailswitch that banggood sells. do you think theres a problem with this tail switch?.. also i have purchased an x5/x6 driver from bangood, works fine on regular tailswitch but when i tried putting this lighted tailswitch it also mess up the modes. Cant get it to work, appreciate any help or advice on this.
I haven’t used the Astrolux lighted tailswitch. But from what I understand, it’s onboard resistor has much lower resistance than the typical diy tailcap due to it’s design. This will affect the value you’ll need for the bleeder. I don’t know how low you’d need to go, but perhaps try ~300 ohms?
The part I don’t quite get is why the X6 driver wouldn’t work fine with the premade tailcap. Those are designed to work together. You didn’t add a bleeder to the X6 driver, did you? It should have one built in. Edit: yup, it appears to have a 470 ohm (“471”) bleeder onboard.
It’s a dumb question, but I’ll ask anyhow. Your 560 ohm resistor was marked “561”, right? Easy to confuse the labeling convention if you’re not used to it (not saying you’re not).
Include pics of your bleeder addition? And detailed description of what exactly doesn’t work (eg, picks up next-mode-memory, etc).
I didnt add a bleeder on the x6 driver but when i put the lighted tailswitch that is suppose to work with it which i purchased both from bangood, what happens is i cant cycle to any modes its like stuck in medium brightness and its flickering. It wouldnt respond to any mode no matter how many times i click on the switch. I tried tapping the light a little shock sends it to turbo… lol… but when i put the regular switch the driver works perfectly fine… i will try adding a 300ohms bleeder to this and see what happens.
Crazy. Medium brightness with flickering, you say? Is it a “consistent” flicker or sporadic? Is there a blink before the flicker? Almost sounds like it’s going right into programming mode. Could also be a intermittent connection with the tailcap. Perhaps try taking the internals out of the tailcap and using a jumper wire to test it?
yes it blinks before it starts to flicker but its sporadic flicker not consistent… maybe youre right it goes to programming or sort of… i noticed before i put the lighted switch the driver was set to 7mode and memory off, then after the lighted switch doing all the weird stuff and i took it off and put the regular switch the driver was now on 4mode and memory on… maybe i should get a pilotdog tailswitch instead and get rid of this one i bought from banggood?
Building a PD68-style tailcap is rewarding but can also be a challenge depending on your soldering skills.
If it were me, before ordering anything else, I’d try (1) to make sure you’re not running into improper grounding issues at the tailcap, and (2) to see if a different bleeder on either driver would fix the issue.
Do both drivers (the A6/A17DD and X6) exhibit the exact same behavior when using the lighted tailcap? If so, I might lean lightly towards the grounding issue.
Just run a continuity check on the switch no problem found… and a big yes both a6 with bleeder and x6 exibit exactly the same behaviour… by the way my host is an eagle eye x6. You might be right about grounding issue. Where do you think i should start? Ive been tinkering with this for a couple of days already and really losing patience… maybe you could help me out with what im missing.
If it were me, I’d take the internals out of the tailcap and press them against the battery, then carefully use a wire the jump from the body of the light (where anodizing is stripped) to the grounding ring on the switch board. See if you get the same flicker stuff.
Just did striped the x6 driver, xplhi emitter and the lighthed tailswitch out off the host. Wired everything and soldered each connection to eliminate intermittent connection issues, flickering is gone but i can only go to like 3 or 4 modes(muggle mode?)but unable to reprogram the driver to get it out off muggle mode… now took the lighted tailswitch out and swap with regular switch it works fine i have gotten it out of muggle mode and put it back to 7mode memory off… havent tried the a6(with bleeder) driver yet… off to work now ill try it again tomorrow or untill i get a new lighted tailswitch… thank you for helping me think…
Alright! i had a 620ohms bleeder resistor installed on both a6 and x6 driver and seems to work now, mode works fine but when i get it to higher brightness level particularly turbo, it starts to exibit an sporadic flickering which is very noticable… both driver exhibit the same behaviour… by the way everything is lying on the table outside its host and i soldered all connection to eliminate lose connection issue… somebody told me to put a 630ohms resistor but 620ohm is the closest i can get my hands on as of the moment so i tried that, works ok with the modes but the sporadic flickering bothers me…will try to find some 630ohm then see what happens…
Getting closer! I don’t think you’ll notice any difference between 620 and 630 ohm resistors. I haven’t experienced that issue before, but if going from 560 to 620 helped but didn’t solve the problem, maybe try a 680 ohm?
DONE! case closed! found the culprit the switch causes the flickering at higher brightness level! replaced the switch with a spare omten that i have, works flawlessly with the 620ohm bleeder, no flickering no weird stuff, smooth as it should be… i had everything installed on my astrolux K01 host now thats beautiful piece of copper… thanks man!
:+1: Woohoo! Little white switch? I’ve had occasional trouble with those and high amps in the past. Way to stick with it.