Have you been to the flashlight wiki? http://flashlightwiki.com/ Lots of solid info there... Also there is a general info forum at the top of the forum list here http://budgetlightforum.com/forum I'm sure if you have general questions they would get answered there
If one is NW you could always sell it to me, unless you want to just give it to me since it didn’t cost you anything. :bigsmile:
My SkyRay King isn't gold anymore, well not all of it anyway...
It's not flat black, but it's not as glossy as my surefire. Whatever, at least it isn't gold anymore...
Sharp eyes will note that i had a few problems with surface prep.
I didn't do enough Scotchbriting around the bottom of the flashlight head.
Apparently i didn't get the Scotchbrite in all the grooves, and whatever they glued the switch in with didn't take the paint well either.
I used VHT satin black epoxy, it was dry to the touch after half an hour.
Once the paint has cured I will scuff it again and respray it.
Very interesting, BIR! It certainly looks different in black and I never thought I'd say this but so far I think it looks best in the original gold. I will reserve further judgement until I see it in a flat black. I always worry about painted objects scratching easily since I've never had anything but bad luck with painted surfaces.
Thanks JohnnyMac. Its epoxy paint, like automotive paint, hopefully it will last, we'll see...
I think a flat, matte black powder coat would be pretty hot. Something that looks like the TM11 or an L2T rock (I know they are not powder coated).
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Curse the maker!
Yes it did cost me, don't know why you think otherwise? I didn't get a refund, and as of yesterday I got an express tracking number that actually does work now.....no explanation what that other very long number they sent me that they originally said was a tracking number...we'll see. Since though I did get very tried of waiting I do already have KINGs from HKE and they are fully branded as SkyRay both CW & NW. Looks like I'm going to have some extras.
I assumed if it was lost in the mail that Ric may have resent the item to you. If the original ever turned up in the mail system one day after getting the replacement it would be like getting a free one. No offense intended. Depending on what you paid I still may be interested if you end up selling some.
So, I got my NW king from CNQG. It's unbranded, the batteries dig into the board no matter how i sand them down, and it does some really wierd things at initial battery insertion...
The thing that bothers me the most is how it acts when I put a fresh set of batteries in it. Sometimes when I screw the body into the head, it works as expected - does nothing - and stays off. Sometimes it comes on as a screw it down, stays in low mode, and i have to press it three times to turn it back off (hi-low-off). Sometimes it turns on in high mode and I have to press it twice to turn off (low-off). Sometimes it turns on in "???" mode where it just flickers randomly in all sorts of different brightness output levels. When this happens, I usually have to press it once to put it in low mod, then again to high, then again to off.
When it's working normally, it does nothing when I screw the body down , and it goes HI-LOW-OFF (like it's supposed to).
Does anyone else have any problems like this or did I just get a bad board?
The only problem I’ve had with mine is if I don’t tighten the head properly it will flicker in low mode until I untwist and retwist the head. Then contact seems to be good and all is well. I also have no issue with the contacts getting scratched. Try cleaning the threads really well on both the battery tube and head. I then lubed mine with a few drops of Singer sewing machine oil. Works really well without the gumming up the silicone paste sometimes gets.
I got some of those new Trustfire 3000 batteries from Manafont. They were pretty sharp so I sanded the sharp edges off of them and added some Deoxit Gold to the contacts. It's still very hard to even screw it shut (even with the lube on the threads and Deoxit on the board). Maybe the batteries are a little longer than the Trustfire flames?
I'll try cleaning the threads with some Wd-40 and then re-lubing them with my flashlight grease. I'm still pretty concerned about the board though and I'm curious if anyone else has run into this...
This is day one stuff, which I'm sure you already tried, but ima throw it out here anyway...make sure there's no anodize on the top of the battery tube where it contacts the board, and you might also put a drop of lube on the O-Ring, this made mine easier to screw closed.
Mine doesn't show any scrapes on the board, but i can see where the batteries have made contact. I have used AW, LG, Sanyo, and UltraFire batteries in it so far.
Yeah, def no anodizing problems on the top rim. The odd thing with the flickering is that it only happens when you first make contact and the board powers up. Once you press the button to turn it to hi-low-back to off (or low-high-low-off, or whatever oddness it gets stuck on at the first power up), then the light functions normally. This leads me to believe it's the driver acting odd at "first boot".
Deoxit Gold and Panasonic CGR18650CH 2250mAh work very well with my three Kings and have yet to even scratch the board. I think the smaller size batteries makes tightening the lights easier.
Do any of yours ever turn on when you first screw the body into the head (or turn on and then have the incorrect mode selection until you cycle them to "off")? Are yours branded or unbranded?
Never for me. Mine is branded and purchased from Tmart
Two are "unbranded" one is "branded". Not one of the three turn on or have mode issues when assembled for operation. I did apply generously Detoxit Gold prior to use. So I can't say if it helped or not as I didn't operate before application. Reading prior threads, I recognized having the light firmly tightened has been a concern, hence my use of the batteries chosen. Hope this helps.
My king is branded from Tmart. I checked 4 Xtars for sharp edges and threw them in. It works perfectly. I took off the head to see if it dug into the top, but it looked fine. It squeaked like crazy when unscrewing it; enough to annoy my wife. A little Nyogel and it’s now perfect.
Does yours ever "turn itself on" when you're just screwing the body into the head?