Solarstorm SC01 disassembly

Some never managed to shut up about these lights. So I had to order one. :D

Actually, I ordered an SC02 a bit later. Because reasons.

No one seemed to be able to open it up the SC01 (or any of these lights?) So here I am.. To the rescue.. Maybe..

Got this puppy today.

Not what I would consider sufficient amount of thermal paste, but way better than nothing.

After some more gentle attempts.. Tried to pull and twist it out like this. The switch may not have liked it.. but oh well..

I didn't get anything out.

*poof, magic*

Hey, got the pill out.. See, no scratches. :) Oh, don't mind the angle of the switch.. Its supposed to be like that. yupp.

Ok, maybe I made a little scratch. It will buff out.. If not, consider it art. Yin and Yang. :)

15,5mm driver

It looks like a mess. (small aluminium pieces may have come from the "scratch")

Summary based on my little teardown.


-This light have a pill. Its press fit. A very tight tight press fit.

-A 14-15mm wide rod with some length + hammer from battery compartment MIGHT have easily pushed the pill out. (or completely crushed the driver)

-Does not like like you can resistor mod it or do much about the driver.

-The third wire that was mounted on the star is ground. Light seemed to work without it.

-Most of the inside of the light is anodized, not many places to get ground from as it is.

1st impression regarding mod potential:

- It will require some work.

- Make a 10mm FET driver and connect it to stock switch on top of the 15,5mm driver. Rebuild pill with cooper if you, ehm, "scratch" the pill.

- Rebuild with 17mm driver, custom pill, and a triple star with carlco optics. Bezel opening is 19,33mm. Perfect for a triple. If you rebuild to a triple, it seems like its possible to use a 17mm driver below it. That might become my approach, but I have many other projects before that.

- Wait until you make a second impression and get other ideas.

(picture showing 17mm driver fit inside the switch compartment.

Hope this was useful for you in some way.

:beer:

Nice! Thanks for this.

:beer:

Awesome, thank you! My friend claimed my SC01 and the missus claimed my SC02, but I still have and actually use the SC03 because it’s so light and cheap to the point where it’s disposable. I’ve been wanting to dip my toes into modding and the SC series seems like a good starting point because they have so much potential and fall just short of being a superb light in my opinion. The beam profile, tint and output were all very good on the samples I got. The SC03 puts out better looking light than my 1st gen V11R for 1/8th what I paid for it. But the low frequency PWM is an absolute deal breaker for anything other than a total beater.

Looks like the interior is also built somewhat like the Olight S series. The Olights also had press-fit pills that socketed into place with no threads.

However, the Olight pills are relatively loose. Doesn’t take much effort to press them in or out.

Thanks for the pics! The burrs on the star, I’d be inclined to take it apart just to clear them. :~

When I disassembeled the olight s15 I had PC’d pink for my wife I ripped a piece of silicone that was a “nub” on the button that made contact with the switch and had to rig it, is there any such possibility of that happening on this one?

Also on the S15 I pressed the pill out from the back, just sayin, it seemed to work well (except for the button issue).

Yupp, I have already edited a line and made that bit more clear.

When I "opened up" this light, I wast even sure it was a pill that could be pushed out. So I tried my gentle approach.

One time, long time ago, I crushed a driver going in from the back. Because you had to unscrew something from the front first. It was a junk driver, so no harm done. :)

Reminds me of the time I destroyed the driver in a Jetbeam RRT-01. Accidentally turned the wrong part of the light before desoldering the driver wires from the star. This caused the driver wires to break.

Even worse, the driver was one of those that consisted of 2 stacked boards. The wires were attached to the inside of the bottom board and passed through holes in the top board. I found it impossible to fit even a small soldering iron tip into position so I couldn’t attach fresh driver wires.

@ Firelight 2. That was my main reason for ruining scratching the pill. I wanted to take a look at the driver.

[quote=Racer] I've been wanting to dip my toes into modding and the SC series seems like a good starting point because they have so much potential and fall just short of being a superb light in my opinion. [/quote]

It could became a really nice light when modded, not that it was bad when stock IMO.

I think the host is nice. This is not what I would consider a beginner friendly light to mod though.

The SC02 might be much easier to mod due to its larger size. I wonder how it compares to ZY-T11.


Thanks for the pictures and data, I'm pushing hard on the driver of my SC01 when I saw your post. I have not yet used the hammer, it is possible that in the end I have to take it.

If I can get the pill without damage, I'll post

Agreed.

From the pictures you posted I feel confident that I could mod one of those to put in a Nanjg 105c with filed down edges and appropriate firmware and switch. It wouldn’t be a beginner level mod though.

I’m starting to wonder whether this is the sk68 clone killer/replacement :slight_smile:

Oh, he made a little scratch there…
“It will buff out” LOL

That brings some bad memories to my mind. Been there, done that.. https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/24027

Reminds me also about the light sitting on the shelf, waiting for an inspiration to fix the switch. Naah, maybe tomorrow. ;)

Maybe you guys will have good luck with the SC02 and I could always repo mine from the missus :slight_smile:

Currently I’m infatuated with the Roche F6 which has no detectable PWM and a build quality rivaling more expensive lights. That’s why I coughed up the SC02 so easily.

It looks like it may not be an issue with this SC series cause they left a notch in the pill.

To fix mine I just filled in the pill with a little bit of some thick plastic insulating sheet cut to fit (similar to emitter insulators [not centering rings, just the insulating disk material]) if you PM me I can explain more indepth, I was able to fix that one for no cost.

Thanks. I think I got it. Let's see when I have extra time & motivation to fix it. :)

Good thing that SC series have the notch there -> makes it possible to remove the pill without breaking the switch, unlike in Olights.

If they sold them for $5 maybe
A wee bit pricey…but definitely a GREAT general run of the mill AA light for as someone lovingly referred to people as “muggles” (ones not exposed to the power/brightness of Cree emitters yet)

With the difficulty of teardown, this is definitely going to be a “non-beginners” modder light, actually it’s not bad in it’s stock form other than the PWM frequency sucks…but hey all stock Chinese PWM is horrible

and Racer…went all “Mongo” on the pill…heh…love it

Possibly the OSHPark 15mm 15DD would be a good direct drive driver replacement but getting the clicky position would be the difficult part, cool to see a 17mm drops right in sorta

This is one of those “is it really worth it” to tear into it and mod it kinda lights…sure…tinkerers like us LOVE to get in there and “scratch” things :smiley: but would many others even consider it?

And RacerR86 has coined a new phrase here at BLF…if it’s completely trashed and totalled…it’s not destroyed…its “scratched” :smiley:

“Honey, I scratched the car.”