Tailcap question, not so much a switch question...

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I have several of the older **fire lights, I like the 26650 format and many of these are bargain priced and well built. Most are equipped with a tail switch plunger and spring. The question is… Do you all think a spring bypass on these lights is needed. It appears to me that the spring goes up into the plunger and when a battery is installed the plunger compresses the spring and either contacts the circuit board or the bottom coil of the spring. This would seem to me to create a natural bypass. And I have not melted any of the springs yet with fet drivers, and yes I have melted springs in other lights. The reason I ask, when doing a spring bypass on this style of light, the plunger never works as well since the battery compresses differently after the bypass.

Thanks Matt

2

Many of these are made of steel btw, so the conductivity is not great. And usually the spring compresses only halfway so that the plunger does not touch the lowest coil. I have soldered bypass wires to the bottom of the inside of such a plunger, which is easiest when it is brass.