This is going to be a quick guide on the "paperclip" trick which is used to test whether the problem with a flashlight is in the electronics or a connection issue.
So first you remove the tailcap from the light. If the body is one piece scroll down a bit more.
Then you take a piece of wire or anything conductive. In the past I have done this with a knife blade, a paperclip (hence the name), or even a fork.
If the light turns on then it is simply a connection issue or a switch issue. If it doesn't then there will be a bit more work required.
1 Piece Body
If your light is a twisty and does not have a tailcap that comes off (e.g. Mini-01) then it is slightly different.
First you remove the body.
Then you take a piece of wire and connect that to the place where body connected to the head.
Yep, this is a good idea. Pills can also be tested this way. A somewhat common failure point is the driver grounding, so taking the wire straight to the driver's outer ring will help diagnose that issue - I've ran into that a bunch on my romisens....
Good one Scaru. I wish BLF had a file for Flashlight ABC’s, or basics. Perhaps one where simple pictorial basics, without any long complicated discussion are archived in one BLF user manual. Like the one you used to show someone how to reset a tripped protection circuit. I know you borrowed that one from HJK and I think haveing a place where an important simple instruction from a larger topic or thread could be clipped out and filed for easy reference. Yes, a BLF library that would not be open for any discussion, merely reference. I suppose there would have to be a system of submitting a useful tip or reference chart to a moderator for approval so it wouldn’t become bloated with all kinds of extraneous crap. How many members or visitors have suddenly had the need, say, to figure out if their switch is faulty by using “the paper clip trick” but couldn’t or can’t find where they saw it anymore?
I’m on it, but anyone can add links…… I started cleaning things up, but a signal issue resulted in me losing my work at my end |( after a busy family weekend, I’m going to get back on it next week and get it organised into sections.
I can’t stress enough, if you find a useful link, drop it in the one stop mod reference shop thread, I’ll get an alert and can tidy it into the right section.
