Just had a huge bummer the d4 i have carried as edc since they first came out quit today.It blinks twice when u put battery in but i can’t get it to come on with the switch after multiple clicks it comes on but can’t get it off without unscrewing the tailcap.
Sounds like a switch wire broke or came off. You could probably fix it by taking it apart and doing a little repair.
The main issue people have reported, that I’m aware of, is a damaged connection to the switch. I’ve had to fix those wires and connections dozens of times on my dev hosts.
After looking at it some more i think it could be the switch itself is bad. It is hard to get it to even click when you press it.
The switches are quite delicate, may need replaced. We had a wee chat about them somewhere.
If it doesn’t click the switch dome is off, floating around.
Btw., the switchboard is glued, i got mine out with hot air. You need hot air anyway to reflow the new one, I guess.
You also could ask Hank for a replacement switch board.
I fixed my broken switch a wile ago quick and dirty, works pretty well up to now in daily use:
Careful with that hot air though. That’s how I destroyed one of my switches. I thought maybe it’d be easier than soldering wires onto such tiny pads… but instead, it just made everything slide off and fall apart.
Received my Grainy blue D4 yesterday.
My impressions:
- The grainy texturing is rough. It feels a bit like holding a stick of chalk, or fine-grain sandpaper.
- The texture provides much better grip than smooth anodizing.
- “Hand feel” - not great. The added grip is nice, but personally, I’ve never been a fan of this kind of texturing. Handling it creates that same hair-raising feeling that handling a stick of chalk gives. It’s unpleasant. It’s not slippery like the grey or black D4 which is nice, but it feels far worse in the hand than the knurled titanium D4.
- Not sure how durable this is. From a previous report, the smooth black anodizing is much more durable and thicker than the grainy colored anodizing. I suspect the anodizing might not wear well.
Yeah, felt the same way chalk/chalk board strange feel. Went back to gray and black myself.
I’ve got the cyan and it’s not as bad as some feel about it. It’s a matte finish with what you’d expect a matte finish to feel like, which is not slick, or slippery, like my green/blue Convoy S2+ lights, which feel almost like water in my hand.
I don’t get the chalk, or chalkboard feel to it, but that’s just me.
When I first got it, I installed the pocket clip the wrong way and thought…‘oh boy Chris, you’ve screwed the pooch now.’
I removed it and placed it at the other end expecting to see a gash, or at least scratches in the finish and not a single one on the end I removed the clip from.
What I have noticed is that the matte finish gets dirtier more easily, as one might expect from a ‘rougher’ finish.
I installed a new water heater using the my cyan 219C D4 and my hands were sometimes dirty, as you’d guess and I can see a slight discoloring of the tube itself, as if grime has started building up. Maybe a squirt of 409 and a cotton cloth will clean it up, but I haven’t messed with it yet.
Anyhow, much like ArmyTek has their ‘rubber’ coated finish, the D4 cyan and green have a more non-traditional surface, which to me at least, seems to hold up well against tight pocket clips.
Chris
black and natural anodizing can be made harder(thicker) than colored varieties, that is just the nature of the beast
Yup, agree 100%.
I don’t find the smooth anodizing slippery or hard to hold onto at all. Its not like it weighs 100lbs… lol
The grainy matte is probably easier to make because it goes right to anodizing with a ruff media(glass?) blasted finish, instead of a polished smooth finish before getting anodized like the smooth grey, black and old green. Starting with a polished smooth surface makes for a much better higher quality more durable ano finish imo.
My original smooth grey 219 with 80cri 3800lumen is a favorite of mine, smooth original green xpl is also very nice and maybe my most favorite. The black ano looks and feels classy high quality, its done very nicely.
The new 219 90 cri 3000 lumen is noticeably by eye a loss of output compared to the old 219 80cri 3800 lumen, but still very very bright. My eyes see very little difference in tint, but thats just my old eyes probably. The new xp mcpcb does slightly improve the beam, And none of that matters now, as only the 90cri 3000lm is available now if you want the nichia.
Maybe my sweet little now unavailable smooth green will increase in value like my old rolex…lol, wish I could buy another few of those.
My grainy matte blue/green are ok, but seem cartoonish in color and have a un pleasant feel compared to the high quality feel/look of the smooth ano IMO.
All things considered, smooth or grainy, all are very nice lights, blowing away all other single 18650 mini pocket rockets imo. With more configurable options then you can get in any other light I’ve seen.
Hank is the man…
Is the firmware easy to update…?
I mean can I set the light to just put out 800-1200 lumens? One mode….
Thanks
I took off switch cover and this is exactly what happened to mine.Is there abetter switch that would fit or do you think i could get one from Hank.
Hank usually sends replacement parts (switch on PCB) but you have to solder the wires. Links to the bare switches have been posted. Don’t know of any better switch yet.
Maybe it’s from making mud pies as a kid but I like the matte so much I sold my smooth ones in exchange for the same tint in the chalk sticks. It appeals as opposed to repulses
I think hank should make a raw cooper version. I would buy one with each emitter.
I am curious too, been watching for references to updating the code on the d4 here lately…
Looking at a few of the Sony batteries. Is there a point of diminishing returns? If I get the 20A continuous, would I be missing out on much by not getting the 30A? Just want to make a solid choice without having some sort of super performance without a need for such. Thank you!
As described in the OP under “Upgrade Options”, there are several other firmwares available for the D4. The main ones are:
- RampingIOS (what the D4 comes with)
- NarsilM (same as the BLF Q8 and BLF GT)
- FSM (library which makes interfaces easier to write)
- Anduril (similar to NarsilM but with more features)
- Baton (similar to an Olight Baton)
- DarkHorse (almost exactly like a ZebraLight)
- Meteor (similar to the Noctigon Meteor)
- Momentary (super simple, mostly just an example for how FSM works)
But if you only want to make the light turn on each time at 1000 lumens, it should be a fairly small change to any of the above.