I’ve been keeping up with this thread as members report their Cometa experiences. My neutral white Cometa arrived today.
Before powering it up, I made two washers out of a thin, clear plastic from a food container. One fit between the emitter PCB and concave anodized ring, the other around the driver’s spring.
I installed an unprotected button-top NCR18650B using the included plastic sleeve and the tailcap lit up.
When I turned the light on, it appeared to be stuck in one of the higher output modes. No amount of quick presses or long presses did anything but turn the light on and off. It acted like a single mode flashlight.
I removed the cell and carefully touched the springs. They were not hot. I reassembled the light and tried again—same result.
While aiming the light at a wall and turning the zoom ring, I noticed a slight flicker. I shook and tapped the light but could not replicate it. On a whim, I further tightened the head and suddenly I had multiple output modes and was able to enter programming mode. I was happy but not satisfied, so I took the light apart again to do more investigating…
The concave ring was making contact with the negative solder joint on the emitter PCB, and the anodizing was worn enough to conduct current.
Luckily it wasn’t contacting the positive solder joint. My washer wasn’t helping because it did not cover the angled surface of the concave ring.
I will attempt to reduce/flatten the solder joints a bit with my iron and use some gaff tape on the underside of the concave ring instead of my plastic washer.
Also, the o-ring around the lens was not seated correctly in its groove and would have certainly let water in.