Man that’s a bummer. I really liked the redesigned led cover too. I think I will install copper strips and 20 awg wire and not worry about tape being dislodged or worn through.
Hello everyone
the COMETA has a problem for some big head battery,it may be shoring out.
so pls add a piece insulating trip like the picture.
if your light is shorting up, pls tell me, we will deal with.
while I appreciate the help and photo, it’s confusing to me. Is there someone who can post a more detailed photo of this? I’m not tech. Is that the driver spring at the bottom? So this is where the cell goes in, positive end first? Shouldn’t the gasket cover that ring around the base of the spring? How do you get the gasket to stay in place? Is that the ‘pill’ and can it be removed, and then u glue the gasket in place? And what about the other end of the pill, there were issues there also, no? Oh my goodness this confusing to us non techies. HELP!
Or someone told me that if u are going to use a button top 18650 you won’t have any worries at all? Correct?
Appreciate all the help, and pictures, very much. I’ll have my light early next week. I want to be PREPARED.
From what I gathered there are two problems identified.
1) As posted earlier and now by Neal the bottom of the pill may come in contact with the positive side of the battery. The only part that should come in to contact with the + side is the spring. (I guess a flexible spring could also give problems? But that doesn’t seem to be the case for the 2 lights I saw). I started taping down the bottom of the pill with electric tape:
Inserting the plastic ring as Neal suggested in the flashlight before putting the battery in may be a more durable option. The ring will be loose so you have to check it whenever you change batteries. I guess Neal can send us a ring and include it in a next batch? I do think that this problem will only occur with so called raised flat top batteries. Here is a an example of a famous Sanyo cell:
For non raised flat tops the plus pole will be sunken in and it will be more difficult to contact something besides the spring. The other extreme are button tops, where the relative diameter of the + pole is smaller, and I guess therefore also is less likely to make contact with anything else then the spring. Still to be safe, adding some insulation (tape, cardboard, plastic, …) will be a good idea regardless of which battery you put in there.
2) Then there is the cap that is screwed over the pill. Here is a picture from post #582:
The bottom of this cap may or may not be insulating enough. Again I added some ugly tape:
Difficult to see as the tape is also black. Note that in my case I should have added a bit more to also cover the ‘slope’ part as was pointed out by goshdogit in #1124
I hope Neal will also provide us with an easy solution for that?
Opening the flashlight is not terribly difficult and comes down to unscrewing whatever can be unscrewed On one of my lights the lens almost fell out, so better unscrew it upside down as re-positioning it is tricky.
Your welcome James, hope it helps. It really is an excellent light and I’m not normally a zoomie fan, a few minor issues to resolve and everybody owns a gem of a torch
I must admit that when the first reports of troubled lights came in I was a bit down. But it is really great how everyone here actively tries to help solving these issues!
So does anyone have any idea what the problem with mine might be apart obviously from the damaged lens.
I put an insulating washer in before inserting a cell, nothing shorted or got hot, the led board cover disc does not touch either the positive or negative solder blobs but the light is dead ?
I have done the first (twice), I have bypassed the tail switch & still no joy.
Where would I put voltage directly onto it , on the + & - on the led board, or the pill itself ?
Oh & how much voltage ?
Right put 3.6v supply on the pill, negative to body & positive to centre spring & nothing.
Got 2 x 1,2v nimh in series so 2.4v & connected to the led + & - & nothing ?
Does this mean that either the driver is dead or the led is dead or both ?
I did get a very slight flicker from the led the very first time I originally turned it on, probably moonlight or less ?
I have already inspected the board twice & all looks fine, nothing obviously amiss.
I wonder why I originally had a very very slight extremely weak flicker from the led when I very first turned it on & nothing since.
I am at a loss & have pm”d Neal (BG) explaining my problems.
I suppose I will just have to wait for a reply from him now.