What are the inherit dangers of modding?

EyeballFryer · 2019-06-07T03:19:31.000Z

I know you asked about “safety” hazards, but I ended up thinking about all of my modding screwups I can remember.

For personal dangers:

Burning yourself on the soldering iron or heat gun/hot air station.
If you’re trying to pry loose a bezel or stuck reflect, you could accidentally jab yourself.

For the equipment dangers:

Short circuiting the battery.
Electrically frying the LED due to a short circuit.
Electrically frying a 3mm LED because it accidentally touched the normal LED wire, which sent too much voltage through the 3mm LED.
Physically damaging the LED - hot air workstation melted and cracked a Luxeon Rebel LED dome (the LED actually still worked).
Accidentally desoldering another electronic component on the driver.
Accidentally jabbing too hard and knocking another electronic component off a driver.
Melting, warping plastic - that happened when I put a whole pill into a toaster oven, trying to heat and melt the solder, and I didn’t know there was a plastic cap on the bottom side of the pill.
Breaking or bending tweezers.
Burning the MCPCB - I put a Nitecore TIP MCPCB into a toaster oven, set it the temperature too high trying to melt the solder, and the MCPCB started growing black burnt balls of ash or whatever that was.
Warping the round shape of a bezel due to tightening the vice too hard.
Scratching the lens or reflector.
Also shattering the lens due to tightening the vice too hard around the bezel, then unscrewing the bezel.
Exterior damage trying to unscrew a thread-locked bezel due to strong gripping vices.
Jamming the reflector trying to screw it back in. At the end of LED modding a Nitecore EC4GT, I was using only my hands to screw the reflector back on. Halfway down, it jammed. And it jammed so badly, I couldn’t unscrew it with my hands, strap wrenches, nor vices. I have no idea what happened, but it ruined the whole mod. Maybe I cross threaded or there was some gunk in the threads that jammed.
Ruining a magnet. Magnets don’t like heat from a soldering iron.
Compressing springs - Nitecore EA45S. Actually, I’m not sure if this was caused by modding, but this happened after a mod. I was told that a spring might have compressed due to a short circuit. I don’t know if I put the batteries in backwards or mixed the polarities or what. I worked around this by folding up some aluminum foil and put them on top of the batteries to make up for the shortened springs.

trailhunter · 2019-06-07T04:10:22.000Z

I really liked bullet point one. I did actually burn my forearm with the soldering iron, the flashlight was unstable and I tried to grab it so it wouldn’t fall. Well, as I tried to grab it, the soldering iron rested on my arm and burned the shit out of me. I have about a 1 inch long white indentation and red around it. Burned skin smells bad.

gchart · 2019-06-07T04:14:57.000Z

I’ll add:

Jacking things up, not realizing that something (bezel, retaining ring, or the like) is reverse threaded
Replacing a current-set resistor with too low of one, running the amps higher than it was designed to do, and frying the whole driver
While testing, letting a lead from a power source come loose and shorting out, with the quick zap ruining sensitive components
Not having an optic (TIR lens) in just the right spot, sheering off the LED domes
Slipping and hitting an LED dome with a soldering iron (just did that to a 90-CRI LH351D, oops)
Trying a lithium in a flashlight only made for AA/AAA (sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, as djozz just showed today with his C01S)
Dedoming or shaving an LED and ripping off a bond wire

I’m sure there’s so much more that I’ve learned the hard way while modding, but that’s a good start!

Firelight2 · 2019-06-07T04:21:46.000Z

One suggestion: When you order parts for modding always order spares.

Nothing like having a fun night of modding planned, messing up, and then realizing you have to put the whole thing on hold for another 6 weeks while you wait for replacement parts to arrive.

Boaz · 2019-06-07T04:31:48.000Z

The greatest danger to modding is making a light so good you have no need to buy more lights.

hank · 2019-06-07T04:49:41.000Z

Having a growing accumulation of drivers and other parts that you bought for a good reason you no longer find interesting and can’t identify well enough to give away.

moderator007 · 2019-06-07T05:06:27.000Z

Firelight2:

One suggestion: When you order parts for modding always order spares.

Nothing like having a fun night of modding planned, messing up, and then realizing you have to put the whole thing on hold for another 6 weeks while you wait for replacement parts to arrive.

Oh yeah, guilty of this myself. I never order just one of any modding parts anymore. By the time the replacements get here, I forget what it was I was planning on doing and usually have just moved on to the next mod. Certain things I buy more than enough just encase I need them modding something else, then I can mod the light right then instead of waiting 3 weeks. It feels like I’m running a auto parts store where you have to keep the most popular parts in stock instead of everything being a special order.

djozz · 2019-06-07T05:36:11.000Z

A great danger of modding is that over time you buy a lot of expensive equipment for that, in my case surpassing the combined value of my flashlights. Money that of course should have been spent on flashlights.

CRX · 2019-06-07T05:48:13.000Z

Addiction.

Henk4U2 · 2019-06-07T08:04:20.000Z

In case something has broken down: there is nothing wrong with rebuilding it better than it was ever before.
In all other cases: if it works, don’t fix it.

It can get highly addictive. With a financial collateral damage that exceeds the worth of the benefits.

If you choose to disobey these laws of nature: always wear protection. Like (safety) glasses.

acab · 2019-06-07T09:08:28.000Z

solder that “pops” and jumps in your face, always wear eye protection
solder fumes
not wearing gloves (lead, flux, all the chemical coatings, cleaning agents,…)
burnt myself many times while soldering or using hot air

And, as mentioned before, I have accumulated a huge load of equipment I barely use except for modding every other month. Approximate number of drivers: 21 - all unused and/or not working.

Literally 50 bags with parts that came through the years. hundreds of resistors, capacitors, cables, wires, optics, and even unused hosts.

The way I managed my mods was very wasteful and I hope to remedy that somehow. Also lost my interest in modding lights or even collecting them. After you have done all the mods you wanted to do, what else is out there? I have 600$ in unused lights in boxes (good lights, but most of them not “modern” lights; solarforce, older skyray kings, lots of convoys and thorfire)

Eleziel · 2019-06-07T10:58:39.000Z

acab:

* solder that “pops” and jumps in your face, always wear eye protection

solder fumes

not wearing gloves (lead, flux, all the chemical coatings, cleaning agents,…)

burnt myself many times while soldering or using hot air

And, as mentioned before, I have accumulated a huge load of equipment I barely use except for modding every other month. Approximate number of drivers: 21 - all unused and/or not working.

Literally 50 bags with parts that came through the years. hundreds of resistors, capacitors, cables, wires, optics, and even unused hosts.

The way I managed my mods was very wasteful and I hope to remedy that somehow. Also lost my interest in modding lights or even collecting them. After you have done all the mods you wanted to do, what else is out there? I have 600$ in unused lights in boxes (good lights, but most of them not “modern” lights; solarforce, older skyray kings, lots of convoys and thorfire)

Never had solder “jump”, isn’t it the flux at a too high temperature?

As for the dangers not related to tool use… i think the main one is making a short with the reflector. sometimes even with a centering ring the joints are too fast and touch the reflector.

MascaratumB · 2019-06-07T11:05:26.000Z

I would say, damaging a flashlight
Yesterday I was attempting at modding my Olight S1R Baton I with a LED swap and ended up damaging something, as now the Moonlight mode doesn’t work properly. Other lights, drivers, leds and switches have been damaged along the way.

BUT, as some have already mentioned, spending money and getting addicted is the worse evil you’ll find existing when you have been bitten the “modding” vampire

acab · 2019-06-07T11:08:06.000Z

Eleziel:

Never had solder “jump”, isn’t it the flux at a too high temperature?

I don’t know how it happened, maybe someone else can pitch in. The LED wire came off of the solder joint on a copper dtp board while soldering and I heard a “pop” sound before very hot solder splatter was all over my face. Just happy I wore goggles.

Because the parts are so small, our faces are very close to the soldering action.

Henk4U2 · 2019-06-07T11:24:35.000Z

acab:

… Because the parts are so small, our faces are very close to the soldering action.

With age come (a few) advantages. I have to use a desk light with a 4” magnifying glass
So my eyes are well protected. And the rest…… Does not matter any more. Did I say age?

trailhunter · 2019-06-07T11:27:28.000Z

Firelight2:

One suggestion: When you order parts for modding always order spares.

Nothing like having a fun night of modding planned, messing up, and then realizing you have to put the whole thing on hold for another 6 weeks while you wait for replacement parts to arrive.

So true, and parts are relatively cheap. This is a hidden safety hazard as you’ll likely punch a wall for having to wait

Scallywag · 2019-06-07T14:08:23.000Z

Haha, I have a rule when using a soldering iron or a knife, that I don't do anything else while I'm holding the iron or knife. For the iron, that means if I drop something, I put the iron in its stand before I grab what I dropped. For a knife, that means I fold it or put it somewhere safe (for example, not somewhere it will be bumped off and fall on my foot) if it's not a folding knife.

I know I would burn myself or something else important if I got distracted while holding the iron.

power911 · 2019-06-07T14:29:06.000Z

Modding opens the potential of:
-my flashlight burning my pockets
-people who used my light will drop my light due to it being too hot.
-people leave my hot lights on because they didn’t know / too scared to hold a hot light
-inviting more people to turn on the light while pointing at themselves to test power (I still don’t get why people try that every single time)

For personal danger, I couldn’t think of any other than shorting the battery due to my incorrect installation/solder
Usually the dangers are affecting people who used my lights irresponsibly

teacher · 2019-06-07T14:36:51.000Z

For me, as has already been said by others;

Addiction
Aquiring more “spare” parts than could be used in two lifetime’s
Spending far to much money in the process

Same with guns, ammo, knives, & fishing equipment.

trailhunter · 2019-06-07T18:38:44.000Z

The most likely danger is creating a short. Does this imply that the battery can explode, catch fire etc? I shorted a protected cell and all I saw was flickering and sudden shut off but would that have been as graceful ifni were to have shorted a unprotected cell?