Last night I did my first flashlight mod. I swapped the stock driver in a Brinyte B158 for a BLF A6 FET +1 driver. It only took me like two hours, lol! Though on the other hand, it didn’t require any trips to Home Depot.
What I learned:
Electronics are small, like really small. Much smaller than car parts.
Proper tools are a must. I consider my shop/toolbox extremely well stocked - for “macro” projects. I was definitely lacking for electronics work. My mega 150/250W soldering iron was just a bit too large, and my super cheap (like $2.99 cheap) Chinese iron was just a bit too crappy, but I got the job done. A quality iron with good selection of tips is now in the tool budget. Likewise the Harbor Freight helping hands.
It’s probably time to invest in something like a benchtop power supply. I had a little DC/DC power supply similar to this and it came in handy for testing before assembly.
Hitting it with a hammer when frustrated is probably a bad idea on parts this small.
I’m not completely inept when it comes to electronics, because it works even after I was done butchering it!
oh boy, what a great post! What I learned is to be incredibly patient and to expect that things go wrong. Very wrong! Building a driver by hand or a new light from the ground up means solving many little problems that will come up.
With a strong auto mechanic back ground I pretty much had all the stuff needed. But I tend to fix little things that 99% of mechanics would just replace. Headlight switches, turn stalks, making wiring harnesses that looked 100% factory etc.
A few items that were added to the toolbox are
Good set of tweezers
Solder paste to reflow emitters and solder MCPCB down solid on copper or brass lights and spacers on multiple emitter builds.
No clean Flux pen
And the latest is this LED magnifier lamp. Get one, and you will not have a use for the hammer on a flashlight ever again.
I remember when I was 14 and starting out in electronics, the first tool I bought was a pair of needle nose pliers. That was even before I got a pair of wire strippers, I would use my thumb nail for that. This was back in 1965 and the only tool place I knew of was the local hardware store. They had a pair of needle nose pliers in an oak and glass case up by the register along with some other expensive tools. After all these years I still remember the price, $7.55! That was a lot of money back then, in fact about a weeks pay from my 7 day a week paper route.
I just remembered the brand name. “Cleveland” Here is a pic of a “Utica” brand that looks identical to the one I bought.
After spending sooooo much on it I thought I was all set tool wise. Little did I know at the time that this would be only the first of many, many tools I would need to buy for my new hobby
Now that you got me reminiscing about the old days, I remember back even earlier when I bought my first set of combination open end and box wrenches at Western Auto. How luxurious it was to have dedicated wrenches to use for each sized bolt rather than using my Dad’s adjustable wrench! That was living large.
I also started understanding why my Dad got so mad when I left his tools out in the lawn after I finished with them
Great for testing . with 3v and dry cells you lack the power to fry something instantly .
Great for testing LED’s and to make sure there are no shorts and wires are soldered the right way .
