+!
Ordered these 2016 High Quality 5” Internal Bent Needle Tip Nose Circlip Snap Ring Plier Cutter Tool
http://s.aliexpress.com/NNBVBreQ
(from AliExpress Android)
Cheap and since I have them no more problems getting those rings out.
I use these… Hand-pick the set with the best tips from the bin, then you can dress the tips out with a file when you get home… :nerd_face:
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-3-4-quarter-inch-needle-nose-pliers-40696.html
In some models the retaining ring is left hand thread. The usual problems are retainer loose or the bare end of the tube not making contact. Tightening the ring or putting a thin shim under the switch can fix these. Sometimes the reflector base touches the solder points on the led star causing a short so shaving the solder and using kapton tape(special electrical tape)to insulate them fixes that. Other times a short on the driver can be the issue but that requires desoldering the emitter wires to access the other side if the driver board. If removing the tail cap and shorting the tube to B- gives light and modes then it’s a tail cap problem. If it works but you can’t get mode changing then there’s a problem in the head(most likely a short to led-). If it doesn’t work at all then a short to B+ could be the problem but nothing is ruled out yet.
I received the 3 C8s from Brian this morning and took them all apart to inspect them. Here is what I found.
All three lights were basically identical.
They all had “Nanjg 105c” drivers with L-M-H-strobe-SOS next mode memory. The driver springs used very thin gauge wire.
The tailcap and spring seemed to be decent quality although I didn’t actually dissemble the tail switch.
The next two photos show the variation in battery tubes. Two lights had the larger off center markings. As was stated previously all lights use machine thread.
All lights used the same style of thread in pill. You can also see the thin wire used in this picture.
Two lights used the black PCB board while the other used the white board which I have seen in authentic Convoy C8s. I have no way of accurately measuring lumens but I did measured lux and got 38k @1m which is what I would expect from a true CREE XM-L2.
Now for the issues. All three lights had the same issue. The driver ground ring was not making good contact with the pill / retaining ring. I tried to snug the retaining ring down as tightly as I dared but to no avail. I ended up putting solder in a few places around the driver ground ring to ensure good contact.
That thin driver spring looks just like the one used on the counterfeit Convoy S2+ lights that were being sold by Gearbest a while back:
(Stealing this photo from the other thread)
I see an aluminum pill there; shouldn’t the Convoys have a Brass-type pill? I don’t have any Convoy C8s to compare against…
I’d like to know of a service for light repair as well. I know it would not make sense for many budget lights because labor is so much more expensive here, but I have a few lights with blown LEDs or drivers from water issues or trying a li-ion when it wasn’t supported and I’d be curious how much it’d cost to get them working again.
As you said it would be hard to justify with budget lights, but if you want to PM me what you have I could see what I could do.
Nice pics
Bedazzling pics…
Are these Convoys?
I only have two recent models and a cheap Ultrafire C8
These tubes look like the Ultrafire tube.
The Convoys have an integrated shelf (idk about older models) but this ALU pill looks the same as the Ultrafire pill.
And oh yes, the marking on the Convoys and the Ultrafire is done nice and straight
Thanx Dude!
BTW, I bought 4 of them from T-Mart, and the 5th from an unknown seller. I can’t find any documentation of any type. Nothing in Ebay, nothing in Amazon, no hardcopy or anything in my email archive.
These 3 are definitely not authentic Convoys. Old Convoy C8s did use an aluminum pill but went to integrated shelf with the latest V3 model.
I was going to guess that they weren’t original Convoys. TheDude, thanks for the pics and update! BrianK, please don’t be insulted by my statement here: Because a cell works doesn’t mean it’s a good cell. The quality of a cell plays a big part in the output of a flashlight. What particular brand is it and which charger are you using? Links to the products you purchased would be ideal 
No offense taken at all. We all start somewhere. None of us come out of the womb knowing this stuff.
We had been using at least 10 year old Sunlight SL-6s and SL-4s. But it was old Quartz halogen technology and we’d go through an expensive bulb per year for each of those lights. Plus they used heavy C cells. I knew that there had to something better by now.
All of the following use 18650 batteries. Except for the L2 near the very end.
At first I bought the inexpensive zoom type LED lights, I suspect with Chinese LEDs. I did that just to test present day LED lights. As inexpensive as they are they were better than the SL lights. I knew I was on the right track. The Sunlights have been mostly retired.
EEB’, I learned about batteries with those first lights. They came with tubes so that I could use AAs in them. They were OK with AAs, but much better when the 18650s arrived and they had the current that they needed.
Well… to conduct those LED light tests I bought some crappy Ultrafire 5000mah batteries. and a cheap charger that has space for 2 batteries, but it works much better with only one battery in it. I suspect it only monitors one battery accurately anyway and I didn’t want to destroy my junkfire batteries. I learned later that batteries with fire in the name are just junk. Sometime in there I bought a 2-3 battery, 3 LED (Chinese?), Trustfire light. Each LED doesn’t have much of a reflector, so it’s a flood light, but it still reaches out to 100 yards. So far it’s working fine as are the really low cost zoom type lights. Oh, I almost forgot, I also bought a SCUBA diving LED light because one of the things I liked about the SL lights was the ability to take any storm I was ever out in. The SLs were also SCUBA diving lights. I’ve been out in a hurricane with one and I liked the fact that they were waterproof and rugged. I wasn’t so in love with the (by necessity) tough plastic lens that turns to bubbles with long run times. But that lens was tougher than glass.
Somewhere I acquired some Tenergy 2600mah batteries, but lately I’ve been buying Panasonic 3400mah protected and unprotected batteries from Mountain. I also bought Richards 8 bay charger. I just checked, it’s an Enova.
I also bought some real C8s from him and a Convoy L2. I haven’t bought any full size batteries for the L2 yet as he’s out of the KingKong batteries I was planning to buy. I suspect that the L2 will work better with the correct full size batteries. If memory serves they are 26650s? The thing is a beast now; I can’t imagine it with the right batteries, but it might only affect runtime. Yes/no?
Question… I want at least one protected battery in a light, correct? One protected battery will protect all of the batteries in a light? Or am I off base on that?
Another question… how water resistant/waterproof are these LED lights? I don’t SCUBA dive, but Maine does get hurricanes and I have to be out in it at times.
Thanks guys.
Whew!! Good cells, good charger!! 
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One protected cell will protect that cell from low voltage and both cells from too high a current draw (if the LED/driver combo is the source of the high current draw. If somehow the unprotected cell is shorted, it wouldn’t help.) A single protected cell will not protect the unprotected cell from getting too low in voltage if it is somehow weaker or less charged than the protected one. Note, you do not have to use LiIon cells till they are dead.
Thanx! Yup, I charge them well before they actually “need” it. I went by what I see on the charger when I insert the battery to determine that. I do have a multimeter though and can test the voltage. Do I need to put a load on the battery to test battery voltage?
I’m not going to guess what kind of interaction you get with 2 unprotected and 1 protected cell in series.
But my intuition tells me it’s a bad idea.
Basic rule of thumb is you want all the cells as close as possible both when fully charged and when discharged, so you never have one get reverse-charged.
That means they should be as closely matched as you can get and keep them — not even different ages as that changes how fast they charge/discharge so they go further out of sync.
Yeah read the second link in my SIG.
Iae matching cells
Brand, age, charge state, mAh
Thanks! Will do.
So after asking about tools to work on the rings, I remembered that I have something similar to what’s pictured here all the way to the right on the top row.
http://www.sears.com/search=retaining%20%20ring%20pliers
I’m not suggesting that anyone buy from Sears, but there has to be an inexpensive alternative, Harbor Freight maybe?
Anyway, I (finally) found mine and sure enough they fit fine! Oddly enough they’re called retaining ring pliers. I’m not being a wise guy. I never knew what they were called. I may have used them once in 25 years and I had forgotten that I even had the things. I remembered upon seeing something similar at Home Depot.
You can tell that it is fake from the logo itself. Do not bother to fix it. Immediately ask for refund and buy yourself a real Convoy.
