Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
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mobile1 said:
McGizmo Corrosion on the contacts. I don't see why it would be different then any other light. Since the PLUS contact is entirely sealed within the o-ring, only the negative is exposed. The metal conducts electricity much better then water, no? Isn't corrosion only a problem if plus AND negative contacts are exposed. Here only the negative contact is exposed to the water (like any other light through the housing). Besides this is not a diving light....even though it should be quite sealed. I have a laser pointer that is using a similar concept for a switch. And it is working beautifully. But I need to know what material would be best suited for that.
Regarding machining - it might be hard to believe, but this light is entirely designed within the specs of a 2.5D mill (which took a lot of fidling and design changes).
I don't know underwater beam characteristics of an NX01. However this isnt supposed to be a diving light. All I wanted is that when it gets dropped into water, or when it's raining that the light is fine.
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Hopefully you don't mind if I answer this, or at least, toss in my views.
The design of the light is strange, but it's not a bad thing. Certainly intruiging.
Now, the cathode of the battery, and what it connects to, will rust if water is applied to it. As McGizmo noted, it will DEFINITELY rust if exposed to salt water. (I took a swim in the ocean with a cell phone once by accident. I took it apart and was able to watch the brass contacts on the thing corrode before my eyes.)
I've done a few Arc LS mods, and I always wash the parts after bead blasting. Once I left a small drop of water in the battery pack by accident, and while testing the light for about a minute, the light just turned off and wouldn't turn back on. I took out the battery, noticed the drop of water, and rust stains on the aluminum tube. The battery cathode had rusted up pretty badly and I had to scrape it off for it to work again. The test wasn't very long.
The battery casings are made of steel, and will rust in and of their own right given enough time. Apply water and they'll rust faster, especially if it's salt water. Apply water and current (you've got a rather high current from the battery if you're running a 5W light), and you can be assured of it rusting over rather quickly.
As to your observation that this is like 'any other light' in that the casing conducts electricty, that's true in the sense that yes, the case conducts electricity. However, there is no light I know of that allows water into key parts of the light - sandwiching water between the cathode of the battery and the negative case contact is a lot different than a dry, fully sealed contact in all other lights I know of.
Some things that may be worth consideration, if it hasn't been thought of already, is heat - the battery, board, and LED are all going to produce a lot of heat. The NX-01 is not an optic that is readily available. And, of course, the technicalities of the elements in general on such an open system like what you've got designed.
Personally, I liked the other mini-5W design you had better - personal preference would be that that design get tweaked such that the price can go down for the same production levels you were shooting for. If you can keep that other light around $150-200 I'm fairly sure a lot of people would be interested.
Best of luck to you on whatever project you choose to run with though - you've got some interesting ideas. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
-Enrique