Assorted Drop In Question...

BaldGuy45 · May 30, 2012

Just wondering if I really need to wrap my drop ins with foil or copper tape. I have several Malkoff's and a couple of Solarforce. Had a G3 with a M91 give me problems yesterday after a tailcap switch (Z59). it was flickering and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. I did all the normal tightening and cleaning with no luck. Removed the aluminum foil I had wrapped around it and it works fine now. Got me thiking if I even need to wrap any of them.
Opinions?

BIGLOU · May 30, 2012

Not only does the foil/coppper tape help with electrical contact but it also helps in transferring heat away from the drop-in. If your flashlight body does not get hot that means the heat produced by the LED is not being transferred away to the rest of the flashlight body. GL.

skyfire · May 30, 2012

i dont wrap any of my drop-ins, but i can see the benefit.
it sounds like the m91, and the sleeve in the G3 body didnt have a solid connection. i notice my G2s demonstrate similar behavior with certain drop-ins that use a large spring to contact the sleeve in the G2 body.

in my experience, most of the time when one of my host and drop-in are acting funny, its the contact between the drop-in and body.
wrapping your drop-ins wouldnt hurt. just wrap it up so that it doesnt interfere with the contact points.

flashlight chronic · May 31, 2012

The M91 wasn't designed to run for more than 5 minutes in plastic lights, even if it has a metal head.

^Gurthang · May 31, 2012

Wrapping the drop-in makes a major improvement in heat dissapation. OTOH, unless you use aluminum or copper foil w/o adhesive you can have electrical contact issues as the adhesive can act as electrical insulation and prevent a solid electrical connection.