HDS Company Question

[TheEDCer]

Now I wish I had the Clickie LE lol

Although the UI of my Tactical rotary is amazing

 

[jon_slider]

Now I wish I had the Clickie

one just listed

 

[Hogokansatsukan]

Replacing a boot in the Rotary is not a big deal... with the right tools and being a little careful.
If electronics go wonky, we will do what we do now, replace the head. We don't take out the electronics and replace them. That would be way too much of a pain, so we just change out the head. Tail issues sometimes get new internal parts which isn't a huge deal. What takes a long time is Henry's absolute NEED to know WHAT the EXACT issue is that is making a light go wonky... so if it is reoccurring, he can design it out of future lights (and when I say future lights, I mean the internals that have been upgraded numerous times without anyone in the public being aware of it).
So warranty work isn't as big a deal as some might think. Yes. We have a plan for continuation of government... or whatever it is HDS does.

 

[LRJ88]

Replacing a boot in the Rotary is not a big deal... with the right tools and being a little careful.
If electronics go wonky, we will do what we do now, replace the head. We don't take out the electronics and replace them. That would be way too much of a pain, so we just change out the head. Tail issues sometimes get new internal parts which isn't a huge deal. What takes a long time is Henry's absolute NEED to know WHAT the EXACT issue is that is making a light go wonky... so if it is reoccurring, he can design it out of future lights (and when I say future lights, I mean the internals that have been upgraded numerous times without anyone in the public being aware of it).
So warranty work isn't as big a deal as some might think. Yes. We have a plan for continuation of government... or whatever it is HDS does.

How often has he spent Henry minutes on trying to find an issue only for the issue to be something so damn simple he missed it because it's too silly?

 

[Hogokansatsukan]

How often has he spent Henry minutes on trying to find an issue only for the issue to be something so damn simple he missed it because it's too silly?

Not often. The hardest ones to diagnose are the "intermittent" issues as they can be difficult to reproduce.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

Replacing a boot in the Rotary is not a big deal... with the right tools and being a little careful.

Ever thought of bringing a tooleset to the HDS owners that are far away - Europe, Asia, ...? Would be kind of cool having a "toolset" a "how to manual" and if the person is somehow handy the swich boot can be replaced at home.
That would be environment fiendly and also it could be cheaper if you have more than one Rotary.

 

[scalpel_ninja]

Ever thought of bringing a tooleset to the HDS owners that are far away - Europe, Asia, ...? Would be kind of cool having a "toolset" a "how to manual" and if the person is somehow handy the swich boot can be replaced at home.
That would be environment fiendly and also it could be cheaper if you have more than one Rotary.

The toolset I use is readily available:
Sharp tweezers
Dental picks
Camera lens tool

These allow me to access the rotary tail cap and swap out the switch boot.

 

[LRJ88]

Ever thought of bringing a tooleset to the HDS owners that are far away - Europe, Asia, ...? Would be kind of cool having a "toolset" a "how to manual" and if the person is somehow handy the swich boot can be replaced at home.
That would be environment fiendly and also it could be cheaper if you have more than one Rotary.

To be fair, the tools for doing it are remarkably easy to come by. The issue is finding a replacement boot, since those flush ones can be a bit of a pain in the nethers to find with the correct measurements.

 

[turbodog]

... potentially limited support life ... same might apply with the S. Alabama outfit ...

I don't think this is an apples to apples comparison. The lights in question use standard off the shelf switches and boots. They also interconnect, to a reasonable degree, with surefire parts and/or parts already on the market. The light engines are easily removable, etc.

 

[aznsx]

I don't think this is an apples to apples comparison. The lights in question use standard off the shelf switches and boots. They also interconnect, to a reasonable degree, with surefire parts and/or parts already on the market. The light engines are easily removable, etc.

I defer to your evidently more complete knowledge of that product line, as I don't yet own any products from either of these fine companies. I'm just acknowleging the obvious reality of 'head count', and what that might imply for the long term future (of any company). When a "light engine" fails, I'm aware it's likely easy to remove, etc. - but I don't know what will exist down the road in terms of warranty on any such failed part, nor availability of an exact replacement. That's well beyond the scope of my knowledge, but is as yet TBD I suspect, which was my intended point.

One never knows what changes life will bring, and when there are only 1 or 2 people involved, that is an unavoidable unknown in my book.

 

[JohnSmith]

The toolset I use is readily available:
Sharp tweezers
Dental picks
Camera lens tool

These allow me to access the rotary tail cap and swap out the switch boot.

Can you maybe describe the procedure to swap out the switch boot? There’s a tutorial in the archives about how to remove the tail cap… However, there’s a circuit board that then needs to be removed, and also reinstalled, and indexed properly when reinstalling. That is the bit that seems a little unclear to me (and also probably critical as I’m sure that circuit board needs to be reinstalled just so).

 

[Mr. LED]

Can you maybe describe the procedure to swap out the switch boot? There’s a tutorial in the archives about how to remove the tail cap… However, there’s a circuit board that then needs to be removed, and also reinstalled, and indexed properly when reinstalling. That is the bit that seems a little unclear to me (and also probably critical as I’m sure that circuit board needs to be reinstalled just so).

I would pay to watch a detailed video tutorial on how to change the boot on a rotary, specially if it’s officially from HDS @Hogokansatsukan

 

[scalpel_ninja]

Can you maybe describe the procedure to swap out the switch boot? There’s a tutorial in the archives about how to remove the tail cap… However, there’s a circuit board that then needs to be removed, and also reinstalled, and indexed properly when reinstalling. That is the bit that seems a little unclear to me (and also probably critical as I’m sure that circuit board needs to be reinstalled just so).

IIRC (it’s been over a year since I swapped the boot) the circuit board has notches and can be turned with the camera lens tool as it’s sitting on threads. As long as I gently tightened until it stopped, the board is indexed correctly. I do “dry fit” the entire tail cap back in place without the retention cord to ensure the light powers on and changes brightness correctly. Adjustments could be made at that step if needed.

 

[muichimon]

It seems that replacing the rotary switch is more difficult than I thought, until I bought the HDS EDC rotary, I thought that the switch cap could be removed by unscrewing it. So far I haven't had any problems, so I haven't done anything extra, but I would feel more comfortable if there was a lecture on how to replace it myself if it should happen.

 

[troutpool]

Here are step-by-step instructions for opening the Rotary tailcap: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/hds-systems-edc-18.388813/page-3

 

[LRJ88]

I appreciate the tutorials and all here greatly, is there anyone who knows how to source the flat boot though?

 

[Mr. LED]

HDS sells them

 

[LRJ88]

HDS sells them

I've seen them there, but paying $62 including shipping for a boot from the US doesn't feel quite right. If it's the only option, sure, but if it can be sourced in Europe that'd be grand.

 

[turbodog]

Hopefully, for all owners, that switch boot is a standard off the shelf part.

Great irony is that HDS runs the emitters conservatively so they last a long time, but the lights will be rendered useless by a $.50 piece of rubber instead.

 

[Mr. LED]

I've seen them there, but paying $62 including shipping for a boot from the US doesn't feel quite right. If it's the only option, sure, but if it can be sourced in Europe that'd be grand.

K&T is the only dealer I know in Europe, and they don’t have it listed on the website.