Bimmerboy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well, like they say... "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again"... which, I will. But, I sure as heck wouldn't mind some advice from those who have tried, and lived to tell about it. If I may be so bold... McGizmo, LEDzeppelin...?
Spent five hours straight last night, trying multiple times, in various configurations, with both 22ga. wire, and solder wick, to eliminate the (rough estimate, 250mOhm) resistance in a Kroll switch, and allow it to handle 2 Amps current @ 7.2V. Taking the idea from past posts regarding D and C size Mag switch mods, the plan was to utilize similar techniques to lessen the resistance, and improve mechanical contacts. Here's what I did, and the problems that occurred. Anyone that comes up with a slick solution before I do (after tonight, who knows when that'll be), will receive a voucher to have their toes kissed...
...by my Aunt's dog... lol. What, you though I was gonna' do it? :sick2: Besides, there are few things more heavenly than being kissed by a canine. Dog lovers need no further explanation.
The short version... As one might guess, the first thing I did was bridge the batt contact spring to it's neighboring plunger contact spring, trying both wire, and solder wick. Second was to make a bridge horizontally within the spring itself that contacts the plunger's other side to the Minimag tube. To reiterate, and amplify... I tried the 22 ga. wire, AND solder wick in every different combination. Wire on all springs, wick on all springs, various wire and wick combos on the springs, and vice versa, wrapping to the inside, wrapping to the outside, tried to be as neat and clean with soldering as possible, etc. In hypothesis, it should work somewhat easily... but the problem is TOLERANCES!
After many tries, constantly improving on each attempt, I got close, but no cigar. The best I could do was maintain spring contact on both sides of the plunger, by full thumb pressure in momentary position. As soon as the button is released into latch-on position, the contacts break. Obviously, full-off is not a problem. :ironic: Edit: Which is a desired safety feature here, considering two Li-ion batts in series in a pretty small package, powering an extremely bright, yet small incan bulb.
Summation: :hairpull: Trying to mod the Kroll while retaining it's original config, I just can't get the proper tolerances by hand.
Question: What's the solution? Some uber-cool solution to make plan A work (the German in me has a certain affinity toward this approach), or a LEDzep, approach where a mass manu. switch gets stuffed into a Kroll housing. Still not sure of what Don has done in this area, as I'm not familiar with some of the clicky parts I've seen on his site. 😗
Any advice from some clicky mod veterans?
Edit: This is for running a Carley H1499 (thanks, Litho123!) off two 14670's (thanks, AW!), off an extended 2AA MM tube (thanks, Ledean!).
Spent five hours straight last night, trying multiple times, in various configurations, with both 22ga. wire, and solder wick, to eliminate the (rough estimate, 250mOhm) resistance in a Kroll switch, and allow it to handle 2 Amps current @ 7.2V. Taking the idea from past posts regarding D and C size Mag switch mods, the plan was to utilize similar techniques to lessen the resistance, and improve mechanical contacts. Here's what I did, and the problems that occurred. Anyone that comes up with a slick solution before I do (after tonight, who knows when that'll be), will receive a voucher to have their toes kissed...
...by my Aunt's dog... lol. What, you though I was gonna' do it? :sick2: Besides, there are few things more heavenly than being kissed by a canine. Dog lovers need no further explanation.
The short version... As one might guess, the first thing I did was bridge the batt contact spring to it's neighboring plunger contact spring, trying both wire, and solder wick. Second was to make a bridge horizontally within the spring itself that contacts the plunger's other side to the Minimag tube. To reiterate, and amplify... I tried the 22 ga. wire, AND solder wick in every different combination. Wire on all springs, wick on all springs, various wire and wick combos on the springs, and vice versa, wrapping to the inside, wrapping to the outside, tried to be as neat and clean with soldering as possible, etc. In hypothesis, it should work somewhat easily... but the problem is TOLERANCES!
After many tries, constantly improving on each attempt, I got close, but no cigar. The best I could do was maintain spring contact on both sides of the plunger, by full thumb pressure in momentary position. As soon as the button is released into latch-on position, the contacts break. Obviously, full-off is not a problem. :ironic: Edit: Which is a desired safety feature here, considering two Li-ion batts in series in a pretty small package, powering an extremely bright, yet small incan bulb.
Summation: :hairpull: Trying to mod the Kroll while retaining it's original config, I just can't get the proper tolerances by hand.
Question: What's the solution? Some uber-cool solution to make plan A work (the German in me has a certain affinity toward this approach), or a LEDzep, approach where a mass manu. switch gets stuffed into a Kroll housing. Still not sure of what Don has done in this area, as I'm not familiar with some of the clicky parts I've seen on his site. 😗
Any advice from some clicky mod veterans?
Edit: This is for running a Carley H1499 (thanks, Litho123!) off two 14670's (thanks, AW!), off an extended 2AA MM tube (thanks, Ledean!).
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