I moved the foam retainer from the head to the bottom of battery tube (AAA-P)

I'm sure that I'm not the first one to do this, but...

When I ordered my AAA-P, I had them include some spare O-rings and foam retainers. I have a Peak Matterhorn and they put the foam retainer in the bottom of the battery tube. I decided today that this is much better placement, so I ripped off the old foam retainer from my AAA and took a new one, removed the paper from the adhesive backing, and very carefully put it in the tube. Voila! It works just like before! Now I won't ever have to worry about the foam retainer coming off when I replace the battery.

interesting. Only draw backs I see is if it didn't work due to the negative nipple being too short, or the lack of protection for the pcb if the battery slamed into it from a drop.

It turns on and off just like before and you make a good point about there being lack of protection for the PCB now, but I don't think it will be a problem.

:shakehead

Yeah I tried it too and it works fine.


1. The foam retainer can't break off.
2. If the rivet on the bottom becomes an issue (I doubt it, it's an Arc) then the foam might be a little rough to get out.

Think about this: When shock is transmitted to the head of the Arc with the foam on the PCB, then the foam theoretically should absorb the shock. But if the foam is moved to the bottom, then the shock would be transmitted from the head to the battery to the foam. Same deal, I believe. Of couse I would think the threads would absorb the shock anyway. Oh well. Peter might have an idea.

Whatever. Mine works fine with the bottom deal. Ever since my foam broke off inside the flashlight (not outside as of user error) I've been a little nervous about having that foam interfering with a battery change in the dark.

GopherohwellGopher

The Arc circuit is potted and quite well protected. The force from the battery would transfer from the PCB to the potting compound to the front of the head. I would not worry much about it in this sense.

I find that the foam ring on the head grips the battery and causes it to rotate. This causes a little more friction and makes the head slightly harder to turn. As well, the turning action feels less smooth.

A foam ring in the tail grips the battery from the tail end. The head spins freely and the battery does not spin with turning the head.

The benefit of having the foam on the head is that the turning battery should help to keep the tail battery contact clean. The head contact may have to be cleaned, but accessing the head contact is easier.

I personally prefer the foam ring in the tail.

Paul

interesting. Does it work in the old style or only new style with rivet?

Hey Ralls.....what's up winged brother! I took your experimental advice and re-aligned my foam retainer to the bottom. I too like this config much better. It still solves any battery rattle problem. You don't have to worry about it coming off when you change the battery. And, it does seem to rotate just a hair more freely making on/off activation a tad bit more user friendly without making the ARC prone to accidental activation. In other words, it still takes nice force to turn it on and will not come on by itself. Also, with the prior placement, I noticed that there was always little bits of foam fragmentation stuck in threads, especially with a little lube on the threads. Now the threads stay cleaner, it works better (IMHO), and you don't have to worry about the foam falling off.

I did do one thing slightly different. I kept the paper backing on the retainer. I initially kept it on there while I figuring out a good way to get it down there neatly and flush. Then once I got it down there with the paper backing still installed I noticed it stays down there quite nice. The only way to get it out would be to stick something down there (like an ice pick) and pull it back out. So, I plan on leaving it down there with the paper installed. Now I can take it out for contact maintenance and re-install without the hassle of sticky adhesive gumming up the bottom of my ARC.

Voila.....works great!