Black Rose
Flashlight Enthusiast
So tonight I decided I was going to go to a place that had very little ambient light so that I could really test out a modified P60 drop-in for throw.
After my wife went to bed (she knew where I was going) I grab my light (Solarforce L2), wallet, swiss army knife, and cellphone and get ready to head out.
I decided I had better take another light so I grabbed my MG L-Mini II to take along. Both lights use 18650 cells BTW.
So off I go and walk to the end of our street (2000 feet), and then walk another 1200 feet down a dirt connector road that is under construction, surrounded by fields that sometimes have coyotes or foxes in them.
So I get out my Solarforce light and turn it on and try and hit my predetermined targets (via Google Earth).
Since I had the L-Mini II with me, I tried the same test.
Repeated the tests with both lights a few times. May as well walk farther away from the main road....probably another 400 feet in.
New targets....how many light poles down the road can I light up with the L2? Apprently 3.
At this point I figured I'd sweep the fields to see if there are any eyeballs out there watching me (would have made sense to do this before, no?)
Grab the Solarforce light, click...flash...faint LED glow
Try again, same thing
Now I'm wondering if the protection circuit on the battery crapped out. So there I was standing in the middle of a field, more or less in the dark, taking the 18650 battery out of the L-Mini II to put into the Solarforce. That left me with just a Fenix E01 as my only working light.
Battery swap completed, didn't drop anything :thumbsup:
Click....flash... OK, not a battery problem.
Swap batteries again and reassemble lights. Again nothing dropped
Attempt some field diagnostics of the drop-in and get it to work again by twisting the large spring. Works for a bit and then fails again.
At this point I figure I may as well head home and try and figure out the problem so I wander back home (about 3/4 of a mile).
The moral of my rambling story is quite simple...the saying you often see here on CPF, "two = one, one = none", is absolutely bang on...your lights can fail you and literally leave you in the dark.
As for the problem with the drop-in, I don't know for sure, but I think it's a problem with my soldering
I'll check it over better in the morning, clean it up and redo my solder connections.
After my wife went to bed (she knew where I was going) I grab my light (Solarforce L2), wallet, swiss army knife, and cellphone and get ready to head out.
I decided I had better take another light so I grabbed my MG L-Mini II to take along. Both lights use 18650 cells BTW.
So off I go and walk to the end of our street (2000 feet), and then walk another 1200 feet down a dirt connector road that is under construction, surrounded by fields that sometimes have coyotes or foxes in them.
So I get out my Solarforce light and turn it on and try and hit my predetermined targets (via Google Earth).
Since I had the L-Mini II with me, I tried the same test.
Repeated the tests with both lights a few times. May as well walk farther away from the main road....probably another 400 feet in.
New targets....how many light poles down the road can I light up with the L2? Apprently 3.
At this point I figured I'd sweep the fields to see if there are any eyeballs out there watching me (would have made sense to do this before, no?)
Grab the Solarforce light, click...flash...faint LED glow
Try again, same thing
Now I'm wondering if the protection circuit on the battery crapped out. So there I was standing in the middle of a field, more or less in the dark, taking the 18650 battery out of the L-Mini II to put into the Solarforce. That left me with just a Fenix E01 as my only working light.
Battery swap completed, didn't drop anything :thumbsup:
Click....flash... OK, not a battery problem.
Swap batteries again and reassemble lights. Again nothing dropped
Attempt some field diagnostics of the drop-in and get it to work again by twisting the large spring. Works for a bit and then fails again.
At this point I figure I may as well head home and try and figure out the problem so I wander back home (about 3/4 of a mile).
The moral of my rambling story is quite simple...the saying you often see here on CPF, "two = one, one = none", is absolutely bang on...your lights can fail you and literally leave you in the dark.
As for the problem with the drop-in, I don't know for sure, but I think it's a problem with my soldering
I'll check it over better in the morning, clean it up and redo my solder connections.