Anyone else notice the spring in McClicky's are chrome plated?

I had to bend the sharp edge of the spring tip inwards with a pair of pliers because it was shredding donut holes into the plated ends of my batteries from screwing.

A little bend and the chrome plating starts splintering off revealing a grey matte, possibly nickle alloy? If the spring was solid bronze alloy, I'd imagine better current throughput can be realized.

Such as a full 5.6A draw I could be seeing as opposed to 5.28A i'm currently reading.

Thoughts?

Just checked on several of m McClicky switches, and it is looks like they are brass, copper or gold plated. Not one of them has a chrome like finish. Maybe it depends on where you procured them.

Bill

Bullzeyebill said:

Just checked on several of m McClicky switches, and it is looks like they are brass, copper or gold plated. Not one of them has a chrome like finish. Maybe it depends on where you procured them.

Bill

Click to expand...

These where the Oveready type.

I'll double check with Don. To my knowledge, there is only one version with one set of materials.

Battery end shredded



After bending the tip under a little the chrome splintered off. Still works though.

Update from Don...

McClicky springs are standard switch springs, plating over an unspecified substrate alloy.


BTW, the spring will heat up under loads above 3 amps. Above 4, it will retard performance and get hot to the touch from resistance.

ElectronGuru said:

Update from Don...

McClicky springs are standard switch springs, plating over an unspecified substrate alloy.


BTW, the spring will heat up under loads above 3 amps. Above 4, it will retard performance and get hot to the touch from resistance.

Click to expand...

Isn't the McClicky kit guaranteed up to 5 amps?

I ran my light for a few min took off the cap, pulling about 5.3A the spring isn't even warm?

ledmitter_nli said:

Isn't the McClicky kit guaranteed up to 5 amps?

I ran my light for a few min took off the cap, pulling about 5.3A the spring isn't even warm?

Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion. Most switches use the actuator spring (the spring that pushes the button back out) to transfer current from the spring to the plate. Other switches of the same size (like the Z59) are limited to 1-2 amps, above which the spring will melt and the button will get 'stuck in'. Well in advance of this limit (under 1amp), the spring will start to retard current flow (resistance).

The McClicky uses a gate system, a little bar that opens and closes to conduct power. This gives it more capacity and less resistance, but there are still limits. The 5 amp guarantee is about destruction, not resistance. At 6 or 8 or 10 amps, the bar will stop functioning, killing the switch. It starts retarding current at about 3 amps. We will do testing and update the description to give more comprehensive information.

As for the spring not heating up, there are a few possibilities:

• The thin/light spring is cooling faster than you can remove the tailcap
• The 5.3A rating is to the LEDs, not a load on the cells/switch
• Something else in the setup is retarding the amperage