Olight S10L2 switch mod?

I've been carrying an S10 as my EDC for over 2 years now and absolutely love the form factor (just wish there was a high CRI version).

I've had my L2 version come on a few times while clipped to my pocket. What I was wondering is if anyone with the Olight baton series lights has tried to trim/sand/file/cut the switch button down to make it low profile or flush with the bezel around the button. Will cutting it off flush make the water resistance nonexistent? I tried a forum search for the last hour and found nothing.

S10R.

Ryp said:

S10R.

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Well, that would certainly take care of the issue for about 60 bucks, but my question was specifically aimed at modding the button on my existing light with no cost whatsoever to me.

I don't have an s20 so I obviously haven't modded it but it does have the low voltage indicator on the button, right? If so then I'd bet the button was too thin to shave down enough to make it flush without breaking through and destroying the button altogether. The ones without the low voltage light like the s15 I have, I might think would be possible tho.


oops I had s20 stuck in my head apparently since I have an s20r on order. Ignore my post.

One rather risky way of fixing this issue may be to disassemble the light then use a small scissors to trim the bottom of the button boot.

The bottom of the button boot has a rubber post that extends into the pill to depress the momentary switch when the button is pressed. If you trim off the bottom of this boot, more pressure will be needed to activate the switch.

The big risk is that it's not reversible. This won't damage the waterproofing though.

reppans said:

For similar problems on other lights I've seen some folks glue/epoxy an appropriately sized O-ring or faucet washer to the body which acted as a clicky shroud. No reason it wouldn't work here as well. Course there's always the electronic lockout feature and mechanical tailcap lockout too, but both are a pain compared to a well protected clicky.

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I thought about doing that but am afraid whatever I glue on will get knocked off. That and the fact that the area to glue something is about 1mm wide (the stainless ring around the button).

Fireclaw18 said:

One rather risky way of fixing this issue may be to disassemble the light then use a small scissors to trim the bottom of the button boot.

The bottom of the button boot has a rubber post that extends into the pill to depress the momentary switch when the button is pressed. If you trim off the bottom of this boot, more pressure will be needed to activate the switch.

The big risk is that it's not reversible. This won't damage the waterproofing though.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you've had one of these apart? Wouldn't trimming the top of the button off keep the water resistance intact? I've never had it apart far enough to see how the switch maintains water resistance. I've thought about trying to glue something around the switch as mentioned above, but then there's always a chance the piece will be knocked off. I'd rather just trim the button flush with the stainless ring around it, as long as this won't compromise the water resistance.

I have had my S15 apart (several times) for an LED swap (XPL). I would suggest doing the adjusting from the inside. Snipping/trimming the rubber stem MAY be the answer. I would do it after testing other failed reversible methods. Unfortunately for me, when j removed my LE for the first time, a tiny amount of rubber was snipped off. It sets in a recessed area in the pill making contact with the clicky. The recess has sharp edges that apparently sliced off some of the stem when removing the pill.

I don't quite have it where I want it yet, but I put a dab of JB Weld on the metal clicky button & stuffed some dense foam into the pocket. The initial slice of stem was too much and didn't make contact when reassembled. Although it appeared that it was just a very small piece taken off. I may have taken more off myself, had I been trying to adjust the height myself. Anyway, it's usable now and definitely have to make a conscience effort to turn it on. It fixed that problem, I'm just not happy with the "feel" of it. I'll work some more at it, at some point.

If there is a way to remove the button from the body, before/without disassembling the light, it would be the way to go, IMO. If anyone knows how to do that, please let me know. ...I carefully pushed a little from the inside out, trying to push it out to no avail. I'm assuming it's glued in, but not sure.

The problem I see with trying to shave down the height of the button from the outside, it may not be a solid button. The underside of the button may be hollow. Without completely disassembling the button, it will be hard to tell if it's solid or just a shell. There's definitely a rubber stem protruding out of it. So, it might be hollow to help hold/align the rubber stem. Trying to shave it down without knowing for sure how far you can go, is too risky for me.

It may have been a fluke that my stem was damaged while removing the LE. I'm sure that it is a possibility though. So be careful if you go that route.


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Here's how to disassemble the S10:

1. Get one of the rubber pads from the grocery store used to open stuck jars. Place it in the palm of your left hand and press the bezel into it firmly while turning the light with your other hand. The bezel easily unscrew with this method.

2. With the bezel off, remove the tailcap and insert a battery. Press the back of the battery to push the pill out of the front.

3. The pill will move forward a bit then stop. It stops when the alignment tab hits the bezel threads. There are two options at this point:

Option A: the top few mm of the reflector should be visible outside the front of the light. Grip the sides of the reflector with a pliers and unscrew. Very little pressure should be required. The goal isn't to unscrew the reflector from the pill. Rather you're unscrewing the entire pill by working the alignment tab through all the bezel threads until the pill comes out.

Option B: unscrew the reflector from the pill. With the reflector out you should be able to see the alignment tab on the right (when looking into the head of the light) This tab goes into a slot in the body of the light and keeps the button boot aligned with the button. Use a small pick, tweezers, or other tool to lift up this tab pulling it above the pill threads. You can then push from the battery compartment to eject the pill. Incidentally, it's also now quite easy to change the emitter. With the reflector off, lift off the plastic spacer, revealing a standard 16mm star.

4. With the pill removed you can look into the battery tube to see the inside of the switchboot. Depress the button to see the little rubber pillar descend into the light. Trimming the bottom of that pillar off with a small scissors will mean much more pressure is required to activate the light. This will not affect the waterproofing in any way.

Trimming the outside of the boot could be dangerous. That boot is probably hollow around the pillar. It needs to be thin enough that it can flex when depressed. If you trim too much off, you risk cutting right through the top of the boot destroying it. Even if this doesn't happen, you'll probably end up severely damaging the durability of the boot, because there will be far less material available to flex back and forth in a high-wear area.

Fireclaw18 said:

Here's how to disassemble the S10:

(Snipped to keep thread clean)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed description, Fireclaw18! My next step was to search the forums for how to disassemble this thing. I have no issue taking apart my lights but with the side switch, the task didn't seem as straight forward.

Well, I decided to go with my first plan of trimming off the top of the button. I just used a small break-off knife and spent about 15 minutes carefully, gradually cutting around the base/edge of the blue button just above the stainless ring. In the process of cutting around the edge, I sort of pried up slightly and the entire blue button came off/out! SUCCESS!! Underneath is a clear rubber boot over the actual switch (I can actually see the switch through the rubber). Now, I have to really want to turn on my light for it to turn on. Couldn't be happier!

If I would have known it was this easy, I would have done it a year ago when I got my light.

I also trimmed off the two little nibs on the rubber boot where the blue cover pressed against. I have to press my finger into the switch hole to easily turn it on with virtually no possibility of it coming on by accident. The rubber boot is still tight, so I believe the water resistance is still intact.



Bottom of the button after it popped out.

srvctec said:

Well, I decided to go with my first plan of trimming off the top of the button. I just used a small break-off knife and spent about 15 minutes carefully, gradually cutting around the base/edge of the blue button just above the stainless ring. In the process of cutting around the edge, I sort of pried up slightly and the entire blue button came off/out! SUCCESS!! Underneath is a clear rubber boot over the actual switch (I can actually see the switch through the rubber). Now, I have to really want to turn on my light for it to turn on. Couldn't be happier!

If I would have known it was this easy, I would have done it a year ago when I got my light.

I also trimmed off the two little nibs on the rubber boot where the blue cover pressed against. I have to press my finger into the switch hole to easily turn it on with virtually no possibility of it coming on by accident. The rubber boot is still tight, so I believe the water resistance is still intact.

[]

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Wow, I'm glad it worked out to satisfy you. I'm also happy to see a little more into the construction. Was the blue cap glued? What keeps it from falling out? I can't see how it stays in with that design. I would have made a bet that it had a brim held in place by the silver bezel.


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Double Barrel said:

What keeps it from falling out? I can't see how it stays in with that design. I would have made a bet that it had a brim held in place by the silver bezel.


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Exactly- a small flange around the base of the edge slightly larger than the sides. It's so narrow, one might be able to pry out the button without doing any cutting. I started another thread about the mod. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/392304