Still having trouble with an Astrolux

I have an Astrolux S41S that's been giving me problems. Had it for about a month now and can't seem to get it to function properly. I'm not all that savvy with lights really though I know it's a high drain device. I got an 18650 tube for it, and some Sony VTC6 batteries. Charged them both up and neither of them seem to able to run the light without it just stepping down through the brightness levels until it's completely off. It's like it's stuck in discharge protection mode... I'd just sell it but for 1, it was a gift from my wife and for 2, I don't want to sell something not knowing if it's going to function properly for someone else or not.
What should I do?

Sure looks pretty though.

I'm afraid I can't be of more help.

Ozythemandias said:

Sure looks pretty though.

I'm afraid I can't be of more help.

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Thanks, I do love the stainless/copper combination. Makes for a very attractive light in my opinion. Wife picked a good birthday present for sure, despite having trouble with it.

Try turn on memory mode, and don't run on level 7.

glockboy said:

Try turn on memory mode, and don't run on level 7.

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With memory mode off, and on it still steps down no matter what brightness level...

In the old days a few good whacks took care of things.

Sounds like the batteries should take the abuse. So it is quite likely the light itself. Even the best makers ship out a bad one every once in a while.

bykfixer said:

In the old days a few good whacks took care of things.

Sounds like the batteries should take the abuse. So it is quite likely the light itself. Even the best makers ship out a bad one every once in a while.

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I was afraid of that...
Any idea what kind of warranty Astrolux has?

Polynikes said:

I was afraid of that...
Any idea what kind of warranty Astrolux has?

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If you got it from BANGGOOD.com you might want to check with customer service. They may just send you a new light or if you are savvy you can replace the driver which they also sell. There is nothing wrong with the body of the light so that's good news. Astrolux can be legoed pretty easy.

Cobraman502 said:

If you got it from BANGGOOD.com you might want to check with customer service.

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She ordered it from Amazon...

Polynikes said:

She ordered it from Amazon...

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Even better Amazon customer service is great.

Kinda unrelated but one of my 2 Astrolux A01 is also kinda unstable. When I first got it and checked, the spring on the -ve end is not secured and can move freely inside. It came with a bit slant by default so I straighten it. But when screwing tight with the battery inside the tension felt sorta hard and...it didn't come on. Upon taking out the battery and checked, the battery was hot to the touch, so I guessed there was short circuit happened internally upon turning on where the hard spring pressed the battery onto the circuit board hard enough to somewhat deform the board and caused somewhere conductive touched internally and shorted. So I positioned the spring back to its slant mode, and it managed to turn on. With fragile board inside and such loose yet hard spring, guess the reliability is out for any serious use. Another one also has slant loose spring but works fine, just the mode switching a bit unreliable.

Such is Astrolux quality. Would be better if they buff up their quality in the future. Too bad because the A01 has one of the best tint. I replace it with Lumintop Tool nichia, but the Tool tint has purple in it due to the AR coat I guessed. Well, nothing is perfect.

There are a lot of reported driver problems with Astrolux at the moment, people having the same issues as yourself and the same problem as I had with an S1 ... that was when I could actually get it to switch on at all. I also bought an A01 in the same shipment and that hasn't worked since the day I had it .... both of them are complete junk!!!

I believe Manker used to make the Astrolux range on their behalf but Banggood wanted to reduce the cost to the extent that as Banggood were only interested in low cost rather than quality Manker released a statement saying they could no longer with them so the production went else where.

What you have bough is the result of Banggood trying to increase their profit at the cost of quality and personally until they resolve this I wouldn't go near any of their lights but also makes me wary of buying other things from them as well as I'm sure they probably treat all their suppliers the same way if they can.

Witterings said:

There are a lot of reported driver problems with Astrolux at the moment, people having the same issues as yourself and the same problem as I had with an S1 ... that was when I could actually get it to switch on at all. I also bought an A01 in the same shipment and that hasn't worked since the day I had it .... both of them are complete junk!!!

I believe Manker used to make the Astrolux range on their behalf but Banggood wanted to reduce the cost to the extent that as Banggood were only interested in low cost rather than quality Manker released a statement saying they could no longer with them so the production went else where.

What you have bough is the result of Banggood trying to increase their profit at the cost of quality and personally until they resolve this I wouldn't go near any of their lights but also makes me wary of buying other things from them as well as I'm sure they probably treat all their suppliers the same way if they can.

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I should've gotten the Manker version.
I won't be purchasing any Astrolux or anything from banggood.

Polynikes said:

I should've gotten the Manker version.
I won't be purchasing any Astrolux or anything from banggood.

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Your loss. Have had no problems with bangood stuff at fantastic low prices. Got the convoy c8, jetbeam jet-1 mk, 2x jetbeam jet-u, old lumes nichia 219, lumintop prince mini, lumintop prince, lumintop tool ti, astrolux s41, and different batteries the last year. Every item cost me less than a meal at a local resturant, so it's under the limit where i have to pay extra customs fee. So im happy with them.

Back to the problem.
-You can ask amazon for a replacement.
-You can buy a new driver and swap it yourself, but you need to know how to work with a soldering iron. just searh for " Astrolux S1 A17DD-L FET+1 Flashlight Driver" banggood got them.
-You can get some members here on cpf to swap the driver for you. (or send it to vinhngyen54 and he'll make it better than stock, with his drivers you can have yorself a programmable flamethrower )
-Or you can buy a replacement head from banggood. They sell just the head.

So I just bought another one.
Second one works great, no issues at all.
Now I have a second one I can play with so I can learn more about flashlights! Win win!
I disassembled the old one (kept the 18650 tube on the working one) and did a little heat anodizing on the stainless. The bezel came out way darker than the tail cap and 18350 tube but, I kind of new that would happen because it's so much thicker. But I'm still pretty happy with it.
(I've never done any anodizing before)

Next I want to do a forced patina on the copper. Also I'd like to put an amber led in this, and I need a new driver, and would like a new switch (this one is reverse clicky, and I'd prefer forward) but quite honestly I don't know anything about drivers, switches or LEDs so if you guys could help me by making suggestions as to what ones I should get, and what kind of batteries I should run (I don't have any high quality 18350s)
Here's a couple pictures to show you guys what the heat anno came out like.

Before

After

There is a fix: http://budgetlightforum.com/comment/1061998#comment-1061998