A Look at Common Flashlight Switches Losses

kosPap

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Mar 1, 2007
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Naoussa Greece
greetings all!

Some time ago, I made a hi-amp triple DIY module but performance was dissapointing. yet it clocked well "on the bench".

So today I made some measurements of common switches' performance by measuring current draw on 2 PWM Direct Drive modules

c464e00e1a6518a1d06274ae5d4e6274.png


In short the well known Forward Click switch did a bit better than expected.Disappointing were the McClickie and the Solarforce L2D hi amp reverse switch.

And here is my test setup. Yes, I know there are many variables involved, but the setup was kept constant as shawn. And i took care to jiggle with the crocodile clip contact getting the best posible of.

2954c57d3da34b1c9efce1ca2da32be5.jpg


regards, kostas
 

DIWdiver

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Interesting. The two 'high amp' switches are the best and almost the worst.

Hmm... Two of the switches show higher current than with no switch. That should not be possible.

It may not be a huge effect, but there's definitely something a bit fishy about that data.
 
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kosPap

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The two 'high amp' switches are the best and almost the worst.

A title does not make for good performance. Actually the Solarforce one was too advertised....

Indeed there is this "No Switch" discrepancy. Which may be a difference in wire contact.
Yet, even the biggest discrepancy is close to 5%, which is considered the statistical margin of error in general.
 

BlindingLights

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Mar 4, 2020
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Wouldn't it be better to measure the voltage drop across the switch as well as current draw? Assuming all other connections are good and no dodgy jumpers.

Could the weird results be the voltage drop across the switch interfering with the controller, like it's going into hiccup mode as the supply starts off high on the start of each cycle but drops as current is drawn through the high resistance switch?
 

Agpp

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May 12, 2017
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I remember someone at BLF measuring different resistances from click to click.
Could you try that kosPap?
 

fatts

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Jul 13, 2007
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Kaidomain has two forward clickies listed on their website, can I ask which was the one you tested?
 

kosPap

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I hope it is not too late for an answer....
I measured the square ones.

The oblong ones seem very much like the convoy FWD Clickies (more on this is a new topic)
 

snakebite

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that cheap and nasty holder if it is what i think it is is about useless at 1a.
that could introduce more variation than the switches under test.
 
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