Hey guys, so, i've bought this flashlight, and for my surprise, it doesn't have any PCB on it. Should i make a mod out of it or should i look for another flashlight?
make it! You dont need a PCB! Either it uses the body for the neg and even if not a few solder points will fix it rt on up! Now, if ur tryin to add a resister for 5v, then hit up radioshack for a pack of round pcb printed disks n keep on keepin on
aw heck, its xmas, heres a diagram,,,,use it w or w out resistor http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3368863213_8233da379d.jpg
Wow thank you very much! And mery christmas to you too! One question, since my tech english is not that good, what's the power coupling? Is it the connector? And where should i solder the power source? I is the little plastic disc with the LED's on the top? Oh btw, my flashlight is the same as madvapes.
hmmm I've made a lot of the flashight mods- Never saw one without a PCB. What were the LED's attached to? I don't think blank PCB would work, you still need the outside ring on the regular FL PCB to get the Neg. back to the end cap. I made a DIY video that might help you? http://www.vape.to/forum/battery-mods/1062-new-diy-video-5-volt-mod-w-leds.html#post5470
Did you just buy the body from MV? I've got some of those flashlights (very bright they are). They got PCB's in them. @ crashtestjeep C'mon Crash you can't have the main power to the atty going through an 1/8 watt resistor, you'd need a 10 watt one to be safe and 100 ohms would cut the voltage to almost nothing. That resistor is to drop the voltage to the LED and should be on it's own leg. Here's a modified diagram, note the direct line from the switch to the atty. Power Coupling = battery threads-> atty. No you don't, that's just the way you do it. You only need something where the PCB was to provide a solid positive connection. A spring to the battery. There is more than one way or place to establish a ground.
What works great on that style flashlight is a 7/8" fender washer pressed into the top.. Gives a place for the connector to ground to and provides a good secure top.. I usually stack two of them together and then solder around the edge for a nice tight press fit. Hoog
Thanks everyone for the kind answers. I'm gonna start to work on this mod asap. I was waiting for madvapes to post a tutorial on his website, but i guess i've got it, just waiting for the batteries.
U want a tutorial?- Here- http://www.vape.to/forum/showthread.php?1062-New-DIY-Video-5-Volt-Mod-w-LED-s enjoy
Hey Robert! Saw your videos about a hundred times now lol. But your flashlights have a PCB, mine doesn't. I guess i'll just buy another flashlight and see how it goes.
I get most of mine from Fry's or Autozone- The one's at auto zone are on the counter- So you can just grap it unscrew the back and look inside - you should see the CB - I still don't understand what was holding the LED's in your FL, or holding the spring - where the (+) on the batteries would touch?
It was some crappy plastic disk, there was no spring just a soldering core on it which the 3 AAA batteries case makes the positive contact.
OK now- believe it or not that crappy plastic disk is the circut board. Solder lump in the middle is positive and you should see around the ouside a few more 2-3 solder lumps they are negative I seen a few like that and there is a way to fix it. They aren't as good as ones with springs but they are the same thing. Simple fix- Take a spring out of the battery holder- the thing that holds the 3 AAA bateries. Or find a bigger better spring somewhere- I had to cut some out of a battery box from rat shack for a few fl's without springs. Solder the spring to the solder lump. Then JB weld on top of the solder around the base spring and on the top of the CB but not over the top of the neg. connections. There are 2 rings outer is negative. Inner ring and spring are positive. There is also 1 neg connection near the inner ring it goes with the pos connection that the spring it attached to - make sure to jb weld over that neg connection- since it is the easiest to short out with the pos + spring connection!!!! Those neg and pos solder lumps are a possible short circut - so I cover all the positive connections with JB weld - trying to eliminate the risk of a short circut. In the picture of one I did below you can see I slightly missed jb welding part of 1 pos connection (closest to you in the pic.) I covered that later. All this is explained in my DIY videos locate on this forum. or here- http://www.youtube.com/user/BaileyEFT
