I’ve had fantasies about doing just that a million times, but alas. And I use my headlamps sea kayaking so any surgery would have to stand up to the hardship of salt water. Which is of course doable, but most of these things are so crappy that something else would just break and then I’d be cursing at it for some other reason with the added irritation of having wasted time on it.
And this chipset really is soooo prevalent. Its even on those little inflatable solar lights that are super prevalent now:
Thought. Add a contactless charger, pot the electronics in some low-melting thermoplastic elastomer (hot-melt glue perhaps)? Other potting resins would do too but this would facilitate repairs/reworks more than curing silicone or epoxy.
Calls for a pin-compatible retrofit chip or module…
I firmly believe that 18650 batteries are a force of good. They’re not all created equal though. Get the Samsung batteries and you’ll be happy. Avoid anything that says “Magic Fire” unless you enjoy wrestling with malfunctioning electronics.
Its an interesting point, but you’d probably wind up spending more $$ than just buying a good headlamp to begin with.
And the charging isn’t the issue anyway, nor is the light, but just the modes of the light.
And there’s lots of other issues that you’d have to deal with next. The elastic on the headband for example doesn’t seem to have been designed to actually be used… After a few weeks it doesn’t spring back anymore. And the battery case quickly stops wanting to be a case and won’t stay closed. And after a few months the switch stops working…
I suppose its the ultimate fixer upper, but personally I’m just done with crapware, whenever possible. I’m trying to support quality, since the junk is just getting too prevalent in the era of Ali Baba.
I had one (similar to this but not that brand/model) that I used as a bike headlight a couple of times in a pinch. Unfortunately the charging port broke after a couple months of use.
The thing is for everyday carry and backpacking that kind of dual-use is king and the battery/light combo seems natural, so I hope more manufacturers of real flashlights & headlamps consider adding battery backup capabilities.
They’re not a force of good until you can get them at the CVS on the corner. Other than that, a battery is a battery. As long as it is rechargeable, there’s not a lot of difference.
Agreed about the convenience factor of AAA, but that’s about the only thing they have going for them. And most things that take AAA would be better off with a bigger battery anyway (AA batteries have almost twice the capacity). But in the modern era its easy enough to use rechargeables for most tasks, and there’s an absolutely massive difference in quality with rechargeables. For starters their amp hour (capacity) rating is often a cold war to see who can print the most outrageous lie on their packaging (just as lumen ratings are for flashlights). And then the cheap batteries stop taking a charge after a few cycles, and drain obnoxiously quickly.
As with all this Chinese crapware, if you use it a lot you get sick of it. After years of buying generic 18650 batteries I’ll never ever buy another cheapie again. These are great, but unfortunately are flat top so they don’t work with everything, since it doesn’t make contact:
Very likely would. It’s however impossible to take off without destroying the material, which inhibits further operations. (Though for just sealing the device, or for something not intended to be taken apart again, it is a pretty good choice.)
My only problems with sugru are its relatively short shelf life and a relatively high cost, plus in some applications the reworkability. Hence my preference for hot-melt adhesives.
Otherwise it is a VERY cool material.
Its surface is also quite slippery. Don’t use for brake pads. Don’t ask how I know.
True. However once you breach the device, you may compromise the watertightness, as you mentioned. I therefore suggested a way to work around the issue, forever. Taking care of the battery case issue in process. The switch could be replaced with something more reliable, too, maybe a reed contact and an external slider with a magnet; the low current capability of the contact can be boosted by using a power FET transistor as the switch and the reed contact to just control its gate.
All good points and ideas, but then the light itself (or something else) is bound to fail. As I understand it, the way they keep these so cheap is by using cree LED seconds.
They’re just so heinously crappy, and their failure would get even more annoying if I’d invested in them something other than merely $$, like time.
But on the subject of hacking them, its funny, I recently did a homebrew project using these batteries and I bought some cases for them off ebay:
The case is so badly designed its almost comical. For starters the sides are too high so there’s no way to get enough grip on the battery to extract them without a tool. And if you pry them from the ends the plastic breaks. Ugh! And I couldn’t find any other single battery case options. Sure I could conceivably homebrew the battery case itself but sheesh.
Tis the end times I tells you.
And as far as Sugru, I want to like the stuff but I have yet to find an application of it that wouldn’t be better served by epoxy in one form or another (from putty to resin). Since I’m guessing we’re the only ones still reading this topic, have you found a use for Sugru that beats epoxy?
Can you cut out a bit from the sides? Or put a piece of string or cloth band underneath so you can pull the cell out by tugging on it? Or put a piece of sticky tape around the cell so it forms a flexible tab the cell can be pulled by?
3d printing to the rescue?
Strain reliefs, silentblocks, vibration dampening, impact dampening, pads, little “feet” for instruments, anything where elasticity is needed. Epoxy is perfect for rigid or slightly flexible applications. Sugru is for where rubber is needed.
Yup, tried cutting the edges off the battery holder to allow for gripping but then the tension created by the battery and spring bowed out the whole assembly so it no longer made good contact with the battery. Just a total mess. I suppose I could reinforce the whole assembly with epoxy putty or whatever, but its surprising and just a little funny that so much work is required to get something to achieve its sole purpose passably. A ribbon under the battery is a good idea though.
And yes, 3d printing, one can dream…
Interesting about the elasticity of Suguru. I’ve been using Lexcel for adhesive needs where elasticity is required, but its not firm enough to be, say, a foot.
