Helping AAA Batts Make Contact in 637nm Viper

[julianthedragon]

Hi there
I own a 50mw 637nm Viper pointer from dragonlasers, purchased it around two years ago. It's a pen-sized host that takes 2x regular AAAs.

My problem is that when both AAAs are inserted they barely make contact with the tail of the laser. I can feel the batts rattling while in use and sometimes they lose contact and the laser shuts off entirely depending on the angle/gravity.

What should I do to help them make contact and complete the circuit? Can I insert some type of metal button between the top battery and the tailcap? If this is the case which metal and how can I find/make something like this?

This isn't a new issue, I always turned a turned a blind eye to it, erm, so to speak, but decided to finally do something about it. Apologize if this is nooby

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Yes you'll want some additional metal in there. Risky in my opinion to try stretching out the spring, but it's most likely the spring getting deformed over time in there. It happens. Less likely but possible the entire module shifted forward, you'd notice the button not pressing correctly as well in that case.

If it's the former like I expect, it's easy. I'm sure others will share their methods but I usually solder a small, weak spring to the tail cap. Could also just melt a blob of solder there and add to it as necessary. If you don't have any soldering skills or equipment, you may have some luck with tightly folded aluminum foil to put into the tail cap as well.

 

[julianthedragon]

Yes you'll want some additional metal in there. Risky in my opinion to try stretching out the spring, but it's most likely the spring getting deformed over time in there. It happens. Less likely but possible the entire module shifted forward, you'd notice the button not pressing correctly as well in that case.

If it's the former like I expect, it's easy. I'm sure others will share their methods but I usually solder a small, weak spring to the tail cap. Could also just melt a blob of solder there and add to it as necessary. If you don't have any soldering skills or equipment, you may have some luck with tightly folded aluminum foil to put into the tail cap as well.

Thanks ZRaffle, I'll try out some of those things carefully and see what works. I have soldering equipment around luckily. I'm pretty sure the module has not shifted since this problem isn't new and the button seems fine

 

[julianthedragon]

Melted a little solder on the tailcap and the problem is fixed