RGB tail caps?

[Bacon]

Fist time I have seen a RGB tail cap. Looks neat. says its about 16mm.
Thought I would post it here for lols. Has anyone else seen stuff like this?

https://led4power.com/product/ilc-0-illuminated-tailcap-switch-module-default-leds-current-copy/

 

[ArcticDude]

Fist time I have seen a RGB tail cap. Looks neat. says its about 16mm.
Thought I would post it here for lols. Has anyone else seen stuff like this?

https://led4power.com/product/ilc-0-illuminated-tailcap-switch-module-default-leds-current-copy/

Hey, that look pretty neat!!
Thanks for the link! :thanks:

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi B,
Looks like a multi color led behind a clear rubber push button cap incorporated into the switch button. Just my thoughts thats really cool thanks foresting this ..

Rich

 

[Gazen]

Pretty cool, could also double as a voltage indicator since the color red becomes more dominant when the battery is low.

 

[paul1598419]

Can't say I've seen this before now, Bacon. Seems quite inexpensive for what it can do. :thanks: for the link.

 

[Benm]

Interesting idea, but this:

Active state (operating) current: 3.3uA typ.

These things must be incredibly dim, maybe just good enough to see in total darkness (which would be a good feature on a flashlight in case of a power outage or something).

It also says

"LEDs current can be easily set with single 0603 resistor (max. 600uA is recommended)."

When running at 600 uA it would be visible under modest ambient light, but this is also a very bad idea: it would deplete a, for example, 2000 mAh battery in 3000 hours, or about 3 months.

 

[paul1598419]

Another good reason to not leave batteries in your lasers. That is what I would be using them for, anyway.

 

[Emialias]

this looks like something that would be in an adjustable rgb handheld

 

[Benm]

Why would leaving your batteries in a laser pointer be a bad idea if the switch actually fully disconnects them from the circuitry? I don't see why this would be any worse than taking the batteries out and putting them in a drawer or something for the same amount of time you don't use the laser.

With a flashlight it can be useful to have a lighting up indicator so you could find it in an emergency. To avoid running the batteries down this usually is a system where a LED flashes briefly every second or so - you can find that in total darkness, but because of the low duty cycle it will not drain the batteries that much even over a long period of time.

This is actually used in emergency flashlights on airplanes and ships, where you can see a (usually red) LED flash briefly every second or so. This uses so little power it will not run the batteries down too badly over the service life of the emergency light (10 years or so), as these things typically use primary (non-rechargeable) batteries for extreme reliability during their service life. Often the batteries in such lights aren't even replaceable and the unit is supposed to be discarded (or well, recycled) every 10 years.

 

[paul1598419]

I can't count the number of times someone has had a laser come on in their pocket. Also, have had switches short out on me as well as other people. It only happened to me once, but that is all it takes. I had a guy who I sold five MS-Envy 445nm 2+ watt lasers to that had one turn on in his jacket pocket. It burned a huge hole in the pocket, but didn't hurt the laser at all. Go figure. I suspect the drivers temperature control shut it off and back on until the batteries discharged.

 

[Benm]

Yeah, that's a problem on it's own: they often use switches that are by no means rated for the actual current on both laser pointers and flashlights.

Sometimes this goes to the ridiculous where the use a momentary push button rated for 50 mA (essentially just intended as an input button for a remote control or something) and switch 1 amp through that. Obviously it will fail at some point - if you're lucky open circuit, but it could sort of spot-weld in the closed position as well.

The same thing can happen with tail clicky switches that were intended for use with a 300 mA, 1 watt flashlight host. If you put a laser in such a host that draws 2 amps, chances are that the switch will fail at some point, either open or close circuit.

So no problem with upgrading the switches and springs at all, preferably without any silly RGB cycling tailcaps that run the batteries down.

 

[dYankee]

Awesome video! That's very interesting