Help with a flashlight mod.

[bubbadreier]

Hello everyone! I am pretty new to the vaping world, but I decided to jump into the modding side of things to see how it goes.

I happened to have a couple of those cheap flashlight sitting around and thought that might be the easiest one to try first. I didn't have a soldering iron, so I went to Wally world and bought a cheap one with some solder. I then ran to Radio Shack and bought some momentary switches to complete the mod. I used an old charger for the copper wire and the battery springs I took from the battery holder inside the flashlight. I got the 510 connectors from some old batteries I had sitting around.

Well I started my first mod and.... Screwed the thing up. I soldered wrong, melted the momentary switch, and somehow broke the 510 connector.

I moved onto my second one but before I ruin this one too I thought I would see what I am doing wrong and if anyone has any advice.

This is a diagram I just made to see if anyone sees anything wrong with it. Should I have a negative wire somewhere? What batteries would fit in this thing? (I believe it was originally 3 1/2 inches long.) Also the 510 connectors I have already have solder on the pins, can I solder the positive wire onto the solder that is already there?

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Commie]

Is this the switch? Push Button Switch, Black

Those do melt easily if you try to solder to their body. I broke two.

If the flashlight is aluminum, don't bother trying to solder to its body. That's HOW I melted my switches. Can't solder to aluminum.

The 510 connector, did you take it apart before soldering? Putting the little rubber stopper back in is a pain, but much less so than waiting for replacement connector after you've melted the rubber. That gives you time to rip your mod apart and try to extract the broken connector.

Also, you want to wait for the iron to be hot and then solder quickly.

Disclaimer: I am speaking from my own unfortunate experience. If I come off as patronizing, please don't mind me. Had a terrible day and I don't mean to.

 

[bubbadreier]

Haha your all good man!

Yeah that is the switch I bought.

I havent tried to solder to the body but I was going to try, so now I know not to even atempt.

That is the problem I have with the 510 connector. Since I got it out of a battery it is already soldered together. I cant take the center pin out.

After my first attempt at soldering, I watched a bunch of videos and practiced a bunch, so I am getting better at it

 

[18SixFifty]

It is really a pain to solder that 510. Are you using flux? I have found its darn near impossible without it. I use a really tiny paint brush to put the flux on. less is more and that includes the solder. Try and get just a tiny bead on the solder gun itself and drip it on to make the connection. That is what works for me. Paint on a tiny bit of flux then a bit of solder on your gun and just quickly make the connection. If you can find one get a Weller (solder gun) that is adjustable and set it fairly low. It's just a touch of the bead to the flux.

Hope this helps.

 

[Commie]

The way I found to solder the center pin of the 510 connector is to take it out, strip a good half inch of the wire, put a solder drop on the end of it, put it next to the end of the connector, and slowly heat up the big stripped portion of the wire until the drop of solder attaches to the connector. Then isolate the extra exposed wire with shink tubing (or a big gob of glue if that's how you're fixing it inside the mod).

 

[bubbadreier]

Well that is the problem... I cant take the 510 connector apart. It is all soldered together already. The center pin was filled with solder when it was attached to the original battery. So basically imagine a 510 connector filled with solder on the botton.

 

[Commie]

yeah, you'll need a new one, unless you're willing to get very creative. I've seen some people throw away the center pin and the rubber stopper completely, and making new ones out of a copper rod and (no idea what they made the insulator from). I'd try a carto condom or stopper from a clearo like a Vivi Nova. First, you'd have to heat it up so much that you could get the solder and the center pin out, which is very questionable to begin with

But most logical and sad solution is wait for a new one to get in the mail.

 

[uncleyoda21]

ya madvapes sells the 51- with prewired to make this easier but costs alot more theyre right flux will help but if like me your using old crappy broken EGOs my issue is i need to rebuild the centers anyhow. i wonder if andone come up with a better 510 connector? i seen some mods with ADJUSTABLE center pins from the inside . i wonder if you could get a small screw with say 2 nuts attack the + between the nuts to have a adjustable center pin on this style mod. making it easier for modbuilders?