I'm tired of having my Photon's LEDs scratched up, so I am thinking of encasing my Photons in clear heat shink tubing, so that the LED is protected on the sides and the tubing extends a bit forward of the LED.<br><br>What are the pros & cons? Will the heat damage the components? Does doing this make sense to anyone?<br><br>I appreciate all comments.<br>Xavier Phoenix, AZ

I think this is one of the real attractions of the "covert" models of the Photon line. At least 95 percent of the time, I don't need the light being diffused to the sides anyway, so I don't think "clear" is essential.<br><br>I don't think the heat needed to shrink the tubing would bother the electronic components, but you might have to be careful of the case and LED depending on how you do it.<br><br>Barry at Blue Line mentioned (in an e-mail) that he'd found some black rubber grommets/washers in a hardware store that were a friction fit over the LED, and protected it.

Xavier,<br><br>Here's a few ideas that have worked for me. I have two LED lights. One is a "Innova" (sp?) with a recessed LED--no scratches. One is a Photon II, which I wear on my dog-tag chain--no scratches. The solution may be as simple as carrying it somewhere else, or buying a slightly different product. I would be very reluctlant to apply heat to a LED light. The plastic could melt, the LED could be "blackened," or cease to to function alltogether. Just my two cents.<br><br><br>Andy

The heat shouldn't bother it mine recently took a trip through the washer and dryer ( oops!) and was none the worse for wear

Xavier,<br><br>I had some heat shrink out tonight (getting a couple of new climbing ropes ready for use) and tried some of appropriate range on one of my Photon IIs. No problem with the heat, but I am very careful to direct the heat (paranoia about ropes) - YMMV. It was not especially secure due to the slick surface of the plastic and various lengths gave various compromises with regard to effect on the projected beam. I was using a Turquoise Photon II to experiment with - it has a fairly wide beam angle (30 deg) - and I had to leave all of the dome exposed in order to get substantially the same beam as uncovered. The narrower beams (white is 20 deg; yellow and orange are 15 deg) should be a little less affected, but I didn't test them because the adhesion was unsatisfactory. <br><br>I carry a red in my left pocket and a turquoise in my right pocket every day with coins, knives, micra, keys, etc tossed and have had zero scratches so far. The diameter of both these LEDs is fairly uniform at 0.187 inches +0.0003 / -0.0005 at a quick check. That's not a clean metric size, but is very close to 3/16 inch (0.1875). A #13 drill bit is 0.185 inches and a #12 drill bit is 0.189 inches. You could use one of those sizes to drill thru various materials (the actual hole diameter will vary with the material, but usually will be a little larger than the bit size for various reasons). Find something that works for you and trim/file away the excess on the outside - fasten as below:<br><br>What about trying a close-fit aluminum or brass tubing from a hobby store (K&E brand name, I think)? Find one that is a close fit (3/16 inch inside diameter), trim to length, and use an appropriate adhesive on it? cyanacrylate (sp?) aka super glue might work; a plastic-use-designated epoxy would for sure. <br><br>I've thought about turning a small piece of aluminum as an LED protector with an internal "reflector" cone appropriate for the beam angle, but heck, it's just an idle thought - I have "real" flashlights - these are fine for my use as-is. But if you know someone with a small lathe, maybe they will turn up a couple of prototypes for you...?<br><br>Hope that helps.<br><br>Tom

I tried out some heatshrink tubing that I received from www.heatshrink.com. It was their product A2(3X). This product shrinks by triple. It was 18mm clear. It worked pretty nicely except it was kind of tough to center the hole of the heatshrink perfectly around the LED. <br><br>Then, I went to Home Depot and picked some vinyl tubing with an outside diameter (OD) of 1/4" and an inside diameter (ID) of .170". I cut a small section and pushed it over the LED. Due to the friction fit, this worked perfectly!<br><br>Thanks for all your ideas.<br><br>Xavier Phx, AZ