I use 16650's instead of 123's in my Vampire, so it's 3-something volts instead of 6.
However, the Y-cable is purpose made for combining lights that take at least 6 volts with Steiner lasers, so I'm not too worried about it. My oldest setup is several months old with a number of night shoots on it. No promises, but no problems yet either.
This Y cable
It's probably not a very cost effective setup unless you have a bunch of extra Y cables sitting around, and cheap surplus shop SF switches to pirate plugs from.
...
I don't post very many pics anymore. However, these are the types of materials I'm using for the splice;
Self soldering butt connectors
Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing
Cheapo heat gun for the shrink tubing and butt connectors. Depending on how cheap your heat gun is (think $20 hobby model), you may struggle to melt the low temp solder.
I cut the SF plug about 2.5" from the plug, same for the Steiner plug. You're going to end up with about 1/2" of overlap so plan accordingly. You want the splice to go some place you don't need to bend it.
Slide your outer shrink tubing over the Steiner side.
Don't forget this or you're hosed.
In matching the SF plug to the Steiner cable, you match the outer sheath wire to the inner wire on the other side. This means stripping the outer cover for about an inch; the Steiner coax sheath should unravel easy, the Surefire needs to be picked apart gently from the end with a dental pick or awl. After you have access to the inner strand, strip that about 3/4".
Now you can match inner and outer from opposite sides together; doesn't matter which one you do first, just butt connector them together one after the other. Helps to have a little solder station with alligator clips to hold stuff; just make sure the clip teeth don't puncture the cover of the wiring. If you do it right, the shrink tube butt connector on the inner wire side will overlap the insulation, preventing any possibility of outer and inner touching.
Then you slide the outer shrink tube cover (which is now trapped on the cable, because you did put it on before splicing, right?) down and heat it.
Diagram:
Attached FileAlso handy:
- Larue wire retention clips as needed
- Manta switch holder
I ended up taking leftover parts and now have a Surefire tape switch with Steiner/Insight plug on it, heh. I use it as a spare. What we really desperately need is something of similar construction and cost to the Steiner Y cable that has these plugs.