Installation is fine - I went so far as to wrap the wire crimp tubes with electrical tape to ensure no metal would touch inside the heat shrink casing. Before heat shrinking, I spun the front wheel, and the standlight and tail light came on, so everything was ***** dory. I never heard a sound or anything else demarking the moment that the capacitor (or whatever the cause may be) failed, so I suspect the faulty part gave up the ghost once the juice started flowing steadily.

Since the tail light is essentially useless at the moment (thank the gods I also use blinkies) it would be an easy operation to snip the wire and see if the standlight works. I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'll definitely take the suggestion.

On a good note, I REALLY like the light itself, which seems unbothered by the drama in the standlight and tail light department).

@coqueraujo - I was originally planning to get the asymmetric lens, but had a hell of a time finding one in stock with the "multi mount" (fork crown mount) - at the time shipments were anticipated in late January/early Feb.
So, I decided to get the symmetrical lens and have been playing with the light angle to find something that works well for urban commuting. I've found a sweet spot, with the intense center beam focused about 80-100 feet ahead of me (rather than at the horizon). This really works well for me, and probably takes the blinding factor somewhat out of the picture.