LED Troubleshooting guide (budget lights)

[drizler]

Don't forget to use some of this stuff when you think there is a conductive issue. I got this stuff at Advance Auto although any other auto parts place should have it possibly even the bigger Walmarts. I have come to love this dielectric grease and wish I had found it 35 years ago. I now use it on all outdoor bulbs and electrical connections to insure no weather related problems later on. It's also great under auto sensor leads to block corrosion and its troubles. As for flashlights I had gathered a collection of 6 of those $2 LED lights you find at the counter at Advance. Given 6 months to a year none of them worked at all which is no surprise. I greased every cheap metal contact piece with it and viola, every one now works. This stuff is better than grease as it won't short out the connection like regular grease will. A tube of this should last at least 10 years and keep your electronic goodies very happy.:thumbsup:a

 

[ddac]

Awesome tutorial!!

I have the same MTE light. I purchased it as a dedicated bike light (strobe mode). However, after a few weeks of use, the light started flickering. It would go dim and be bright again.

I'm going to try the paper clip test.

 

[ddac]

I did the paperclip test and it was day and night. With the paperclip, it did not flickering and there was no dimming!!!

I examined the tailcap. It was very tight. I loosed it with needle nose pliers and couldn't see anything wrong. I used fine grit sandpaper to sand everything down and cleaned it with alcohol before putting it back together.

Result: Still flickering. It also goes dim & bright erratically when i start vibrating the light (imitating the environment when it's mounted on my handlebar).

Any ideas?

 

[row]

Thank you very much for the detailed post

 

[hank]

Aside -- can you tell if it's a real or fake MTE? From somewhere else, I found "an authentic MTE, you can tell because the PCB is encapsulated and epoxied to the recess in the brass module with thermal epoxy for better heat conduction, not exposed like all the fake ..."

 

[Jaysonr6]

Hi.

I know i have found it somewhere in my travels...

But does someone have a list of the o-rings needed to replace all of them in the dealextreme SSC P7?

I was hoping to go get some better quality ones and use a decent lube lik[FONT=arial, sans-serif]e ​molykote.[/FONT]

 

[Jaysonr6]

anyone at all?

I am goin to Thailand in a week and would really love to replace the o'rings and test this out.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

anyone at all?

I am goin to Thailand in a week and would really love to replace the o'rings and test this out.

The 'Dealextreme SSC P7' is not a single light. The SSC P7 describes an LED used in a few dozen lights. A good guess is:

1" Bezel O-ring
Same-size as solarforce/P60 style lights for head and tailcap O-rings

 

[aosinator]

Thanks so much for posting this guide. I had 2 flashlights which have been flickering wildly, especially when gently shaken. This guide helped me figure out why, and then to fix it. :twothumbs

 

[DP Hunter]

Great guide - thanks for posting it! I may be able to start doing this!

 

[hantulaut]

ah this one ive been looking for. My cheap china flasglight has sudden flickering dozen times when it switch ON.
Wonderful pics info too. Thanks

 

[jarma]

excellent!! fixed my flicker problem in minuits, brilliant to fix what im sure is a very common problem on budget flashlights,

 

[JaffoAZ]

This is hilarious. This stickied post is more than a couple years old. I Have a Solarforce 2011 version L2 that I have been in love with since I got it a couple days ago, and it has performed flawlessly with some generic XM-L T6 drop-in that came with my first budget performer, an Ultrafire 502b. I really thought I'd struck gold with less than $30 investment for such a nice quality host (and that 502b) and a cheap drop-in. 30 minutes ago I was severely peeved when suddenly the torch became a tactical pressure switch-only light, irritatingly cycling through the 3 brightness modes and 2 worthless blinky modes with just half pressure on the switch. The light would just turn off completely if I fully click the switch. Not only that, but if I smacked the setup in my hand sharply, it would once again cycle through modes. UGH!!! I was thinking "Oh crap - I've just discovered the downfall of budget Chinese torches." Then, I reverted to one of the top three static posts on this budget light forum, and by step 2 or 3, my torch was back to being awesome again. Tightened the containment washer in my switch and all is fine again. Thanks a million, nakamoomin. Where would us clueless newbs be without ya? Probably posting really ignorant negative reviews on Amazon.com or saturating the forum with countless redundant "what the hell happened to my stupid flashlight?" posts or something... God, I love this stuff. 03:naughty:-30-2009, 06:12 AM

 

[aba1]

Hello,

I've noticed that my flashlight luminosity depends on the outside temperature
Do you think led performance depends on the environment?
Thank you in advance

 

[Bevis]

nice guide. i have a pair of it and they are working fine. i dont want to do changes as its sensitive to do this stuff. well you explained well but i am little scary.

 

[sikreto]

Good thing i found this, I was about to throw my flashlight. As I have followed step number 2 step by step as I've already determined that it is a problem in the switch, and even followed some of the extra taken by other members here, my flashlight still doesn't work. What other considerations have I missed?

 

[Kappycpf]

Thanks for the explanation. Don't forget to note that one must remove the rubber like cap to access the switch in the tailcap.

 

[andymac]

joined candlepower and found the answer to my nightsearcher tracker problem within 5 minutes many thanks :thumbsup:

 

[TheIrishExit]

This post helped me trouble shoot my Solarforce L2P, or at least narrow the problem down to the drop in. Thanks.

 

[mosquito]

For reference:

If you need to remove the switch from the end cap of a small Nebo -- like CSI Edge, US Army TAC-50, and probably the CSI LUMA50 and Lumiere -- then:

1) Remove the end cap from the body.
2) Remove the rubber seal over the end of the switch. (Pinch it out with thumb and forefinger.)
3) Press the switch assembly out with something like a #1 or #0 flathead screwdriver. (The switch assembly is not screwed in.)

--

So far, I've had three of these lights and I agree that they're not very reliable. So, I always keep a spare with me. When they start flickering or being inconsistent, usually wiping the AA cell contacts improves it enough for the night. If that's happening too often cleaning them well makes them bright and reliable again.

For me the pros are:

- Cheap
- Durable
- Baseball cap-mountable

Cheap? $10. For durable, I've been using these lights for about two years on a weekly+ basis and haven't broken one yet. They get dropped and mashed, not infrequently, and are always bouncing around at the bottom of my messenger bag. For my particular purpose of having a small, convenient head-mounted light they're great because they clip onto the band of my baseball cap as I'm working and stay put. Always keeping a spare isn't a bad thing for me either because I often have other people -- musicians, producers, performers -- ask to borrow my light. With two I can loan one and keep the one I'm using where I need it.