Princeton EOS Tec (v. 1) Broken Switch

Hello All,

The switch on my beloved EOS Tec has broken. It no longer moves and appears jammed into it's tiny housing. I called Princeton about it, telling them that it was broken and that I had desoldered it from the board with the intention of replacing it and would they kindly supply me with the switch part number. Unfortunately I've upgraded the LED from an ancient luxeon to an XR-E and therefore the headlamp is not returnable for warranty service. Would anyone out there happen to know what kind of switch would be suitable for this application?

Thanks in advance!

Marshall

Looks like no one has had a dead switch on their EOS Tec headlamp. I figured out the right replacement part. It's a 6mm x 3.5mm switch. I got one made by Panasonic (P/N EVQ-PE405Q). It can be had from Digi-Key (their P/N is P13588S-ND) for 0.50 USD. Hope this helps someone w/ the same problem...

thanks for sharing the info. don't have the problem myself, but nice to know that the part is available should i need it.

Thanks so much Marshall for figuring out the part number for the broken switch! Of the three Princeton Tec EOS headlamps I own, two of them have failed due to broken switches. What happens is that a tiny rectangle of thin metal inside the switch component on the circuit board develops a crack from being flexed too many times. I fixed the first one without the help of this thread by opening up the switch and painstakingly cutting a replacement part using a super thin piece of spring steel and a knife. When the second headlamp broke, I found this thread and purchased 10 switches from Digi-Key for like $8. Rather than remove the old switch and have to solder in the new one, I just took a new switch apart and used the new part to replace the broken part inside the old switch. Good as new!

The Panasonic replacement switches appear to be of better quality than the OEM switches and are rated for 50,000 cycles, so you're probably better off replacing the whole switch. But if you don't want to mess with soldering, there is another way. All you need is a knife, tweezers, and some patience. I put a replacement switch plate in my first-aid kit so I can fix my headlamp should it fail in the middle of a backpacking trip.