Greenforce umbilical
- Thread starter adyver
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I have a very annoying loose connection in the cable of my Greenforce HID.
Without resorting to a hammer and chisel does anyone know how to get into the threaded aluminum tube which will allow me to check the soldered connections?
You mean on the head? If it is like the one I just recently worked on just pull the green connector out and the wires will be there.
DM51
Flashaholic
I'll move this into the Dive Light section.
Hi,
Somehow, I seem to have missed this.
In case you still need this fixed, or if anyone else needs the info, here is how:
The loose connection is actually a broken wire caused by general use in combination with, in my opinion, the wrong type of gland. This gland has some kind of strain relief, but it still causes the wires to break after a while. I have repaired 2 cables now and am repairing a third, all had the same problem. To open the connector at the end of the cable, first remove the decorative o-rings. If you look good, you will see an edge under the second o-ring, which is where it opens. To open it, use 2 of these:
Put them on either side of the groove of the second o-ring and unscrew the back. This may need considerable force in the beginning because the threads are locked with a thread locker.
Once it is loose, move it out of the way on the cable. The next step is a bit tricky. The sealing of this gland is done by 5 o-rings around the cable. they sit between the 2 metal pieces of the connector. What I do is push the cable further inside the connector and then pull it back a little. This will allow the o-rings to move up. once you can reach them, move them away one by one. Once all o-rings are out of the way, you can push the cable inside the connector and pull the plastic plug (use the springloaded screw to pull) out. you will then have something like in the picture below:
Note that the black plug does not have an o-ring. If your cable has a green plug, it will have an o-ring and it will be slightly more difficult to pull it out.
Also note that the 5 o-rings are not all the same size, so keep them in the right order so you can put them back correclty when done.
As you can see from the picture, the contact ring from this particular connector is missing so I'll need to make me a new one...
Next thing to do is pull the 2 single wires. One of them will probably just come out of the insulation. This was the cause of your problem, not the soldering of the wires to the contacts. You can use the length of the loose wire to measure where you need to cut the green cable.
Now you can strip a piece of the wire and use a soldering iron to connect it to the plug. The soldering iron will need to be more than 20W and preferably more to be able to heat it enough. wile it is taken apart completely, I always clean the cable and the o-rings so they won't leak when I put it back together. once finished, measure with a multimeter from one side of the cable to the other to check if the other side of the cable has the same problem and if you wired it correctly. if all is well, put it back together:
* push the plug in the connector
* put a little silicon grease on the o-rings and use the other metal piece to put them in place.
* if you have a thread locker, you can use that, but it is not really nessecary. tighten the screw and you should be good to go.
In the end, the cable will be about 6cm shorter so if you need to do this on both sides, it might get a little short. Once you know how it goes, it takes about 30-60 minutes to do this.
enjoy,
Johan
Somehow, I seem to have missed this.
In case you still need this fixed, or if anyone else needs the info, here is how:
The loose connection is actually a broken wire caused by general use in combination with, in my opinion, the wrong type of gland. This gland has some kind of strain relief, but it still causes the wires to break after a while. I have repaired 2 cables now and am repairing a third, all had the same problem. To open the connector at the end of the cable, first remove the decorative o-rings. If you look good, you will see an edge under the second o-ring, which is where it opens. To open it, use 2 of these:
Put them on either side of the groove of the second o-ring and unscrew the back. This may need considerable force in the beginning because the threads are locked with a thread locker.
Once it is loose, move it out of the way on the cable. The next step is a bit tricky. The sealing of this gland is done by 5 o-rings around the cable. they sit between the 2 metal pieces of the connector. What I do is push the cable further inside the connector and then pull it back a little. This will allow the o-rings to move up. once you can reach them, move them away one by one. Once all o-rings are out of the way, you can push the cable inside the connector and pull the plastic plug (use the springloaded screw to pull) out. you will then have something like in the picture below:
Note that the black plug does not have an o-ring. If your cable has a green plug, it will have an o-ring and it will be slightly more difficult to pull it out.
Also note that the 5 o-rings are not all the same size, so keep them in the right order so you can put them back correclty when done.
As you can see from the picture, the contact ring from this particular connector is missing so I'll need to make me a new one...
Next thing to do is pull the 2 single wires. One of them will probably just come out of the insulation. This was the cause of your problem, not the soldering of the wires to the contacts. You can use the length of the loose wire to measure where you need to cut the green cable.
Now you can strip a piece of the wire and use a soldering iron to connect it to the plug. The soldering iron will need to be more than 20W and preferably more to be able to heat it enough. wile it is taken apart completely, I always clean the cable and the o-rings so they won't leak when I put it back together. once finished, measure with a multimeter from one side of the cable to the other to check if the other side of the cable has the same problem and if you wired it correctly. if all is well, put it back together:
* push the plug in the connector
* put a little silicon grease on the o-rings and use the other metal piece to put them in place.
* if you have a thread locker, you can use that, but it is not really nessecary. tighten the screw and you should be good to go.
In the end, the cable will be about 6cm shorter so if you need to do this on both sides, it might get a little short. Once you know how it goes, it takes about 30-60 minutes to do this.
enjoy,
Johan
Last edited:
StuLambert
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2012
- Messages
- 2
Hi Johan,
Just a quick note to thank you for this information. So simple when you know and I have repaired my torch in under an hour and is ready for use at the weekend.
Much appreciated - thank you
Cheers
Stu
Just a quick note to thank you for this information. So simple when you know and I have repaired my torch in under an hour and is ready for use at the weekend.
Much appreciated - thank you
Cheers
Stu
tomstgeorge
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2012
- Messages
- 1
Following these great instructions I've managed to get into the connector on a friends Greenforce 2-outlet umbilical to try to repair a broken connection.
http://www.green-force.com/images/Cable2_lr.png
Unfortunately it appears the broken connection is at the other end. Any ideas on how to get into the other end (the end with both cables in it)? I've undone the agro cable glands and tried pulling the plastic plug (using the springloaded screw) but no matter how hard I pull it won't come out.
Am I missing some trick on getting into this one? Any help gratefully appreciated.
cheers
tsg
http://www.green-force.com/images/Cable2_lr.png
Unfortunately it appears the broken connection is at the other end. Any ideas on how to get into the other end (the end with both cables in it)? I've undone the agro cable glands and tried pulling the plastic plug (using the springloaded screw) but no matter how hard I pull it won't come out.
Am I missing some trick on getting into this one? Any help gratefully appreciated.
cheers
tsg
Hi,
I never had such one in my hands, so am not sure how to get this one open.
I would expect that you need to unsrew the 2 agro glands so both cables can slide in when getting the plastic cap on the other side out.
I've noticed that rotating the plastic thing while trying to pull it out can help to get it out. Somehow the friction is so high that it is difficult to get it out. by rotating it, the friction gets lower because it is already sliding (although in a perpendicular direction).
I assume the 2 cables are simply soldered in parallel to the connections on the other side, so both cables will need to slide in I guess. But again, I never had such a cable in my hands.
hope this helps,
Johan
I never had such one in my hands, so am not sure how to get this one open.
I would expect that you need to unsrew the 2 agro glands so both cables can slide in when getting the plastic cap on the other side out.
I've noticed that rotating the plastic thing while trying to pull it out can help to get it out. Somehow the friction is so high that it is difficult to get it out. by rotating it, the friction gets lower because it is already sliding (although in a perpendicular direction).
I assume the 2 cables are simply soldered in parallel to the connections on the other side, so both cables will need to slide in I guess. But again, I never had such a cable in my hands.
hope this helps,
Johan
