Trouble with new Dereelight DBS V3

j_rico

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
14
Hello,

New to this flashaholic thing and after reading lots of threads here and asking Alan at Dereelight a lot of questions (he was very polite), I ordered a DBS V3. After it arrived, I had to wait awhile for some protected 18650s. Used my DBS for a couple days and now it will not light.

Noticed last night that it dimmed and brightened as I was using it (fresh charge on batteries). Thought maybe something was loose. Tried shaking it a bit and sure enough light changed dim and bright as it moved. Also noticed some small plastic debris was between the lens and the reflector and was rattling around in there. Had lubed and tightened tail cap and extension, but had not done so the head. Then light stopped working altogether. Thought maybe it was loose there and decided to lube it as well. When I took the head off a small silver ring that I now know was the pill lock(er?) fell out. Lubed it. Put back together. No light. Tightened everything. No light. Not exactly sure if I got the pill lock right. I screwed it to base of pill that was screwed into base of reflector. Was that right?

Found troubleshooting online and connected battery to tube without switch cap. No light. Took pill out and used wires to connect battery to pill. No light.

Seels pill is dead after about a week of play. Very bummed. Wonder if I did something wrong or if there is something simple I am missing.

Sent email to Alan at Dereelight. Awaiting response.

Not bashing Dereelight. Maybe it was me. Just want it to work.

Sigh.
 

varmint

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
374
Location
Cash, Texas
Where did you get it? My V3 acted us and it was the tail switch not tight. I sure hate to hear you had a problem, let us know what was wrong with it. I have 2 of them and they are my favorite lights and used every night.
 

j_rico

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
14
Howdy.

Ordered it directly from Dereelight. Heard from Alan yesterday and he is sending me a new pill, which is terribly nice of him. Alan has been so pleasant that it is pushing me further into ordering that aspherical lanes thing to annoy the neighbors.


I believe the pill is dead as I could not get it to go in testing. Not sure what caused what. Would it have gone dim/bright/dim/bright if the pill was defective? It seemed to me like something was loose, but tightened the crap out of everything and then it just quit.

Just do not know. Jury is still out on the light, but pleased with the service.
 

varmint

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
374
Location
Cash, Texas
I would very much like to know what was wrong and the outcome of your problem as this is my favorite light by far.
Larry
 

AlPal

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
128
Location
Canada
Where did you get it? My V3 acted us and it was the tail switch not tight. I sure hate to hear you had a problem, let us know what was wrong with it. I have 2 of them and they are my favorite lights and used every night.

My Dereelight V3 had also acted up one time and it was the interior tail switch spring that had slightly loosened. After I tightened it up it was good as new.
I am glad to hear that Alan has sent you a new pill. Nice to see good customer service.
Just like Varmint, I also have similar liking to the Dereelight DBS V3 with the XML pill. My favourite and most used light.
 

j_rico

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
14
The replacement pill came in last week and I have installed and tested it. Light now works 100%. I am no expert, but I think that the first pill was bad. The light would change between bright and dim if it was moved at all before. No matter how tight I made everything it would flicker.

Once I installed the replacement, I purposely assembled the light loosely and shook the stink out of it. The light did not flicker one bit. Made a point to take the light out to the back yard and walk around with it on while playing fetch with the dog. No problems.

I appreciate that Alan sent the replacement part. That has made it all right.
 
Last edited:

Hondo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 26, 2005
Messages
1,544
Location
SE Michigan
Alan is great to deal with, I bought a bunch of stuff from him a while back, CL1H's and drop-ins. You might want to have a go at the dead pill, since you now have nothing to lose. If a component on the driver died, you could get a new driver and replace it, but if you are lucky, one of the wires from the LED to the board may have just come loose, and could be re-soldered.

If you have a soldering iron, it is not too hard to pull the driver, but it helps to have a de-sodering bulb or copper braid to suck up the excess solder at the edge of the board to the brass pill. Once you get the board loose of the back of the pill, you can inspect the connections inside, and test the LED independent of the driver. Two alkaline cells in series is enough to power the LED at a low level to check function. If that works, and both leads were connected to the board, you would need a new driver to put it back in action. I have had good luck with some of the inexpensive ones from DX, although the multi-mode ones have fairly detectable PWM rates.
 

j_rico

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
14
Have not touched a soldering iron since I left the navy, but you're right. Nothing to lose as it is already dead.
 

Oztorchfreak

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 29, 2010
Messages
1,317
Location
Sydney, Australia
Howdy.

Ordered it directly from Dereelight. Heard from Alan yesterday and he is sending me a new pill, which is terribly nice of him. Alan has been so pleasant that it is pushing me further into ordering that aspherical lanes thing to annoy the neighbors.


I believe the pill is dead as I could not get it to go in testing. Not sure what caused what. Would it have gone dim/bright/dim/bright if the pill was defective? It seemed to me like something was loose, but tightened the crap out of everything and then it just quit.

Just do not know. Jury is still out on the light, but pleased with the service.

I have the one below which is the T6 Smooth reflector version.
[h=3]9W 2x123A 700-lm 2-mode Dereelight DBS-T XM-L T6 2MT-M[/h]
and also the Aspherical Head with the XR-E EZ900 LED in it, what a great combination in producing that tight beam!!

So I have one body, two heads and 2 extenders for 2 x 18500s or 2 x 18650s.
[h=3]Two torches in one!![/h]As new LEDs or whatever come out I can update the LED pills etc. A bit of a LEGO flashlight.

That Aspherical head rips throught the night at 90Kcd - 100Kcd.

I am still amazed by the tiny thin but powerful beam it throws. You cannot really use it for walking in the bush as it has no spill.
 
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