Advice for accessing the bulb without damage? Classic Yellow Plastic 2xD battery

[j2020]

Hope it doesn't show I'm a newbie here. . .

Bulb went out in my mother's dear old ever-so-generic 2xD-cell classic yellow flashlight.

So classic afraid it's going to break if pulled or twisted any harder than has been done so far, to access the bulb.

Please see photos. Should the (strongly) connecting spring be forcibly rotated out or forcibly pulled out or ?

Thanks.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello j202,

Welcome to CPF.

I see a spare bulb in there. It looks like you can work it loose and get it out and replace it without total disassembly.

If the problem is the bulb, this will fix it. However, if the problem is a connection, you will have to pull the rest out.

If you have a voltmeter you can check the resistance of the bulb to see if it is burned out or not.

Tom

 

[j2020]

Thank you. Checked and, yes, it's the bulb.

It seems during manufacture everything was forced into place. Using needle-nosed pliers and a dental pick finally was able to disconnect the spring from the bulb to separate from the main body. Unfortunately, in this case it's not obvious (to me) which way the bulb should best be removed from the reflector. (Up and out from the wide part of the reflector, or pushed down, or somehow crushed). Again looking like it was forced in during manufacture, the bulb is angled slightly with part of the "lip" of the bulb-base above and part below, very securely holding it in place.

 

[xxo]

Usually there's a collar that screws off and the bulb comes out the back of the reflector.

 

[j2020]

Hmmm. Now that you mention it, I do remember that type. But not present in this, ahem, "low-end" torch.

The bulb had been jammed in so hard it deformed and physically sliced into the reflector.

Resolved to go all the way and use the tv-sitcom-promoted extraction-method meant to alleviate distress caused by intranasally inserted cocoa-puffs. (Yes. "Crush and blow.")

Crushed the bulb, tapped out the (+) contact, scraped out what remained, then squeezed and twisted the metal shell until it could be pulled out. The reflector flexed and creaked but did not break.

No new bulb - even the included one - would smoothly fit or sit straight in the reflector's back-channel. So decided why not "upgrade" this always-dim flashlight with an inexpensive - presumably longer lasting - 3V 30 lumen LED replacement which was available.

Gingerly poked around the metal "lip" of the bulb with a pick to keep it straight while also wedging it into place in the reflector, before wrestling a (+) contact spring (which acted like one of those outdoor-advertising waving inflatable "tube-men") into a position to actually meet the bulb's contact, rather than deflect into the (-) outer spring.

In the end, my mother thought the brighter whiter light was better.

(Next time, maybe I'll just buy a new one. Although my preliminary search here only found old threads or vintage restorations, someone must still make a simple flashlight with a sliding on-off power-switch for those who have trouble producing enough direct pressure for a typical button-switch.)

Just for fun pics attached:

 

[xxo]

OK. it looks like the socket for the bulb is supposed to be mounted on the spring and the bulb held in the socket by friction, but somehow the socket/bulb got jammed in the reflector (the reflector is supposed to come off without the bulb/socket being attached/stuck on to it).