Aleph II Question

[Scottiver]

I just recieved in the mail a used Aleph II. I started playing with it and it seemed to work just fine. Then I took the head off and noticed that the light engine seemed a little loose and I found that the whole thing would unscrew from the head. Then I put it back together and screwed the LE back in until it was just snug, but when I went to turn it on it wouldn't work so I unscrewed the LE some and it would work again but with a very ringy beam so I screwed it back in another 1/8 turn and it was "normal" again but the LE is very loose in the head and it even rattles a bit when shaken.
Is any of this normal? I would think that it would be designed to tighten the LE to the reflector instead of just floating on the threads 1/16 of a turn away from not working at all. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[jch79]

What type of LED are you running? You might need to wrap a ring of soldering wire around the LE so that the battery tube makes contact with the LE to complete the circuit, as that's what's preventing the light from turning on once the LE & reflector are snug against eachother. That's what goldserve recommended me to do with a Cree XR-E board he built for me, and it solved the problem!

john

 

[kenster]

This happens and there can be different reasons for it. Try a thin washer around the outside of the light engine to get contact to the battery tube when the LE is screwed all the way in and see how your beam looks.


Ken

 

[Codeman]

I thought there was a post around here somewhere that talked about how to adjust Aleph heads, but I now can't find it.

Have you tried tightening the bezel ring? That can effectively "move" the whole window/reflector/LE assembly back a bit, and may solve the no-contact issue you're having when the LE is snug against the reflector. In other words, you need to adjust the reflector to the LE, not the other way around.

Basically, you need to position the LE so that the can is just even with the rear of the head (or sticking out every so slightly). That will insure contact with the battery tube and battery when you screw the battery tube on. Then, by tighting the bezel ring, that will scoot the window/reflector back snug against the LE. This helped me with the exact same problem.

I know different folks have different ways to adjust the bezel ring, but I bought some Channellock 907 snap ring pliers. Adjusting bezels and working on Aleph tailcaps is much easier, IMO, with the right tools. I bought mine at a local hardware store.

Hope this helps.

 

[Scottiver]

What type of LED are you running? You might need to wrap a ring of soldering wire around the LE so that the battery tube makes contact with the LE to complete the circuit, as that's what's preventing the light from turning on once the LE & reflector are snug against eachother. That's what goldserve recommended me to do with a Cree XR-E board he built for me, and it solved the problem!

john

It's just a normal Lux III as far as I know. I'm not sure what you mean by soldering wire, is that just thin solder? and do I wrap it around the body of the LE to kind of furr it out to shorten the gap between the battery tube and the LE? I am worried about the focus doing that but i'll try it. Thanks

 

[Codeman]

While using some wire may work, give my suggestion a try first. With a Lux III, you shouldn't need to use wire to make it work. You just need to get everything adjusted right.

 

[Scottiver]

This happens and there can be different reasons for it. Try a thin washer around the outside of the light engine to get contact to the battery tube when the LE is screwed all the way in and see how your beam looks.


Ken

That would have to be one exact sized washer to fit over the LE and still be able to fit inside the head, or else I don't follow what your saying.
I did try screwing the LE in all the way til it was up against the reflector then I stuck a piece of wire beween the LE and the head then I put a battery against the positive solder blob and then touched the other end of the wire to the negative end of the battery just so that I could see how the light focused with the LE screwed all the way in and the focus looked perfect. Just how you would expect a Mcgizmo beam to look.
I just can't understand why there would be a 3/32" gap between the battery tube and the LE, it's almost as if there was a spacer washer in there at one time and it got lost before the light came to me. I'll keep plugging away at it.
Thanks

 

[Codeman]

The Alephs don't user spacers. You simply need to move the reflector/window/bezel ring back. I'm 99% sure that the steps I outlined in my earlier post are what McGizmo and the other Aleph builders follow.

 

[Scottiver]

I thought there was a post around here somewhere that talked about how to adjust Aleph heads, but I now can't find it.

Have you tried tightening the bezel ring? That can effectively "move" the whole window/reflector/LE assembly back a bit, and may solve the no-contact issue you're having when the LE is snug against the reflector. In other words, you need to adjust the reflector to the LE, not the other way around.

Basically, you need to position the LE so that the can is just even with the rear of the head (or sticking out every so slightly). That will insure contact with the battery tube and battery when you screw the battery tube on. Then, by tighting the bezel ring, that will scoot the window/reflector back snug against the LE. This helped me with the exact same problem.

I know different folks have different ways to adjust the bezel ring, but I bought some Channellock 907 snap ring pliers. Adjusting bezels and working on Aleph tailcaps is much easier, IMO, with the right tools. I bought mine at a local hardware store.

Hope this helps.

I did try tightening the bezel ring but it didn't help. I'd need to push the reflector in at least 1/8" but the reflector is butted up against the flange in the head and won't go in any more. Tightening the bezel ring anymore at this point is only going to compress the o-ring a little bit.
I bet those snap ring pliers work a whole lot better than a screwdriver for removing/installing bezel rings.

 

[Codeman]

Hopefully, McGizmo can chime in. As long as you have a LuxIII LE and a stock reflector, and they aren't damaged, you really shouldn't need wire or a washer. I guess the tolerances of the various parts could add up in just the wrong way, but I would think that the odds of that are slim. Sorry I couldn't help...

 

[Bob_G]

What might have happened is the reflector is shoved up past the o-ring, so it's sitting too far forward.

Disassemble the head, then reassemble, and everything should line up.

Remove LE, bezel ring and lens then carefully push out the reflector toward the front (so you're pushing on the rear.) Remove o-ring. You could also pick out the o-ring with something, but I worry about slipping and scratching the reflector.

Now reassemble. Drop in the reflector from the front, then place the o-ring in it's little home, then lens and bezel ring. Snug the bezel ring, then back off a quarter turn. Install LE to where it's just snug and see if it's flush with the back of the head. If it's flush when snug, just tighten the bezel ring and you're done.

If it's more than flush when snug (LE is into the head a bit) then back it off a little, tighten the bezel ring and re-snug the LE. If you get lucky it's now snug and flush.

Oh, if you've got the new style bezel ring (protrudes from head) then just shove it into your palm and turn - you might want to wear a rubber glove or something tacky. If you've got the original style (indented into head) fingernails work well, and if it's stuck, a drop of WD40 or something will free it - just a drop.

Edit: Forgot - not sure if you're clear on the contact bits. The top of the batter tube and the shelf on the LE are what make contact for the ground path. So I usually stick the battery tube into my palm with a clean rag there and twist to make sure it's clean.

 

[Anglepoise]

Here is advise from Don given to myself and others from a post about the reflector moving forward through the 'O'ring, thus loosing electrical contact when the LE is now tightened against the reflector.

Quote:
"An other solution is to push the reflector forward through the O-ring until it stops against the window. Screw the LE in all the way. The gap between the battery tube and rear face of the ES-Can lip can be bridged with either a metal shim/ washer or section of coil spring. If one is building from scratch, somehigh nodes of silver solder can be added to the lip of the can prior to assembly with converter and these contact nodes can be filed back until the desired gap between battery tube and head is achieved."

 

[Scottiver]

Bob_G and Anglepoise thanks for the replies, I did remove the reflector and it was seated in all the way.
I just went back and read the original sales thread for this light and in it he did say that the light "HAS A NEW REFLECTOR". I think that may be the problem. I don't reallly know anything about which reflector is which so I think it's time to contact the seller again and see what he has to say on the subject. But I think the only solution besides getting the correct reflector would be to fill the gap between the LE and the end of the battery tube which seems kinda Mickey Mouse for such a quality light.

 

[Scottiver]

Well, I didn't have any solder to fashion a ring around the LE but I found some stainless steel cotter rings in the garage and I tweaked one of those to fit around the LE and it seemed to do the trick. I'm able to screw the LE in all the way now and it seems to turn on fine now.
Do you think the stainless steel is a good enough conducter or should I try something else?
Thank you everyone for your suggestions.