Arc AAA issues

[FlashlightOCD]

Just a quick update on my AAA UV, I cleaned the threads and removed a lot of black gunk [what is that, silicone grease?] from both the body and the head as recommended above.

It was failing pretty consistently [every second or third try], I can not get it to fail at all now [so far].

I did not need to remove the foam retainer.

 

[Beckler]

Ok Peter I can send it to you shortly. My first thought too was the foam retainer might be squeezing between the battery/head contact. Perhaps a tail switch is in order? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[Chris T]

I got AAA today and I am very impressed with the output. My one question is this: Is the blue dot in the center of the beam normal? It hasn't bothered me yet but I'm curious.

Chris

 

[chamenos]

yup...also check that there're no foam bits stuck in the threads of the head or barrel since it will also interfere with the electrical path. these can be easily cleaned out by a toothbrush.

flashlightocd: it is galling from the bare aluminium threads, and this can't really be avoided. the black gunk is produced when you turn the head, hence it is necessary to clean out the threads every once in a while after repeated on/off cycles. the black gunk does interfere with electrical contact, and too much of it will make the arc AAA dimmer or start flickering. some of the black gunk also sometimes accumulates on the -ve contact at the bottom of the barrel, and this has to be cleaned out also (use a thin pencil eraser for those push-type erasers).

doug: glad to see you back! the new foam retainers seem to be more robust (no shredded bits of foam retainer to get in the way of everything) and not as thick so it doesn't squash out enough to get in the way of the +ve contact of the battery /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

chris: it is normal, don't worry about it....all nichia white leds exhibit the same characteristic. the colour inconsistancies in the beam are usually caused by an uneven application of the phospher coating on the led which given the size of the led, is pretty unavoidable.

 

[Gransee]

OK! I checked with Karen (our Lead Tech) and she told me that the second to the most recent batch of retainers were slightly bigger on the O.D. than normal. She said they had to scrunch the retainer a little bit to make it fit on the PCB. This could have very easily reduced the I.D. enough to cause some intermittants.

1. I asked her to watch out for this problem specifically.
2. I asked Dawn (Production managment) to increase the tolerance on this part. I also changed the drawings for the retainer to make the I.D. .040" larger. This will probally not cause any increase in rattle but will surely reduce intermittants.

We are going to keep an eye on this and see how it changes the product.

For anyone having intermittant flickering, you may want to check the inside diameter (I.D.) of the foam retainer. I don't think this will solve every instance of flickering, but it may be significant nevertheless.

Peter

 

[chamenos]

peter: that's great! there's one more thing i noticed about the foam retainer and solder blob though; on two recent arc AAAs i bought for some friends, the solder blob was rather large, which meant the foam retainer would have less of an effect on stopping the battery rattle. perhaps the blob could be made more flat, so the foam retainer to solder blob displacement would be larger? then again the solder blob does get flattened with regular use so maybe its not really an issue. just a thought /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[dtsoll]

I've got a couple Arc AAA's on the way and am curious as to what is the failure rate or percentage of AAA's suffer from this flickering? Also, one of these I am getting in a trade and the other I am buying from a guy. Both are advertised as new. What will be the status of my warranty, will they retain their 10 year guarantee? Just checking, thanks for the forum. dtsoll

 

[Gransee]

Hello dtsoll. If we make it, we warranty it. No matter who you bought it from. As far as how much of the 10 year warranty is left, we know when we made a particular model and can usally narrow it down to a particular year.

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me right now but I estimate the fault rate on the Arc-AAA is around 1%. Meaning we get about 10 back for every 1000 we ship. I do think this is more than the LS, which has a very low return rate.

Sometimes, from reading the CPF, it may look like there are a higher number of defects. I thought this at first too, but actually the majority of people who require service post right here in the Arc forum. A surprising number post here first before even calling or emailing us.

The higher percentage of posts here actually makes sense because this is how most of our customers feel comfortable talking to us.

I sometimes worry that the return rate is too low. I wonder just how many people don't contact us at all when they have a problem. We try to make it pretty easy as you can see. We put our contact information on our website, on the packaging, here on the CPF, etc. We accept phone calls, email and forum posts. With all three methods, you can communicate with me (the owner) directly.

But, still I worry about people who don't contact us. But the people who do, our return numbers are quite low as you can see.

Peter Gransee
Arc Flashlight
(480) 752-8554
[email protected]

 

[dtsoll]

Peter,
thanks again, my suspicion was that the number of returns was ultra low. You confirm my suspicion. I was more interested in the warranty and all I can say is WAAAHOOOO! Thanks Peter. Doug