Arc AAA problem--home remedy?

[r2]

I have an Arc AAA Turquoise EV which lives on my keychain (came out at the same time as the first CPF edition, about a rev 3.0 I think). It's great except that every once in a while it won't light. Unscrewing the head all the way and screwing it back on seems to fix it, but jiggling and extra tightening are not enough to get it to light.

It doesn't flicker or anything like that (which is the main problem I remember reading about with this rev) it either lights or it doesn't. Is there a home remedy for this problem? I'm quite fond of my turquoise and now that I've moved to England mailing it to Arizona is an extra bit of hassle. I can do that if it comes to that, but I thought I'd check first.

I vaguely remember somebody saying something about the foam ring getting pinched in the way of the positive terminal of the AAA cell. That sounds consistent with my problem, since unscrewing it and screwing it back in would give the ring a chance to readjust.

Thanks,

Russ

 

[Saaby]

Have you done the roll crimp? If you haven't done the roll crimp start by doing that:

Take the foam ring off and crimp the edge of the body around the board. You'll see what I'm talking about once you get the ring off.

I'm aftraid, however, that your arc most likely has a rare condition known as "Occasional Unlightis" in which, for no aparent reason it does just what you described. I had one do that to me. Roll crimp helped, but didn't completely solve the problem.

 

[LED_ASAP]

Also try pushing the foam ring to the bottom of the battery tube and clean out the positive contact. It's harder to change the foam ring later, but at least the foam ring won't get in the way of the battery contact.

 

[gyverpete]

Sorry to hear your AAA is ill. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Here's a few things you can try in addition to the suggestions above.

1. Try a different battery. This solution worked on one of my AAAs. The battery wrap at the - end would sometimes get in the way.

2. Clean the threads with an old toothbrush. No need to have grease on the threads, just on the o-ring. Clean the + and - terminals with a pencil eraser.

3. Remove the foam and use the light without it, or trim the outside of the foam and make the hole bigger. To reduce rattling w/o the foam, wrap some tape or paper around the battery, but not so much that it's tight because it could make it hard to remove later. (You can also write your contact info on the tape/paper so if you lose the light you at least have some slim chance of getting it returned.)

Also, look at the DIY AAA Maintenance thread by Peter. It includes the "roll crimp", with pictures.

----
Peter

 

[CM]

[ QUOTE ]
Saaby said:
...your arc most likely has a rare condition known as "Occasional Unlightis" ...

[/ QUOTE ]

I just checked my Physician's Desk Reference and couldn't find "Occasional Unlightis". Is that real /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif All seriousness aside, Peter Gransee mentioned that the newest revision of the AAA has a remedy for this very rare malady. The symptoms sound like the problem that the new AAA's are supposed to cure. He did say it affected only a very small fraction of the total population.

CM

 

[hideo]

my turquoise (and one of my LEs) would do that occasionally--resist the temptation to death-torque it!

Mine would respond to cleaning the threads AND the bottom (negative) battery contact--last time I applied Caig contact enhancer to both surfaces and that seemed to solve the problem (I'm sure conductive Nyogel or similar products would have the same effect)

you might try a different brand of battery as well ...

good luck

hideo

 

[Klaus]

[ QUOTE ]
CM said:
[ QUOTE ]
Saaby said:
...your arc most likely has a rare condition known as "Occasional Unlightis" ...

[/ QUOTE ]

Peter Gransee mentioned that the newest revision of the AAA has a remedy for this very rare malady. The symptoms sound like the problem that the new AAA's are supposed to cure. CM

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmh, seems two of my ARC AAA seconds show those symptoms, is there any DIY home remedy our nice resident flashaholic doctors Saaby and CM would be willing to share ? Tried the roll crimp cure but the two seem to be unaffected and my fingers do hurt already as the symptoms don´t show up regularly but only every other hundred turns or so /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

TIA

Klaus

 

[Saaby]

Keep your contacts very clean and have a backup light handy. Make the positive solder blob about twice it's original size.

Perhaps one of your seconds used to belong to me! Is there resin all over the PCB from my numerous re-soldings of the blob.

I lived with it for several months but was sending an LS in so sent the AAA with it.

 

[Klaus]

Thx Saaby,

but no - there wasn´t any Saaby-induced excess soldering visible /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Digging some deeper into the archives I found the "too small ID foam retainer ring issue" from earlier this year and after enlarging the retainer a bit it seems to work fine since then - I will do some hundred more on/offs and report back /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Klaus

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

thats what I was going to suggest.. clean the negative battery tube end, and rip half the foam retainer off; worked for me..

 

[Klaus]

I did so but still am not 100% convinced - I really would like to know what Peter was whispering in CM´s ears though.

Klaus

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

K, convinced of which? Who's CM?

,,and I hope Henry Schnieker (who's Action Light flashlights work 100% of the time) is whispering loudly in Peter's ears, both of them, continually.

 

[treek13]

I believe that CM is referring to this post, New Version 3.3 Arc-AAA features.
[ QUOTE ]
Gransee said:
We are upgrading the Arc-AAA to version 3.3. This adds the following...
- New flicker reducing conductive grease.
About 0.1% of all Arc-AAAs experience a flickering problem after several months of usage. We have been studying different solutions and just completed testing on a new conductive grease application. The PCB ground is coated with this new grease which prevents metal to metal electrolysis, float and contamination. None of the test units have flicker so far. This does not increase the cost of the light (for you) but should make it more reliable. This will appear first on all units with the new inscription. So if you have the new inscription, you should have version 3.3 with the new flicker reduction contact grease.

[/ QUOTE ]
Pat

 

[Klaus]

Convinced of my trial to fix things - similar to your proposal, CM is the guy I quoted and who posted earlier in this thread - and I think the LS4 and LS5 are designed with Henries input according to Peter G.

Klaus

 

[Klaus]

Thx treek, but I think this is not about flickering but the "Occasional Unlightis" - so I´m not sure if the grease is the issue - I did actually roll-crimped them and still had the occasional "dead" situation - still confused but what can you say when out of 5 seconds in the end just one doesn´t come on once in a while - but still /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Klaus

 

[hideo]

what can you say when out of 5 seconds in the end just one doesn´t come on once in a while ...

you can say "wow ... great QC!!" cuz most companies wouldn't have caught that kind of intermittent fault and it would have shipped as a first...

one of my seconds has the same problem, but it's so rare an occurence that for $8 USD I'm not even going to whimper a little bit plus it's anodized red, so not even a peep ...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

hideo

 

[Tomas]

Just a comment on the "roll crimp" process. Before I gave mine a good 360 degreee roll crimp, I put a tiny amount of DeoxIT in the crimp area and let it sit for a day. There have been ZERO problems with my originally flickering, non-lighting AAA 3.1 since that time and it is worn 24/7 on a neck lanyard and has seen a bunch of use. It is absolutely reliable.

This is similar to what Peter is now doing with the 3.3 and his "conductive grease."

 

[hideo]

Tomas

same product I used on my turquoise ... come to think of it I'm going to qtip a little on my red second right now ...

don't forget the threads where the heads screws in BTW--an overlooked point in many lights especially Al ones with soft threads that get full of ground Al and goo--resistance soars--light no work--clean with cloth, then magic goop them

someone else commented that duracell AAAs seem to be a little more trouble prone in Arcs than others ...

hideo

 

[r2]

A Duracell AAA is what comes with it, so that's a cruel twist of fate if Duracells are also the most likely to cause problems.

I'm pretty sure that the foam ring is the problem. Roll crimp doesn't make any sense in this situation. For those who haven't seen the problem before, I think the foam ring sometimes gets pinched in the way of the positive contact. Cranking it down tighter doesn't help, because the foam doesn't have a chance to get out of the way. Unscrewing the head most of the way lets the foam decompress and pull back out of the way which is enough to fix it.

If the positive nub on the battery is larger than normal than it is likely to cause more problems (hence difference in different brands of AAA cells) as would a slightly off center foam ring (mine seems fine). The twisting action of turning it on probably pulls on the foam and that's how a bit of it gets tugged in the way occasionally. Enlarging the hole in the foam ring should fix it. Those of you who fixed it with the roll crimp probably did so accidently because you had to remove the foam ring in the process. In other words, the actual roll crimp probably had nothing to do with it (that's only for flicker problems which mine doesn't have).

That's my understanding--did I miss anything?

- Russ

 

[Darell]

I used to home-remedy mine. Now my remedy is a padded envelope with Arc's address on it. :-)

Seriously - I've fixed most of mine, but there have been a few that just won't work right no matter how many times I hit them with hammer!