Blew out a LED module, any tips??

[DR_DEUCE]

Hi, new guy here. I have 2 Ultrafires running on 2 rechargeable 123's. When I tried to change the LED modules for comparison, one quit working. Thought it may have been a cell protecting, but the bad unit won't work on either flashlight. Did I cause the problem, and is there any precautions I could/should have taken to avoid this situation......
THANKS.

 

[Marduke]

What were the acceptable voltage ranges for each module??

 

[DR_DEUCE]

They were the same flashlight, same batteries and same head. I was wondering if I screwed it up..........

 

[Marduke]

They were the same flashlight, same batteries and same head. I was wondering if I screwed it up..........

But was it the same module? UF sells the same model light with a plethora of different modules installed.

 

[DR_DEUCE]

Well, I cannot say for sure if the modules were different. But both flashlights were a 501, using same batteries, both units worked before I swapped modules, but one led quit working when it was switched to the other unit.

 

[Mr Happy]

What exactly is it you tried to do? Did you just swap the heads over, or did you try to take the electronic modules out of the lights?

It's pretty likely that if they worked before you tried to take them apart and they didn't afterwards, then you broke something in the process. The best precaution you could take to avoid it happening again is to leave well alone. The temptation to take new toys apart is very strong, but it often leads to tears.

 

[Black Rose]

I assume we are talking about the WF-501B.

Are you saying you changed the actual LED in the P60 drop-in, or that you simply changed drop-ins?

 

[kramer5150]

What happens when you switch the modules back into their original hosts? Does the discrepant condition follow the host or the module?

What exactly is the failure? Did it "blow out" or just stop working? the two are completely different types of failure, the former implying some kind of irreversible component failure.

 

[DR_DEUCE]

MAN......you guys are way ahead of my education here. At this point I am not sure of the term used to describe the piece I switched. Its the unit that has the reflector, led, circiut board, and spring. I was checking which unit was brighter, thats why I tried switching them around. I left the tail switch on, and placed the unit in till it connected.

 

[Mr Happy]

Its the unit that has the reflector, led, circiut board, and spring.

That's the "head". It's pretty unlikely you could do any harm by swapping heads between two identical flashlights if both use the same number of batteries. But then what could you learn by swapping them? The output would be identical in each case...

Were the heads designed to be removed, or did you have to apply force to unscrew them?

 

[DR_DEUCE]

So, it's the "head"....ok (is "drop in" the same?). I switched heads because 1 flashlight was brighter than the other, and that bugged me--so I tried to determine if it might have been the head. I swapped batteries and the brighter flashlight remained the brighter of the two.

 

[Mr Happy]

So, it's the "head"....ok (is "drop in" the same?).

I don't know...did you take the guts out of the thing that unscrews from the flashlight tube (leaving the metal surround and glass behind), or did you simply unscrew the whole top and move it from one flashlight tube to the other?

Yeah, the thing that goes inside the flashlight head might variously be called a light assembly or a drop-in module. But you could break that for instance by twisting it, forcing it or touching the LED surface, to name just a few.

At this point we don't really know what you did, except "you broke it".

 

[DR_DEUCE]

Yes, I took the drop in out and held it onto the other unit.

GUESS I BUSTED SOMETHING.

 

[Black Rose]

If all you did was swap drop-ins between lights, it could be something as simple as a broken solder joint.

I had a Super Bright R2 drop-in that had such poor solder joints connecting the circuit board to the edge of the pill base that the circuit board "fell out" of the base.

 

[DR_DEUCE]

Yea, I looked at the soldering, didn't look to good, some kind of seemed to be cold joints, so I resoldered it to the ring...........didn't help.
It was from a Ultrafire.......I think they are low end on quality, am I correct?

 

[Mr_Light]

It sounds like the driver board is bad for whatever reason. You can check the LED itself by connecting a single CR123A battery to the solder contacts at the LED itself to see if it lights up. If the LED is OK then you can find a replacement driver board (same diameter) and do a swap replacement (assuming you are comfortable soldering). If the LED itself is dead then just buy another drop-in from DX or Kai with the voltage range, modes, and brightness you are looking for.