I've recently had a new lithium glo toob develop a fault in the "rotary switch". It's "ON" all the time. The "clickie" switch works fine. A quick look at the works confirms that the rotary switch is an encapsulated magnetic activated reed which has obviously welded itsself in the "CLOSED" position. Has anyone else experienced this problem? For the record I'm a big glo toob fan and own several of them.
Glo Toob switch failure
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DM51
Flashaholic
Sounds interesting - I don't think I've heard of this happening before. Can you post some pics?
AbleArcher
Newly Enlightened
greenLED had a problem with one of his Glo-Toob Lithiums only a few weeks ago. Perhaps you could PM him to see if he managed to fix his.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=237411
Strange, you don't hear of any problems with them and then two come along (more or less) at once. I haven't had any problems with any of mine but then again I only use the push-button cap and it seems to be a fault in the rotary / scuba cap.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=237411
Strange, you don't hear of any problems with them and then two come along (more or less) at once. I haven't had any problems with any of mine but then again I only use the push-button cap and it seems to be a fault in the rotary / scuba cap.
cdosrun
Enlightened
My Scuba switch hasn't been particularly great either. I leave it in my bag, and it has never really been cycled much but the switch is quite loose. The other problem is that it never turns on reliably - a little bit of fiddling normally solves the problem. It is purely a switch issue as the clicky is fine.
The other silliness is that my camera (with the magentic clasp on the case) turns the Glo-Toob on and drains the battery, I have to keep the little beggars apart.
Andrew
The other silliness is that my camera (with the magentic clasp on the case) turns the Glo-Toob on and drains the battery, I have to keep the little beggars apart.
Andrew
Try cleaning it. There are several posts about Glo-toob problems like this that can be searched for more details.
Basically using a good electrical contact cleaner, some DeOxIt (and then DeOxIt Gold), and/or a little fiddling with some swabs and an emery board can make a little magic happen.
Also read up on Glo-toobs and compressed springs or "dimpled" battery terminals (minor league bad things can happen if the end cap is over tightened).
Basically using a good electrical contact cleaner, some DeOxIt (and then DeOxIt Gold), and/or a little fiddling with some swabs and an emery board can make a little magic happen.
Also read up on Glo-toobs and compressed springs or "dimpled" battery terminals (minor league bad things can happen if the end cap is over tightened).
Thank you all for your thoughts. DM51 - photo follows:
Chmsam - the problem isn't a poor conduction between battery and contact. It is that the reed switch in the "knob" in the above photo has fused closed. i.e. the light is turned ON all the time not just when the magnet is over it. Replacing this knob with a new one fixes the problem so the fault is not in the body of the lamp. The section the switch is in looks to be moulded closed and is not able to be opened (as far as I can tell).
I'll PM Green Led re his unit.
Chmsam - the problem isn't a poor conduction between battery and contact. It is that the reed switch in the "knob" in the above photo has fused closed. i.e. the light is turned ON all the time not just when the magnet is over it. Replacing this knob with a new one fixes the problem so the fault is not in the body of the lamp. The section the switch is in looks to be moulded closed and is not able to be opened (as far as I can tell).
I'll PM Green Led re his unit.
It is not unheard of for the contacts to become contaminated/oxidized within the switch which was the basis of my suggestion (and I've seen lights get stuck on as well as prevented from working at all due to things like that). However by replacing the cap and the problem being cured that obviously was the solution to the trouble with your light. Congratulations on finding a fairly easy fix -- something else to file away in the "how things can go wrong and get fixed" file drawer. Cool.
greenLED
Flashaholic
Perfect timing, 1 what, just yesterday I was thinking about my Glo-Toob... to answer some of the questions here and via PM:
The skinny on mine is that it's not the tailcap that is malfunctioning. Somehow the circuit is "stuck" on changing modes. That is every time I turn the Toob on/off, it goes onto the next mode. I tested this by bypassing the tailcap.
Incidentally, good luck getting a reply from Glo-Toob...
The skinny on mine is that it's not the tailcap that is malfunctioning. Somehow the circuit is "stuck" on changing modes. That is every time I turn the Toob on/off, it goes onto the next mode. I tested this by bypassing the tailcap.
Incidentally, good luck getting a reply from Glo-Toob...
leukos
Flashlight Enthusiast
Incidentally, good luck getting a reply from Glo-Toob...
Not good to hear that. I thought these toobs were pretty much bomb proof. Too bad if the company does not stand behind them. The one I have will be my one and only in that case.
I didn't bother with contacting Glo Toob but since I'd just purchased the unit from Lighthound I let them know what happened and asked if I could buy a new rotary switch. They were fantastic and are sending me a replacement switch (see note in Cheers) .
I've done a little "research" in the last 24 hours.
My light failed the first time I took it out on the back of my mountain bike.
Another glo toob turned itsself "OFF" then back "ON" and changed modes on the next ride.
It's all due to the fact that glo toobs dont like acute impacts in the direction of the long axis,
Sharp severe impacts cause battery bounce and contact problems between the 2 battery springs and the battery.
I've found that by changing my mounting to make it "shock absorbent" the problems go away.
I'll post a couple of photos in the next 24 hours.
EDIT: This battery bounce does not explain how my unit managed to short circuit its switch...maybe it was just a dud switch ..maybe I induced a couple of "splats" very close together and "welded" the switch contacts closed...who knows. I'll try to take the switch apart and photograph the contacts in the next few days. I'd be keen to work with Glo Toob re some minor mods to overcome these problems since I still think they are fantastic units.
I've done a little "research" in the last 24 hours.
My light failed the first time I took it out on the back of my mountain bike.
Another glo toob turned itsself "OFF" then back "ON" and changed modes on the next ride.
It's all due to the fact that glo toobs dont like acute impacts in the direction of the long axis,
Sharp severe impacts cause battery bounce and contact problems between the 2 battery springs and the battery.
I've found that by changing my mounting to make it "shock absorbent" the problems go away.
I'll post a couple of photos in the next 24 hours.
EDIT: This battery bounce does not explain how my unit managed to short circuit its switch...maybe it was just a dud switch ..maybe I induced a couple of "splats" very close together and "welded" the switch contacts closed...who knows. I'll try to take the switch apart and photograph the contacts in the next few days. I'd be keen to work with Glo Toob re some minor mods to overcome these problems since I still think they are fantastic units.
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DM51
Flashaholic
I thought so too. I'm following this with interest.
leukos
Flashlight Enthusiast
An easy fix to minimize those contact problems might be to carefully stretch the spring in the tailcap a bit to give it more tension.
AbleArcher
Newly Enlightened
Is this just a problem with the scuba cap or has anyone experienced a faulty button cap as well?
Hi Guys,
The weekend and the chance to play
Some photod for DM51.
As I predicted Glo Toobs do indeed have a reed switch in the rotary cap.
While I was taking photos I thought I'd capture some of the electronics that you can (just) see from the outside.
I then polished the frosted "bottom" of the glo toob to get a better look.
The big rectangular thing in the centre is the bottom of the battery spring. I wanted to check that it was soldered to the circuit board since my glo toob was sensitive to sharp blows from the top or bottom. It's hard to see in this photo but it was well soldered.
To overcome the sensitivity to vibration and the light changing modes etc with big bumps (like falling into holes and hitting rocks) I spring mounted the glo toob behind the bike seat. I've encapsulated the bottom of the switch since this picture. I've also attached a 40lb stainless steel fishing trace as a safety line in case the spring somehow fails. I've not been able to explain why 2 of my glo toobs are sensitive to big vibrations along the long axis but so far (1 test ride plus multiple 30cm drops of the bike onto concrete) the spring mount is working well.
Now all we have to do is to get GreenLED's toob out of "CHANGE MODE".
EDIT:
I forgot to say that I decided not to trust another tiny reed switch (since they dont like a lot of vibration) and opted for something a little more solid and external.
The weekend and the chance to play
Some photod for DM51.
As I predicted Glo Toobs do indeed have a reed switch in the rotary cap.
While I was taking photos I thought I'd capture some of the electronics that you can (just) see from the outside.
I then polished the frosted "bottom" of the glo toob to get a better look.
The big rectangular thing in the centre is the bottom of the battery spring. I wanted to check that it was soldered to the circuit board since my glo toob was sensitive to sharp blows from the top or bottom. It's hard to see in this photo but it was well soldered.
To overcome the sensitivity to vibration and the light changing modes etc with big bumps (like falling into holes and hitting rocks) I spring mounted the glo toob behind the bike seat. I've encapsulated the bottom of the switch since this picture. I've also attached a 40lb stainless steel fishing trace as a safety line in case the spring somehow fails. I've not been able to explain why 2 of my glo toobs are sensitive to big vibrations along the long axis but so far (1 test ride plus multiple 30cm drops of the bike onto concrete) the spring mount is working well.
Now all we have to do is to get GreenLED's toob out of "CHANGE MODE".
EDIT:
I forgot to say that I decided not to trust another tiny reed switch (since they dont like a lot of vibration) and opted for something a little more solid and external.
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DM51
Flashaholic
Very good photos - many thanks! This seems to have revealed an inherent weakness in the switch. Good to hear that replacement switches are available from Lighthound, but let's hope the manufacturers correct this issue.
Yes. It would be nice if there was a Hall Efect transistor or some other solid state (magnetic switch) device in them instead of a reed switch. The omly problem is that I've not heard of a suitable unit that will function on the voltages of a single 123 lithium cell. The other refinement would be a "tighter" thread on the screw in top. I suspect that some of the vibration sensitivity is due to "play" in the thread if the top is not done up very tight.
AbleArcher
Newly Enlightened
Superb job 1 what, I never even thought to use mine on my MTB so thanks for posting the pictures (and for the idea )
)An update in case anyone with similar problems finds this thread at some time in the future.
In spite of the spring mounting very rough rides still resulted in the glo toob turning itsself "OFF" or changing modes.
This was finally fixed by extending the negative terminal of the 123 battery with 4 x 1mm magnets. Note do not extend the positive terminal due to risk of a short circuit from the mags to the inner case.
In spite of the spring mounting very rough rides still resulted in the glo toob turning itsself "OFF" or changing modes.
This was finally fixed by extending the negative terminal of the 123 battery with 4 x 1mm magnets. Note do not extend the positive terminal due to risk of a short circuit from the mags to the inner case.
