greenLED
Flashaholic
Last night the power went out (yohooo!) so I pulled out buncha lights and was playing... er using then around the house. We were having dinner with a candle-mode Mini-mag fitted with a MM lite Lux III. Suddenly the light went out!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif No previous warning, it simply went dead.
I tried several things to fix this:
- changed batteries (won't fix problem).
- tried sammie in different Mini-mag body (won't fix it)
- cleaned sammie and flashlight contacts thoroghly (no-can-do!)
- tried different sammie in body where the MM was (this worked, indicating that the flashlight body is not the problem).
- there are no obvious shorts (emmiter connectors touching "lip" of flashlight, etc.)
- battery and sammie contacts are OK
After a while playing with the "broken" sammie, it suddenly turned itself on!! I was very happy... for about 3 minutes, then the light went off again. I hadn't touched the flashlight at all during this time. I tried moving the sammie with my finger a little with no effect. After a while, the Lux came on again on its own, but very dim and flickering this time.
I turned the flashlight off, thinking this might have something to do with overheating (??). After a long while I tried again, but the Lux is still very dim and flickering. This morning I tried again, and the light won't turn on at all. After lunch I tried yet another time, and it turned back on in this "dim and flickering" mode.
Any ideas what may be happening? A "cold" solder spot somewhere? (I build this sammie myself a while ago.) I am not sure about this, though, as the sammie's been working OK for over a month of intermittent use. My son won't admit it, but he might have dropped the flashlight at some point. A short somewhere I've forgotten to check? Could any of these be the cause of the problem?
I'm clueless... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Please, help!
I tried several things to fix this:
- changed batteries (won't fix problem).
- tried sammie in different Mini-mag body (won't fix it)
- cleaned sammie and flashlight contacts thoroghly (no-can-do!)
- tried different sammie in body where the MM was (this worked, indicating that the flashlight body is not the problem).
- there are no obvious shorts (emmiter connectors touching "lip" of flashlight, etc.)
- battery and sammie contacts are OK
After a while playing with the "broken" sammie, it suddenly turned itself on!! I was very happy... for about 3 minutes, then the light went off again. I hadn't touched the flashlight at all during this time. I tried moving the sammie with my finger a little with no effect. After a while, the Lux came on again on its own, but very dim and flickering this time.
I turned the flashlight off, thinking this might have something to do with overheating (??). After a long while I tried again, but the Lux is still very dim and flickering. This morning I tried again, and the light won't turn on at all. After lunch I tried yet another time, and it turned back on in this "dim and flickering" mode.
Any ideas what may be happening? A "cold" solder spot somewhere? (I build this sammie myself a while ago.) I am not sure about this, though, as the sammie's been working OK for over a month of intermittent use. My son won't admit it, but he might have dropped the flashlight at some point. A short somewhere I've forgotten to check? Could any of these be the cause of the problem?
I'm clueless... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Please, help!
