Let the magic smoke out of my River Rock lantern

[Ikonomi]

And I don't understand why.

I took it apart to sand the plastic for a smoother beam, and was preparing to put a Cree in it, when I decided to put it back together to see how the sanding came out.

Well, I put everything back in and aligned with the notches and everything, put the batteries in, and the moment the basecap made contact, a copious amount of smoke poured out of the little thing at D2, which had a red, glowing spot.

I do not understand what I did. I took it apart and put it back together and I cannot see what I did wrong. I didn't do anything to the actual board at all.

Can it be repaired? I am really bummed... I finally got one on clearance from Target, and now the era of the RR lantern is over so there is no chance of getting a replacement.

 

[Grubbster]

I almost did the same thing a while back with my RR lantern. What may have happened is that the top has to go on exactly as it came off to keep polarity. The two metal posts that bolt the top on are actually part of the electrical path and reversing the polarity will fry the circuit. Don' t know about fixing it. You would have to find what was fried and bypass or replace the component. Good luck.

 

[LEDcandle]

I put my cap on back the wrong way and got a shorting and some smoke too... but nothing was destroyed in the process as I switched the cap around and it worked fine. I put an SSC into it. My Cree Osram Lantern looks brighter though.

 

[Ikonomi]

Yeah, I came back to the lantern the next day and noticed the little notch... Boy, am I stupid! I was so sure I had everything back together right... I had taken it apart four or five times before and never reversed the polarity. Huh.

The only thing is, I am worried that something has been damaged with the regulation. I dunno what D2 does, but I notice now the strobe mode blinks noticibly faster after the burning, and I'm wondering if the LED is getting more or less current than before.