LF2XT illuminates very dimly, but does nothing else

[jmdwilliams]

My new LF2XT has a problem. (I realise that this is not an official support forum, but I hope that someone can help.)

When I screw the LF2XT together, nothing appears to happen for the first few seconds, and then the LED very gradually gets brighter, but it stops getting brighter when it is still extremely dim, and just stays faintly lit. Pressing the button has no effect. (The flashlight did work properly for a short while, as explained below.)

I've tried cleaning contacts, and also noted with a multimeter that potential differences exist between points in the tail of the LF2XT (as seem appropriate when the button is and isn't pressed). I can of course give more details if they would help. I have no idea how to take apart the head of the flashlight.

To give a bit more detail: when I first received and tried the LF2XT, it didn't seem to work at all, even though I fiddled with it for an hour, used fresh NiMH and alkaline cells, and tried cleaning contacts. (At one point I thought I saw a brief flash, but I can't be sure.) Then, all of a sudden, it started working! I was able to use it, in both CUI and FUI modes, for twenty minutes, after which it suddenly stopped working again. It was only later that I noted the slight and gradual illumination when the flashlight is screwed together (so I don't know whether this was happening in the first hour).

I ordered the LF2XT directly from http://liteflux.com/english/. I received it two weeks ago today, on which day I e-mailed localpart:mountech @ domain:ms24.hinet.net (address altered for spambot avoidance: I'm not sure what best practice is on CPF) to explain my problems. I've had no reply yet. (I e-mailed also two address @liteflux.com, but both of these bounced.)

Sorry if this problem is addressed elsewhere: I have tried looking. And apologies that my first post here is not something constructive for other people, but rather a small cry for help!

 

[derfyled]

hmmmm....:thinking: sounds like a faulty switch...


I would take a chance to dissemble the tailcap, clean the interior contacts and re-assemble properly. Unscrew the stainless metal part, the one you remove to put on the clip. Then, you will need fine tweezers to remove the brass ring. When it's done, clean everything you can and re-assemble. Be sure to reinstall the oring and while you are there, grease it with nyogel or silicone grease.

Your fine tweezers can be also useful to remove the pill (led engine). You will notice two little holes around the brass contact in the head, use theme to unscrew the pill. At least, try to screw it firmly in place, it could just be a bad contact resulting from a loose pill.

 

[TooManyGizmos]

Also , do what Froggy Taco suggested in this post.

A loose button cap causes lots of problems.

 

[KuKu427]

Pill removal video.
Hope it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJRcP6ajJaE

 

[jmdwilliams]

Thank you; fine tweezers

Thank you, everyone.

It looks like I need some fine tweezers!

I shall try removing and replacing the pill next.

(I suspect, though I may well be wrong, that the problem is in the head: with that removed, I can detect a change in potential difference from 0 to 1.3 V between the positive terminal of the cell and the front end of the body when I press the button (as well as a constant potential difference of 1.3 V between the positive terminal of the cell and the front end of the battery sleeve), which I guess is how things are meant to be, and I have also just mostly taken apart and reassembled the tailcap.)

 

[Flying Turtle]

Good luck getting your light working again. You might be able to use a couple pins instead of the pointy tweezers.

Geoff

 

[jmdwilliams]

Thanks again for your help.

I tried an electronics shop, but their finest tweezers were not fine enough! Any pointers or suggestions if I decide to continue following that route? (I'm in Australia. I'm looking at the fine tweezers of DinoDirect, who offer worldwide free shipping. That's not an advert: I've never used them! Has anyone here?)

I tried also using a couple of pins, but without managing to either tighten or loosen the pill. This at least suggests to me that the pill is not loose.

Yesterday, I received from LiteFlux a new LF2XT body (thank you, if someone appropriate is reading), but this does not solve the problem (and I get the same voltage readings from the new body as from the old one). In fact, the flashlight is not illuminating at all now!

To me, it looks more and more like the problem is in the pill itself. Does that sound likely?

 

[gcbryan]

I would just send it back. You shouldn't have to do all this when you pay $65 for a single AAA flashlight.

 

[LED Cool]

Hi jmdwilliams,

is there a very small gap when you tightened the head to the body? if none, then the LED pill may be screwed into the head too much and thus NOT making contact with the body and the inner battery tube.

if there is a small gap and the gap appears on both of your LF2XT body, then most likely the problem lies in the LED pill.

another thing to do is to rotate the inner battery tube before you insert the battery and also make sure the stainless steel tailcap is tighten.

you could send the complete light to me and i can check it out. if the need arise, i will make a warranty claim for you. please let me know and i will PM you my address.

khoo

 

[jorn]

Mcgyver would have found a safety pin and removed the lock. minitweezer in a second.

Yeah, that would have been mcgyvers plan

 

[jmdwilliams]

I would just send it back. You shouldn't have to do all this when you pay $65 for a single AAA flashlight.

This is a fair point! Till now, however, I'd received no words of reply from LiteFlux, so I didn't know whether they would even accept the flashlight if I returned it. Today, someone from LiteFlux wrote to ask if I could send the head assembly to be fixed. Given your point, I'm asking whether the postage could be refunded.

is there a very small gap when you tightened the head to the body?

If so, it's a tiny gap! I don't think so.

if none, then the LED pill may be screwed into the head too much and thus NOT making contact with the body and the inner battery tube.

Maybe that's the problem! (I don't understand why in this case the flashlight would illuminate dimly, which it is doing again now. It's obviously drawing a small amount of current, and if there is a connection to the battery tube but not the body, wouldn't this be equivalent to the button not being pressed?)

Mcgyver would have found a safety pin and removed the lock. minitweezer in a second.

I tried with a couple of safety pins: I'm clearly no MacGyver!

Thank you, everyone, for your help.

 

[Flying Turtle]

I have definitely had the problem of screwing the pill in too far. If it's just barely making contact maybe that explains the dim output.

Geoff

 

[cimino]

Does whacking it against your hand change the light output at all?

 

[jmdwilliams]

I have definitely had the problem of screwing the pill in too far. If it's just barely making contact maybe that explains the dim output.

Fair enough!

(As I said before, I don't understand why a poor connection would result in a constant, dim illumination with no response to the button (unless this is a deliberate part of the design of the electronics), but I do realise from the usual everyday experiences with other electronic devices that a loose connection (or a discharged cell) can produce odd effects which to me are inexplicable, so fair enough, for sure! In any case, as it happens, the flashlight is producing no light whatsoever once again. )

Does whacking it against your hand change the light output at all?

Nope! (I think that doing so never did, but then it's not working at all at the moment.)

LiteFlux have not yet let me know whether they will refund the postage. I suppose I shall be writing again.

 

[jimmy1970]

Most companies won't refund you the cost you incurred by return shipping the faulty light. IMHO, Lifeflux should just send you a new light without the need to have the faulty one returned. The light was effectively a DOA unit after all.
Good luck,

James....

 

[jmdwilliams]

Well, LiteFlux graciously refunded the return postage. In fact, they did so in advance, and refunded me far more than the postage actually turned out to cost (because the post office advised me to send as a letter rather than a parcel)! So, the head assembly is currently (I hope: this was a cheap, unregistered service) winging its way back to Taiwan, ROC. (I refunded LiteFlux the difference, by the way.)

IMHO, Lifeflux should just send you a new light without the need to have the faulty one returned.

Well, yes: that would be rather excellent. In fact, I thought that maybe they had done just that when they had actually sent only the body of a light! On the other hand, it does seem a shame to throw away rather than fix the original head assembly. At least, I can tell myself that. Ah, well: we shall see what happens!

The light was effectively a DOA unit after all.

That's certainly true! (I don't think a twenty-minute spasm post-mortem proves otherwise, if that's not a tasteless thing to say.)

Good luck

Thank you!

 

[jmdwilliams]

LF2XT no longer illuminates only dimly, but now works properly!

Hurrah! I received a fixed (or replacement) LF2XT head on Friday. It's fantastic: I love my LF2XT! (It's two months since my original order, but who's counting? ) Now I can finally stop carrying my old, irritating (please pardon the profanity) Maglite Solitaire.

By the way, there is now a gap when the head is tightened to the body, so it seems that the lack of one before was indeed relevant to my problems. (For the record, LiteFlux generously did not accept my partial refund of their refund.)

Thank you all, once more!

 

[Flying Turtle]

Good news! Glad you're liking it. Hopefully well worth the wait.

Geoff

 

[jmdwilliams]

Re: LF2XT no longer illuminates only dimly, but now works properly!

So everthing figures out,right?

Yup! Give me a few weeks and take from me a few dollars (because I've saved a bit of money in the end), and it's as if everything had run smoothly in the first place!

 

[jmdwilliams]

Re: LF2XT no longer illuminates only dimly, but now works properly!

Hey,at least you have saved a bit of money, better than me!

In a peculiar coincidence, LiteFlux accepted my refund (of their refund) yesterday, at almost exactly the same time that you wrote! I don't mind (after all, I offered them the money in the first place), but I can only presume that a different employee from the one I was speaking to took it!