My POB died!!!

[PsychoBunny]

CRAP!! I have only had this a few weeks!!
It was working fine, but now, when I switch it on, I just get a
flash but the light does not come on.
It has a full charge, and nothing is wrong with the battery.
I am thinking maybe a ballast problem?

I got this from eBay, so I cant send it back for a refund.
I'm sure it can be fixed, but how?

I was very very leery to buy this in the first place because I have
never had good luck with Black & Pecker products!! :shakehead

 

[Patriot]

I was very very leery to buy this in the first place because I have
never had good luck with Black & Pecker products!! :shakehead

POB failures really aren't that common and I would consider this to be the unusual stroke of bad luck. Also, the POB is made by Vector, who I didn't think was associated with B&D but I could be wrong.

Since the bulb is the easiest thing to try, I'd start with that first. Hopefully that will take care of it.

 

[jasonck08]

What a perfect opertunity to upgrade to a 50W 4300k bulb?

 

[NeSSuS-GTE]

I have had 6 POB's in the past three months. I disassembled each one to clean off the 'fog' from the lens and paint the bezel. You just need a tri-wing screwdriver bit.

It is relatively easy to pull and test the ballast, and then the bulb. The catch is you need another ballast and another bulb for proper testing.

A 4300k bulb upgrade is a bright idea. But your gonna need a 50w ballast for that 50w bulb. I think jasonck is implying that.

BUT you will pay more for a new ballast and bulb than for a whole new POB.

 

[Patriot]

I think finding 35W bulbs in 4300K as been on ongoing issue which is why many are successfully using 50-55W bulbs instead. The voltage is close enough that it works, just a bit underdriven but the output remains nearly the same from what I've gathered.

 

[Kremer]

Before jumping to anything else I'd pull the battery door off and stick a voltmeter on the terminals and watch the voltage when you turn it on. An open cell or badly sulfated condition in the battery would do exactly what you described. It would show good voltage no load but as soon as load is applied the voltage collapses to near nothing, then when you remove the load the voltage comes back to normal levels.

 

[UnDutchable]

In my search for such an pob, I contacted customer service of B&D. They don't any service over here, but I can imagine that for your pob it should'nt be a problem? Just send them a mail?

Good luck!

 

[PsychoBunny]

Before jumping to anything else I'd pull the battery door off and stick a voltmeter on the terminals and watch the voltage when you turn it on. An open cell or badly sulfated condition in the battery would do exactly what you described. It would show good voltage no load but as soon as load is applied the voltage collapses to near nothing, then when you remove the load the voltage comes back to normal levels.

But the battery is new! like I said, it's only a few weeks old,
and I havent used it much at all!

I am expecting a new 35W 4300K HID bulb, but I dont have the
tools to get the thing open yet.

I will take it apart and see if I can figure out the problem, but I'm
not going to buy anything to fix it if it does need a replacement
part. I will buy a new light before I do that. It's not worth it.

 

[dudemar]

I will take it apart and see if I can figure out the problem, but I'm
not going to buy anything to fix it if it does need a replacement
part. I will buy a new light before I do that. It's not worth it.

I guess it all depends on how much you want to revive the POB. Perhaps it will be a good future project.

 

[PsychoBunny]

I guess it all depends on how much you want to revive the POB. Perhaps it will be a good future project.

My thinking is, if it's something obvious, than I will fix it, if not,
screw it, i'll use my Fire Sword (when I get it) if I need the power.

Or, I will just buy whatever the latest and greatest HID is right now.

Hmmmm, so what IS the latest and greatest HID these days?

 

[dudemar]

The two that are on everybody's wishlist are the Polarion PH50 and the SF Beast.

Be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars, though.:devil:

There are obviously bigger and brighter custom lights, but generally those two get everyone on CPF drooling.

 

[PsychoBunny]

The two that are on everybody's wishlist are the Polarion PH50 and the SF Beast.

Be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars, though.:devil:

There are obviously bigger and brighter custom lights, but generally those two get everyone on CPF drooling.

Yeah, I know about Polarion.
I like to go to their website sometimes just to tourture myself!!

No, I thinking more along the lines of $150.00 at Home Depot! :laughing:

 

[Richie086]

But the battery is new! like I said, it's only a few weeks old,
and I havent used it much at all!

Hi Psycho,

I think you mean to say, YOU have only had your POB a few weeks, but that has nothing to do with how old it may actually be, new in the box or otherwise. It's possible that unit was built well over a year or more ago and has been sitting until the time you purchased it. I'd have to look at my old POB batteries to see if they have a manufacture date on them, which may give some indication as to when they were installed in the POB.

 

[dudemar]

I think you mean to say, YOU have only had your POB a few weeks, but that has nothing to do with how old it may actually be, new in the box or otherwise. It's possible that unit was built well over a year or more ago and has been sitting until the time you purchased it.

I agree, it would be smart to look for any labeling to indicate a possible date of manufacture, if not some kind of serial number. That SN can be used to verify it through B&D, if anything it would be a helpful clue as to when it was made.

Great point Richie086!:twothumbs

 

[Kremer]

Hi Psycho,

I think you mean to say, YOU have only had your POB a few weeks, but that has nothing to do with how old it may actually be, new in the box or otherwise.

yep. pull the battery, and test it as your first troubleshooting step. my friend got a brand new one from the sams auctions and his battery lasted about 2 charges and only ran for 15-20 minutes each. I put a new fresh battery in it and it ran for over 90 minutes.

 

[Richie086]

I agree, it would be smart to look for any labeling to indicate a possible date of manufacture, if not some kind of serial number. That SN can be used to verify it through B&D, if anything it would be a helpful clue as to when it was made.

Great point Richie086!:twothumbs

Thanks Dudemar,

First of all, I think we need to know exactly when the POB's were first offered for sale to the public. I checked the original batteries for both of mine, and the only number on them both located on the top of the battery was, 0610. This number was on both, so I really don't know what it refers to.

However, the serial number on my units, located and visible at the outside top of the battery door on them are, 0610066530 and 0610079818. Can the 06 in the serial number refer to being built in 2006? , is that possible?

 

[dudemar]

I'm guessing the 0610 is referring to the model which the battery belongs to, because 0610 is present on both lights.

If it is from 2006 that's a pretty old battery, and it would explain the sudden loss of power. In fact after I read psychobunny's story, that's what the problem sounds like.

DMM TIME!

 

[Richie086]

Hi folks,

I was doing some checking on our forum and came up with this thread on the POB showing how many years they've been talked about and purchased around here. Likely there may be older posts, but this seems to confirm, at least the possibility, how long ago the initial run of them were built prior to getting our hands on them.

Since they may not initially have been popular, as evident from the super low price we all know Sam's Club sold them at, I'd say they had one initial run of them and we all are now purchasing the last of the unsold pieces left. If all this is true, then we all have very old batteries in our POB's and why some of them are starting to finally fail.

Psycho...if your battery ends up being the problem, the age of this thread explains your bad battery.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=145686

 

[Beamhead]

But the battery is new! like I said, it's only a few weeks old,
and I havent used it much at all!

You stated you bought it on ebay, it more than likely is from the batch that went to Sam's club over 2 years ago and sat.

 

[snakebite]

i loaded up on about 50 of these at a local sams.
these had been gathering dust with a 98.99 pricetag for 3 years in the store.
i got them at $5 ea and the reason was they were being returned as nonworking.
the batteries rotted on the shelf.every last one of them.
hook it to your cars battery with test leads.i bet it works fine.
i recycled the batteries and installed anderson powerpoles so these could be used with external power.
and vector produces black&decker stuff too.