Tigerlight charger won't

[Josey]

Tigerlight charger won\'t

My Tigerlight charger won't charge, or at least the red light won't come on. I read 7.6V at the two gold contact points on the charger when it's plugged into a 12V source.

When I plug in the charger with the Tigerlight already in place, the red charging light blinks once. It blinks once again when I pull the charger plug back out.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?

 

[TACTICAL WAREHOUSE]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey,
Please call me in the morning or e-mail me and I'll help you get this problem resolved. Tigerlight stands behind every product they sell with great customer service.

Dan

 

[CaseyTan]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

also have this problem with the tigerlight sent to be from ksbman. Using a 220-240v to 110v step down convertor with the wall adaptor. After putting tigerlight into the charger, it failed to charge, red light not on /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif any idea of the cause ?

Tested the contact point at the shop where i bought the step down convertor, around 10v iirc..

 

[TACTICAL WAREHOUSE]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

CaseyTan,
Have you contacted TigerLight about this problem? www.tigerlight.net will take you to their website. I'm sure they'll help you with this.

Dan

 

[CaseyTan]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

not yet, will drop a mail to them later... thanks dan.

 

[TACTICAL WAREHOUSE]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey,
I forwarded your information to Eric at TigerLight - He'll call you about this issue very soon. Thanks for your business!

Dan

 

[TACTICAL WAREHOUSE]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

CaseyTan,
Please send me an e-mail if you need my help. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dan

 

[fluorescent]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

I had a problem with my charging cradle out of the box... one email to Tigerlight and I sent mine in for a replacement... Like Dan said, they stand behind their stuff /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[CaseyTan]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

thanks for the offer Dan, have just sent an email to tigerlight, will wait for their reply /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Josey]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Thanks, Dan. I bought the light from you, but didn't expect you to be so concerned because this problem was certainly not your fault. I hope Tigerlight responds. I thought maybe it was something that I could repair, but I don't have a spec sheet for the charger and didn't want to start tearing it apart in case it was covered by warranty.

 

[TACTICAL WAREHOUSE]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey,
I want you to be a happy customer! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Thanks for your business!

Dan

 

[Frame57]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey

I've been modifing the Tigerlight charging cradle for Jim Sexton's Tiger85 modification, See Thread Here and I've found poor soldering on on the input and output wires that connect to the PCB in the charging cradle. On my personnel cradle there were cold solder joints that failed soon after purchase and I reflowed and repaired the joints prior to modification.

The main problem seems to be the holes on the PCB being too small for the large gauge wire being used for the input and output. Therefore the wires are poorly soldered to the pads rather than the more secure method of placing the wire through the hole before soldering.

Jim Skinner

 

[Josey]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Thanks, Jim.

While I'm waiting for Tigerlight to email me back (they seem to be at a conference for a few days), I took the charger apart. The solder joints were just as you said. I didn't reflow them because the continuity tested OK, despite the questionable solder joints. Maybe they fail under load.

The resistors tested OK. I forget how to test transistors. The capacitor wasn't shorted.

But the charger delivers 7.6V (at least before I connect it to the Tigerlight), while the Tigerlight in a partially discharged state reads 7.73V. That doesn't seem right. And CaseyTan said his charger read 10V, if I read his post correctly.

Josey

 

[Frame57]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey,

[ QUOTE ]
But the charger delivers 7.6V (at least before I connect it to the Tigerlight), while the Tigerlight in a partially discharged state reads 7.73V. That doesn't seem right. And CaseyTan said his charger read 10V, if I read his post correctly.



[/ QUOTE ]

The voltages you state in your post are correct. The charging circuit is a constant current circuit which means the output voltage will vary during charging to maintain a constant current of 186mA. The charging circuits main components are the LM317T Regulator (the large black square component) and the 6.8 ohm current setting resistor next to it. The small transistor is used to switch on the LED when charging is taking place.

I'm not sure where Casey Tan is getting 10 volts from. The AC adaptor should be delivering 12 Vdc to the charging circuit. I'll check my charger tonight and and verify the open circuit voltage of the charging circuit and report back.

Another thing you may want to try is to exercise the contacts on the charging cradle by pushing them in with a small screwdriver and then letting them spring back a few times. This will help ensure that the charging cradle is making good contact with the Tigerlight. Your problem could be as simple as the light and the charging cradle not making good contact.

Jim Skinner

 

[CaseyTan]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

not very good @ electronics, from the guy's device i saw 10.XX when he tested the contact points on the charger and when testing the plug from the AC wall adaptor.

 

[Frame57]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Josey and Casey,

I just checked my charger the open circuit voltages are:

11.3 Vdc at the output of the charger

12.1 Vdc at the input of the charger

10 Vdc seems a little low, what's the voltage and current rating of the DC power supply you are using?

Jim Skinner

 

[Josey]

Re: Tigerlight charger won\'t

Thanks Jim and CaseyTan:

Your last clue helped me figure it out. I'm using a DC source for charging (my solar system). What happened was the solder joint holding the negative wire to the negative-terminal clip inside of the cigarette plug had broken and was just touching the clip. That poor connection was not letting the full voltage through; in fact the voltage available to the charger was less then that of the flashlight batteries, so the charging light could not come on.

I repaired the broken solder joint inside the cigarette plug and now the charger works. The charger contact points pass through the entire voltage of my solar batteries, but as Jim says, that voltage probably changes during the actual charging cycle.

I think I'll put on a better quality cigarette plug later. But for some reason, the plug is wired in reverse polarity to customary practice (the wire with the ribbed coating is the positive wire, not the negative which is usual).

Thanks again, Dan at TW, you're a champ. I never did get an email back from Tigerlight, although I think they are at a conference and Dan did get one person from TL to leave a message on my voicemail.

What I see, and Jim you also found, is that the solder joints throughout the charger are not very good. However, as I have often said, the Tigerlight itself is a great light with very good quality.

Josey