Gransee
Flashlight Enthusiast
Background
We detected a problem with our AAA/AA product a couple of months ago involving intermittent operation. The unit would fail to start sometimes but then would work fine other times. We pulled all stock from inventory and stopped selling the product.
Replacement
Of course, when we fix this problem, units in the field that are exhibiting this symptom will be replaced under warranty. We don't see a reason for a general recall because not all units were affected. Units sold in the past 6 months are more likely to have this problem. If you suspect that your Arc-AAA/AA has an intermittent operation, please contact us for warranty replacement. We hope to have replacement units available in April or sooner.
What we think is the problem
Originally, we suspected a poor electrical contact to either the ground or in other parts of the circuit. We made quite a few changes to improve those contacts but the problem only seemed to get worse. We also added new QC procedures to better detect this problem. Finally, we checked the micro chip used in the DC/DC step up power supply in the head. We found that is was not meeting the specs published by the manufacturer. We then created some tests to apply to all of our stock and found that 80-95% of each batch was not meeting the published spec for startup voltage and CE state.
The solution
We then contacted our rep and they got the manufacturer (I am not saying what their name is) involved. They tasked 5 people to come over and look at the parts. At first they were cautious about admitting anything but finally after quite a few tests they revealed that a larger customer had reported problems and they had already made changes to the current production silicon. Those changes were just coming through final assembly last week and we got early production samples. Those were shipped straight from the fab and installed in Arc-AAA test units. Tests results continue to show an improvement in the performance of the light. All test units from that batch are meeting the published spec. We have chilled/heated the units, tested the minimum startup and CE states (involves cycling the light at a certain speed that is prone to cause failure in the bad units). Total cycles for each test unit are over 300 manual twist-on/off cycles with not a single failure. We have all chipped in to hand test these lights. The units have also been allowed to sit over the weekend to insure maximum epoxy movement during curing.
We have asked the manufacture to ship us production quantities of the parts but they are having difficulty providing that quantity because there is quite a demand for this chip. It has no pin-compatible cross so we have to work within the production constraints.
We are going to start up production later this week with a small quantity of the new chips and continue to ramp back up to full volume over the next month (hopefully-keep you fingers crossed). For the time being, we will test each unit more exhaustively until our confidence in this new chip has improved.
I have asked our accountant to tally up our damages on this and I am working with the chip manufacture on how we can be made whole on this issue.
Peter
We detected a problem with our AAA/AA product a couple of months ago involving intermittent operation. The unit would fail to start sometimes but then would work fine other times. We pulled all stock from inventory and stopped selling the product.
Replacement
Of course, when we fix this problem, units in the field that are exhibiting this symptom will be replaced under warranty. We don't see a reason for a general recall because not all units were affected. Units sold in the past 6 months are more likely to have this problem. If you suspect that your Arc-AAA/AA has an intermittent operation, please contact us for warranty replacement. We hope to have replacement units available in April or sooner.
What we think is the problem
Originally, we suspected a poor electrical contact to either the ground or in other parts of the circuit. We made quite a few changes to improve those contacts but the problem only seemed to get worse. We also added new QC procedures to better detect this problem. Finally, we checked the micro chip used in the DC/DC step up power supply in the head. We found that is was not meeting the specs published by the manufacturer. We then created some tests to apply to all of our stock and found that 80-95% of each batch was not meeting the published spec for startup voltage and CE state.
The solution
We then contacted our rep and they got the manufacturer (I am not saying what their name is) involved. They tasked 5 people to come over and look at the parts. At first they were cautious about admitting anything but finally after quite a few tests they revealed that a larger customer had reported problems and they had already made changes to the current production silicon. Those changes were just coming through final assembly last week and we got early production samples. Those were shipped straight from the fab and installed in Arc-AAA test units. Tests results continue to show an improvement in the performance of the light. All test units from that batch are meeting the published spec. We have chilled/heated the units, tested the minimum startup and CE states (involves cycling the light at a certain speed that is prone to cause failure in the bad units). Total cycles for each test unit are over 300 manual twist-on/off cycles with not a single failure. We have all chipped in to hand test these lights. The units have also been allowed to sit over the weekend to insure maximum epoxy movement during curing.
We have asked the manufacture to ship us production quantities of the parts but they are having difficulty providing that quantity because there is quite a demand for this chip. It has no pin-compatible cross so we have to work within the production constraints.
We are going to start up production later this week with a small quantity of the new chips and continue to ramp back up to full volume over the next month (hopefully-keep you fingers crossed). For the time being, we will test each unit more exhaustively until our confidence in this new chip has improved.
I have asked our accountant to tally up our damages on this and I am working with the chip manufacture on how we can be made whole on this issue.
Peter
