Flickering QIII

bonhomme

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Mar 30, 2005
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belgium
Is it normal when my QIII is cold (night in the car at -5C°) the luxeon flickers and if i hold it for +-30sec in my hand i just works fine?
Is it the battery (original 123A) who can not handle the amps as it is cold, or is it the circuitboard, or the luxeon itself?

I have almost the same problem with my TM301X5 : i have replaced the lux5 with a luxIII (with resistor so it runs on 2pcs 123A at +-900mA).Works very well and more trow as the QIII. Only; when temperature is -5C° and i swiths it on: the luxeon glows (like a 5mm led!), and after some time, or when i swiths a couple of times on/off, then suddenly i works fine???

Thanks Marc
 

vic303

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Nov 11, 2003
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NTX
We have a QIII and a tm301-x3 but it never really gets cold in Dallas...so I cannot say that we have your problem. Never seen it happen anyway. Sorry.
 

chimo

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Sep 16, 2004
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Ottawa, Canada
Have you tried loosening the tail cap a bit? Sometimes the extra pressure makes the circuit board lose contact or the tail spring lose contact.
 

secamp32

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Jan 5, 2006
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MY QIII flcikers sometimes. If I turn it off, wack it, and turn it back on it seems to work ok.
 

Mattman

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Oct 4, 2003
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Beavercreek OH
Check the positive contact on the circuit board. My QIII was working intermittently for a few weeks until I decided to do some investigation and found a tiny bit of crud (technical term) right where the battery contacts the board. I wiped it off with a tissue and everything's been good ever since. Trying a new battery couldn't hurt either.
 

ACMarina

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Sep 10, 2004
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Brookston, IN
Maybe when it's cold there's a small gap that only touches on a limited basis, and as it warms up and the metal expands the gap disappears..
 

MrTodds

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Nov 18, 2003
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SF Bay Area
My QIII had a problem with the switch. So try spraying the switch with contact cleaner. That fixed my intermittent problem.
 

TinderBox (UK)

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Jan 14, 2006
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England, United Kingdom
my NUWAI ALX-654C 5W luxeon always flickers for a few seconds when i first switch it on, no matter what type of battery i use inside.

I posted this problem on this cpf forum, but i got no reply.

regards.
 

bonhomme

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Mar 30, 2005
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belgium
The TM301X5 (mod with resistor and luxIII) : found the problem: the copper spacer (under the original circuitboard )was not tied enough, fastened the plastic ring under the reflector and the problem is solved. It was fastened but not tied enough, i think.

Did the same with the QIII, but this keeps on flickering???
Also tried another battery and swiths(from the working TM301X5(3).
No difference.

Thanks Marc
 

Skibane

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Nov 26, 2002
Messages
285
Location
San Antonio
Mine started doing the same thing, and occasionally would go dark until I shook it.

Turns out that the positive battery contact (the gold-colored spot in the center of the PC board) wasn't making good contact with the battery (possibly due to contamination or oxidation).

I used a rubber pencil eraser to gently rub the contact for a few seconds (an old trick for rejuvenating the contacts on telegraph keys), which cleaned it enough to completely eliminate the problem.
 
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