Treasure Hunts and a DB-3W, a tale of woe

Just noticed another thread regarding a DB-3W, thought I'd add my own little story.

...Just received courtesy of LED-Replacement.com a new DB-3W drop in to replace one that failed at a rather tricky moment….

Occasionally the place I work organise charity events, and on the whole raise a good bit of money. Now I've been lurking around these boards for quite a while and had the idea of a Midnight Treasure Hunt around a local (Private ) area whereby the Use of a good Torch ( Flashlight! ) would help solve the clues etc…

The idea was met with some enthusiasm and 6 teams of 4 were announced, The company provided torches from the Stores dept ( 3 and 4 D Mags, and a Coleman Lantern for each team ) and everything was set to go.

Permission was granted from the Land owner who thought it was a splendid idea !!!The Police were also informed as to not arouse suspicions, after all multiple beams apparently searching the woods might give off the wrong signals.

On the Saturday the 18th at about 10pm Three of us set out to hide the clues ( 9" x 9" neon yellow cards ).I had with me a Mag 3D with the aforementioned DB-3W drop in, nice simple modification no worries I thought !!!, and a TLE-5 equipped minimag as back up, friends had similar un-modded lights

So there I was extolling the virtues of LED Technology and how they should convert their own lights when out went the DB-3W, so dim it became it hardly lit up the reflector.

It's the middle of the woods, Its Cold, Its very Dark and well we could have been anywhere.

Que much humiliation and quotes like

" So these LED's last how many hundred thousand hours " ?
and
" Mine seems to be working fine, AND I've got a spare bulb"

Thankfully the Minimag worked faultlessly
Any way the Treasure Hunt went off without any incident and lasted about 2 hours, and we raised over £600 for local charity.

On the 21st March I emailed LED-Replacement.com and inquired about the best approach to deal with the DB-3W as I wasn't exactly sure of the guarantee period.
Well what can I say Mr John Plummer mailed me back straight away to tell me a replacement was on the way BEFORE I had even returned the faulty one ! Now that is customer service.

Pleased to say the replacement arrived this morning according to my wife, who also managed to drop the comment thatI'd been buying more useless lights again.!

So Moral of the tale….Everything will fail eventually and always always carry a back up light.

And Finally….. I ordered a Fenix L1P from Fenix-store ( Great service too ) to make me feel better and wow it's a little gem!!!
Cheers all.

First DB-3W I received would either flicker, or go on and off at it's own whim. The replacement worked flawlessly. I think they have a high "fallout" rate. From my limited experimentation, I think most of the problems are mechanical.

First DB-3W I received would either flicker, or go on and off at it's own whim

Click to expand...

Funny, that's the problem I always had with stock Maglites.

Sorry to hear that diamonds are made so poorly. I wonder if the Maglite versions will be any better.

As a counterpoint, I've got three DB-3W's in 3D Mags and each has performed perfectly for the entire time I've owned them. No complaints, though I do wish they were regulated.


Cheers. :buddies:

Diesel

Thanks for that! it's always reassuring to hear the positives. I like my DB and would worry if I thought it would fail prematurely. Still I always carry a backup can't be too careful!

Doug

If you've read my account in the other thread regarding the Diamond DB-3W (MadMag's thread on DB-3W LED Report)—it "fizzled" out on me a week and a half ago since acquiring it last June 2005. Mr. John Plummer took care of that immediately as Redregie mentioned above. Way to go on that quick response!

Glad I could make you feel better, Doug.

I suppose I should admit that although I trust the DB-3W, I also keep a backup incandescent bulb and the original retaining collar in the tailcap. The retaining collar will fit in the tailcap beside the foam-wrapped bulb quite easily. I also leave the incandescent backup bulb in the tailcap for my Everled modded mags. The retaining collar, of course, stays in normal use for those.

Cheers. :buddies:

I have had a DB-3W since the first part of January and have no trouble with it. I ran it for 9 continous hours last weekend and it performed perfectly without a blink.

It was more of a test for some old expired Duracells than a test of the DB-3W. They were labeled with an expiration date of March 2003. They were still going fairly strong after 9 hours, but I just turned off the light at that point.

They started out with a voltage reading of 1.44 v and ended with a reading of 1.33 v.

I guess this is a testimony to both, the Duracell batteries and the DB-3W.

I recieved my DB-3W from the Quality Items site about three weeks ago. Been working fine. But when I first asked LED Replacment about when they would get new shippment, they told me on the phone that the new 3W had some improvements to address the burn-out problem you described. Also, on another thread a member had similiar failure as you.

Not sure of the details but I guess the new 3W's are supposed to hold up better.

Diesel_Bomber said:

As a counterpoint, I've got three DB-3W's in 3D Mags and each has performed perfectly for the entire time I've owned them. No complaints, though I do wish they were regulated.


Cheers. :buddies:

Click to expand...

Like you I wish they were regulated. I counted my DB-3W conversions and I have a total of 7 that are in use. All are 3C cells with the exception of a 3 D and a 4D with a dummy battery. Like the name implies, they are little jewels. With your light off, turn the head as if to focus and watch in te reflector as the Diamond comes into view when the reflector moves down, it is cool the way the Diamond logo seems to just grow out of the middle.

I do work with industrial lasers and the etching they did on the side of the heat sink is first class.

As for the intermittant problems reported. They can be attributed to more of a fault of the light than the LED. The problem stems from slight variations in the bulb mounts and when you thread the Diamond onto the bulb mount the top of the mount does not interface well with the bottom of the Diamond in all cases. Use a small thin piece of rubber so as to get a better grip on the heat sink when you make the final tightening. You have to have it tight.

so sorry to hear about your public problem!!:thumbsdow

I've had a couple of these with no worries and would recommend them.

Guess you were very unlucky!

Good idea about the original bulb and retaining collar Diesel_bomber.:rock:

I couldn't even add up the hours I've got on my DB-3W's. They certainly fill a niche for me; decent light with extended run time. I suppose one could put a second DB-3W or EverLED in the tailcap, too. With all the knocks a couple of my lights have taken, I'd be surprised if the incan bulb in the tailcap is still any good.

Cheers. :buddies:

Last night on a nighttime geocache I loaned my buddy my trusty 3D Maglite (Kiu ss bezel, mineral glass lens, DB-3W). At the first hunt it worked perfectly, burning for about an hour or so. Great throw and color.

Turned it off, then arrived at the next cache. Hit the switch- nothing. Hit it again and again- nothing. Swapped the order of the batteries- nothing (these were new Duracells). Swore the name of a few saints and assorted dieties- nothing.

I'll test further but I'm now wondering if the LED failed. Hmm.

old maxim, ''if it can fail it will!''?

Doug