Noooooooooooooo! can't open LE

Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

For weeks I haven't been able to open my arc. You see I took it in the pool and at a deep of 9 feet changed the battery. Yes everyone point at the blithering idiot and laugh. Ok stop laughing and tell me how to get it open. It seems weilded shut and ..... help(sob)!

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Since it's filled with water, a vacuum is probably the culprit. Hold it under hot water to create a positive pressure while you open it. If that doesn't work, hold it under hotter water.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Originally posted by Aragorn:
(sob)

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Saab? Well I'm here now...

Do you live where I live? That is to say...do you have hard water!? No...ok, ready for suggestion #2?

Go swimming again and try again at 9 feet or so

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

did it work after you changed the battery? were you able to screw the head back on completely while submerged?
I suggest a couple of good grippers with leverage, elbow grease, and some strategically placed plastic or rubber to prevent marring... then try it on the flashlight.
:>)

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

It worked after the dip but then stopped turning shortly after.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

I was gonna suggest the same thing Ryan just said. Get yourself back to 9' and give it a shot. If that doesn't work, dive 9' down in boiling water and try again. Still doesn't work (and you're still alive?) Leave it at the bottom of the pool and buy a new one.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Aragorn, try some penetrating lube (like WD40) first. I have to agree that warming it up may help release the head - try sticking the body in hot water for a minute while keeping the head cool with a wet wipe and see if it lets go.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

I still say that diving into boiling water will do it.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

If it has been that long since it was submerged, it could be that the battery has leaked and fused onto the foam retainer.

I had something like this happen to an Arc AAA turquoise which I forgot about in Australia. Went back to it a few months later, and after finally getting the head off, saw that the battery had leaked as I described. However, I just stuck a new battery in there and it worked like a champ. The foam retainer was a pretty messed up though.

Graham

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

darrel!

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Originally posted by Graham:
. The foam retainer was a pretty messed up though.

Graham

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thank goodness for SASE eh?

Anyway I had a little thought...I think the general concensis is that it's a vacuum holding it shut, but either way be careful opening it because if it happens to be the opposite of a vacuum you could have Arc head flying across the room

Now seriously, if it is a vacuum then there are 2 tings in play I'd think...

Pressure at pressutization and...
Water temperature

What I am saying is that there was positive pressure at 9' but then as the pool water cooled it expanded so that would help to equalize the vacuum wouldn't it and why am I still going on and on...

Ok so now that I've got my thoughts out on LCD, lemme try again.

IF the pool was warm when you came out the water eventually got cold and when water gets cold it expands (Hey! Now my comment about it maybe being a pressure situation instead of a vacuum is starting to make sense) meaning that the vacuum is probably not as bad as it could've been. I think we need to do some calculations and make sure it's a vacuum in there and not a pressure type situation. Now if it is a vacuum than getting it even colder (I.E. more water expansion) should help things out right? So Darell was wrong you don't need to go diving in 9 feet of boining water, you need to go diving in 9' of ice water! Stick your LE in the freezer, or fridge anyway, for awhile and see if that helps!

This is getting long isn't it! Ok...SUMMARY

You changed the battery at 9'
Pool water got in
Pool water is warm
Air is cold
Pool water expanded, but the pressure difference of 9' is still in play here...

Get your Arc cold
Try to open it
Good luck!

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Excellent observation, Saaby! Adding this to my unprinted Arc-AAA user's manual, along with the roll crimp and all those Q-tip, er.. tips. heh heh...

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Umm...according to my old high school physics, heat causes expansion..you know, excited particles and all that.. in a cold environment things contract, usually..

Anyway, the amount of water that can fit in the Arc AAA along with the battery is negligible, so I doubt if the pressure differential from 9' down for that amount would cause any significant difference. I'd say that having the entire thread opened and closed underwater probably just made the thread sieze or something. Put the body in a vice (padded) and twist the head with a pair of pliers (padded), and I would think it'd come off. Spraying a little WD-40 into the join woulnd't hurt either, I guess.

Graham

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Originally posted by Ted the Led:
I suggest a couple of good grippers with leverage, elbow grease, and some strategically placed plastic or rubber to prevent marring... then try it on the flashlight.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Trevor, actually Ted has given the best advise. We don't know if it's a vacuum from the water cooling, or pressure from sealing it while it was the 9 feet deep. Either way, vacuum or pressure, the threads are under a lot of friction as a result. Even if you lessen the pressure or increase it, which ever is needed, you're likely to have the same problem unless you can guess at what is normal atmospheric pressure. I vote for strong arming it.

Saaby, get back to school and restudy the science of water density and temperature.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Saaby, by the way, I'm pretty sure water expands when it gets colder, definately expands when it freezes...

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Another possibility is that there is an air bubble in the ARC AAA that got in there at 9' depth. On surfacing with the light this bubble has expanded creating pressure inside the light.

Take the light back down to 9' or deeper with a wrench or two and try and open it at depth. There is however a good chance of some corrosion as well, there is HCl and Cl in the water which is now inside your light. The light may be chemcoted but the battery I am sure does not like the pool water.

Good luck and let us know the outcome.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Don't freeze it!! That could cause it to burst. Even a little water can expand quite a bit when frozen.

Uhm nobody else asked but why did you change the battery underwater? Is this an example of science marching on? Please don't try hanging it from a kite in a lightening storm. It would be very welded then

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

Ted, water actually contracts when it cools with one exception. Water is rather unique in that just before it changes state to a solid it expands, even enough to displace its volume of liquid water; thus it floats. Otherwise, it like other liquids contracts as it cools, and expands as it warms.

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

BTW water contracts down to about 34-36 F and then expands slightly. When frozen it expands and becomes less dense. Good thing otherwise all the 10,000 lakes up here would be frozen solid most of the year.

EDIT--OOPS Beat me Empath

Re: Noooooooooooooo! can\'t open LE

I think the aluminum threads have oxidized and fused together. You'll have to treat it like they do with lug nuts that won't budge.
Put about 3/8" high water in a metal dish. Place Arc LED side down in the water dish and heat the exposed body, just above the threads with the flame from a small propane torch. (Not enough to cook the battery inside) and the battery case threads will expand enough to break the seal.
Wearing leather gloves, pick it up (still hot) and give it a twist.