How to keep a consistent ground.

blan

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
25
Hi guys, I'm new!
I'm trying to resist the urge to become a flashaholic. However, I just got my first cree flashlight, I went cheap, got the DX Simply Cree.
Unfortunately I got the one where the QC guy went on break.
It constantly flickers and randomly turns off. I resoldered a wire to the LED board since the wire was badly stripped.

In the process I learned that the LED board has to be grounded to the casing, right?
Well I'm pretty sure a bad ground is the cause of all my flickering/off problems. I put a tall blob of solder sticking out, "leaning" towards the wall. When I first do this and put it back in the flashlight works as intended (except for the huge, annoying donut hole). However, after moving the flashlight around a bit it goes back to the flickering/dimming and I have to hit it to get it back to regular brightness.

So I'm asking the experts, how in the world can I ground it permanently? Bigger blob???


Thanks!
 

RebelXTNC

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
433
Location
North Carolina
You have to check all contact points, retaining rings, switches, etc etc.
Anything that's part of the circuit can cause a flicker.
I've had several DX lights that refused to ever stop flickering no matter how much cleaning I did and I think it was the switch itself. In one case the switch actually fell off its board when I removed it from the tailcap, the solder joints were broken. I got 3 of that model, the broken one, one that seemed solid but still flickered, and one that flickers very rarely but I won't depend on it. I also had a DX MTE light that flickers, but all the DX twistie lights (even the six $1.88 1AA 8-LED models I got) run smoothly.
And welcome to CPF! Get set to try out some more reliable and more expensive brands.
 
Last edited:

blan

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
25
They are sending me a replacement, hopefully it works correctly.

Thanks
 

greenLED

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
13,263
Location
La Tiquicia
Glad you sorted it out. From your posts at EDCF, it was becoming obvious you had gotten a defective light.
 
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