Flickery Arc

So... err, yeah. My Arc-P (first run DS) has been flickering. It does so even when it is stationary so I don't think it is dirty contacts, but it might be. I changed the battery too. Now what? Anything I can do before I send it in?

Uhmm, order a Fenix E01 from 4sevens ?




No, wait, did i actually type that ?


Thought i was just thinking out loud.



Nevermind.

_

Some of the early head twisty lights where the PCB was roll crimped into the head developed an intermittent contact between the PCB and the roll crimp due to repeated pushing of the battery on the PCB. This could occur with the "crush your battery" type twisties.

Anyway, there was a fix suggested by someone for CMG Infinities for this. CAUTION: this may NOT help and it may ruin your light (or certainly void the warranty), but I did this for several of my old CMG Infinities and had no problems and no flickering.

What you want to do is peen down the edge of the roll crimp in spots so it contacts the PCB edge better. To do that, you put the head PCB side up on a solid surface. Take tip of a small screwdriver and place it against the roll crimp at right angle (sort like the tail of the capital letter Q - except the screwdriver is centered over the roll crimp).

Tap the end of the screwdriver with a hammer so you get a dimple in the roll crimp. Not to big a dimple so you affect the thread or ding the PCB, but enough to make an indentation in the inside of the roll crimp. Do more times so you have 3 or maybe 4 dimples around the edge of the roll crimp.

That might help, if you don't mind risking your light. Or maybe it's a bad contact inside the head. This is just a thought, so good luck...

I like to hope the roll crimp stuff is sorted out by now. I'd try cleaning the contacts which may have developed an invisible oxide layer. Also the threads.

carrot said:

So... err, yeah. My Arc-P (first run DS) has been flickering. It does so even when it is stationary so I don't think it is dirty contacts, but it might be. I changed the battery too. Now what? Anything I can do before I send it in?

Click to expand...

pitch it out and get a mag solitaire:nana:
you know you want to

carrot said:

So... err, yeah. My Arc-P (first run DS) has been flickering. It does so even when it is stationary so I don't think it is dirty contacts, but it might be. I changed the battery too. Now what? Anything I can do before I send it in?

Click to expand...

Try to isolate the problem.

- Remove the head.
- Remove the foam ring and clean off the adhesive.
- You will need a short piece of wire (4-6")
- Place the head face down on something that will "spill light" (so you can see if it flickers)
- Take a fresh battery and touch the solder blob with the anode of the battery (use firm pressure as if the case is squeezing the battery against the head).
- Take the wire with one end on the cathode of the battery and touch the ground ring on the driver board (try not to touch the head - this step is easier if the wire is tinned). See if it flickers - if it does, it's most likely not the crimp.
- You can try the same with the wire touching the threads instead of the ground ring.

In the past, I have done what nerdgineer has suggested. I find the crimp is the biggest cause of flickering and that's the easiest way of fixing it.

Fenix is the answer, I have five of them and never had a single problem.

chimo said:

Try to isolate the problem.

- Remove the head.
- Remove the foam ring and clean off the adhesive.
- You will need a short piece of wire (4-6")
- Place the head face down on something that will "spill light" (so you can see if it flickers)
- Take a fresh battery and touch the solder blob with the anode of the battery (use firm pressure as if the case is squeezing the battery against the head).
- Take the wire with one end on the cathode of the battery and touch the ground ring on the driver board (try not to touch the head - this step is easier if the wire is tinned). See if it flickers - if it does, it's most likely not the crimp.
- You can try the same with the wire touching the threads instead of the ground ring.

In the past, I have done what nerdgineer has suggested. I find the crimp is the biggest cause of flickering and that's the easiest way of fixing it.

Click to expand...

+1 ... what he said, except that I have a different final step: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2364006&postcount=3

Except, I have, once. I had an E0 die on me.

Same thing as carrot, except my Arc-P goes periodically ceases to function altogether.

At first I thought it was some kind of oxidation problem on the contact on the back of the head, as I'd clean it and it would start to function again, but then it would stop, so I removed the pad and cleaned it with electrolube. I comes and it goes when it feels like it, but doesn't really turn on when it should.

I'm fairly disappointed as it's not a cheap piece of kit, and I got it as I thought it would be a "never again" purchase to sit on the keys for the forseeable future. It also crushes the primaries.

Mine doesn't flicker since I've replaced the blob with silver solder

Still having the same problems - which is really getting me going as this is supposed to be the essence of high-quality lights. I couldn't care less if it's machined out of a solid block of Plutonium and anodised in virgin's tears; if it's flickering and not coming on - it's not a good light, certainly no good for EDC purposes and definetely not for working.

Apart from crushing the primaries, I've noticed that there's some kind of dirty oxide that builds up on the contact on the back of the head. I've cleaned it several times with a variety of electronic solvents and everytime it comes back. Whether or not its relevant, I don't know.

I just bought a GS and a UV about two weeks ago. My GS stopped working after about a week. I assumed the problem to be something to do with the connection between the rolled edge and circuit board. As it would sometiems turn on, but turning to far would cause it to turn off again. When I pulled the sticky foam gasket off and saw the design, I was very dissapointed.

To top it off, I've been reading all the jeers to ARC threads and decided that $50 was a little to much to pay for a light that doesn't work reliably from a company that doesn't seem to offer good support. So I have returned both lights. Yes, the housing and machine quality were top notch. But who cares if the light doesn't work?

I'm quite dissapointed, I thought it looked good on my keychain too.

What we appear to have here is a very expensive method of carrying an AAA battery on your keyring.

Hello,

In the past I had some problems with flickering ARCs as well. It were also lights that didn't close very well, exposing some part of the O-ring when off. By grinding down the solder blob a bit, I always solved 2 problems: the lights closed better (O-ring covered) and the flickering was gone.

I had to do this with several ARCs and it always worked, so it might work with you as well.

Kind regards,
Joris

22hornet said:

...By grinding down the solder blob a bit... the lights closed better (O-ring covered) and the flickering was gone...

Click to expand...

That's actually quite interesting. It makes me speculate that the grinding either:

1) flattened the top of the blob some so it made better contact with the flat battery end, or

2) maybe some solder dust from the grinding got caught under the crimp in the head and helped bridge whatever gap betweenB which was causing the intermittent contact.

I'd experiment if I still had one, and it flickered...

I long ago began adding a _small_ dab of conductive lubricant on the threads, and on the tip and bottom of the battery.

I've probably got a dozen Arc AAAs of various vintages, and given as many away; out of those two dozen, three have flickered, all of which Arc eventually fixed (or replaced, who's asking ...) after I finally got around to sending them to Arc. Several years after telling them I would.

That includes two I managed to really completely destroy -- I fiddled, trying to fix the crimp several times, cracking the metal, trying to solder the cracks I made -- despite that, they did fine by me, and this long after the business that actually made them went away. The new folks for whom Gransee is consulting are treating his old customers okay, in my experience.

I've never rushed them or given them a hard time. It's a small shop at best, and they're real busy right now. Send'em back and give'em time, is my suggestion.