mosport
Enlightened
Received an ARC-AAA today under warranty replacement (Thank You ARC!) and it was really stiff to turn compared to the other one I had. With all the ARC-AAA's in use out there, I'm hoping owners can share their DIY maintenance tips and tricks in one place. Must be the modder inside me tweaking a brand new light? I don't claim ownership over these tips and tricks, but this is how and why I did 'em.
Here's 3 tweaks to start off... These details below are reversible, please be responsible for your judgment, ability and comfort level.
Share your ARC-AAA maintenance and/or repair tips and tricks!
Tight o-ring If you can't find replacement o-rings, here's an easy 5 minute DIY@home fix:
Materials: Fine sandpaper, scissors, toothpick, pencil, lube.
1. Use a toothpick to remove the o-ring from ARC-AAA head.
2. Take some fine sandpaper (220 grit works great) and cut a 1" wide strip, wrap around a pencil or object with similar diameter as the head's o-ring groove.
3. Pop the o-ring over the sandpaper wrapped pencil. Lightly remove material off the inside diameter by spinning the pencil while holding the o-ring in place.
4. Apply the lube of your choice into the head groove where the o-ring sits.
5. Re-install the o-ring
Even if your o-ring is still tight, the lubricated head groove will reduce twisting effort. Another benefit is the lube won't get wiped away by the battery foam when changing batteries because it's underneath the o-ring!
Exposed o-ring
My o-ring wasn't really exposed while on or off, but I've read posts about solder blob height tolerances causing this. Mine sat a little higher than I liked it, which isn't necessarily 'bad' since this compensates for batteries with dented bottoms and differences in cell length between brands. You can tweak the height by performing the following steps.
Materials: Braided copper de-soldering wick, flux, soldering iron, solder.
1. Remove the anti-rattle foam from underneath the head, set aside.
2. Apply flux to your braided copper wick, remove the solder blob from head.
3. Tin the tip of your iron, flux the contact pad and re-apply solder to form a new battery contact solder blob. Play around with the amount of solder removed to increase the number of turns required to switch on your light.
4. Once satisfied, re-install the anti-rattle foam donut.
Optional: I stuffed the original anti-rattle donut (sticky side down) inside the AAA battery tube and made another donut for the head
Making your own anti-rattle foam donut Replacement, addition, extras, etc...
Materials: Self-adhesive foam floor protecting furniture pads (dollarstore), 3/8" and 3/16" hollow hole punch, hammer, sharp razor blade, finernail clipper, scissors.
1. Take the floor protector foam pad and punch out a circle using the 3/8" hollow punch and hammer. If you don't have a hollow punch set, you can also trace ARC-AAA head (with foam pad removed) outline onto the material and cut out with scissors. Pressing the head against the foam will leave an impression mark that can be trimmed away with scissors.
2. Use the razor blade and slice the circular foam cutout to match the height of the original foam donut.
3. Take the 3/16" hollow punch and create the battery contact hole. A razor blade tip or paper hole puncher may substitute as tools to make the solder blob hole.
4. Peel away the sticky backing paper and apply the foam donut to your light, almost done...
5. You can take the nail clippers to make a beveled edge for neatness, just work your way around the donut taking little bites from the material and 'yer done
HTH!
Derek
Here's 3 tweaks to start off... These details below are reversible, please be responsible for your judgment, ability and comfort level.
Share your ARC-AAA maintenance and/or repair tips and tricks!
Tight o-ring If you can't find replacement o-rings, here's an easy 5 minute DIY@home fix:
Materials: Fine sandpaper, scissors, toothpick, pencil, lube.
1. Use a toothpick to remove the o-ring from ARC-AAA head.
2. Take some fine sandpaper (220 grit works great) and cut a 1" wide strip, wrap around a pencil or object with similar diameter as the head's o-ring groove.
3. Pop the o-ring over the sandpaper wrapped pencil. Lightly remove material off the inside diameter by spinning the pencil while holding the o-ring in place.
4. Apply the lube of your choice into the head groove where the o-ring sits.
5. Re-install the o-ring
Even if your o-ring is still tight, the lubricated head groove will reduce twisting effort. Another benefit is the lube won't get wiped away by the battery foam when changing batteries because it's underneath the o-ring!
Exposed o-ring
My o-ring wasn't really exposed while on or off, but I've read posts about solder blob height tolerances causing this. Mine sat a little higher than I liked it, which isn't necessarily 'bad' since this compensates for batteries with dented bottoms and differences in cell length between brands. You can tweak the height by performing the following steps.
Materials: Braided copper de-soldering wick, flux, soldering iron, solder.
1. Remove the anti-rattle foam from underneath the head, set aside.
2. Apply flux to your braided copper wick, remove the solder blob from head.
3. Tin the tip of your iron, flux the contact pad and re-apply solder to form a new battery contact solder blob. Play around with the amount of solder removed to increase the number of turns required to switch on your light.
4. Once satisfied, re-install the anti-rattle foam donut.
Optional: I stuffed the original anti-rattle donut (sticky side down) inside the AAA battery tube and made another donut for the head
Making your own anti-rattle foam donut Replacement, addition, extras, etc...
Materials: Self-adhesive foam floor protecting furniture pads (dollarstore), 3/8" and 3/16" hollow hole punch, hammer, sharp razor blade, finernail clipper, scissors.
1. Take the floor protector foam pad and punch out a circle using the 3/8" hollow punch and hammer. If you don't have a hollow punch set, you can also trace ARC-AAA head (with foam pad removed) outline onto the material and cut out with scissors. Pressing the head against the foam will leave an impression mark that can be trimmed away with scissors.
2. Use the razor blade and slice the circular foam cutout to match the height of the original foam donut.
3. Take the 3/16" hollow punch and create the battery contact hole. A razor blade tip or paper hole puncher may substitute as tools to make the solder blob hole.
4. Peel away the sticky backing paper and apply the foam donut to your light, almost done...
5. You can take the nail clippers to make a beveled edge for neatness, just work your way around the donut taking little bites from the material and 'yer done
HTH!
Derek