Possible flickering fix?

LEDrock · Jan 20, 2009

I have one of those 3AAA LED lights that has 9 emitters in it that cost $4 made by a company called Performance Tool. It started having horrible flickering problems soon after I got it. I eventually got tired of it and tried cleaning all the contacts and tailcap threads, hoping that would solve the problem. After putting it all back together, I turned it on, and it flickered terribly! I lost my patience with it and just threw it down on the floor and it bounced across the room. Later, I turned it on to make sure it wasn't broke. It wasn't. More importantly, it hasn't flickered every since!

Now, I'm not suggesting anyone else tries "fixing" theirs the way I did mine. But something obviously changed by giving it a good "jolt". I don't know about the inner workings of the tailcap or bezel, but does anyone know just how a good jolt could make the flickering problem come to a complete end like that?

I would LOVE to buy me a Coleman 2AA cree light, but I keep hearing about the flickering problems it has. If the problem could be identified and corrected, I'll buy one immediately! (Ya hear that Coleman?) :popcorn:

Gunner12 · Jan 20, 2009

Maybe the jolt made a connection more stable and took away the flickering?

IIRC those things are really simple, usually no resistor, just battery and LEDs, so the main way to break them is to burn out the LEDs and/or breaking the switch.

Blacklight · Jan 21, 2009

LEDrock said:
I have one of those 3AAA LED lights that has 9 emitters in it that cost $4 made by a company called Performance Tool. It started having horrible flickering problems soon after I got it. I eventually got tired of it and tried cleaning all the contacts and tailcap threads, hoping that would solve the problem. After putting it all back together, I turned it on, and it flickered terribly! I lost my patience with it and just threw it down on the floor and it bounced across the room. Later, I turned it on to make sure it wasn't broke. It wasn't. More importantly, it hasn't flickered every since!

Now, I'm not suggesting anyone else tries "fixing" theirs the way I did mine. But something obviously changed by giving it a good "jolt". I don't know about the inner workings of the tailcap or bezel, but does anyone know just how a good jolt could make the flickering problem come to a complete end like that?

I would LOVE to buy me a Coleman 2AA cree light, but I keep hearing about the flickering problems it has. If the problem could be identified and corrected, I'll buy one immediately! (Ya hear that Coleman?)

I will circvle back around with my engineer, but I believe the issue with the Coleman flickering has been addressed all ready. We modified the tailcap to address the issue. I know I asked for some additional testing as well, so I will follow up with my team and see where it is at.

Hondo · Jan 21, 2009

As far as your original question, there is a necessary contact path between the edge of the board that the LEDs are on and the aluminum tube, at least if it is anything like the majority of these lights. My coworker had a dead one, and I succeeded in just budging the board in the tube, which re-established the contact, and it has been fine since. Her husband tried the same trick with another of the same light, and managed to shove the whole board/lense module out the front of the light. He just re-inserted it from the back and shoved it back to the front of the tube, and all is well again. Throwing it on the ground is a faster, easier way to get the same result, although probably not as reliable

.

LEDrock · Jan 23, 2009

Blacklight said:
I will circvle back around with my engineer, but I believe the issue with the Coleman flickering has been addressed all ready. We modified the tailcap to address the issue. I know I asked for some additional testing as well, so I will follow up with my team and see where it is at.

I'm really glad to hear that the problem is solved! Is there any way to know when buying one if it is one of the older ones with the old switch or if it is one with the "improved" switch? Also, would Coleman do a recall of the switches on the old ones? I'm sure the rest of the light is fine, so only the tailcap would need to be sent. That would make it alot easier to buy one now and not have to worry about ending up with the older switch.

Possible flickering fix?

LEDrock

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Gunner12

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Blacklight

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Hondo

Flashlight Enthusiast

LEDrock

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