LF5XT acting strange

Just got a LiteFlux LF5XT in the mail yesterday. I love the light, but it seems to have a mind of it's own. It will sometimes turn on maximum when it is bumped or set down on the desk. When it turns on on it's own, the button will do nothing. I have to tap it on the desk or unscrew the bezel to get it to turn off, then the button will work again like normal. The light will also just come on by itself for no reason at all sometimes, and again the button will do nothing.

The pill was loose and rattling so I hoped that tightening that down would fix the problem, but it did not. I've disassembled and cleaned everything, reassembled and tightened, and the problem is still there.

Any ideas?

hmm.. that does seem strange.

please let me check with LiteFlux about this issue and get back to you as soon as possible.

sorry for the inconvenience caused.
khoo

I had the same problem with mine, but only once. It started, when I tightened the light together, it lit up and the only way to shut it off was partly unsrewing it. I left it on the nightdesk, a little later when I came back it was turned on again. Very strange, it only happened when the light was really tightened.

So, I took it apart, had a closer look at everything, but couldn't find anything out, I reassembled the light and couldn't reproduce that strange behaviour, I took the head off a dozen times.

If you insert a battery by the tail, you here the spring making noise inside and that noise isn't pleasant. Perhaps the spring is turned and somehow blocked. I don't know if the problem could come from there, the spring could make a short-circuit, but I always load the battery from the head's side, no unpleasant noise and no problem until now.

I hope this helps!

Thanks Khoo, I appreciate it. I absolutely love the flashlight.

Henk_Lu, I think you are on to something there. I followed your instructions and the light is behaving much better, although I can still get it to exhibit the symptom if I let it drop on the desk just right. I think you have pinpointed the problem. Thanks for your help.

When the light behaves as I described in my first post, it's as if the button has been held down for PH for 100% brightness. A couple times it has locked into 100% random strobe as if it had received a C+PH. I think somehow a false signal is being sent from the button, if that makes sense.

Well,

(from my understanding)

Normally you should have two paths for the negative current to go. The anodizing on the flashlight insulates these two paths. The brass tube is shorting out on the side through the anodizing somewhere, or a spring is shorting out, or a switch is bad.

I'm not familiar with the head, so I dunno what could go wrong there.

sparkysko said:

The brass tube is shorting out on the side through the anodizing somewhere

Click to expand...

Hmm, maybe this is it. When the light "locks" on I can squeeze the body and get it to turn off. I do see some slight flaws on the anodizing inside the body where the battery tube touches. Would that be enough to cause this problem?

jonnyfgroove said:

Hmm, maybe this is it. When the light "locks" on I can squeeze the body and get it to turn off. I do see some slight flaws on the anodizing inside the body where the battery tube touches. Would that be enough to cause this problem?

Click to expand...

Brass contacting a flaw/scratch in the anodizing in the aluminum tube would cause what you describe if I understand the light design properly.

Anodizing should be enough insulation for several hundred volts at least. I'm half tempted to recommend trying to put nail polish or some thin insulation over the anodizing scratches and see if it changes anything. Should be able to rub off the nail polish with some acetone afterwards. Or perhaps wrap the brass tube in a sheet of paper or saran wrap or something if the tolerances aren't too tight to do that.

Prior to ordering one of these lights, I did have the concern of the tube shorting out on the outside walls, causing what you describe, but then I remembered that the brass is softer than the anodizing and shouldn't be able to harm the insulation. Perhaps over a very long time, the brass and lube around it might pick up anodized particles and start a lapping action, but that seemed unlikely.

Thanks for your help, sparkysko. The tolerances are indeed to tight to even slip a piece of paper around the battery tube. Any other suggestions?

I'm also getting about half the runtime on 14500 (maybe 15 min total on max output) compared to what is in the reviews, which makes the whole concept kinda useless.

Saran wrap or nail polish or teflon tape.