Those digital switch fauxtons....

Hi guys,

This has bothered me for quite long. I like those coin cell lights as they are so small and dont take up much space and are light but somehow the batteries always self-drained in my pocket. I am confused, as I believed they dont easily switch on if its digital switch.. can anyone explain to me? :thinking:

JJ

The only reasons I can think of is a worse than usual parasitic power draw from the digital control circuit, or the lithium cells are just really low quality.

you could easily turn stuff on in your pocket, I have had my car remote turned on and off from my pocket without doing anything.

the 'digital switch' actually requires quite some pressure to turn it on.. im quite sure it doesnt accidentally turn on so easily.. maybe it was as cimino pointed out, parasitic power drain?

hook an ammeter up to it and test it, I have an Inova digital fauxton like light and it doesn't seem to drain batteries and is easily upgradeable to any 5mm LED.

i dont have an ammeter to test.. hmm.. maybe i'll just it out and see if it drains out

that would be more boring than watching paint dry

I've received several of those as gifts from my non-flashaholic friends over the last couple of years and a couple of them exhibited the same parasitic drain.

Even with new name-brand cells they would die within a few months just sitting unused in a drawer beside the bed :thinking:.

Perhaps they just went with a quick and dirty circuit design that gave a cool electronic switch look and feel expecting the light to basically be disposable.

My lighthound fauxtons are both going strong, despite their relative age. Neither get carried, so I'd be sure it's parasitic drain.

Have a DX fauxton (10mm) hanging from a magnet fixed to the wall and it's been sitting there for 2 years now, it gets used very very occasionally and still lights up so i'm also guessing that it must be parasitic drain.

My experience with the INOVA Microlights is that they can be turned on by static electricity.If this is the case with the fauxtons though you should see they are turned on.If the batteries are just going dead maybe there is a parasitic drain.I have had mixed results with fauxtons in the past and use actual Photons most of the time now.Never had any problems with the Photon IIs or Freedoms!

ZMZ67 said:

My experience with the INOVA Microlights is that they can be turned on by static electricity.If this is the case with the fauxtons though you should see they are turned on.If the batteries are just going dead maybe there is a parasitic drain.I have had mixed results with fauxtons in the past and use actual Photons most of the time now.Never had any problems with the Photon IIs or Freedoms!

Click to expand...

static electricity? :huh: I never EDC'd my Inova microlight but I was thinking that a few things I have with digital and/or remote control circuits have drained batteries dead in similar fashion that I cannot leave batteries in them at all (sony dvd portable for one). A 0.1ma parasitic drain on a 2016 would drain about 72mah in 30 days I calculated, and I googled a sony 2016 with 85mah capacity so I figure that would probably kill a cheap chinese 2016. so if it takes maybe 2-3 months the drain may be something like 0.02-0.05ma perhaps (is that 20-50 microamps?).

I keep a INOVA Microlight in my pocket, and have it set into signal mode, so that if it gets accidentally pressed in my pocket it wouldn't stay on, and sometimes when I check it it went to the cycle mode (and you have to continually press for 15 seconds to exit the signal mode). So, to me, the simpler explanation is that thing bumping around in your pocket will activate the light and drain it.

BTW I just checked it now, and once again it left signal mode... The battery still seems fine though (I barely use it deliberately, it's a backup light).

INOVA Microlights are easy enough to turn on but the static electricity problem seems real enough.A co-worker demonstrated this by sliding the lights around in a plastic container(not shaking them so as to turn on the switch).It probably depends on the amount of static electricity an individual is exposed to but it is definately not accidental switch activation.I think the static electricity problem has been brought up here before IIRC.

I just played with it some, definately static sensitive. I paid $3 for this light and just use it around the house I will leave it as a clip on light so if it comes on I will know it. It is a very easy light to change LEDs on, I took the green LED out of mine and put a 35k mcd white one in it.