Barbolight U04s Not Working

MatthewT · Jul 15, 2013

I have two Barbolight U04s, purchased about five years ago.
They have not been used for about two years, but have been stored with the batteries separate from the torches.
I've just recharged both batteries in the Barbolight chargers that came with the torches, and both indicate the batteries are fully charged.
However, the torches will just not switch on.
They were working last time I dived with them, have never been flooded or in any way damaged, and have no sign of damage, corrosion or other problems.
I'm new to this site, and have next to zero technical knowledge, so apologies if this is posted in the wrong place, or if there's a stupidly obvious answer to my question.
But any help would be greatly appreciated, as they're the best dive torches I've ever owned and I'd be very sad to lose them, especially now Barbolight is no longer manufacturing.
Thanks in advance.
Matthew

tobrien · Jul 17, 2013

do you have a multimeter you can test the batteries with? these are the original batteries, right? the five year old ones?

they batteries may be the problem. do you know what specific type the batteries are?

monkeyboy · Jul 17, 2013

It's very unlikely that both lights have gone bad from just sitting in storage. I'm almost certain that the batteries are the culprit. A voltage reading is not always helpful in determining the condition of the batteries as it doesn't test the voltage under load, so even if it reads full voltage hot off the charger, it could still be dead. I'd just get a new battery if I were you. I believe it takes 1x18650 which is pretty easy to come by and available in much higher capacities these days.

MatthewT · Jul 18, 2013

Thanks for the advice both of you, but the problem's solved itself. No idea why, as nothing's changed, but after I'd finally given up and decided to find some new batteries, my wife put the battery into one of them and it just worked immediately. She then did the same for the other one. This was after I'd done exactly the same thing repeatedly, and nothing had changed since my last try. I was so amazed, I immediately removed the batteries and put them back in myself to see if it was a fluke, and again, they both worked fine.
So, problem solved, but still baffled and a little unsettled by not knowing what the problem was.
Could it possibly be that the batteries just needed to "rest" after being charged following a couple of years without use? That doesn't really make sense to me, but I can't think of anything else either.
By the way, the batteries are the Barbolight supplied ones, 3.7v-2100 mA, if that makes any difference.
Thanks again.
Matthew

derfyled · Jul 18, 2013

MatthewT said:
No idea why, as nothing's changed, but after I'd finally given up and decided to find some new batteries, my wife put the battery into one of them and it just worked immediately. She then did the same for the other one. This was after I'd done exactly the same thing repeatedly, and nothing had changed since my last try.

Nothing wrong here, it's a well known phenomena called MFT. Magic-feminine-touch.

tobrien · Jul 18, 2013

MatthewT said:
Thanks for the advice both of you, but the problem's solved itself. No idea why, as nothing's changed, but after I'd finally given up and decided to find some new batteries, my wife put the battery into one of them and it just worked immediately. She then did the same for the other one. This was after I'd done exactly the same thing repeatedly, and nothing had changed since my last try. I was so amazed, I immediately removed the batteries and put them back in myself to see if it was a fluke, and again, they both worked fine.
So, problem solved, but still baffled and a little unsettled by not knowing what the problem was.
Could it possibly be that the batteries just needed to "rest" after being charged following a couple of years without use? That doesn't really make sense to me, but I can't think of anything else either.
By the way, the batteries are the Barbolight supplied ones, 3.7v-2100 mA, if that makes any difference.
Thanks again.
Matthew

haha well at least it's working now! the original Barbolight ones are almost ancient capacity by today's standards. Panasonic makes 3400 mAh cells now, so that's about 1.6 times what your barbolight branded ones are. plus, yours may be worn down a lot from age, so you ought to consider picking some new ones up (they use 18650s right?)

MatthewT · Jul 18, 2013

Magic-feminine-touch, yeah, makes a lot of things better. Anyway, thanks again everyone, and sorry to have wasted your time with what turned out to be a non-problem.
Cheers
Matthew

Barbolight U04s Not Working

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