ARC-AA problem

Peter,

As I start using ARC-AA, I find the following 2 (minor) problems.

1) It is very difficult to turn the head (too much friction) to switch on or off. I tried the rubber & nylon lubricant, but didn't help.

Can you recommend any particular type or brand of grease I can use?

2) After inserting the battery, the head desn't go in deep enough (IMHO).

It goes down just enough to hide the o-ring. The o-ring can be seen from the side angle when the light is on. I feel that it should go 3/4 or 1 mm deeper.

When I tried to turn it more, it actually pressed and squeezed the battery making it out of shape.

I suspect that the negative battery contact point at the bottom of the casing is too high. (or is it actually?)

I am thinking of removing some heights from the positive battery contact using soldering iron as suggested in your DIY thread, but wonder if it would affect the warranty in any way.

DJP

Hello Djpark,

1. The o-ring design is optomized for water resistance. This will make the head hard to turn at first. What you can do to speed up the break-in period is to use some sandpaper on the o-ring. This will reduce your maximum water depth of course.

2. There are quite a few manufacturer's of AA sized batteries and they are all slightly different in length, etc. The gap between the head and body is designed to provide enough range to accomodate most brands. The important thing is that the o-ring be concealed enough to create a water seal.

3. Overtighting the head will deform the battery. You only need to turn the head far enough to cause the LED to illuminate. If you do overtighten it and deform the battery, the range between the head and body will enable you to probably continue to use that shortened battery.

4. You may tweak the solder contact height without affecting the warranty. If you always use a certain brand of battery, you may find that the contact height can be optomized for that brand.

Peter

Thanks for the info Peter.
I got the very same 'problem' as well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I had that problem on my new AA. Not now and by the way your lights RULE !

Thanks for the confirmation.

I know about the over-tightening of the battery, but wanted to see how it comes out. It did as expected.

But I feel that about 2mm gap between body and the head after the light is on seems a bit too much and hope to reduce 1mm even considering different battery length.

It's soldering time, my favorite time it is! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif


Edited:

It's done now. I removed the solder point and put a smaller new one.

The result - 1mm gap between the head and the body after led is on, just the amount I like.

Putting sand paper on the ring seems too cruel. Since I don't have any grease, I tried some facial creame from the desk of my wife. It smoothened the turning a bit, not as smooth as AAA's one hand switching.

I shall carry the AA for sometime instead of AAA to allow some seasoning of the o-ring, then.