Arc AAA problem very frustrating.

My lovely wife ordered me an Arc AAA standard for me as a Valentine's gift at the end of January. I have read all the posts about the failing to come on problems as well as Peter's saying thet they had isolated and fixed the problem. Well, my wife decided to let me have it early since I saw the FedEx tracking email and of course the AAA did not work from the very first try. After trying new batteries, cleaning the contacts, etc., I chatted with Merri and sent the AAA back to Arc. Today, FedEx dropped off my replacement with a note from Arc saying that they could not fix the light I sent in and here is the replacement. At first I was very happy at how fast the exchange happened, until the new unit started behaving the same way! What really has me stumped is that the first light had the inscription on the side of the body and this one just has "ARC" around the body near the head of the light. Has anyone had this problem with that style of AAA? I know that it's the head of the AAA and not the body that has the problem, but I can't remember anyone saying that they had a problem with this style AAA. I have already emailed Arc and will probably send this one back as well, but it is just very frustraiting that a company of this caliber would send out 2 bad lights in a row after the problem was supposed to be fixed. Sorry, I'm not trying to bash Arc, I love there products and will continue to buy. I just needed to vent.

I'd just send it back and get a replacement. Odds are slim that you would get two out of two bad ARC AAA's, but it can happen. I sold one of my new ARC AAA's to a friend last fall after bragging up the light a lot. It worked for a few weeks, then would fail to come on about 20% of the time. He has tried all of the fixes suggested, different batteries, etc. No luck. He's going to have to send it back to ARC soon and get a replacement. The two that I've had over the last year (lost the first one) have worked flawlessly.

-Keith

A couple of days ago I received four replacement Arc AAAs. After reading adimag's post I checked all four. All worked perfectly.

I too would call Arc and send it back.

Jerry

I've bought about 12 Arc AAA and have yet to get a bad one. I know Peter will take care of you but I do understand how you feel.

andrew: the satisfaction when you get one that works perfectly will be worth it. i'm sure peter and merri gransee would happily replace the second unit with a good one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
adimag said:
......
did not work from the very first try. After trying new batteries, cleaning the contacts, etc., I chatted with ........
until the new unit started behaving the same way! What really has me stumped is that the first light had the inscription on the side of the body and this one just has "ARC" around the body near the head of the light. Has anyone had this problem with that style of AAA? I know that it's the head of the AAA and not the body that has the problem, but I can't remember anyone saying that they had a problem with this style AAA.


[/ QUOTE ]

I've just received a similarly engraved AAA-ST and asked about this new model in another thread. Mine's fed a supply of 'nearly'-dead alkaline AAA (office uses pagers with this battery so I have an almost constant supply!).
As an experiment, I've was running down an already dead cell when I began to notice failures to light-up (upon tightening the head). The light was already into moon-mode by this time.
I'd feared the worst, but decided to feed it a drained, but sun-mode capable AAA. It now lights up 20/20. I believe my light does not suffer the fault described, but the battery was just unable to kick-start the step-up regulator. Tint is bluish when compared to a LSH-ST 2nd unit.

Why has Arc simplified the inscription on their AAA light?

Cheers.

canuckle: there's a minimum voltage that's required to start up the arc AAA's circuitry, so sometimes near-dead batteries will fail to turn on the light. you can get around this by letting the battery rest for a while, then trying again. it would only be a problem if it happened with new batteries /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

btw the inscription was probably changed because people didn't like the inscriptions on the body. mine has the inscriptions on the body.

Borrowing a page from the "Arc Flashlight FAQ"
[v 1.5, last updated 2/8/04]


Version History

Not all of the version history of the Arc-AAA is remembered. Arc has upgraded this light many times in the past 2+ years.

1.0 First offered in May of 2001. Had gasket instead of o-ring. Type II finish.
1.? Switched to O-ring which made the units waterproof
2.5 Switched to Type III anodize, new retail packaging
3.0 Added ChemKote
3.1 Added roll crimp to increase reliability
3.2 Change circuit design and layout to slightly increase output
3.3 Changed inscription to "Arc" only, circuit to fix regulator stalls

All the AAA's with just "ARC" on them should not see the fault described here.

Cheers.

Your right Canuckle, it shouldn't have the problem with the ARC inscripted 3.3 lights. But, it seems that I may have one. I have only tried new batteries with it and it has not failed to the extent of the first AAA I had with the inscription lengthwize on the body. However, it has happened enought times that it makes wonder what is going on. In my opinion, other than dirty contacts, a drained battery, or possibly the foam ring interfering with the operation of the light, all of which can be easily seen and fixed by the user, a light of this caliber from one of, if not the best manufacturer of LED light, should not fail to turn on with a new battery within 1 hour of opening the package.

I agree! And of course I am doing something about it as outlined before..

I just want to let you know that I read these posts and I empasise with you.

Peter

Adimag - what brand battery are you using?
And have you tried any others?
There can be differences in nipple height, and the Duracells that come with the Arc AAA (mine at least) seem to have a fairly small nipple compared to some other brands, I'm wondering if this in combination with a slightly thicker neoprene gasket is causing the problems...

Thanks Peter! I know your are working very hard to make the best products around!

HOOD, I tried the Duracell Ultra that came with the light, regular Duracells, a Radio Shack branded battery, EverReadys, and an Energizer. All with the same results in both AAA's I have had.