HDS Malfunction Debriefing, Flashing, Unable to turn off at the switch.. Decapitation

So, I had an HDS malfunction last night. See if you can guess what caused it.

I got up in the dark to go to the bathroom, and reaching for the HDS Rotary w 3500k 9080, I made sure the dial was spun down to minimum, and clicked it on, with the head in my palm..

well.. not two paces later, the light starts flashing rapidly, and not dimly either.. Im thinking.. did I tripple click to strobe? Im holding the dial in my fingers with the head of the light buried in my fist.. still flashing.. I figure.. turn it off!

click, click, click, nothing! no response.. Help!
dial down, dial down, ... still flashing in my fist.. hmmm

I proceeded, flashing fist, to my appointed round, and sat down to cogitate.. since I could not get the light to turn off, I removed the head from the body, and breathed a sigh of relief. Darkness!

And went back to bed, leaving the decapitated HDS on my dresser.

Morning after, I measured the battery voltage, it was at 3.5v.
(Note, some data in this quiz may be irrelevant to the calculations)

Questions:
participation optional...
What happened? Why did I get Flashed by my HDS, in the middle of my sleep cycle? Why would it not turn off at the switch? Why would it not turn down to minimum?

Can you guess what might have happened?;-)
How can I ever trust my HDS again?
Is it me?
Should I tell Henry?

ps.. dont worry, I made it back to bed in the dark, without a flashlight, just fine... lol

jon_slider said:

I proceeded, flashing fist, to my appointed round, and sat down to cogitate.. since I could not get the light to turn off, I removed the head from the body, and breathed a sigh of relief. Darkness!

Click to expand...

Low battery? That's all I've got. On another level, this is fine prose, Jon. I perceive the influence of Hemingway. What was the problem?!

Modernflame said:

Low battery?

Click to expand...

reasonable possible, I wondered if I was getting low battery blinks
but, those are not supposed to be continuous repeating flashes, right?
and
I was asleep, I wanted minimum light.. there was nowhere left for the light to step down to.. I was not in burst mode, I was in firefly..
hence:

I believe I had unscrewed the body from the head part way, and the Elf was shouting, shut the door! Error Error Abort Abort!

an example of the gesture I use to inadvertently cause the malfunction:

I hold the head of the light in a way that would produce UNscrewing of the body, when I spin down the rotary dial against the minimum stop.

Operator error.. loose screw at the wheel

Lessons learned: Keep the body of the Rotary screwed securely enough to the head, to resist the force of the rotary dial against the minimum stop. Or, tighten up the loose screw on the Operator.

Or, call Henry? lol

What sort of flashing pattern was it? Sounds like you had a possible error code or elf sending SOS. Call Henry

usdiver said:

What sort of flashing pattern was it? Sounds like you had a possible error code or elf sending SOS. Call Henry

Click to expand...

I dont remember counting, I just know it kept going, and any time I peeked at my fist it kept flashing ever more brightly as I tentatively reduced the force with which I tried to block the beam..

and yes, I do think it was a battery connect error, made worse by my clutching the light and trying to dial down to minimum, repeatedly

I dont think I want Henry to laugh at me.. Please dont tell him I found a new bonehead move, that he will need to add to the Manual, under, Trouble Shooting.. it will say,

Screw the body to the head Firmly!
Do not unscrew, to use Physical Lockout
Failure to heed this Warning will Anger the Elf ;-)

you dont want to see the Elf when he's Angry..

jon_slider said:

you don't want to see the Elf when he's Angry..

Click to expand...

I used to do the same thing with my Tactical, not the flashing bit but I often unscrewed the head when overturning the dial.
I blame clumsiness.
P

Never had that problem with my clicky 🤔. 😂😂

jon_slider said:

Lessons learned: Keep the body of the Rotary screwed securely enough to the head, to resist the force of the rotary dial against the minimum stop. Or, tighten up the loose screw on the Operator.

Click to expand...

Or use a thicker O-ring for increased resistance.

Or use a clickie?

jon_slider said:

I dont think I want Henry to laugh at me..

Click to expand...

Been there. I could hear him laughing when I read his email reply to me...(not true).

Three things to think about.

1. Battery level - when battery is almost out of juice and the light is at a low level, the flashlight will blink 1x/second

2. If your light was in programming mode the light will display 10 very rapid flashes if there is insufficient power to memorize settings.

3. Elf - Most important is make sure you know the specific things one needs to do to make the "event" repeatable. That way Henry can get to the bottom of it very quickly. If you can make the event repeat with specific steps, write to Henry and in the email tell him the specific steps and ask for suggestions. First thing I would do is a Factory reset and then reprogram the light. Then, see if it happens again.

I reckon #2 is the answer.
Jon keep his lights in Program Mode.
I suspect in his sleepy state he did a few clicks that the light didn't like and it started flashing.
Good spot RCS.
P

RCS1300 said:

Been there. I could hear him laughing when I read his email reply to me...(not true).

Three things to think about.

1. Battery level - when battery is almost out of juice and the light is at a low level, the flashlight will blink 1x/second

2. If your light was in programming mode the light will display 10 very rapid flashes if there is insufficient power to memorize settings.

3. Elf - Most important is make sure you know the specific things one needs to do to make the "event" repeatable. That way Henry can get to the bottom of it very quickly. If you can make the event repeat with specific steps, write to Henry and in the email tell him the specific steps and ask for suggestions. First thing I would do is a Factory reset and then reprogram the light. Then, see if it happens again.

Click to expand...

all good info

1. yes, battery was below 3.6v, and ime at 3.4v it starts stepping down w double blinks, but these were not double blinks once per minute

2. yes, I keep programming enabled, but no I was not in programming mode, that is, I did not issue a click click press, nor triple click press.. in fact, I almost never click my rotary more than once.. unless I want strobe on triple click..

then again, 10 rapid flashes would fit the experience.. but, for that matter, in this case, the switch was non functional.. that is, it would NOT turn the light off.. hence the decapitation

3. I dont want Henry to laugh at me.. I dont want the Elf to yell at me.. I dont plan to repeat the experience.. Ive already confessed to being the loose nut at the wheel..

peter yetman said:

I reckon #2 is the answer.
Jon keep his lights in Program Mode.
I suspect in his sleepy state he did a few clicks that the light didn't like and it started flashing.
Good spot RCS.
P

Click to expand...

true, I suspected the same
and, its actually much simpler

when an HDS is ON, try unscrewing the head part way and let me know what happens
Im still recovering from the trauma and do not want to go down that road again

thermal guy said:

Never had that problem with my clicky 🤔. 😂😂

Click to expand...

LOL
touché
but.. you dont use minimum, you use level 8 iirc..

I cant imagine having to double click, press hold, release, click, double click to reverse, and click 8 times, on the way to the porcelain throne

thats why My Rotary dial lives at the minimum stop ;-), and my Novatacs are set to level 1 on Preset B.. I have no use for Level 8.. but I understand why you would.

Henry admitted level 8 was chosen because the flickering is not visible at that level...

jon_slider said:

yes, I keep programming enabled, but no I was not in programming mode...

Click to expand...

I believe that when customization is enabled, the software thinks any click is a potential programming keystroke. Give it a test with a low battery, or that same battery.

RCS1300 said:

I believe that when customization is enabled, the software thinks any click is a potential programming keystroke. Give it a test with a low battery, or that same battery.

Click to expand...

yes, no, maybe
all my HDS UI lights have customization enabled
but they turn on and off normally.. one click on, one click off

not
one click (plus several extra clicks when to test "is this thing on"?): flash flash flash flash flash....
click again: wont turn off... flash flash flash flash flash...

maybe what causes an HDS to flash error codes is when I jiggle a loosely screwed head and the contact becomes intermittent, then the Elf shouts.. That is NOT a Reset.. youre Jiggling my head!

(actually that was not it. what actually happened was I enabled strobe, but then the signal wire lost contact due to unscrewing the head partially, so the switch would not turn the light off). The correct intervention would have been to retighten the head, so the switch signal would reach the head again.. Tap, rack, bang.. so to speak..


which brings me to another factor
I confess, that my HDS Rotary is from 2011, and the positive contact pad in the head, tends to stick in a partly compressed position. I know this because during battery changes, after I take the head off, I can hear the pad pop out, with a slight delay..

I suspect THAT really pisses the Elf OFF!

note to self.. clean and lubricate the positive spring pad post,

so it does not stick in a compressed position when I open the light, and instead maintains contact pressure on the battery.. when I try to unscrew the head in my sleep.. (note logical error on my part.. the signal wire breaks contact, not the battery.. illuminated below)


thank you all for the debriefing. It has added a maintenance item I can understand. (but is not a relevant causal factor to my malfunction)

Oh, and, no, the 3.5v battery imho, is not a relevant variable in the calculations of my misguided manipulation of the rotary dial, that caused me to UNscrew the head..

thats my story.. and Im sticking to it, until I am reeducated regarding my further ignorance

...

well, so, I did the test.. I unscrewed the body tube slightly, and viola! the light wont turn off.. and.. it Does appear that Peter was right, my multi click ways, DID enable strobe, but then I could not turn it off..

the reason it wont turn off is because, partially unscrewing the head, breaks contact with the signal wire in the body tube. (which means a Rotary actually CAN be physically locked out after all)

marvel at the errors of my ways: (the head is intentionally not tight to the body tube, for this example)
note how the stop screw on the dial moves when I unscrew the body by turning the head against the minimum stop..

a comedy of errors.. all due to a loose head (and due to me having strobe set to triple click)!
note this is with a fresh battery.. to eliminate that irrelevant variable:

My positive spring pad does the same thing. Should probably look at it.

My answer to that sort of thing is to squirt some WD40 in there.
Is that a terrible thing to do?
P

thermal guy said:

My positive spring pad does the same thing. Should probably look at it.

Click to expand...

yes, but, further investigation and deliberation has revealed the reason the switch stopped working was due to the signal wire breaking contact, not the battery positive pad in the head

peter yetman said:

My answer to that sort of thing is to squirt some WD40 in there.
Is that a terrible thing to do?
P

Click to expand...

Yes
the true causes of my personal problems was
1. I turned strobe on
2. I unscrewed the body tube enough for the signal wire not to obey subsequent switch inputs.. click click click

try it if youre curious..
turn on your HDS
while it is ON, unscrew the head a quarter turn
now notice the light is still on, but the switch is Not responsive

solution
keep the head screwed on tight!
(note post 14 is updated with a video and reeducation comments in parentheses and italics)

thank you all for the discussion, and the opportunity to further reveal the errors of my ignorance

You need to try less lubrication