flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

I have had seen the same phenomenon on 2 of my LEDs (out of about 100). I really don't know exactly what the cause was, but it was not from overload.
Unfortunately, in a cluster, such as yours, you'll just have to live with it or replace the LED.
-It will probably not correct itself.
Mr. Telephony?

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by videocal:
I have had seen the same phenomena on a couple of my LEDs
Mr. Telephony?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have not yet seen this happen, so I couldn't even venture a guess.

This is one of the few times that I can be of *no* help whatsoever, sorry.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

replace the led?

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aragorn:
replace the led?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yup,
Somewhere posted on this forum, somebody successfully did that, but I can't find the thread right now.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Huh? Why me?

I'm not very familiar with the light you are talking about. Do you have some way to get pictures of it?

Post them here, or email them to me and I will post them for you.

EDIT: Ok, I didn't see it the first time. You mean a standard bayonet base like a PR base, right? The kind that goes in a Mag lite...

I am by no means the best person to ask about fixing stuff.

But, I'll do what I can to help.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Soldering a PR base isn't that hard.
Un-soldering one may be a little trickier.

This would be the perfect time to buy a solder sucker or desoldering iron.
I prefer the desoldering iron ($10 at RS) because the vacuum tip is the heated part and works better than a seperate "sucker".
Item 64-2060


A little tougher to use, but a bit cheaper is the desoldering pump or "sucker".
$6.99 - Item 64-2098


Another option is desoldering braid. This is basically really fine braided copper wire with a little flux on it. When you heat it on top of the connection, it draws the solder from the joint in, leaving the joint fairly clean. You cut off the used length of braid and throw it away.
$2.29 - Item 64-2090

Telephony, any chance this is some atomic level oscillation thing going on?

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gadget:
Telephony, any chance this is some atomic level oscillation thing going on?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unfortunately, I've never seen this phenomenon myself, though I have heard of one (1) third-hand account besides the one we're reading about now.

In this instance, it was with a white Nichia LED that was fairly well overdriven, perhaps to 80-90mA for a time. It supposedly began to "oscillate" in much the same manner as this example. I have not read any documentation regarding this bizarre behavior. Best I can do now (besides REBUILDING MY %*%*$&# WEBSITE AGAIN!!!) is to start snooping around various MBE and MOCVD sites and see if something doesn't turn up.

This could be a quantum level oscillation delay, or a physical chip defect manifesting itself with high currents, or the GaN lattice structure deforming under the intense electric field... it's definitely worth investigating in any case.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

So to paraphrase what Telephony said, it's probably a f$%#ed up LED.

I'd go for replacement of the LED. Then send the faulty one to Telephony for futher autopsy.

I'll be happy to help with tips on rebuilding the LED module. Be warned, I don't think there is any way to desolder it without one of the tools from my earlier post.

If you are on a tight budget, or don't have access to a Radio Shack, you MAY be able to do it with some very fine braided wire and solder flux. Kind of like "make your own" desoldering braid.

i bought a bayonet base 3 white led bulb a few months ago and its worked great-until now . last night 1 of the 3 leds started strobing. not flickering but strobing like a photon 3 in fast strobe .the strobe speed is constant even while/after being smacked. it works fine in my 3 cell mag displays the above phenomenon when its in any other flashlight. i don't think its the alum fiol dummy batt either. help

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

i cut off a great led only to find i could have fixed it with a minor bend oh well 2 left
ps idid this last night so its not your fault its mine

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Do you have any soldering equipment?

You can still put a new LED in it if you want.

If you don't have any soldering equipment or experience, I could rebuild it for you.

If you want to get some stuff, it's priced about the same as the RS stuff in my earlier post. About $8 for a basic set incl. iron, stand, solder, instructions (RS item 64-2802).

If you don't have a RS near you, even Walmart has some basic stuff for soldering.
Also, most hardware and home improvement stores carry the basics.

There's a ton of places online if you live out in the country. Just ask KenBar!

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Aragorn,

If you don't have any, it's well worth it to pick up some soldering equipment at RS and repair it yourself. On my site you can see a 3 bulb PR mod I made myself for about 7 bucks in parts. A full soldering set-up from RS may run you about $25-$50 depending on the type of equipment you get. There's a RS in Cornellius near Harris Teeter and one on 21 in Huntersville next to Food Lion (Although you probably knew that already.... Hmmm... I bet you're wondering how I know so much about Huntersville! ).

DP

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

you dog! you bet i am. please explain.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

brock!!!!!!!!!!!! stop stop!!!! look at the led that blinks . it has 2 leads right? the one near the center is fine . the one one the outside needs to be resoldered to the base.


quickbeam- what do you mean by transplant? and by the way,huntersville is full of knuckledragging incandecent users so it's nice to have a kindred spirit closeby

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
Hey Craig, I have some that were made in to a 12v light that do that all the time. Do you have a 12v power supply? I will send it to you, my guess is the LED is just failing, but I don't know why and it is weird to see them go this way<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have the 12V auxillary battery in my wheelchair (it's only used for LED lights and isn't connected to any inductive load); there are several unused power taps left over from a previous installation that I can easily connect to. And of course I have my lab supply that'll also do 12V at up to 200mA.

I'd like to see one of these funky blinking things.

Maybe BlackWargreymon made his way to Green Bay and destroyed another destiny stone...

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Aragorn I am confused. The light I made has 3 LED's in series and only one of them is blinking. So how could it be from a bad solder joint? I will check it but if it was bad there would the string of three all be doing it?

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aragorn:
you dog!

you bet i am.

please explain.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Check out the (updated) "From" line below.... Scary, eh? Oh, and before you ask, yes, I am a transplant.... Work and all that....

DP

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

Hey Craig, I have some that were made in to a 12v light that do that all the time. Do you have a 12v power supply? I will send it to you, my guess is the LED is just failing, but I don't know why and it is weird to see them go this way. It looks about the same as the photon 3 in fast strobe mode. The other 2 strings are fine, no blinking and it is running from a 12v battery bank so there is no AC.

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aragorn:

quickbeam- what do you mean by transplant? and by the way,huntersville is full of knuckledragging incandecent users so it's nice to have a kindred spirit closeby

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Transplant = Not native - had to move here because of my job (and loving every bit of the climate here! - snows too much where I came from!) The Charlotte area has a very large population of transplants which are sometimes resented by native residents - but people have to go where the jobs are!

"knuckledragging" - Ha Ha! I like it!

DP

Re: flashaholic in distress needs help from gadget especially but will take anyones advic

quickbeam- i live in cederfield . where abouts are you? you must be new here if you like the weather . ive lived here my whole life and can describe our hot weather in 2 words "living hell" . fall does tend to be stunning though .