ARC AAA revived...

For Christmas, I got my brother-in-law an Arc AAA for his keychain. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/santa.gif He LOVED it and used it daily, but he noticed he was chewing through AAA's and then a few weeks ago it just died altogether... After closer inspection, it seemed that the rear part of the body wasnt making a clean contact with the battery, he assumed it was dirty, and he tried, but was unable to clean it with an eraser.

Since he was sooo heartbroken, my wife switched tailpacks with him so he could use his AAA again, but she was left with a dead light. I'd just gotten my Arc4, so I took pity on her and switched AAA tailpacks with my wife so she too would have a working EDC, and I got stuck with the dead AAA body.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Now, while having my Arc4 mitigated the need for a keychain light, my keychain just felt empty... I was planning to return the thing to Peter, but last night I got curious myself and took a good look at the inside of the barrel and compared it to my wife's working model.

It seems that there is a little nub that sticks up, which was missing from the "bad" tube... On a whim I stuffed a small wad of tin foil in the tube before inserting the battery, and Voilá, good as new!

I might still return it because of the 10% startup problem, but meanwhile, I have my keychain light back... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
ALL things are subject to mechanical falure, What I love about Arc is that this AAA's problem was so easily and cheaply fixed.

I just revived my AAA the same way. Has the little nub at the bottom of the tube broken off or worn away? I was thinking putting a dab of solder on the neg side of the battery, but came up with the tin foil idea just like you did.