question on the CMG task light

Hi!

I bought a CMG task light 10 months ago and it worked fine (white LED; + pole facing the circuit).
Yesterday it some kind of stoped working.
I changed the battery, but with non satisfying results. When I turn the light on sometime it works, but when I put it down on my table the light is off again.
I also have this problem, that the light turns off again when the head is turned to far.

My Q is: Can I do anything to make it work again?
Sending it back for customer-service is another thing, since the postage is near a new one.

TIA for all comments.

Greetings
red

it could be a cold solder joint and/or a cracked PCB that requires a very specific amount of presure to align everything and get it working...

it could also just be a dirty contact in the head...take a q-tip and some rubbing alchohol and clean it off...

it also could be the battery type...some people have said that some batteries work better than others because of their terminals...this usually has to do with the negative (flat) side not making contact with the base of the light...try a different battery type or ball up a small piece of aluminum foil and press it in there between the negative side of the battery and the body...personally, i've never had any problems with this tho...

if none of this works you may have to send it back anyhow...

There was some talk somewhere here about increasing the CMG's brightness by cranking down the head a bit more after turn-on.
Perhaps this might be caused by some flexing of the circuit board resulting in a value change of some of the components on the board? If true, it's also possible to crack the board when tightening down the head. (Whole LOT of pressure can be obtained with a circular inclined plane!)

You can try the following as I posted this several weeks ago.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>As everyone has kind of guessed, we can turn the head in tighter to get the Infinity brighter. But, this may not be wise as you are placing too much pressure on the PCB underside of the head being pressed in the center by the tip of the battery. When the PCB snaps, there goes the Infinity. Some of you "non Infinity lovers" may use this as an excuse to get something else (not a bad idea).
The two main problems are:

1) Sometimes the battery will develop an internal loose connection, which is usually at the negative plate. By pressing this harder, the connection will be better and the light will be brighter. I recommend that you toss this battery, but you may want to try the following first.

2) If the negative plate is not protruding enough, it will make a padded connection to the bottom of the Infinity. With a knife (or your fingernail), peel away the bottom of the plastic label / wrapper. The bottom will become naked with nothing at the side of the small protrusion. This should solve your light problems. This is especially important if you use the Eveready Litium AAs, as it shares this same problem as their Alkalines.

In any case, turning the head harder should not be considered a fix for this problem. If fact, why would we want to dim the Infinity? Isn't this light dim enough as it is?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had an older Infinity with similar symptoms. Turned out that one of the contacts of the inductor coil had broken off.

As to a fix, I'm not sure how the newer Infinities are put together, but in the older ones, the circuitry was not potted and the PCB was held in place by a sort of "lip" formed by the aluminium head around the edges of the PCB. I was able to cut away the lip and so free the PCB for inspection. The contact on the inductor coil had broken away and there was nothing left to solder to, so I had to tear out all the wire from the coil and re-wire it so that there was some wire left with which to make the solder connnection.

As to replacing the PCB, you can just slot it back in. It should hold in place fairly well. But I stuck on a few small pieces of foam in strategic locations to hold against the battery so that it wouldn't inadvertantly turn on by having the PCB fall back against the battery.

Hope this is of some help to you.

None of this answers the basic question of why these things get brighter when you crank down harder. At least not in my case. I have a brand-new Infinity, and it has been totally cleaned with contact cleaner on a Q-tip. I've tried four different brands of new batteries in it, and the results are always the same: The tigher you go, the brighter the light. I still can't figure out what would cause that. How tight is the "right" tightness and brightness? This ertainly isn't the case with the Arc, and they must have at least *similar* circuitry.

Thanks for all the hints.

I tried to clean the contacts, tried different batteries checked with my daughters infinity, even tried the trick with a piece of aluminium-foil, but no satisfying results.
I'd like to take it apart but I think it is some knid of glued into place. Maybe I can get there with some hot air of a hair-dryer?

I think I'm going to buy a new one. And just for comparison a AAA-Arc-light (some kind of back-up).
Which is the best place to order those twao together over the net?

TIA

Greetings

red

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

Which is the best place to order those twao together over the net?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I favor Texas Tactical Supply. Great service and great prices.
TTS LED page

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by red mag:
Thanks for all the hints.

I think I'm going to buy a new one. And just for comparison a AAA-Arc-light (some kind of back-up).
Which is the best place to order those twao together over the net?

TIA

Greetings

red<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Once you get your hands on an Arc-AAA, you won't want to use the CMG Infinity very much. The CMG is good for it's long battery life, but it sacrifices light output to get it. FWIW, I've found the turquoise CMG to put out substantially more light than the white one, and the color distortion isn't too bad, especially out of doors.

thanks darell.
william at texas tactical supply is a great guy to deal with.
I ordered my replacement-CMG's (white led blue body, blue-green led, green led) plus an ARC-lite LE.

I got the lights in less than one week; and it is a long, long way to europe.

Man these lights are so cool.
I bougth a lithium AA for the white and one for the blue-green CMG wich added much to the fun.

On my nightstand I use the white Infinity,it doesn't disturb my wife as much as the green one.

For light-output the AAA-arc-light is the best.

Thank You guys.

Sorry for not saying thank you, but I've been busy at the office.

Greetings
red

so not meaning to beg the question what is the brightest keychain ledlight?? (luxeons still barred from discussion)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bushman:
so not meaning to beg the question what is the brightest keychain ledlight?? (luxeons still barred from discussion)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Okay-how about the Photon-2 (with "S" Nichia) with fresh batteries-for the 1st 5 min. of operation?

I use the CMG tube as a spy capsule. The light is not is worth wasting batteries (IMHO).

quickbeam is right. It all depends on your needs.

My wife's understanding is at a point where it is not easy to buy a new light.
So when I need some light in the night, it is better to got for a little dimmer one.
This is why I love my ininity.

Greetings
red

so is it correct to say that the arc aaa is the brightest single led keychain light on the planet? excluding luxeons of course!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bushman:
so is it correct to say that the arc aaa is the brightest single led keychain light on the planet? excluding luxeons of course!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

NO, but you could certainly say that the LE version is the brightest and most efficient/longlasting light for it's size-bar none.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I use the CMG tube as a spy capsule. The light is not is worth wasting batteries (IMHO).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually the Infinity is a great little light when used for the purpose it was intended. It provides a little bit of light for a long period of time.

When wandering around in my house at night even the ArcAAA is too bright for me (it's a very dark house!). The infinity provides just the right amount of light for negotiating the turns to the bathroom without waking my spouse.

It all depends on what you need it for.

I've got a few of each: Princeton Tech Pulsars, Inova keychain, CMG Infinity, and Photon II's, as well as many other immitations. So far, the Photon's win...but it's a close call. You also have to take into account things like size, quality and feel. All in all, the Photon's my fav.

Cheers!