Costco 1w Lux "Dropped & Dead"

Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

This light was working fine yesterday. This morning it dropped about two feet (from the leg pocket in my carpenter jeans) and landed bezel down on the concrete sidewalk. I picked it up, tried to turn it on and there were no signs of life. This isn't exactly "shock proof" or even "shock resistant" as led flashlights are advertised to be. I turned to LED lights because I was tired of incan bulbs dying at inconvenient times.

I haven't done much troubleshooting yet: 1)Removed and replaced the batteries. 2)Removed and replaced the bezel.

No obvious signs of damage except some nicks in the soft aluminum rim of the bezel (which did protect the optics).

Any suggestions on where to look for the problem? The batteries are tight (no rattle). This will not be my choice of an emergency or survival light. Darn, this was the brighter and whiter of my two Costcos.

Thanks, David

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

I just metered the batteries and both are ta 1.45v, so that's not the problem. The positive tip of the battery that was up against the control board is dented a little, but works fine. I tried swapping the position of the batteries in the tube, but still no light.

The problem appears to be in the control board. I'll try to remove it and take a look.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Designing anything for vibration resistance (a drop produces a large single vibration) is a difficult task. A manufacturer must have an understanding of the problem, the means, and the experience to produce a truly robust light.

I suspect the claim of "shock resistant" is only a claim in this particular case.

The place I would look for the cure in a Surefire catalog /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Scott

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Unless the battery contacts aren't making contact anymore, I'd say something broke on the boost circuit. Probably the inductor, or somethign could of popped off the board from where it was soldered. If the eletronics were potted in epoxy, then you woulnd't have this problem...

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Scott, thanks for your suggestion for the Surefire catalog, but I am in a financial situation where I can only lust after Surefires.

It's difficult to get resistance measurements on this control/LED module because there appears to be some sort of non-conductive finish on the aluminum slug that requires pressing the pointy tips of the meter leads VERY hard into the slug to make contact. I wonder if I can just get another LED module for this light, or if I should just sit it on the shelf and say "boy, that sure is shiny".

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

or,
why don't you just take it back to Costco where you bought it. They have a great return policy and would more than likely give you credit for it.

I spend literally thousands of dollars a year at my Costco and I return something only very rarely. In fact, the last item was from almost 3 years ago, very expensive, and I didn't even have my receipt. They spent a few minutes finiding the purchase on my card history and refunded the whole purchase amount.

give it a try.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

capnal, I'd like to be able to return it, but I'm not a Costco member and have no leverage with them. One of my wife's coworkers was kind enough to pick the lights up for me and I don't want to impose further on her just yet. My wife works 2hrs away and the nearest Costco to us is 90 miles.

I took a risk and it looks like I am stuck with just the dimmer and bluer of the two lights. I'm still still open to positive outcomes, but I don't expect to spend too many hours trying to repair a $15 flashlight. I guess I just buy locally from now on.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

So have you tried replacing the batteries yet?
It is disgusting how often batteries that seem fine to a DMM are actually faulty.

With NEW batteries in a proper battery holder, see if you can apply power to the board. If it comes on, the probelm is mechanical. Solutions here might require some bending, demel tool work or other creative avenues.

If it doesn't, see if you can apply power dirrectly to the LED. 2 AA battereis will light it up, just not as brightly as it would with the circuitry. Remember that it will only light up if you get the polarity right (+ to + and - to -).

If the LED won't light up you can order another one.
If it does, then the circuitry is bad. If you can't fix it (probably the case), you can at least put the better LED in a light which works.

I desperately want a package of those lights, but I can't find anyone with a Costco mebership. They may already be out of stock anyways. So count your blessings. At least you have a spare.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

mrme,
Repacing batteries didn't do the job. Must be something in the electronics module.

I'll probably try some more troubleshooting over the weekend. I don't own a soldering iron small enough to change LEDs, but I may be able to use one at work.

How do I identify correct polarity to the LED in case I try applying the battery power directly to the leads?

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Check inside to see if you broke anything. You can access the inside by screwing off the interior piece (the one with two holes. Just stick something in each hole and rotate counter-clockwise.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Thanks scudinc,
I've had the lamp disassembled and looked the LED/electronics module over and there are no visual signs of of damage or bad solder connections. The problem appears to be inside the module.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

I'm still trying to figure out how to get in there. When I do, I'll be sure to PM you.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Lightobsession-
I have a pair of these lights and have taken them apart and modified one of them...so I know basically some of the anatomy.

Check the rear spring as this is a problem area. The springs on these lights need to be lengthened/crudely adjusted at times. Another check for the spring function is to remove the rear cap and short across the light to the battery and see if it lights up that way.

Another problem area is the contact between the luxeon module and the flashlight wall. The contact here is not very well designed. You can check this by opening up the front bezel. At the top of the light is an aluminum ring that surrounds the luxeon....this unscrews with a proper wrench or you can just put a sharp tool(like an icepick) into the hole and tap with hammer. Remove the luxeon module and you will see two little steel contacts at the rear which comprise the negative contact to body. See if these are damaged and bend outwards to re-establish contact. Be sure to tighten up that ring when doing re-assembly.

Also, check the positive battery contact. Sometimes when lights are dropped, the battery head will push in slightly- enough to lose contact.

Good luck-
Stu

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

I had one of these mounted on an AK47 for a while, but every time the bolt carrier slammed shut, or I dry fired it, the light would blink. I thought that was kinda odd....

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

That blinking by itself doesn't seem odd to me. The forward acceleration of the bolt slamming home or even of the hammer hitting the back of the bolt would cause the batteries to jump backward against the tail cap spring, which could interrupt the contact between the front of the batteries and the pill, causing the light to blink.

If you reversed the light so it pointed backward, and the light didn't blink when those things happened, then that would verify that this was the cause.

Of course, that wouldn't help you see what you were shooting at... Anyway, the blinking suggests that this would not make a good weapon light on something which recoils as much as an AK.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

I would take the bezel off the broken light and put in on the flashlight barrel that does work. At least this way you will know whether or not its the LED assembly or the on/off spring in the barrel. You have probably already tried this - just in case.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

[ QUOTE ]
LightObsession said:
I don't own a soldering iron small enough to change LEDs, but I may be able to use one at work.

How do I identify correct polarity to the LED in case I try applying the battery power directly to the leads?

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe these use stars, not emitters. In that case, any 20-45 watt soldering iron should work.

If you are just using 2 AA's dirrect drive for testing the LED, you won't damage anything by reversing the polarity. But the star does have small + and - markings on it.

Good luck.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

Some troubleshooting revealed that the problem is in LED/electronics "pill". I applied the voltage from two fresh batteries to the + and - on the back of the pill and there was no light. I tried this with the pill from the light that still works and there was light.

On the back of the pill, the positive battery contact goes via pcb trace to a flow-through hole in the pcb. On the good pill, something appears to be soldered in that flow-through hole. On the bad pill, that some flow-through hole is empty and appears to have never been soldered. There appears to be a wire on the other side of the hole, but I haven't discovered a non-destructive method to get the pcb out of the pill to push the wire back into the hole to resolder it. Applying the battery voltage directly to the pill does light the LED.

I may try pushing another small wire through the hole and soldering it in to see if it completes the connection to the wire behind board. I'll let you know if this succeeds.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

[ QUOTE ]
LightObsession said:
I may try pushing another small wire through the hole and soldering it in to see if it completes the connection to the wire behind board. I'll let you know if this succeeds.
Thanks for all your suggestions.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I was going to sugjest. You should be able to get the solder to 'wick' down to make contact with the short wire.


Use a long wire to make it easyer to hit with the iron and solder, then cut it off flush when you are done.

Dan

Re: Costco 1w Lux \"Dropped & Dead\"

It'll be a few days before I have time to try remaking that solder connection. I'll report back on the outcome.

David