Dorcy AA Dimming

Recently my Dorcy AA has developed a strange condition. Two of the LEDs have gone quite dim while the third one has gone quite bright. It's almost like the current has been redistributed with most going to just one LED. Some time ago a battery leaked in this light, so I'm wondering if this could be a delayed reaction to that leaking, even though I thought I got it cleaned up okay. Wacking it real hard has failed to help. Are these symptoms typical of a leaky light? Now I wish I'd picked up that black one I once saw in Target.

Geoff

Geoff,

You have a light with some (apparent) damage. It might be salvagable, to try you will need to take it all apart. Once all apart, you need to really clean off the gunk from the LED leads and the contact to the inside edge of the head. That is the most probable spot for the trouble --lost ground contact to the body of the light.

Instructions on taking the light apart can be found by searching in the "home made and modified lights" discussions.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice, John. The loss of good contact between head and body sounds like a good diagnosis. I made a half-hearted effort to unscrew the head and failed. I'll try again with two strap wrenches or maybe just use the vice.

Geoff

Hmm. I was able to get apart both my dorcy AA and AAA when I had them... Perhaps some leds failed from overdriving and now they don't draw much power so the other ones are getting it full blast?

I bought one from target that had one of the 4 leds that was dim. I returned it.