Inova microlight problem

I had exactly the same problem with mine. I just pushed the LED back in, and it worked again. I haven't yet bent the leads, but I plan to. I like the Microlight.

humm.... very interesting.... so just to get a better picture of whats going on... is the LED coming straight out of the casing itself? or is it just getting loose?

since i put a red LED from the old model in my light.... the leads on that LED are a little shorter than the factory LED.... so i was a bit concered with it... but the LED fired right up...

this morning i was giving the inova the run through... i was throwing it on carpet etc... the first throw to the carpet at a relitive velocity opened up inova throw the batteries and the top cover everywhere.... however... the LED was still in there...

The led in mine almost locks into its place..... even after i throw it... i put the batteries back in and turned it on (w/o touching the LED) and it fired right up...

my LED is sort of hard to pull out... i alomst have to lift it slightly up.... and out...

I've also had this happen. Pushing the led back in seems to fix it, but be careful when opening the case to change batteries or look inside! The LED fell out onto the floor. I found it and put it back in with no problems.

Good light, good price, but this is an irritating issue.

A small dot of rtv silicone should fix it and still be fairly easy to remove if necessary.

it sadly sounds like it might be a QC issue

jar3ds said:

humm.... very interesting.... so just to get a better picture of whats going on... is the LED coming straight out of the casing itself? or is it just getting loose?

Click to expand...

The LED isn't actually coming straight "out of the casing" but just getting loose by coming out of the holes that hold the LED. It seems as though the leads are too small or the contact holes are too big or the leads aren't long enough to get down into the holes far enough for a good grip. When I shove it in, there is a little resistance, but not much. All it takes to loosen up the LED is for me to shake my keys for a few seconds. The LED will actually come clear out of the contact holes only to be stopped by the case catching the ridge around the base of the LED- thank heavens!

I'll probably either use silicone as suggested or a small o-ring around the base of the LED just above ridge which will also keep it in place.

SRVCTEC...

let us know if either of those TWO methods fix your issue. Thanks for your input!

I tried an 0-ring to hold the LED in place, but it was way too fat.

I have an idea what the problem is, or at least part of the problem. Below is a close-up pic of where the LED goes. The groove is supposed to help hold the LED in place.

With the cover off, if I hold the LED down while trying to pull it out, it won't move past the groove. I don't think they made the cover fit close enough to the LED which would have held it in the groove.

I may wind up putting something on the inside of the cover to hold the LED down in the groove- this way I won't have to try the silicone.

I see Inova microlight has gold contacts which I don't think the previous microlight had.

I have the previous model of Inova Microlight, and it is of much higher quality. The seams on the previous model fit very snugly. I bought the new style yesterday at Target, and immediately noticed the seams have slight gaps and the unit doesn't have the same 'solid' feel of the older one.

The high/low/flash switch is nice, but not at the cost of fit & finish.

Could it be held snug with a piece of rubber , say3 mm from a rubberband, cut to the desired length? Just a thought.

Jim

Would it work to fabricate part of the case with some "cold steel" type product? If a small about was fixed to the case it may help. Not sure of the effects on the bulb (if any)

attowatt said:

Could it be held snug with a piece of rubber , say3 mm from a rubberband, cut to the desired length? Just a thought.

Jim

Click to expand...

I thought about trying something similar to that. I have some thin (about 1mm thick) sheets of rubber with adhesive on one side. I was going to try it until I noticed the gap between the LED and the case is less than 1mm.

I'm going to wrap some aluminum tape around the LED to eliminate the glare coming out of the sides and into the translucent case. I already have painted the rear of the LED with silver paint to eliminate the light going out the rear. I may just make an extra round or two with this tape and it'll be enough for the case to securely clamp the LED in place.

I'll post results when I have done this, hopefully tonight.

Good luck!

srvctec said:

I just got an Inova Microlight w/white LED from the local Target today (for 7 bucks) and picked out the brightest and best beam out of all they had.
I don't want to take it back for exchange- it was the best one they had- beamwise anyway!

Signs of a true flashaholic!- make it work if the beam was the pick of the lot.

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I tried comparing the beam quality, but it was rather difficult considering the packaging. What did you look for? I tried to pick a couple of the nicer ones, but was not sure what I was looking for. Obviously I looked for a smooth beam, but with it cut in half and relecting off the plastic, I am not sure I suceeded. I also noticed that some appeared bluer than others, but the less blue ones seemed to have an off color, so I went with bluer versus white/green/yellow or whatever it seemed to be. Perhaps with some guidance I'll be able to make a better evaluation.

I am happy with the one I bought and opened, but I would like to know what factors you considered in evaluating the various packages. I'll keep your fix in mind, if I have trouble with the LED.
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My old Inova had apparently turned on and killed the batteries, but it turns out it might be that the conacting membrane end had come lose and caused the problem. In any event new batteries were of no help and I then figured out what that little piece of glue or plastic was that was on the lid and fell out when I opened it.

Good excuse to get a light I find brighter and better. It says up to 15 hours use, I presume in low. Anyone have an idea what the reasonable run-time expectation is for decent light, as opposed to better than nothing at all?

I did want to point out, keep the clips from your old light. They are thicker stock than the new ones, so are more secure. My old clip is now on my new light.

Donald said:

I tried comparing the beam quality, but it was rather difficult considering the packaging. What did you look for?

Click to expand...

All I looked for was the brightest of the lot.

Thanks.

I did notice some were still in signal mode and thus presumably less used. I think I still ended up picking one that was no longer in signal mode along with some that were still in shipping mode. I did find a couple that seemed less blue tinged, but not necessarily for the better. It could just be they had been tried more--I believe those were ones no longer in the shipping signal mode. They did not seem as bright.

Still looking for the River Rock lantern which apparently they have not gotten here, if the sales person that I spoke with is correct...once she figured out I was asking about flashlights when I said River Rock brand. Noticed my local Target has the blue and green Inova microlights, but are now out of white. No 2 x AAA RR either.

On a slightly different line, has anyone had a problem with their keys turning the light on?

Whenever I pull my keys out of my pocket, the light is on.

I've tried different locations on the ring and different rings of different lengths with no difference.