Manker E01 troubleshooting

I received a Manker E01 open box item today, and it is immediately obvious why the item had been returned previously. The light works properly only in a very small rotation angle of the head, maybe 5-10 degrees. Any more tightening and the light shuts off or skips modes. When I first started looking at the light, i thought maybe the contact surfaces were dirty. I had another new light recently that just needed some cleaning and has worked flawlessly since. So I started to clean the positive contact on the PWA, and realized I was backing out the driver and emitter with my q-tip. Obviously this needs some work.

I also noticed that the body to head connection threading seems rather sparse. By that I mean in less than two body rotations I go from two separate pieces to light on, then 10 degrees more and the light does not work properly.

Of course I can just return the light (amazon), but if it seems like there is a simple way to fix it I would prefer to keep it. Advice on how to do so welcome.

So with some cleaning and tightening the driver board assembly into the bezel (not sure I got these terms right) the light is much better, but still in need of improvement. When I disconnect after low, it often jumps modes and so I don’t end up on medium next.

I am assuming that the battery positive contact makes contact with the board first, then tightening the body to the bezel brings the battery negative to the board via the body tube. I am considering trying to smooth out the body tube via emery paper or even denim jeans to improve the mate and unmate by smoothing a bit.

thoughts?

thanks!

Is there any sloppiness/wobbling side to side in the threads that mate head to body? This can cause poor/intermittent switching response. If there is, a wrap of teflon tape around the male threads has fixed this issue for me numerous times.

I recall in the original thread about these, I mentioned that the two I bought had this intermittent misfeature — loose head, loose parts, dirty threads.

Once I cycled the lights through a great many twist-on-offs, most of the problem went away. I blame rough parts and poor electrical connection.
Add some conductive lubricant after you wear the rough spots off the metal.

Thanks Hank and Streamer for the feedback! It definitely has a wobbly side to side in the threads, I can turn the light off and on just by putting pressure on the head. I will try teflon tape when I get home tonight. I will first try to remove all the silicone grease I applied to the threads.

As far as conductive lubricant goes, I applied some silicone grease, that did not seem to help a bunch. It mostly seems once I got the electronics fully seated in the head (or bezel?) that turning on got much better. But it still seems to skip often when I turn it off. I am thinking the eliminating the side to side rock with teflon tape with help that, and the tape will also serve as a lubrincant. Not sure why the lubricant here would need to be conductive, as I am pretty sure the current flows through the bare aluminum at the end of the body.

Yes, the teflon tape has improved the use even more. I suspect between just using the light and the teflon tape I have it about as good as it gets. I can operate it with one hand now, its not perfect but for $9 I think it is a keeper. I do like the light color, my first nichia emitter.