Dead Romisen RC-N3 - what to do?

Hi,

I have an old Romisen RC-N3. It looks a lot like this one here:

I’ve always run it on a pair of AA cells, so it looks like the top one but is significantly more battered. I’ve had it 7 years and it’s been used a lot and is now not working. It turns on and off but won’t switch between modes. If you shake it then it will sometimes seem to switch but not very convincingly. It’s now very outdated but I always liked it as a light and we’ve had some good adventures together.

Given that I own the torch and have some eneloops and a charger to run it, is there any mileage in trying to repair it? If so then where would I start?

Thanks.

Time for an overhaul.
When shaking has an effect, you probably have some battery contact problems.
Other than that, it seems the driver has gone bad.
Look for a 0.8 - 3.0 (or up to 4.2) Volts driver, maybe source one from an Sk68 or the like.

Maybe check both the head and tail cap to make sure the retention rings are clean and tight. (if there are any)

perhaps it is a broken trace on the driver somewhere, after all those years of battery bumping. You could try to look for that or find a new driver.

Or you can try something new, like the Zanflare F2 that gets good reports and is on flash sale now here:
https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_613215.html?vip=2511153&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqrGwlb311wIVFrcbCh2PYA3HEAAYASAAEgIPifD_BwE
…and sometimes even found for 9 dollar.

Wow that goes way back. I still have my NC and it works great with an RCR123. Maybe the LED pill or switch retainer has worked itself lose?

The biggest problem with old XRE lights is the reflectors don’t always focus well with todays emitters… differing focal length/points IIRC. I found this out the hard way with some P60 drop ins.