One of my favorite torches, a Keygos Ke-5 stopped working. I am a newbie, so I don't know that much about fixing them. However, since I always have two of everything, I switched tail caps, and that wasn't the problem.
I contacted Keygos, and they told me to tell them which part is bad, and they could sell me the part to fix the Ke-5. They said most likely it is the circuit board or the bulb..
How can I tell which, (in layman's terms)???
Edit: I have another Keygos Ke-5 that works perfectly.
The driver is the board on the positive side of the battery, located inside the housing (called pill).
For most of my lights, I need to remove some solder then pry the pill. But I don't have a KE-5, so I cannot answer how to open yours exactly. Can someone experienced with KE-5 help with this with more detail please?
Howard, the circuit board is the part that touches the positive end of the cell. If you unscrew the head/reflector part, you can also directly access the led/star and see if the wires going to the star have come loose.
I dont know about other ke5’s but mine doesnt seem to have a “pill”. The pcb is press-fit into the portion of the body between the battery and LED star. In other words, the pill seems to be the body part itself rather than an actual separate component that normally screws into said body part.
Anyway, you can remove the circuit board by using a very thin/small screwdriver and gently nudging the board up a bit and working your way around until you get it high enuf to use needlenose pliers. I tried this last year (trying to figure out why ILIKEFLASHLIGHTS’ ke5 was so mich brighter) and thats when i realized the LED and star werent coming up/out along with the driver. So be careful to gently remove the board as to not rip out any wires.
Oh and instead of repeatedly screwing and unscrewing tailcaps to check for light, just take a paperclip or spare wire and short the body end to the neg end of the cell.
Sorry for the late reply fellas… Anyway, I purchased a clone of the Ke-5 for about $17 and one for $16.09. Not only that, the Ke-5 started working again, and hasn’t quit!!
Did you try different cells/charging what was in then? I’d go for a solder joint but for it not failing/flickering again, something must have changed to get the bugger working…
When it wasn’t working, I tried different cells from working lights to be sure. After I purchased the clone, it started working again. Most likely a solder joint like you stated.
