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That sounds a lot like a faulty connection somewhere red72vw. I’d ask the vendor to send a replacement. This light is to hard to take apart to fix. I don’t think anyone has yet.
Thanks for the input, 4Wheelr.
I suspect that may be my best course of action.
So…….I’ve been messing with this light. After removing the plastic half of the battery tube, I noticed the bezel was loose. While tightening it I could see the pcb moving and becoming more perpendicular to the board that it is attached. The tip on the back of the optic was pushing the board. Put a battery in and ir function is working again. Loosen the bezel and pushed pcb back to original position and no worky. Moved back to perpendicular and it is okay once again. So I guess I have a bad connection or solder joint down in the recesses of this light. Moving the pcb to where it works doesn’t allow room to put battery tube back. With components on the back side of the pcb and just the barest of clearances with it and the battery, I’m concerned I will cause a major issue.
Some solutions that come to mind: 1) Modify the plastic half of the tube. 2) Smaller diameter battery.
I could try to return I suppose but it sounds like alot of hoops to jump through for a $10 light that may cost more to ship back and forth.
ImA4Wheelr—-Your pic of the light with tube out has the pcb looking like mine when I adjust it to work. To get the tube back in it pushes the pcb forward. Does the pcb fit between the open spot on the back of the tube on yours? Mine is too wide to fit in the recess. Does that pcb plug into the board it attached to? It looks like it might but I didn’t want to pull on it
Thoughts/Suggestions anyone?
Oh, how could I have forgot about that. I even posted a warning in Post #19 (see Edit2). I think what is going on is your IR sensor is not sticking out enough when that aluminum strip gets pushed back. Try to only tighten the bezel enough to not push the strip back. If you are brave, you can use a soldering iron to move the IR sensor legs out towards the front of the light.(not sure which one off the two 5mm thingies is the sensor).
If that is the problem, you will probably need to use some thread lock to keep the bezel from unscrewing. I recommend the lightest thread lock you can find. That way you can remove the bezel without damaging the light later.
EDIT: I’m guessing the black 5mm thingie is the IR receiver (sensor) and the clear 5mm thingie is a IR LED.
EDIT2: Maybe another option would be to wrap your cell with some thing to make it a tighter fit. That might put some pressure against the back of the aluminum strip. I don’t have my light with me to check that idea out.
Thanks for the quick reply, 4wheelr.
Actually the IR works when the aluminum strip is pushed back. When its pushed forward to allow the tube to be inserted, it fails. Looks to be on a small angle when in this position. Leads me to believe a solder joint or connection of the aluminum bar to the board with pos. battery spring is bodgy.
Opps, I should have read more carefully. I hear what you mean. That makes sense.
If I remember correctly, the legs of the IR LED and IR Receiver go through the aluminum strip. It might be possible to resolder them by applying heat to each leg individually. If you do that, I would recommend pushing the aluminum board back so it isn’t heatsinking to the light’s body while you resolder the legs. Kind of a tricky procedure and I wouldn’t recommend to anyone that doesn’t have good soldering skills.
I took my bezel off and successfully swapped in a Carclo elliptical optic lens, which gives a light pattern I find helpful — less neck-twisting, more eye-rolling. Had to watch myself a while to choose between a vertical or a horizontal light pattern, and several times I’ve removed the bezel and turned the optic 90 degrees when switching from one kind of work to another.
After moving the aluminum strip back to where the tube fits, I found that moving/pushing/prying on the black 5mm, that we believe is the receiver, the IR begins to work again. It looks like my problem may be with that sensor’s connection. While I am confident in my soldering skills as it is part of my job in electrical maintenance here at work, I don’t think I can do anything constructive trying to solder a specific point 3/4 of the way down the tube without a way to see where I am. But if anyone has figured out how to disassemble this light and get the aluminum strip out, I think I can rectify my problem………maybe
Light reassembled with all orignal parts installed and the IR is working. For now any way. The black 5mm is not centered in its hole. Its pushed up against the edge of the hole. I wonder if the strain put on it in this position is giving me intermittent connection at the aluminum strip.
Looks like a nice light. If anyone who owns this light has a small scale, can you tell me how much just the head (no strap/holder) weighs? And does anyone know the max speed it will charge an 18650? Might have to pick one of these lights up, even stock it looks good.
dimjim—- The mail scale here at work clocks this in at 90 grams without battery or headstrap
FWIW
In a very inexpensive light like this you can expect a very simple charging circuit that isn’t geared to battery life. In the long run you will likely get better battery life charging your battery in a charger.
Bob
Big thanks to red72vw and HorizontalHunter for your answers. I have several (too many) headlamps, but this one looks interesting with the built-in charging. As my primary use will be long distance backpacking, my primary concerns are weight and quick recharging (of course at the expense of cell life). If only it also had a USB output, this would be the complete package.
I currently carry a headlamp + a Miller ML-102(V9.0) charger/bank - and the miller charges a cell at ~1.55A which is pretty great for quick stops in town as I can re-charge or top off a battery fairly quickly. The benefit of this headlamp might be that I can recharge 1 cell in the headlamp itself, and one in the battery bank at the same time.
^
Hi dimjim. I believe the charge rate is .5amp. Not sure where I read that. It does seem to use a CC/CV charging algorithm, but I’m not an expert on that. Just fit the pattern when I was watching the voltage and current draw on a USB Charger Doctor .
Interesting. Not what I expected. I expected a direct connection or a zener diode for a charging “circuit.”
I have the Nitecore HC 90 which has in light charging and it is a terrific feature. It gives you a lot of flexibility in charging the light.
Bob
looks great this small light pity that it has no memory for gesture turn on off and it always turns of in high mode
the elliptical tir lens with xp-l led would be great stuff but if it always turns on on high by gesture you have to press the bottum with oily hands to dimm it down which is not ideal
When in sensor (gesture) mode there is no dimming of the light. The next touching of the switch turns it off if it’s on and takes it out of sensor mode. If it’s off while in sensor mode pushing the switch takes it out of sensor mode and leaves the light off.
so sensor mode can turn it only on to highest mode not to last mode right ???
yes
Nice and cheap. I like it.