I wonder why it’s there in my photo, but re-checking it again now there’s no lump of solder…perhaps it was just a reflection or something created by the camera phone.
So now that a test was performed as suggested by Streamer and the light worked, does it mean that the driver and switch are still good but only a ground problem?
Perhaps the light fell head first, jarring the pcb and moved it forward, out of reach of the tube now?
If so, what then is the next move? My non-modder’s mind tells me to put a conductive spacer between the tube and the (-) negative ring… is this a workable and safe idea?
Yes. Make a circle of appropriately sized wire to fit over the drivers negative ring so tube can make contact. But be very careful as to avoid a short.
HINT: Sometimes a key-ring of right diameter will fit perfectly over negative ring :student:
Got it.
I have some small brass shim sheets to make a ring, though I cannot find it now… perhaps this will be enough to make contact.
Edit: I tried a loop of soldering lead and it worked!
Now my next question is: If I fabricate a brass shim instead of the soldering lead, will it not be dangerous for the shim if it ‘bites’ into the anodized, threaded part of the head?
No danger. The shim your making will simply be an extension of the negative contact. The entire body of the flashlight is also negative, though it is non-conductive where the anodizing is present. Therefore if the shim bites the anodizing and makes contact with bare threads then there will be no difference in potentials (negative on negative).
Well, I’ve never taken mine apart so I do not know the internals. Was hoping you wouldn’t have to go there.
I think you could fashion a shim from rolled up aluminum foil to tell you what you want to know pretty quickly. If it lights, you will then know the problem.
After thinking a little more, were you able to cycle the light on and off when you hooked it up with battery holder? You shoud have been able to. If not, the switch STILL could be bad. It should cycle on and off.
I think he means the outside of the tube, does it look like it stops the battery tube from being screwed into the head any further when tightened?
If so, I think what overclocker is proposing is that the edge the arrow points is the stop for the battery tube when the tube and head are screwed together as far as they can go. So if you ground this off a little, the battery tube can fit further inside the head. Then the shiny (un-anodized) ring on the end of the battery tube will make contact with the negative ring on the outside of the pcb without using any spacer.
Looking at my EA11’s head right now, the edge of the head (like in the arrow) does not contact anything, so grinding it away will only shorten it but won’t help the un-anodized tube inside the head, when screwed tightly, make contact with the negative ring in the pcb.
As I posted earlier, I tried putting a piece of soldering lead along the negative ring and screwed in the tube, the soldering lead serving as conductor between the tube and the negative ring and light worked again.
Photo below shows the head as ‘floating’ as a piece of paper can go in between it and the tube: (grinding will not help in this case)