Here it is opened up. Looks clean to me.
Here it is opened up. Looks clean to me.
There actually are some splatter/ spot marks of some kind on there in the ‘bullseye’ position of the pcb. The electronics cleaner is fine but rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab + elbow grease is better. Clean both the underside of the popper in a twisting or ‘lapping’ motion with the swabs and ensure before reassembly that there arent any cotton fibers hanging around under there.
After I clean it with alcohol, should I apply a film of anything? Or just leave it completely bare?
Clean and dry.
Cleaned it with 99.9% and replaced the o-ring with the 008 size. Light is happy and so am I.
A big THANK YOU to all!
And the problem is back. Unless I press dead-center with just the right pressure, it won’t toggle.
I just want to order a replacement PCB at this point to try that. Can anyone help me find out where to buy one?
Do you have a soldering iron?
Yes, and I’m OK with it. Not a master, but I’ve done several hundred small connections.
What should I do with the soldering iron?
I think the aswer might be in post #9 and #18
I hope you figure something out
These switches are very simple. They consist of a flat plastic pcb, a flexible springy metal “popper” and a strip of Kapton tape holding it all together. When the button is depressed it pushes down the popper which inverts (giving the click sound), while creating an electrical connnection between its corners and center.
The connection might be failing to trigger due to the flexible metal “popper” not properly connecting at the center and edges when the button is depressed. This could be because when the popper clicks and inverts it isn’t quite touching at the center.
The following might be worth attempting:
Some additional notes:
Sorry for leaving that hanging. Fireflight nailed it. Exactly as I was going to recommend. Cleaning the popper and pcb again with alcohol AND deoxit d100 or gold would be first for me. Cleaning the first time seemed to help, maybe some flux was missed on the bottom side of the popper. Simplest things first.
Otherwise, the super short solder bubble/dome on the center pad is what I believe should cure this.
We’ll be here for any other questions. Good luck!
Put the nubin back in and very gently press the switch in various directions 50+ times and see if you can duplicate the failure.
Thanks for all of the above.
Is this the right product for cleaning?
https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-D100S-2-DeoxIT-Contact-Cleaner/dp/B0014F110I
Yes, but I personally prefer the needle bottle https://www.amazon.com/CAIG-LABORATORIES-D100L-25C-Contact-Cleaner/dp/B0000YH6F8
Also, this is a nice bundle https://www.amazon.com/DeoxIT-G100L-D100L-solution-applicator/dp/B01BW8VRVY
I am not a fan of 1ml containers. It’s irrational, I know, but I just don’t like paying money for something that small haha.
How about one of each of these:
And do I apply the D100L-25C for cleaning first and then the G100L-2DB after?
Gold is for just that, gold. So its great for pcbs and gold plated springs. 1mL will last you maybe your life. I use my d100 weekly and had it for 2+ years, still 75% left. D100 is great for everything else - brass, Al, battery contacts etc.
Is there gold on the FW3A that I need to clean?
The gold colored pads on the PCB are in fact gold, so that’s the primary application for that stuff. I regularly tear down my lights and clean the ground rings of drivers and tail boards with it. Keeps flickering away and current maximized. Most times I get a light that’s acting up from someone all I do to fix them is clean the gunk, deoxit all conductive interfaces, and lube the o-rings. Voila 95% of the time.