BLF Special Edition a6 problem.

It could be a few different things but from your descriptions so far I would guess the problem to be in the head. One might be the wires to the emitter not being properly soldered.A loose wires on the emitter pads are easily seen after removing the bezel but a loose wire on the driver requires desoldering the emitter, unscrewing the retainer, and pulling the driver.

The problem I’ve come across is due to one or the other retaining ring not screwing in all the way. The retainers don’t just hold things in place but also serve to conduct current. If the retainers don’t press on the driver and switch circuit boards there’s no current and if the ends of the battery tubes don’t contact the brass retainers there no current.

There is a fix for this. A stripped 2” piece of solid copper wire bent into a ring and placed under the retainer will allow the retainer to press the driver into contact with the head and allow the battery tube to press on the brass retainer. Low voltage sprinkler control wire is ideal. Simple, but I haven’t done this so don’t have a pic.

A more permanent fix requires scraping some solder mask from the driver in 2 places and soldering copper spacers there.

if your not up to soldering I suggest you try the ring approach.

First and foremost, did you put the battery in with the positive first the first time? You said you flipped it around and it still didn’t work, if you had it backwards the first time the reverse polarity protection diode may very well have blown and it won’t work now til that is replaced.

There were some of the early one that the battery tube didn’t screw in far enough to contact the retaining ring, either a spacer as already described or one of several other methods will fix this.

If you can verify that the driver actually works by touching a negative wire to the ground ring and a positive to the spring, that would help us know what the issue is.

If you don’t get a fairly quick response from Banggood, shoot me a PM and I will try to help you solve this issue. Worse comes to worse, I’ll fix it for you.

Gotta love this ^ Kudos to the gentleman from Texas.

+1,000,000,000,000,000

You really wouldn’t want DB to “fix” it for you… It would have like twice the lumen, you would have to call air traffic control every time you want to point it above the horizon, afterwards every other light would appear dim… LOL, that kind of offer is much of the reason BLF is so great!

This HAPPENS?

I’ve had [ordinary] lights that didn’t work if the battery was backward, but doing that never did them any harm.

These leak magic smoke in a protective way in that situation?

Or it would not be the first time that someone jumped in the deep end and started to learn to mod/fix flashlights. At least here you have tech support that speaks English and does not get paid by the hour.

Heck while you are at it you may want to throw a extra chip or two on it and maybe a NW emitter? :wink:

plus you save on shipping and the light will be working sooner, but it is a slippery slope from there (danger) :slight_smile:

Shouldn’t that be the responsibility of Banggood? Are you going to pay for the shipping?

Really? I guess strictly speaking, it prolly is BangGoods responsibility to fix it. What hoops is he going to have to jump through and how long do you think it will take to get them to pony up? But in the spirit of Christmas, or BLF, or out of the goodness of his heart, Mr DBCustom offers to fix a light for a guy who says he is frustrated, and you wanna give him a hard time?

I’m sure he can’t do it for everyone who gets a dud, but I think it was a mighty nice offer.

It does not happen, and I just checked that as well, my BLF-A6 still lives. I go for the electrical connections batterytube->driverretainingring or driverretainingring->driver, as suggested by Rufusbduck

Strictly speaking ???!!

Are there problems with Banggood’s customer service?
How many hoops does he have to jump through?

Banggood customer service is not responsive ???!!!
Why does he need anybody’s goodness of heart ???!!!

Is he going to pay for the shipping?

Suppose the problem is broken emitter bond wires.
Is he going to provide the emitter and bond the wires?

Sam, let me be clear, I offered to fix the new guys A6 because I recommended them, as a tester for that light. I will fix his light if he wants. I will pay to ship it back to him. I will modify it if necessary, replace an emitter if necessary, rebuild the driver if necessary and while I’m at it I’ll bypass the springs. I do stuff like that from time to time. Like buying a stranger a beer or a cup of coffee. If I feel like it at the time, I might even throw another light in the box going back to him. Because I can. (no promises on the extra light :wink: )

I will not, however, make the same offer to you.

Never understood how such an act of kindness could provoke such dissent.

"Ohhhhh... your a Sly one.. Mr Grinch...." :Sp

:D

Very generous of you Dale. I love the collaborative spirit of BLF :smiley:

Bearmde1 … Dale has very generously offered to do whatever it takes to repair your light. You’re not going to get a better offer going through Banggood customer service.

With Dale’s offer in mind, I recommend trying some of the tips people in this thread have recommended to see if you can get your light working yourself. If nothing works, PM Dale and send it to him for repair.

Some things you just have to shake your head at.

You are hurting my feelings! :stuck_out_tongue:

Are there problems with Banggood customer service?

Not saying this is your problem, but I received my third BLF A6 in the mail yesterday. This one is for a buddy, anyhow I put in a fresh battery then click………nothing. Started swapping tailcaps from the others…….nothing. Figured I got a dud. Then I realized it starts in moonlight mode and it was too bright in the room to see it on the wall. :smiley: :smiley: Boy did I feel stupid. Had to laugh at myself. Hope it all works out for you. These lights are very cool……….Jesse

PS DB custom, If you’re ever in northern cal, beer is on me. You seem like a good guy

Scott and I have dibs on beer for Dale, if he ever makes it up here. :wink:

Been a long time since I’ve been to Cali, my Uncle was a Commercial Artist for Warner Bros. once upon a time. Not sure if any of his lineage is still in Cali, sure did enjoy my time in the valley though, it was an eye opening beautiful place. Thanks guys, prc8 it.

Probably the best bet is a piece of core wire from a TV coax cable, a circle laid in at the point where the battery tube comes into the head. (copper vs a paper clip for it’s electrical properties) This will be outside of the diameter of the retaining ring, coil it on a cylinder then cut it to fit, if you make a coil a little larger than what’s needed, tension will keep it in place and you’ll forget it’s there. The battery tube will stop on this copper wire, grounding through it and making the light work normally. Manker got some of the dimensions wrong on the early ones, not sure how far that went before they straightened it out. I’m betting this will solve the issue.

DB Custom…I appreciate the offer. I probably did put the battery in both ways. I did not know that would be an issue. I guarantee that I put it in correctly the first time…then I switched it around. I did get a video made, like was recommended, showing the fresh battery, the box, putting the battery in…hitting the switch and trying the wire to the negative side and to the shiny side of the metal. I will wait for a response from Banggood…if and when I get one. If that does not work, or I have to jump through more hoops, I might take you up on your offer. I do appreciate all the comments on this forum. And from a newbie,…I am learning…it is just a slow process. Their were other suggestions about taking the front apart, and checking wires…etc. I am just going to let the process happen. I am hoping it will work out. I have waited this long, I can wait a few more weeks. Sincerely…thanks again.