I removed the LED and resoldered it and it still does this. No light until I press on the dome… What else to try since resoldering didn’t work?
It’s a cheap clone that’s supposed to be an XM-L but it’s smaller than my XM-L from Simon Mau so I’d doubt it’s real. Also has a green surround whereas CREE I believe is silver.
But regardless, it was pretty bright. Is there anything I can try before tossing the LED and plate?
EDIT: I should add… I’m not sure trouble shooting an LED is not something I’ll do again. Maybe I should wear sunglasses next time or cover it with something to filter the light while testing. Even the cheap Chinese clones are so bright it’s blinding.
Any ideas? It turned out to be for the good anyways (changed the LED to a REAL XM-L and it’s brighter yet now). But still good to know what I’m looking at with LED technology and troubleshooting.
I removed it, solder wicked all the solder on the LED and star and resoldered it (with an iron). I solder surface mount parts with an iron pretty often and have removed and resoldered everything from simple resistors to 24/32 pin ICs with good results.
Bad emitter… broken bond wire or similar issue… applying pressure allows the connection to be restored? I’ve had a couple of defective emitter that did this before…