I have an original Zebralight H50 angle light/headlamp that operates by the tailcap twisty. I’ve used it a lot over the past several years and really like it. My little 3 year old nephew got a hold of it, took the tailcap off and somehow ripped the spring out of the tailcap! :_(
As you know, it won’t work now as I guess there’s a circuit board under the spring that controls the twisty levels.
I tried to put the spring back and even tried another spring but all it does now is the LED just glows very faintly.
Any ideas how I can get it working again or is there any modder than can help me get it working again? Thanks much!
If i remember correctly all the circuitry is in the head mate so don’t worry about that bit. It works like the lock out tail function on caps now as is doesn’t have a button. You twist clockwise and you turn it on, and to change settings, you twist anti clock then clock wise quickly, to turn off you twist anti and turns it off. You’ve more than likely got a bad connection between the tube, the spring, and the outside bit of the flat circular base that sits in the tail cap. Clean the top edge of the tube off that touches the gold looking ring bit of the flat disk and do the disks round gold looking part also, then make sure that the spring is solderd down in the proper places as before. If you’ve solderd the spring back on make sure there is nothing on that outside gold ring in the tail cap as that is what gives you ALL the connection and thus settings when you twist.
Do you have a DMM and know how to test current draw? If so try running it that way so you bypass the tailcap and see if it works. I’m guessin you’ll just need to solder the spring back on. Turning on very dim is usually a sign of a poor negative path that can’t handle the current draw.
Thank you for all the responses. Unfortunately, I’m not able to solder anything as I don’t even own a soldering iron. Is there an electrical conductive epoxy that could be used instead of soldering? Here’s a lousy picture of the tailcap and spring.
The best thing would be to solder it back on. It should be a simple job. You would just have to place the spring back in position and then heat the solder pads until the existing solder melts. I don’t think you would need to add more solder and you might be able to get away without using flux.
You can get a decent starter iron for $10. 25-40 watts is the range you want. You don’t want it too powerful.
Maybe one of your friends has one you could borrow.
Gebe, no epoxy will be as good as soldering but silver epoxy might do enough to make it work but i actualy agree with rojos about getting your own soldering iron. It will be cheaper in the long run and it’s more usefull having one than you might think. I had a look online at walmart over their and you can get one for 10 dollars. Ask a couple of friends as said also, they may have one to borrow for afew hours.
You could try gently heating it in a pan on the stove with the spring in position and a small piece of resin cored solder at each solder point. Heat until the solder melts then carefully remove the tailcap from the heat being careful not to burn yourself. Good luck.
Thanks so much to all but a wonderful and generous BLF member has offered his services to take care of my problem. I don’t know if he wants me to name him so for now, I’ll keep his name private.
All I can say is that folks like him are what makes places like this great! Thanks again for all your replies.
