Hi Folks,
This is my first post in the BLF, though I have been a grateful reader of it for some time and have much appreciated help and advice from different posters.
I have a problem with my new BLF A6(5A) which I received from BangGood yesterday. The light will not go to the brighter modes - in Group1 it goes 1.moon, 2.low, 3.medium, 4.medium, 5.medium, 6.medium, 7.medium in Group2 it goes 1.low, 2.medium, 3.medium, 4.medium. I have tried 2 different types of battery Powerbolt 2600mAH and Panasonic NCR18650B 3,400mAH both fully charged. Both of these batteries have circuit protection which I understand is not ideal but can nowhere see any posts suggesting that this is the cause of the problem. I have tried these same batteries in two of my other lights (nitecore ec4sw and Xin td C8 and these work perfectly and are very bright (Both, in my opinion excellent torches) Have I just got a duff light or am I missing something? Any feedback would be most helpful. Thank you in advance.
I would guess the FET part of the FET+7135 driver is not working.
Can you unscrew the driver retaining ring and have a good look at the component side of the driver? The soldering/re-flow quality of these drivers are somewhat inconsistent. The FET would be the bigger black component with 4 legs on one side and a tab on the other. All legs and the tab need to be soldered down. Also follow the pcb track from pin 6 of the 8-pin chip to pin 4 of the FET. Make sure there is not a short (blob of solder or similar) between pins 3 and 4 of the FET.
Thanks Del, I’ll take a look tomorrow if I get time and if not will do so over the weekend. Thanks a lot for your time - I’ll let you know how I get on. Rgds, Spud.
It helps to take a picture of the driver and post it here. And if there is a soldering problem, of course it is easiest if you are able to solder.
But whatever the cause of the problem, you could try to solve it with Banggood too, they should have sent you a correct working flashlight, so in principle they should fix it for you.
But in practice, if a fix is easy to do yourself, you save yourself a lot of trouble and time doing that.
Okay, will show picture when I get it open. Soldering is not a problem…. I agree with you about BG , my first reaction was to email them but their system wouldn’t accept my mail, (it wouldn’t recognise the order number) very frustrating, so I came to BLF. I’ve since mailed them again with a shortened message, which got through, so I’ll hopefully have a reply from them in the morning. The light was sent from UK depot so it depends on their reply how I proceed . Thanks.
Thanks for the link. Having read through the relevant posts and seeing pics of appalling soldering I guessed that shoddy assembly was probably the problem so yesterday I desoldered the led board and had a look at the driver. All looked to be good with tidy soldering, derrrr. I checked for continuity and nothing appeared to be amiss so that was that. I’m assuming now that the problem is with components and that is not for me to do. Having had to desolder and then resolder to get at the driver I have now invalidated the warranty…… Apart from that BG customer service want video and pics before they will act - I don’t have a smart phone or video camera and my cheapo camera is not up to taking even half decent close up pictures. I am going to email Neils assistant (?) and explain situation -hopefully they will send me a new driver or head. Otherwise I shall order a new driver from BG as I see they are selling them for US$6.24 which is less than it would cost me to return the light to China and quicker. Even with the cost of the new driver it still sounds like a good deal for a working A6 (I paid €24.52 for the light) Ye live and learn…………………
Excellent, Thanks………………
Have you tried with the cells not fully charged?
Seems like it could be the protection circuit kicking in. The above would help rule that out. At a lower voltage, the emitter will not demand as much current in the higher modes.
I haven’t - ‘wouldn’t have even thought to do that… But, also there is a problem with the ’biking flasher mode’ this is like the other medium modes but with a slight ‘fizz’ not as it should be. Also, initially I thought it was me being ham fisted but sometimes it goes into strobe mode unexpectedly. I’m pretty sure now its not me. No problem, I shall be patient and get there eventually, I’ll try a half charged cell out of interest and see what happens. To be honest my priority at present is rebuilding my sailboat.and getting back on the water….
Thanks.
@Spud Murphy,
For what you went thru you deserve new head assembly. Explain to BG what was the problem and what you did. BG should give you a whole head assembly thus negating you doing any soldering.
[EDIT]
As for the video, tell BG that there is no way a video would show your problem. Or, ask them how to make a video to show your problem.
If the protection kicked in wouldn’t the voltage drop to zero?
Hi, just as a postscript to this thread I can report that after contacting BG ( heyanqing1@banggood.com) they got back to me very quickly and have agreed to send me a new driver, not having any A5 heads in stock. As the emitter is OK this is fine by me. Hopefully problem sorted………….
Spud Murphy,
Be very careful in disassembling the head. When you twist the bezel, this is liable to de-dome the emitter and in the process cut the bond wires — if you have a SQUARE emitter centering locator as in the first batch. The later batch is supposed to have a ROUND locator which will not have the problem. There are posts on how to do this in the A6 thread.
Hi Sam, no problem, the locator is one of the round ones - I sussed this when I had to desolder the emitter to remove the original driver. Thanks.
Keep fingers crossed that will do the trick.
Now long wait, but worth it.