Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Repair of an LED Lenser flashlight

My trusty little LED Lenser flashlight stopped working rather suddenly.  I thought the batteries had failed because (a) nothing that over-engineered could possibly break and (b) there was evidence of crusty white "stuff" inside the battery compartment that looked a little like a battery might have leaked.  Strangely, though, all of batteries measured a little over 1.4V each but there was no voltage present at the terminals of the battery holder.  Oh oh.  It turns out the problem was the little switch in the end-cap.    Here it is desoldered from the top of the battery-pack:-



Although it felt fine mechanically, it was open-circuit all the time.  

Apparently, LED Lenser don't supply parts and I couldn't find a suitable replacement in any of the usual electronic parts suppliers but I couldn't bring myself to write off such a beautiful piece of (over-)engineering.  Time to see if it could be bodged.

I had an el-cheapo (but actually rather nice) 9-LED flashlight that I picked up at a conference a few years ago.  


It had a latching end-cap switch that "felt" pretty similar.  Could it be made to fit ?  It turns out, the switch from it is an awful lot bigger...


On the other hand, its about the right height so perhaps it could be made to fit. With a little bit of help from a grinding wheel, it fitted...barely.





Solder the wires onto the top of the battery-pack...


...and its back to life !!

Its certainly not as water-tight as it was the day it left the factory in Germany (the end-cap doesn't screw down all the way) but on the other hand I never go swimming with it and it isn't gone to a land-fill, so I'm happy.  

Now I just need to figure out what do to with the remains of the el-cheapo 9-LED flashlight that I trashed for this repair - I can't bring myself to throw that out either.






Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. Thomas Venney9 January 2018 at 12:50

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. BobNoCabbage18 December 2019 at 02:58

    Cheers. Wish there was legislation in Australia, to force manufacturers to provide parts for 20years after manufacture.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jainsons Lights13 October 2021 at 05:53

    Deepawali is regarding celebrates and that we all want to brighten our house with beautiful lights. Does one also want to stay in your house look beautiful? Then start to try shopping for Hanging Lights for Living Room from leading enterprises like Jainsons Lights. This is often a number one platform where you'll get all types of lights from which you'll decorate your home.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jainsons Lights17 November 2021 at 11:36

    For an extended time, if you're searching for Lighting Showrooms in Delhi near your home then don't be concerned about an excessive amount of go-on to Jainsons Lights. It's one of all the leading showrooms which offer the type of lighting products at an affordable price to its customers. Highly trained people of this place always struggle hard to your visit better-off.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jainsons Lights13 December 2021 at 07:57


    If you want to fill every corner of the house with light, then Buy Led Lights Online from Jainsons Lights website. It is a prominent place where you will get all types of lights available at affordable prices. The staff working here are always present at your service and they will also give you the right knowledge about which light you should buy for your home.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jainsons Lights28 January 2022 at 11:45

    Jainsons Lights is a trusted lighting supplier always offers the widest choice of illumination equipment, demonstrating high professionalism, a brand new level of service, customer care. If you wish to buy Led Lights Wholesale in India, then visit our showroom directly. We are here, to produce any amount of products within the shortest time. Just email us and that we will prepare a proposal for you.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)