Difference between revisions of "Troubleshooting"

Troubleshooting (view source)

Revision as of 13:33, 10 December 2010

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 [http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?227518 CandlePowerForums guide]
+Basic troubleshooting boils down to:
+Does electricity get to the LED or bulb?
+First, and easiest, test. Are the batteries in there? I hesitate to put that in, but I've been fooled that way before.
+If they are rechargeable, are the batteries charged?
+A voltmeter helps here, the cheapest ones are just as good as the most expensive ones for this sort of thing.
+Do the batteries work in another device of comparable current draw?
+Remember that a bright AA light can easily pull 2 amps from a cell - alkalines won't last long on that sort of usage.
+If the batteries are the right way round and capable of producing current:
+Remove the switch and connect the negative of the battery to the body of the light. A paperclip is useful for this. Make sure you find a bare metal part, most metal coatings and anodizing do not conduct electricity.
+If it lights up, the problem is in the switch.
+If it still doesn't light up, it is time to investigate the head end. Do the batteries touch the positive contact? Batteries can be a bit shorter or longer than they are meant to be. If you need a spacer make sure it can't short out the batteries, this can have unpleasant effects.
+In most Chinese-made lights the job of getting a current path from the negative terminal of the battery to the head of the light is done by solder. There is a good example of this here. [http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/932#comment-13924 Poor soldering]. A quick blob of solder will fix this problem.
+If these measures fail, it gets more complex.