HDS Systems EDC #22

[peter yetman]

I have a felling that USD is correct and there's a problem with the battery.
Please try it with a freshly charged cell.

Does any of this feel familiar?...
• Press-and-hold the button before the dim reset indication turns off. Your flashlight will become brighter for 10 seconds and then turn off. Release the button when your flashlight turns off.
• N o t e : your flashlight will display 5 rapid flashes and no settings are changed if you release the button before your flashlight turns off.
• N o t e : your flashlight will display 10 very rapid flashes if there is insufficient power to memorize the original factory settings.



I have a feeling that the dead light symptom is because the cell can't deliver enough current when the light is on high.
I have to admit that I found the HDS UI quite spooky at first.
You may have a dodgy light, but I doubt it. If you have, please don't fret, as Henry will sort it out for you.
It must be very disappointing for you, especially as we all bang on about these extraordinary lights made by an extraordinary man. But as soon as you or Henry get it going you'll know that it's true. Don't lose heart, between us all we'll get it sorted.
P

 

[Daniel_sk]

Peter - thanks. I just put a fresh primary battery in (and waited 1 minute). I left the rotary set to maximum. Customization is not enabled (and I didn't try to). I put the battery tube back in, dim light went on for few seconds. I pressed the button -> for a moment it went on... then I turned it off and on. The light started acting weird - the output on the highest setting was lower than expected and it started to ramp up automatically and stopped at the highest setting. I turned off the light and turned it on -> bright flash and it's dead again (won't turn on).

 

[usdiver]

Can you do the reset without pushing the button? If you do push it may as well put it into custom mode. It's not as scary as it sounds...

There could be something that was programmed but needs to be de programmed... I ve had some of my "programmed stuff" stay programmed even with a factory reset

 

[peter yetman]

Steve, do you think it's stuck in Programming Mode.
Does it stay in it through cell changes, so the only way to get out is a reset or going down the menu?
P

 

[Daniel_sk]

Can you do the reset without pushing the button? If you do push it may as well put it into custom mode. It's not as scary as it sounds...

There could be something that was programmed but needs to be de programmed... I ve had some of my "programmed stuff" stay programmed even with a factory reset

You mean just waiting 60+ seconds with battery removed, then put it back together and wait until the 7 seconds of dim light pass? Same result. It seems to be related to the highest output. I can usually "brick" the flashlight just by turning it to the highest output level. I am trying that only with primary CR123A - one that was included (Duracell), then one fresh (Panasonic) and one old Surefire battery (not used, but near expiration date).

 

[Daniel_sk]

I followed the instructions in the manual and I was able to enable customization. For the test I enabled the button lockout and the setting was saved correctly (I was able to button-lockout). But the issue still remains. The light will turn off if I rotate it to the highest setting and it won't turn on again. I have unscrew the battery tube to start again.

 

[peter yetman]

Just out of interest, did you exit programming after you finished?
P

 

[usdiver]

🤔
Ok,
That sounds like possibly a send it back Situation but I won't speculate anymore.
I didn't get to watch your video but will do when I get on my laptop ....

 

[WarriorOfLight]

At first, here you will find the manual as video. From what I know Hogo did all the clips explaining the light:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd7fZqs5qpucUToOiJnqiPg/videos

It is very useful for a "beginner".

Since the battery is some kind of old, could you try a fresh one that will not expire soon. I heared a few times that unused older cells may not work correctly anymore. I could be a try.

 

[usdiver]

When you put it on high how long till it shuts off

 

[Daniel_sk]

Just out of interest, did you exit programming after you finished?
P

I pressed and held the button to confirm the choice (lockout) in the customization menu and the light behaved according to the manual - a dim to bright sequence confirmed my choice and the flashlight turned on. But then I could again just ramp up the brightness and kill it :-/. I also went back into the menu and disabled customization. Lockout feature was gone (as expected). But I still can reproduce the issue where the light can get bricked.
(as already stated - trying 3 different lithium batteries).

So unfortunately this is going back to the EU shop where I bought it and let's see if they will give me money back or replace it (in the EU you can return anything within 14 days without explanation). I hope the light will get to Henry and he can see what's wrong and maybe prevent this in future. I already wrote Henry an email about it so he can have full details of the problem when he returns from the cave .

It's a bit sad that this happened - maybe my distrust into complicated systems/electronics triggered it (even though I work in IT for a long time ). I have to think what's next. Whether to give the Rotary another try or try something else.

 

[Daniel_sk]

When you put it on high how long till it shuts off

Almost immediately. My initial guess was that the battery is somehow defective and shuts off - but I tried 3 different ones. And sometimes it stays on High without any issues.

 

[Lithium466]

Sure. But even unscrewing the battery tube completely will not help at all times, if I don't wait 60 seconds (I can swap a battery faster). I just did that right now - flashlight works correctly, set the output to maximum, unscrew battery tube and put it back in (in less than 60 seconds), flashlight blinks and then won't turn on again. This is something that can happen during regular use. Unfortunately I don't have a second HDS to compare the behavior and test if this is a defect or general issue. There are just to many ways for me to break it :-/.

Just guessing here, but as I see it there might be a problem with the rotary controller in the tail, the fact that it's triggered by starting with the light on high, then it would make sense that unscrewing a bit the battery tube (which does nothing to the head but interrupts communication between head and tail controllers for a short moment) helped sometimes. Looking forward to hear more about the real problem, from HDS.
Sad that you had to return it though.

 

[Daniel_sk]

I think you are right. This sounds like an issue in the tail. I am playing around with it and the light just goes almost instantly off when I turn the dial to the highest setting. And then it's stuck and I have to reset.
I did that 3 times right now with two different batteries, the result was the same. Procedure - set output to ~medium, remove battery, wait 2 minutes, insert battery and turn on. The light works. But turning the rotary control to maximum will shut off the flashlight and it won't turn again. At this point I am sure it's defective and it's going back.

 

[usdiver]

Daniel,
When you turned it to high and it shuts off have you tried turning the rotary knob "backward" to another what "should be" another level?

 

[Daniel_sk]

Yes - it doesn't do anything. Light is off and won't turn on by dialing the knob backwards or even if I press the button. It looks like if the logic inside the board is stuck in some undefined state and it will not recover.

 

[peter yetman]

I pressed and held the button to confirm the choice (lockout) in the customization menu and the light behaved according to the manual - a dim to bright sequence confirmed my choice and the flashlight turned on. But then I could again just ramp up the brightness and kill it :-/. I also went back into the menu and disabled customization. Lockout feature was gone (as expected). But I still can reproduce the issue where the light can get bricked.
(as already stated - trying 3 different lithium batteries).

If you don't actually exit Customisation mode you will stay in it. A lot of users leave it in Customisation mode for on the fly changes. The problem is that the wrong sequence of clicks can screw up the light.
Please try exiting Customisation mode. I'm not sure which oprion it is in the Menu on the latest software, but it will be the last option, I think.

14. Customizing Optional Features
Your flashlight offers the following optional features through the Option Menu:
1. TurnOnPreset <longflash>
2. AutomaticTurnOff <bright-to-dimramp>
3. ButtonLockout <triple-flash>
4. LocatorFlash <dimflash>
5. PseudoMomentary <longflash,shortflash>
6. TrueMomentary <double-flash>
7. Burst <brighter-dimmer>
8. Menus <dim-to-brightramp>

P

 

[usdiver]

P it is the dim to bright ramp which can be accessed by 4 clicks, press hold and let off then the extra options should be available

 

[Daniel_sk]

Yes, I am pretty confident now that I know how to use the customization menu. I was able to enable and then disable it. Right now it's disabled (so that 4 clicks + hold doesn't enter the menu). But it has no effect, the light will turn off and remain turned off when the dial is rotated to maximum - either when customization is enabled or disabled. And when the light is stuck, there is no way how to turn it on except to remove battery and wait and then try again (no combination of button clicking or rotating the dial will do anything).

 

[peter yetman]

Yes, sorry wasn't clear. One he's done the programming, should he not exit programming by
Press-and-hold the button to select the current menu item. Your flashlight will display a dim-to-bright sequence to indicate you are enabling the feature or a bright-to-dim sequence to indicate you are disabling the feature.

I.e disable the menu feature.

Maybe I'm going off at a tangent, ignore me.
P