MTE Rebel 100: Dying or other fault?

[CampingLED]

Bought a MTE 5-mode Rebel single AA a few months ago. This flashlight is always in my pocket and I use it many times daily. The battery only lasts a week as a result of high usage.

Over the last few weeks I noticed that the output is dimming. The tailcap switch was loose and it was brighter when it was secured again. I Also bought a few more of these as gifts and noticed that their output were higher and whiter than the old one (after the switch was secured).

This flashlight has done many hours of work and after reading reports on the faulty batches and failure rate I am not sure whether this is the Rebel LED that failed after many hours of usage or if it is some other fault.

The new ones that I received were all given as gifts an I did not even keep an extra one for myself. Now I feel like holding a :candle: :mecry:

Did anyone have similar experiences?

 

[derfyled]

I don't think the led has been overdriven since it runs on a single AA. It sound like a bad contact.

Have you tried to tighten the pill (circuit board) and the spring in the tailcap? Also try to clean all contact with alcool.

 

[dulridge]

Bought a MTE 5-mode Rebel single AA a few months ago. This flashlight is always in my pocket and I use it many times daily. The battery only lasts a week as a result of high usage.

Over the last few weeks I noticed that the output is dimming. The tailcap switch was loose and it was brighter when it was secured again. I Also bought a few more of these as gifts and noticed that their output were higher and whiter than the old one (after the switch was secured).

This flashlight has done many hours of work and after reading reports on the faulty batches and failure rate I am not sure whether this is the Rebel LED that failed after many hours of usage or if it is some other fault.

The new ones that I received were all given as gifts an I did not even keep an extra one for myself. Now I feel like holding a :candle: :mecry:

Did anyone have similar experiences?

I've bought my last MTE light. Mine (CR123 version) just flickered and died. And was completely impossible to get apart to grab the LED which was the only bit of it worth anything at all. While trying to melt the glue that held it together the reflector melted (in a sealed bag in boiling water) Not the first MTE light to just die on me, but it was the last.

MTE lights appear to be complete junk - so I'd expect just about anything of them. Doubt it is the LED - mine looked like the driver died, hence the effort to get the LED out to put in something that might actually survive.

 

[Marduke]

Your Rebel may have been one of the recalled ones.

 

[dulridge]

Your Rebel may have been one of the recalled ones.

The recall said that they'd die after about 24hr of usage. Most folks haven't given them that much usage. At a guess the LED is the most reliable part of any MTE light.

Even if the LED is the affected part, just about every other part is just as unreliable. My first MTE light killed the LED as the metal reflector was way longer than it ought to have been and actually cut the legs off the LED when tightened to a point where the head wasn't going to fall off.

 

[Ogg Vorbis]

I have the same light, I wouldn't say I use it that regular as I EDC my Fenix P2D RB100, but it is kept at the side of my bed set on low for those late night trips. I have to say I thought the quality was very good, I mean $17.90 shipped! Much better than other $20 lights I have seen.

I would suggest lightly sanding the bottom of the battery tube, the part that is bare aluminium, I noticed mine had a few connection flaws. I simply took the light apart and cleaned it, making sure I could get the best connections possible.

I would also suggest looking into NiMH batteries, if you use it very often you might be better off.

 

[thelightdude]

I don't think the led has been overdriven since it runs on a single AA. It sound like a bad contact.

Have you tried to tighten the pill (circuit board) and the spring in the tailcap? Also try to clean all contact with alcool.

My MTE had the same problems as described in this thread. I finally unscrewed the head and tailcap, cleaned and oiled all the exposed parts, and put it back together. It hasn't dimmed since. I haven't run mine for 24 hours total.

 

[CampingLED]

Thanks for the replies. What I have done to try to identify the problem were:

1) Secured the switch portion in the tailcap (the spring was loose) Some improvement
2) The top and bottom parts of the tube is very good and no sanding required.
3) Switched the tailcap with another light (no improvement)
4) The pill is very tight (recently put an O-ring in front of the lens)
5) Swapped batteries between lights (thought that the internal resistance might be the problem)
6) Used brand new (out of the box) freshly charged battery
7) I have also cleaned the contacts

I therefore believe that the problem may be the driver or LED itself. This might be a case of the Rebel failing after 24 hours of usage. Looks like my job for the day is to dismantle the pill :sigh:

 

[thelightdude]

Thanks for the replies. What I have done to try to identify the problem were:

1) Secured the switch portion in the tailcap (the spring was loose) Some improvement
2) The top and bottom parts of the tube is very good and no sanding required.
3) Switched the tailcap with another light (no improvement)
4) The pill is very tight (recently put an O-ring in front of the lens)
5) Swapped batteries between lights (thought that the internal resistance might be the problem)
6) Used brand new (out of the box) freshly charged battery
7) I have also cleaned the contacts

I therefore believe that the problem may be the driver or LED itself. This might be a case of the Rebel failing after 24 hours of usage. Looks like my job for the day is to dismantle the pill :sigh:

My MTE had a metal washer on the head section that made contact with the tube when it was screwed down. I believe this may be a part of the problem. After cleaning and oiling the washer and surrounding area it hasn't dimmed in the last two months.

The first repair I attempted was to take apart the switch, cleaned and oiled it, and it still would randomly dim.

 

[CampingLED]

All contacts are clean and good. I noticed now that the LED has a slightly darker color than the new ones. If I change battery once a week the total cumulative runtime per week should be approximately one hour +. That means that it may still be within the 24 hour period.

Photo of the Rebel:

 

[moon lander]

i bought a few of these lights as christmas presents, all of them had that problem but i fixed them. heres the problem:

theres a wavy washer that connects the body to the head electrically, but its made of steel and doesnt quite bridge the gap. heres how to fix those 2 problems:

unscrew the head (its not easy) and you will find a wavy shaped washer made of like black steel or something. this washer connected the body to the head electrically, but has high resistance. you need to replace that with a copper one. i dont know where to buy them. luckily, you will find a copper one if you disassemble the tailcap.

take the tailcap apart and replace the copper wavy washer with a ring of copper wire with no insulation. it will work even better than the washer in the tailcap. check the resistance with a dmm before and after to make sure.

use the tailcaps copper wavy washer in the head. at this point it will work or not. if it still doesnt work, and your sure the tailcap still works, the only remaining problem is that the head and body are too far apart for the copper wavy washer to bridge the gap. to fix this:

solder a copper wire to the bottom of the circuit board sticking out of the bottom of the head. this will fill the gap between the head and the washer to connect the the body. and walla, your light should work.

for 20 bucks this is more work than its worth, but at least it works. hope this helps. also, add some thermal paste under the led while its apart.

 

[Jarl]

My rebel that's burnt out has an obvious dark patch on the die, which isn't present in that photo.

 

[CampingLED]

i bought a few of these lights as christmas presents, all of them had that problem but i fixed them. heres the problem:

theres a wavy washer that connects the body to the head electrically, but its made of steel and doesnt quite bridge the gap. heres how to fix those 2 problems:

unscrew the head (its not easy) and you will find a wavy shaped washer made of like black steel or something. this washer connected the body to the head electrically, but has high resistance. you need to replace that with a copper one. i dont know where to buy them. luckily, you will find a copper one if you disassemble the tailcap.

take the tailcap apart and replace the copper wavy washer with a ring of copper wire with no insulation. it will work even better than the washer in the tailcap. check the resistance with a dmm before and after to make sure.

use the tailcaps copper wavy washer in the head. at this point it will work or not. if it still doesnt work, and your sure the tailcap still works, the only remaining problem is that the head and body are too far apart for the copper wavy washer to bridge the gap. to fix this:

solder a copper wire to the bottom of the circuit board sticking out of the bottom of the head. this will fill the gap between the head and the washer to connect the the body. and walla, your light should work.

for 20 bucks this is more work than its worth, but at least it works. hope this helps. also, add some thermal paste under the led while its apart.

Tks Moon Lander. All the flashlights have copper wavy washers in the tailcap and under the pill. I have put another head on the faulty flashlight (wavy washer, body and tailcap from faulty flashlight, head from good flashlight) and the light was fine.

Even pressed battery wires directly onto the contacts at the bottom of the circuit of the faulty flashlight. Still no improvement.

Based on the feedback received and the visible state of the emitter (tks for comment Jarl), I now believe that my circuit board need to be taken out and resoldered. Looked at it yesterday and got cold feet, but it seems to be the only way. The new flashlights do have a visible wire soldered from the top to the neg bottom ring of the circuit.

Like you said, a lot of work for a sub $20 flashlight.

 

[CampingLED]

Fixed, thanks for the help. There was a piece of metal (probably came from where the holes were drilled in the heatsink) lying on the chip between pins 1 & 2. Removed this, and cleaned the inside. Seems fine now. Will test tonight with a comparing light.

 

[thelightdude]

I guess I got a newer production model. My head washer was copper. as I posted above all I did was clean and lube it and firmly tighten it back up. It hasn't dimmed again -so far.