Aluminum oxide and flickering lights

Kitchen Panda

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
260
Location
Winnipeg
This evening at a family supper my brother in law handed me his Quark AA2 and said it had become quite flickery and undependable, changing modes at whim and not staying lit. I dismantled the light tonight and polished all the threads, and used my snap ring pliers to remove the switch and polish the threads in the caps. The light is 100% better now, smoothly changing between modes and staying lit when switched on. What a relief! I was worried we'd have to send it to whoever handles Quark warranty work.

I would like to treat it to some DeOxIt or something of that kind, but I'll have to lay in a supply - this was the sort of thing I could borrow from the instrument shop at a former employer, but that was years ago.

I have nearly the same light - bought just after the name changes so mine is marked QP2. This was the cause of a massive search of the camper one time when we were staying with the in-laws at the lake - I picked up the AA2, thinking it was my QP2, and put it in my pocket. When brother -in law couldn't find his light, we searched high and low till I realized I was carrying *two* flashlights.

I must say, his light shows much more signs of use than mine. I must explain to him that flashlights are supposed to be kept pristine on the shelf, only used for white wall hunting, then carefully returned to storage.

Bill
 

Derek Dean

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
2,426
Location
Monterey, CA
DeOxIt is great stuff, but pretty much any electronic cleaner will do the trick. It's always nice to be able to get a friends light working like new.

A few years back I had a buddy who handed me his trusty 3D Maglight and said it had stopped working. Turns out the alkaline batteries had leaked badly and corroded to the point they were stuck. Well, we drilled those puppies out, took a wire brush and baking soda paste to it, and after an hour of cleaning we finally got it back to working like new. It's a great feeling to see a once nearly useless piece of pipe, finally light up.

Of course, he's one of those heathens that seems to think flashlights are tools, because he just loaded it back up with 3 more copper tops and tossed back in his tool box :laughing:
 
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