# [CREE LAMP] Minus pole disconnected, then dies after attempts to connect again



## ArminVanBuuren (Sep 9, 2014)

I've purchased a CREE budget flashlight. However, due to mechanical force, white (minus) wire disconnected:





It worked after connecting to wherever on the white metallic housing around. Today, however, I connected the white wire on the previous spot, the LED blinked and refuses to start again.

I initially intended to ask about "where exactly to connect" the white wire, but now it's rather about whether the lamp would ever start again...

Thank you all a lot.


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## ArminVanBuuren (Sep 11, 2014)

I guess I will have to throw it out :-(((


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## RobertMM (Sep 11, 2014)

You have to provide more details.


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## ArminVanBuuren (Sep 12, 2014)

I think I've written everything about it... What additional would you require to know?


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## RobertMM (Sep 12, 2014)

Maybe more closeup pics of your light and where you think the solder on the wire came off. Some members here have crazy modding skills and may be able to help you.


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## yellow (Sep 13, 2014)

does it light up, when (again) connected to another spot at the housing?

--> Use this then


PS: there is possibly some combination of bad solder, oxidation, insualtion, wahtever at the "original" place


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## lightfooted (Sep 13, 2014)

In that picture the white wire appears to already be connected to the LED board and you seem to be holding the other end of it. What did you use to "connect" it again?


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## yellow (Sep 14, 2014)

.
... the white wire came loose_ inside the housing _...


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## ArminVanBuuren (Sep 17, 2014)

yellow, 2014-09-13: It used to light up when connected to another (wherever) spot at the housing. I was real happy and thought that welding it would be enough and it would continue working properly. However, it no longer works now ...
Possibility of oxidation etc is quite improbable - it was working, suddenly, when connected to another spot on the desk, it stopped to work.

lightfooted, 2014-09-13: I actually did not weld it whatsoever, I had just wanted to try whether it would light when connected to the housing. It would, but then something happened - *the LED just blinked *(for 1/100 sec), and *decided not to light up **anymore*. So actually, I was trying to solve a problem where to weld it. Now I am rather curious whether it would be even possible for it to light again.

Is it possible for such a LED to die?

Thanks.


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## ArminVanBuuren (Oct 15, 2014)

I'm desperate :-( The lamp used to work, but it no longer lights up. Even though the green switch indicator does.

Would anyone help?

Here is a video explaining it all:


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## BriteLite2 (Oct 15, 2014)

Its possible the led was shorted out . did you see a little puff of smoke or smell anything or hear a little pop/click and then it went out? doesnt look fried though it looks fine . 

can you shine a light inside the housing and see where that white wire was originally attached to the board? I am not seeing any sort of grounding screw or such thing on the housing . 

what exactly does the rest of the light look like? and what kind of "mechanical force" broke the white wire free? the problem isnt with the led side of the capsule its inside the capsule. what powersource is it hooked up to for these tests youre doing?


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## ArminVanBuuren (Oct 16, 2014)

The previous spot of the white wire's connection can be seen during the very first second of the video in my previous post. You can see a soldered connection to the "motherboard" (right underneath the middle of the "minus" signs). The white wire must have disconnected in this area by excessive strain in the cable between the LED and the batteries - I use it while biking and on never knows what is happening there.

Here is another video, any advice is much appreciated:



Thank you guys a lot.


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## bushwhacked (Oct 18, 2014)

It looks to me like the white wires' insulation has peeled off and it's shorting out against the star. 

Try disconnect the battery. Lift the white wire up so that it's not touching anything, the exposed part. Then test it again. 

Let me know if that works.

Edit: to be specific leave it connected to the star, just gently lift the white wire up a bit so that the wire that's against the star isn't laying there anymore.


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## yellow (Oct 18, 2014)

insulation does not look bad to me,
also that does not do anything, as the negative(s) usually (and obviously here also) is connected "together"

without anyone being able to get a good look at the electronics, we can only assume ...

* the cable that broke - connection to battery - _should_ not cause any damage to the electronics (like a broken wire to the led would). That is pretty much the same a mechanical switch at the cables would do
but
* the short flash is a really bad "sign", mostly a sign that the main electronics got 

That the indicator led lights up, only shows that its electrical path gets connected. Has nothing to do with the main led's electronics.

--> try to identify the spot on the board, where the white wire has to be soldered and do so, try light.
... imho the electronics are fried
;(


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## ArminVanBuuren (Oct 19, 2014)

I soldered both the wires to their previous spot, it is easy to identify, moreover, there are + & - signs pictured on the very top. So that now I don't have to hold the white one during the test. However, it still does not work. Nevertheless, it DOES produce the high frequency tone when switched on at the medium mode (it used to do it when LED was functional).

In the test, I used another source, my own 18650 batteries connected in 2S2P with 8.4 total output voltage to see if it was not the source's mistake. But it's not, also, the source works great with other lights...



Here is the inside of the module, as required in one of the previous posts:



Any advice? Or is it the LED dead?

Thank you guys a lot, I strongly appreciate your time!


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## ArminVanBuuren (Oct 24, 2014)

bump!


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## Norm (Oct 26, 2014)

*Thread closed and your last post has been deleted, we will not tolerate that sort of language on CPF - Norm*


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