Problem with UK C8 eLED Plus light

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:20 am

Hi all!

On Saturday I was diving and while descending my buddy and I turned on our lights. Mine went on, no problem. Upon completing the descent I noticed my light was now off! (a whole couple of seconds later)

I messed with it and wondered if I had flooded it! UGH! Well, after the dive I did a post mortem on it, and found it was NOT flooded as suspected. OK, so second thing I checked once getting home was the battery juice. All 8 batteries had recently been replaced, and sure enough, all 8 had PLENTY of power left.

So, not flooded, not the batteries...

I rechecked the orientation of the plate at the bottom that the batteries rest on, and that was good too. Everything is lined up properly, batteries inserted correctly too.

What's going on??

- Janna

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:44 am

I'd be checking the bulb next.....

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:23 am

It's not a bulb, it's LED's, so it's unlikely that they are bad, but....

Is the eLED 1 LED or 3? If it's 3, I think they're run in series, so one bad one will kill the rest (think christmas lights, one goes out, they all go out) the LED's nominal voltage is ~3.5 volts, so if you can find a way to put 3 volts directly accross each LED, and they all light up, then it's the driver or the switch.

You can jumper the switch and see if that fixes it. If it's the driver you can probably replace that too, but it's gonna be a pain. Is it under warranty?

Jake

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:49 am

Nwbrewer wrote:It's not a bulb, it's LED's, so it's unlikely that they are bad, but....

Doh....How dumb do I feel!

That's what I get for just reading the post and not paying attention to the subject.

- John

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:43 pm

Hmmm....

I did a little searching. It sounds like the first c8 eled's used luxeon V emitters. These seem to have a history of overheating, and degrading over time, but with the way it's heatsinked to puget sound I kind of doubt that's the problem. The newer ones use a nichia led, that's supposed to be better.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/review ... edplus.htm

Do a little testing on the switch and see if you can find where the issue is. I'm sure it can be fixed, but how easily and how much $$$ is another story.

(I should have made the first recomendation of try changing the batteries anyway. It's cheap, and if it doesn't work, you will have the batteries for something else anyway.)

Jake

airsix · Post by **airsix** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:10 pm

Also, make sure all contacts are clean, bright, and shiny. Use a pencil eraser or fine (400 grit or higher) abrasive paper to clean them if tarnished/corroded. Since the light fired at the surface, but failed at depth there may be a pressure related issue. Turn the light on (topside) and press down hard on the bezel to simulate the pressure of depth. Does anything change? Press down on the switch (simulating depth). Does anything change? These parts move around a bit when going through pressure changes and it's not uncommon for intermittent connections to show up with pressure changes (I had a light that would turn its self on below 70ft). Also, if the C8 is anything like my old 1200R (looks like it from pictures), the external switch is just a lever that activates a separate two-position electrical switch on a circuit board mounted to the back of the reflector. The problem could be mechanical in that the external switch lever isn't moving the internal electrical switch properly or perhaps it is moving it properly only under certain conditions.

-Ben

cardiver · Post by **cardiver** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:19 pm

I've had this happen with my c8 before. It was the on/off switch not making contact. Try flipping the switch back and for and wiggling it around and see if the light comes on.

airsix · Post by **airsix** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:21 pm

cardiver wrote:I've had this happen with my c8 before. It was the on/off switch not making contact. Try flipping the switch back and for and wiggling it around and see if the light comes on.

If that's the case you also might want to try cleaning out the switch (the electrical switch, not the mechanical external lever) with some spray contact cleaner (radio-shack, NAPA, etc.)

-Ben

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:17 pm

nwscubamom wrote:Hi all!

On Saturday I was diving and while descending my buddy and I turned on our lights. Mine went on, no problem. Upon completing the descent I noticed my light was now off! (a whole couple of seconds later)

I messed with it and wondered if I had flooded it! UGH! Well, after the dive I did a post mortem on it, and found it was NOT flooded as suspected. OK, so second thing I checked once getting home was the battery juice. All 8 batteries had recently been replaced, and sure enough, all 8 had PLENTY of power left.

So, not flooded, not the batteries...

I rechecked the orientation of the plate at the bottom that the batteries rest on, and that was good too. Everything is lined up properly, batteries inserted correctly too.

What's going on??

- Janna

So- does the light work now, on the surface, or is it still dead?

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:41 pm

Thanks for all your responses!

Just to clarify, the light was turned on while descending, and worked at 25 feet under. Then when I got to about 40 feet down, it was no longer working.

I know what you're talking about with the switch being funky - I've had that happen before on other lights, and that's not the case with this one.

I have no way of running current across the switch to test it - sorry!

The light does not work on the surface now - so it's kaput!

I'm going to switch out some parts with my husband's identical (but inferior silver color) light and see what happens - see if I can isolate the problemo.

- Janna

Pinkpadigal · Post by **Pinkpadigal** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:49 pm

Janna...what kind of batteries are you using?

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:03 pm

Duracells - the batteries were recently changed out, and I just tested every last one of them with my battery tester and they are all REALLY good - full of plenty of life. Not borderline at all.

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:12 pm

Hi janna,

It still could be a bad cell, sometimes batteries can show good on an analyzer, but fail under load (current draw). You might try the batteries in your husbands light and see if it fires. That will tell you for sure.

When all the folks jumped in about the switch I was certain that's what it was.

Now I'm curious......Hope you get it fixed!

wallyc72 · Post by **wallyc72** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:39 pm

UK has a lifetime warranty on there lights.

WylerBear · Post by **WylerBear** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:01 pm

wallyc72 wrote:UK has a lifetime warranty on there lights.

And they have excellent customer service. No questions. No problems. Just boom, new light.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:20 pm

So do you contact them directly or go to the dive shop where you bought it?

cardiver · Post by **cardiver** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:38 pm

Just go to the shop. They'll send it down to San Diego to get it fixed. UK has an amazing warranty and their turn around is fairly quick. I believe that all you pay for is shipping.

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:51 pm

I've also contacted them directly and had a Light Cannon replaced that flooded. Like it was said above, no questions, just replaced, even the rechargable battery. I was impressed.

-Valerie

Huskychemist · Post by **Huskychemist** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:19 am

Janna,

When I got my C8 LED, it burned out on me pretty quickly. It had a funny "burnt electric" smell to it when I opened it up.

So I took it back to the shop, they sent it in and I got a new light. Brand new. No charge.

UK has great customer service, as folks have mentioned.

And for what it's worth, I found my light got just a touch brighter when I used the rechargable battery instead of 8 C's.

Hope you get it fixed soon.

And what's wrong with silver? Hehehe.

Lowell

Cold_H2O · Post by **Cold_H2O** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:07 pm

I broke the handle off my C8 while trying to unscrew the top to replace batteries.
I took it to the shop and they shipped it off not certain if I would get a new light or not.

I got a new light no questions ask.

It might be quicker and easier to just send the light back for a replacement.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:27 pm

Does anyone have a phone number for UK?

I can't seem to find one handy on their website, and I can't seem to get hold of the dive shop where I bought the light from (they actually don't exist anymore)

- Janna

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:57 pm

nwscubamom wrote:Does anyone have a phone number for UK?

I can't seem to find one handy on their website, and I can't seem to get hold of the dive shop where I bought the light from (they actually don't exist anymore)

- Janna

<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safa ... &ct=result" target="_blank">google has one</a>. i hope this is the right number.

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:59 pm

I"ve found them to also be pretty quick with email responses. They'll give you an RMA number to put on the address label.

-Valerie

billandwende · Post by **billandwende** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:07 am

nwscubamom wrote:Does anyone have a phone number for UK?

I can't seem to find one handy on their website, and I can't seem to get hold of the dive shop where I bought the light from (they actually don't exist anymore)

- Janna

Hi, Try this number

619-513-9100

Or e-mail

info@uwkinetics.com

overandunderwater · Post by **overandunderwater** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:50 am

I had exactly the same problem when I replaced my battteries. After days of taking it apart and all that it turned out to be the batteries themselves. The Duracells themselves were not sitting well on top of each other. I bought Radio Shack brand and it now works fine.

Northwest Dive Club

Problem with UK C8 eLED Plus light

Problem with UK C8 eLED Plus light

Re: Problem with UK C8 eLED Plus light

Did it smell funky?