Olight i3 stopped working after drop :-(

[Raukodur]

Dropped my keyring on the ground outside my house today morning, and my Olight I3 won't come on anymore. At first thought it was because of flat battery, but no luck trying other batteries.

Anything I can do?

[enki_ck]

Probably contact issues. They are not exactly impact proof.

Where did you buy it from? Maybe you can get it fixed under warrenty. I sent my non working itp a2 to the seller (China based hkequipment) a year and a half after I bought it and they fixed it. Only had to pay postage to China. It took some time but I got a working light back.

[Raukodur]

Bought it from Flashaholics in December 2011.

[N_N_R]

I'm sorry to hear that. Have you dropped it often before? Because...... I've dropped my i3 and i3S very very often, unintentionally, of course. Now "good" to know that this can't last forever.

[Raukodur]

No, this is the first impact I believe its had 

[tattoosteve99]

Open the battery compartment. Install the battery but do not put the cap or whatever on. Get a small piece of wire and make contact. This will determine if its the light it the tailcap.
Just looked at a pic. Just use the wire to make contact with the negative end of the battery and the exposed metal, contact end, of the head.

[Raukodur]

Open the battery compartment. Install the battery but do not put the cap or whatever on. Get a small piece of wire and make contact. This will determine if its the light it the tailcap.
Just looked at a pic. Just use the wire to make contact with the negative end of the battery and the exposed metal, contact end, of the head.

 

I did this and it WORKED!

So this means the cap is fine, its a problem with the connection from the tailcap? But looking at the construction, I don't understand what can fail in that department?

[Raukodur]

any help?

[Raukodur]

No one have any suggestions ?

[nate j]

My suspicion is that the spring in the tail of the light was compressed beyond its elastic range by the impact.  Thus, it is no longer completing the circuit within the flashlight.  About the only thing you can try is using a dental pick (or some other tool thin enough to reach down inside the flashlight body) to gently try to stretch the spring back out.  This may or may not work, as you stand an excellent chance of breaking the spring doing this, but unless you believe you can get it repaired or replaced under warranty, I don't see how you have anything to lose.

[detron]

sorry to hear that, I hope nate's idea works for you

[Raukodur]

My suspicion is that the spring in the tail of the light was compressed beyond its elastic range by the impact.  Thus, it is no longer completing the circuit within the flashlight.  About the only thing you can try is using a dental pick (or some other tool thin enough to reach down inside the flashlight body) to gently try to stretch the spring back out.  This may or may not work, as you stand an excellent chance of breaking the spring doing this, but unless you believe you can get it repaired or replaced under warranty, I don't see how you have anything to lose.

Thanks for the suggestion 

When I put the AAA battery in, it rests on the spring, and the end sticks out of the end of the case. I can press it down and feel the springiness of the spring as normal. I would have thought that if the spring had come forward following the drop, when I press the battery in fully, it would cause the spring to move back and the contact to be remade, but that isn't happening.

This is difficult to explain 

Do you understand what I am saying?

I don't see what else I can do to remake contact between the spring and the tailcap if this is the problem, other than pushing the battery in until it goes in no further.

[tattoosteve99]

Do you have a multimeter? A cheap one will work if it has ohm reading. I suspect the tailcap is bad or the switch is busted. The only way to determine if it is is to check it with a ohmmeter.  Another thing is to make sure the tailcap is connecting to the body of light, the switch may work but if it isnt in contact then the path of electricity is not making it through. Wish I could help more 

[sawman]

I'd be buying a new light and not the same one either. May I suggest a Nano light. They're awesome and take up almost no space.

[Raukodur]

I'd be buying a new light and not the same one either. May I suggest a Nano light. They're awesome and take up almost no space.

Already bought a fenix e05  awesome light, just what I always wanted, 1 mode, medium, good flood, good battery life, no fuss.

[Raukodur]

Do you have a multimeter? A cheap one will work if it has ohm reading. I suspect the tailcap is bad or the switch is busted. The only way to determine if it is is to check it with a ohmmeter.  Another thing is to make sure the tailcap is connecting to the body of light, the switch may work but if it isnt in contact then the path of electricity is not making it through. Wish I could help more 

Thanks, I will give this a try with the meter.

Regarding contact, I don't think it can be a problem with contact between the bottom piece and the head, since that seems to be via a ring of copper in the head, and the metal body itself.

[nate j]

My suspicion is that the spring in the tail of the light was compressed beyond its elastic range by the impact.  Thus, it is no longer completing the circuit within the flashlight.  About the only thing you can try is using a dental pick (or some other tool thin enough to reach down inside the flashlight body) to gently try to stretch the spring back out.  This may or may not work, as you stand an excellent chance of breaking the spring doing this, but unless you believe you can get it repaired or replaced under warranty, I don't see how you have anything to lose.

Thanks for the suggestion 

When I put the AAA battery in, it rests on the spring, and the end sticks out of the end of the case. I can press it down and feel the springiness of the spring as normal. I would have thought that if the spring had come forward following the drop, when I press the battery in fully, it would cause the spring to move back and the contact to be remade, but that isn't happening.

This is difficult to explain 

Do you understand what I am saying?

I don't see what else I can do to remake contact between the spring and the tailcap if this is the problem, other than pushing the battery in until it goes in no further.

I think I understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure you understood what I was trying to convey.  Let's assume the resting length of the spring was originally, say, 10 mm (which was sufficient to insure good contact, and the flashlight worked).  If the impact was sufficient to deform the spring, such that the new resting length of the spring was perhaps 7 mm, and 7 mm was not long enough to insure good contact, the light would then no longer work.  If this is the case, the only potential solution is to bend (deform) the spring back to approximately its original resting length, although as I stated above, the spring may very well break if you attempt this.

[Raukodur]

DID IT!

Fiddled around with he spring at the back, trying to pull it out, trying to push it back in, etc. and in the end, it came on, and works now!

Thanks for the help everyone 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Result!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[nate j]

Well done.  Glad it is working for you now.

[h0w234]

These guys have claimed to have created the smallest flashlight in the world. I don't know how much truth is in that but I like the company for handy key-ring gear. Apparently it's machines from solid brass so it might be more street than your current light although its a kickstarter campaign so who knows! LINK REMOVED

[enki_ck]

These guys have claimed to have created the smallest flashlight in the world. I don't know how much truth is in that but I like the company for handy key-ring gear. Apparently it's machines from solid brass so it might be more street than your current light although its a kickstarter campaign so who knows! LINK REMOVED

As this is a privately owned and members funded forum we can't allow you to advertise for free here. If you're searching for input and thoughts on your project you'll need to upgrade your account to a Crowd Sourcing subscription you can buy here for only $20 a month or $175 a year.

Then you'll be able to post links to your project in our Crowd Sourcing subforum.

If you have any more questions or would like to buy a banner ad to sponsor your project, please contact Grant Lamontagne, the site owner via private message.

[sawman]

Speaking of smallest flashlights, I carry a Nano and I can't say enough nice things about it. It's bright, has a long lasting LED, and is water resistant 

[nate j]

Speaking of smallest flashlights, I carry a Nano and I can't say enough nice things about it. It's bright, has a long lasting LED, and is water resistant 

I haven't had a Nano, but used to have a Pelican L1.  The first time I had to buy replacement batteries pretty much soured me on the whole coin/button cell flashlight thing, but I'm glad it is working out for you.