Fixing my Torch - God I am clever :)

[Mark Chase]

Now there are a lot of electro wiz kids out there who will laugh at me, but whilst I can calculate the shear strength of an oak beem under a torsional 150kn loading my electrical knoladge ends at wireing a plug.

No my feet of briliance today was on a par with a moon landing. I fixed my tourch

Last dive I flooded my CD halogen tourch. Having striped it apart in the past I knew that there was a resistor in the black bit and post flood it had vanished. So I contacted CD and asked them what the value of the resistor was and they told me 10 Ohm. Cool. So a trip to Maplins later and 0.7p less in the bank account I am the prowd owner of a 10ohm resistor.

After a bit of deft work with a soldering iron the rig is put back together and to my horror it fails to work  

Stripping the mag swith down again I find a broken wire leading to an equaly broked small glass tube. in side the black bit. Inside the glas tube are two bits of copper looking like a read valve. Could this be a reed switch  

A quick serch on the maplins web site finds reed switches with loads of info none of which I can understand. So I go to Maplins and get one of each reed swith (they had 3) One had two wires on one end so that was out and I narrowed it to two. Total cost £1.58p for the two

Back home in the laboritory, i anm once again armend with a soldering iron. Then the big moment comes annnnnnnnnnnd
.

.

.

.

.
It dosent bloody work  

I had used the more powerfull 1amp reed switch and it was having none of it. Then I used the powerful magnetic base of a DTI stand to see if it would switch the light on.

Ha Ha Ha Ha It works I am an electrical god

Obviously the magnet in the tourch head wasent powerfull enough to operate the switch. A quick swap to the lower powered reed switch and hey prestow a fulley working CD tourch.

I feel sooooooooooo clever it hurts  

So if you flood your CD tourch head just get a 10 ohm resistor and a CL37S 0.5 switching amp reed switch and as long as you can use a soldering iron your laughing.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Doug Parker]

Has it not got 2 reed switches in it ?.  Well done for fixing it in only a couple of goes.  I got pi55ed off constantly replacing switches and went for the HID.  Much easier to repair.

[Mark Chase]

Not that I noticed.

Ok now this might get a bit technical for some but try and keep up

The black wire conects to a 10ohm resistor which goes through a small hole in the black plastic bit. On the top you can see a small screw (next to the white wires). The resistor wire wrapes arround that screw where it joins the end of the reed switch. The switch is located inside the black bit and is attached at the other end to the yellow and green wire by a simillar screw on the back of the black bit.

NOTE: People who are noty as clever as me and can not follow the above detailed explination should refer to the Collins book of advanced electrical terminolagy

ATB

Mark Chase

[Paul Oliver]

Mark

Well done i am very impressed. Do you fancy a go at my pile of cr*p Greenforce Arrow 16 with its burnt out battery and reluctance to turn on and loose bulb.

Dive Safe

Paul

[Diving Dude]

Mark.

l shall be going to Maidstone before Xmas, l'll pop in my Roho umbilical torch with melted head for you to repair. (the head is the bit on the end of the wire)

[Paul Oliver]

DD

I thought that was the Battery?

Paul

[Janos]

I've managed to make me a torch, and although first time it flooded, and indeed the second time it flooded, I reckon I've fixed all the leaks and perhaps it'll be 3rd time lucky. Just waiting for the weather to clear up.

Watch this space for a proper right up.

Laters,
   Janos

[Mdemon]

Well done Chasey - don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Working on "Son-of-NightSun" now - and not a reed switch in sight!  Like Janos, I will give everyone a good laugh once it's up and flaming.

By the way, has anyone played with Xenon 12v bulbs?  They reckon you get 50% more light out of a 55w or 65w filament.  There must be a catch.  

[daz]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Mdemon @ Nov. 30 2003,20:00)]Working on "Son-of-NightSun" now - and not a reed switch in sight!  Like Janos, I will give everyone a good laugh once it's up and flaming.

What are you going to use for a switch mechanism,  Uranium 235 and control rods  

Daz

[Janos]

On building underwater torches, I've tried to emulate the gel-filled approach of the electronics of my dive computer by filling my torch battry box with bathroom sealant.

It still works, but only problem is it STINKS of vinegar as the stuff cures. So if you can smell a chippy up in Stoney next w/end. It's me.

Laters,
    Janos