Forums > Help! > Technical Difficulties in LED's

Posted: 4th Apr 2003
hah hah!

i just figured out the problem. Will fix it now and take some fotos of the process to post here, gimmie a few minutes....

Posted: 4th Apr 2003
How to unbreak broken led units

Ok, first off take the end off your electroglo poi/staff, then take the unit out (using pliers, teeth or whatever). Undo the screw holding the unit closed and take out the batteries. Now slide the PCB board with the switch and LED on out of the plastic casing and put it on your desk.

When you open one of these up the profit margin really hits home - other than the batteries the components cost only a few pence. They are made from 2 3 volt batteries, a resistor, a switch and an LED.

There's not a lot to go wrong with these units. The lights themselves are LEDs, which when placed on a piece of concrete and hit with a hammer repeatedly will probably survive.

The resistor is in the casing and not exposed and so is therefore unlikely to be the problem.

Our best candidate is the switch, as these are exposed and constantly rub against the wire, string of whatever else maybe inside the tube with them.

These switches are SPDT switches, with 2 of the pins soldered together to make a SPST switch (ie on and off). If they have internal damaged then they can be replaced easily, from a decent electronics shop shouldn't cost more than 10p.

In my case after careful observation under a strong light, one of the pins solder joint had come undone. It was only by a millimeter or so, but it was enough to stop them from working:


Non-Https Image Link



Non-Https Image Link


So it was a simple case of resoldering the joint.

I'm not going to try to explain to you how to solder, on the basis that if you own a soldering iron then you should know what you are doing already! (and if you don't burn your desk whilst doing this then you know more/have more coordination than me).

My sodlering iron wasn't hot enough to melt the solder already on the board, so i added a bit of my own.

And that was that. Then we all went home and had tea and went to bed.

Posted: 5th Apr 2003
I get my brother to the soldering (as his hands are steadier than mine) but aside from that I agree with flid.

Meh

Posted: 7th Apr 2003
Excellent post flid.

* walks off to find broken LED units and soldering iron *

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 7th Apr 2003
Flid...thank you. You so completely Rock!

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 6th Apr 2003
well i'm not sure i'd go that far, but thanks for thee flattery anyway

Posted: 6th Apr 2003
He doesn't rock. The floorboards are loose. This causes some undue swaying.
Tis all....

Meh

Posted: 7th Apr 2003
teeheee cantus!
flid, mate! fantastic, thorough post, mate! your contribution should be made into a HoP article. mmm sexy PCBs! yes i watch too much mecha anime.
/walks off in a robotic fasion

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