Taking apart and rewiring my lamp

johngalway

The last night I was out shooting I managed to break my lamp. Two real problems here, lamp side of the dimmer both wires had their protective cover broken and frayed wires exposed. One of the wires going into the lamp head was held together with insulating tape as it was breaking too.





A hot glue gun, vice, and some heat shrink would have been helpful, since I had none I had to make do without. Some of the other bits and pieces used.





First thing to do was take a look at the dimmer unit. I popped off the cover, clipped the two damaged wires back and cleaned off any glue that served no purpose. The wire going into the solder on the side with the yellow tape is the positive line, the other dot of solder directly above it is where the positive wire comes out and goes to the lamp. I like to mark the positive wires anytime I mess about with the wiring, helps keep track of what's what, I used yellow tape this time. I also pared back the protective covering on the negative wire, readying it to be soldered onto a fresh wire to the lamp.



With new wiring in place and soldering done things look like this.



Now, in any case that particular dimmer was busted. Something must've burnt out on the board as the switch worked fine but the + from the second solder blob wasn't working, I figure the principle remains the same unless someone knows better from experience. I replaced that dimmer with one off another cable.

Time to look at the lamp.

I unscrewed the red covers and removed them. I marked the + wire and cleared all the glue off. I made a mistake then when I used a larger sized drill bit to drill out the rivet holding the lamp together. Doesn't matter either way, just keep it in mind that smaller is better in that instance. Once I could remove the metal face I again marked the + wire, then clipped them back a bit in length.



One thing to be careful about is drilling out the rivet head. Go slowly and don't use much pressure and when that rivet is going to go, it just goes, no warning. Then you have a spinning bit in among the wires making a mess, I got lucky. It would not be a major problem to also replace those two wires, just drill out the smaller rivets I guess, but it'd be more work..



Trim back the covering, expose the copper wires, solder, tape up (that's where heat shrink would be handy) and this bit is good to go. Yellow tape is + again.





Slide the metal face back into the plastic arm, stick in a new rivet and that part is done. Good idea to leave the riveting until you've tested the whole thing out and made sure it's working properly.

Hopefully the cable tie will stop it pulling again.



Skipped a few things, but all I do is make sure to keep track of the + wire and take it slowly, it's not rocket science.

ormondprop

my lightforce blitz broke the other nitght aswell, just a wire inside the handle, i stripped it and soldered it up, wrapped it in insulating tape and it was back working the finest, went down to d farm later dat night and shot a small chubby dog fox that was prowling around the place for a few nights previously,

about 2 minutes after firing the shot our lamp stoped working again, for some reason all the wires inside the battery pack had melted and its basicaly f***ed now,so i'll have to order a new wiring loom off deben as soon as my credit card is good to go again
http://www.deben.com/lights_lamping/batteries/battery_pack_accessories.php
we cant figure out what caused it, the fuse didn't even go, whether the line short circuited some how or what? the lamp itself is still working fine as we plugged it into the cigarette lighter in the van, so basically thats our lamping postponed for a while, hopefully there won't be any unlucky lambs as a result

johngalway

Don't buy another Deben battery, that would be my advice. Go to a motorbike shop or somewhere that stock sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries and buy one there, it'll be cheaper. Actually they're even on Ebay and they're cheaper than in shops.

I cut off the Deben/Lightforce connectors. I use ring connections that I can put a very small bolt through them and the battery terminals and tighten them up. Works for me and no wires melt.

Liam_D

Same as what you did John, got a 12v 20 Ah sealed battery from guys that were doing the door access control panels in a site I worked on and it lasts all night, bit heavier than the 7Ah though

clivej

Aldi have small boxes of different size shrink wrap now and then, worth keeping an eye open for them.

tikkamark

Very handy work there john!One thing that amazes me when using lightforce lamps is how the connections always find somewhere new to break 99% of the time its at the soldered joints...and they usually go when you most need the light:rolleyes:
I had to do a similar job to yours on my handheld blitz using pretty much the same cable you used there-its a far stronger job now.

johngalway

They do indeed Mark, you still can't beat them for a great beam all the same IMO. I've been itching to take one apart for quite a while, but it's never been broke enough to require fixing it that much I thought there would be much more inside the metal head, but, there's pretty much only empty space in there, nothing complicated to it at all.

clivej

They will always braek at the weakest point and that is where the joint is soldered and there's any movement.

I find it best to put the shrink wrap on the cable anywhere the cable exits a hole, where it flexes. the shrink wrap will make the bending radius of the wire bigger and prevent the cable getting broken at that point.

ormondprop

i might do that so, what do ye guys use to charge the batteries so

johngalway

I use the two Deben chargers I have. I cut off the Deben/Lightforce connector, split the wire into + and - and stuck a red for + and blue for - connector on the end so I could bolt them to the battery terminals.

The way I found out which wire is + and which - simply wasn't a safe way to do it so I'm not going to say. I am sure Clive or someone else can recommend a safe way of doing that

clivej

johngalway wrote: »

I use the two Deben chargers I have. I cut off the Deben/Lightforce connector, split the wire into + and - and stuck a red for + and blue for - connector on the end so I could bolt them to the battery terminals.

The way I found out which wire is + and which - simply wasn't a safe way to do it so I'm not going to say. I am sure Clive or someone else can recommend a safe way of doing that

I'm sure they call that a VOLT METER doh

you can use a wet finger, the live cable makes your hair stand up big time (joke here)

clivej

ormondprop wrote: »

i might do that so, what do ye guys use to charge the batteries so

Aldi battery charger

johngalway

clivej wrote: »

I'm sure they call that a VOLT METER doh

New gizmo is it?

ormondprop

i emailed deben and they got back in contact with me and are sending me all the replacement parts free of charge, so even if a lot of ye guys including myself think their batteries are overpriced atleast thier customer care service is spot on

fish slapped

Two batteries the very same as the deben ones €42 including delivery!!!

http://www.batterycity.ie/multipower_12v___7_0ah__6_3mm_-p-3538.html?cPath=239_213_446&osCsid=884e8a9e94b997f188e238308486b41a

.243

ormondprop wrote: »

i might do that so, what do ye guys use to charge the batteries so

i ran a cable from the battery in my van into the passenger footwell with a cpl of spade insulated connectors,so it gets charged when im driving around till the next time i need it

johngalway

ormondprop wrote: »

i emailed deben and they got back in contact with me and are sending me all the replacement parts free of charge, so even if a lot of ye guys including myself think their batteries are overpriced atleast thier customer care service is spot on

In fairness to their customers, at their prices, it'd be the minimum I'd expect Am sure we've all bought something from them at one stage or another.

bunny shooter

+ 1 JG I had one of their batteries and it has just gone into meltdown and my brothers went into meltdown recently too :mad:

Have a 12V motorcycle battery now ............................... about same weight and less hassle

dicky82

jesus reading this thread would make a man warey of buying deben light force. . . :rolleyes:

johngalway

dicky82 wrote: »

jesus reading this thread would make a man warey of buying deben light force. . . :rolleyes:

It shouldn't really, but I can see how it would.

The pro is they've got the best reflector in the business, that's why they have such a great beam.

The con as we all know is the wiring, connectors and fuse holder.

A "broken" Lightforce would be a real bargain

No6

anyone know where I can get a dimmer switch for mine??

clivej

dicky82 wrote: »

jesus reading this thread would make a man warey of buying deben light force. . . :rolleyes:

Deben don't make the Lightforce lamps

clivej

No6 wrote: »

anyone know where I can get a dimmer switch for mine??

Deben
OR
Opticswarehouse I know that it is rated at 5 amp (50watt lamp) BUT I have it connected to my 100 watt 170 now and it didn't go up in smoke yet

http://www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=debbrtcont

dicky82

clivej wrote: »

Deben don't make the Lightforce lamps

appologies;)

johngalway

The last night I was out shooting I managed to break my lamp. Two real problems here, lamp side of the dimmer both wires had their protective cover broken and frayed wires exposed. One of the wires going into the lamp head was held together with insulating tape as it was breaking too.





A hot glue gun, vice, and some heat shrink would have been helpful, since I had none I had to make do without. Some of the other bits and pieces used.





First thing to do was take a look at the dimmer unit. I popped off the cover, clipped the two damaged wires back and cleaned off any glue that served no purpose. The wire going into the solder on the side with the yellow tape is the positive line, the other dot of solder directly above it is where the positive wire comes out and goes to the lamp. I like to mark the positive wires anytime I mess about with the wiring, helps keep track of what's what, I used yellow tape this time. I also pared back the protective covering on the negative wire, readying it to be soldered onto a fresh wire to the lamp.



With new wiring in place and soldering done things look like this.



Now, in any case that particular dimmer was busted. Something must've burnt out on the board as the switch worked fine but the + from the second solder blob wasn't working, I figure the principle remains the same unless someone knows better from experience. I replaced that dimmer with one off another cable.

Time to look at the lamp.

I unscrewed the red covers and removed them. I marked the + wire and cleared all the glue off. I made a mistake then when I used a larger sized drill bit to drill out the rivet holding the lamp together. Doesn't matter either way, just keep it in mind that smaller is better in that instance. Once I could remove the metal face I again marked the + wire, then clipped them back a bit in length.



One thing to be careful about is drilling out the rivet head. Go slowly and don't use much pressure and when that rivet is going to go, it just goes, no warning. Then you have a spinning bit in among the wires making a mess, I got lucky. It would not be a major problem to also replace those two wires, just drill out the smaller rivets I guess, but it'd be more work..



Trim back the covering, expose the copper wires, solder, tape up (that's where heat shrink would be handy) and this bit is good to go. Yellow tape is + again.





Slide the metal face back into the plastic arm, stick in a new rivet and that part is done. Good idea to leave the riveting until you've tested the whole thing out and made sure it's working properly.

Hopefully the cable tie will stop it pulling again.



Skipped a few things, but all I do is make sure to keep track of the + wire and take it slowly, it's not rocket science.