sigh

johngalway

Rifle out of the safe and into the case.
Battery and lamp hooked up.
Hunting gear donned.
Load all into car and head for destination.
Get out, put on backpack, check rifle and load magazine.
Try lamp :rolleyes:

Go home.

Unload car, re safe rifle.
Remove hunting gear and put away.

Check charger, + connection falls off.

sigh.

Short tales from a DIY soldererer no.1.

greenpeter

johngalway wrote: »

Rifle out of the safe and into the case.
Battery and lamp hooked up.
Hunting gear donned.
Load all into car and head for destination.
Get out, put on backpack, check rifle and load magazine.
Try lamp BEFORE YOU LEAVE :rolleyes:

Go home.

Unload car, re safe rifle.
Remove hunting gear and put away.

Check charger, + connection falls off.

sigh.

Short tales from a DIY soldererer no.1.

Hate that.

johngalway

I wouldn't mind except there was just enough wire going to the + to put the light on the charger saying it was charging when it wasn't. Anyway, all soldered back together again now, better to find that fault tonight than in a few weeks time when there's lambs being eaten.

No6

My lamp kept doing the same thing, breaking down in the middle of a night lamping, melting my lighter sockets and blowing fuses in the car, I have now replaced the lead, switch and lighter plug completely, with bolted joints everything perfect except I havn't been able to get out of the house for about two weeks!!! aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh......:mad:

johngalway

greenpeter wrote: »

Hate that.

Just seen the edit.

I did try lamp before I left, indoors. There was light. But, when I checked out in the great big outdoors it transpired there was fcuk all juice in the battery.

greenpeter

johngalway wrote: »

Just seen the edit.

I did try lamp before I left, indoors. There was light. But, when I checked out in the great big outdoors it transpired there was fcuk all juice in the battery.

clivej

Do it right first time

I'm on top form tonight

Oridginal post here - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055806433


Taking apart and rewiring my lamp
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.

johngalway

clivej wrote: »

Do it right first time

I'm on top form tonight

In my defence The charger is probably one of the first things I ever soldered and it's held this long so ner ner ner to ya

And I still haven't electrocuted myself neither

poulo6.5

johngalway wrote: »

Rifle out of the safe and into the case.
Battery and lamp hooked up.
Hunting gear donned.
Load all into car and head for destination.
Get out, put on backpack, check rifle and load magazine.
Try lamp :rolleyes:

Go home.

Unload car, re safe rifle.
Remove hunting gear and put away.

Check charger, + connection falls off.

sigh.


know how you feel. i have a light that i'v bin using for years, i have had to perform open hart surgery on it more times its not funny, its amazing how inventive you can get in the heat of battle;);)

i carry a soldering iron and solder with me in the jeep. to keep it going.

fish slapped

Still not as bad as the 2 lads that drove up to midlands from Cork to try their new rifle and left their bolt in the safe at home!!

dwighet

fish slapped wrote: »

Still not as bad as the 2 lads that drove up to midlands from Cork to try their new rifle and left their bolt in the safe at home!!

That was funny.....