Cree SSC P7 Light Problem

[gregmercer]

I bought the Diving Cree SSC-P7-C-SXO 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Flashlight about 6 months ago after reading all the good reviews off this site and really enjoyed it until yesterday. I've used it on about 20 dives so far with no problems. Yesterday, I went to turn it on with no luck, I thought maybe the batteries were dead. I put some new batteries in with still no luck...

There are no signs of water entering the light, when I turn the switch however, the light does not turn on.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Do they sell a replacement for that little gold thing in the front of the light that contains the led and driver and such?

Thanks!!

 

[Kilili]

I have had occasion where the magnetic switch somehow "sticks", although it rotates. Also, it seems that the batteries sometimes don't position properly. A combination of playing with the switch and resetting the batteries a couple times usually resolves it.

The driver and LED are probably the last things to cause problems. I have 3 of these, and sometimes one of them will misbehave a bit. Still, I think they are great lights for the price, and have well over 100 dives on one of them.

 

[gregmercer]

I replaced the magnet in November when I first had this problem and that made it start to work again. Now, I'm having the same problem, the light will not turn on.

The last dive I went on it would turn on for a few minutes then randomly cut off. If I hit the light on my tank a few times it would shake something loose and turn back on.

Now, I cannot get it to turn on at all. I tried a new magnet for the switch, new batteries, jiggling everything around.... no luck

I'm pretty positive its the driver/LED this time

Does anyone know where to buy a replacement?

THANKS!

 

[gcbryan]

Without some soldering/electronics skills you can't get there from here A direct replacement isn't available for what you are talking about since the driver includes circuits specific for that light due to the magnetic switching and that company (Magicshine) does sell replacement parts.

If banging it around causes the led to turn on then it's not the led. It could be a lose connection so if someone with electronics skills desolders the circuit boards to get them apart so you can check the wiring... that's one possibility.

It still sounds like a battery issue to me. I have the MC-E version. When using the (2) 18650 batteries that came with it I had similar problems. I replaced those batteries and that took care of the problem. Just to make sure I did a few more dives with the original batteries in again and the problems reoccurred.

Those lights also work with (4) CR 123 batteries so if you don't have additional 18650 batteries at hand you can easily get the CR123's just to see if this fixes the problem and then you can order some more 18650's.

PS. I just noticed that you said you did change the batteries. Check the exposed bottom of the circuit board to see if there is any brown or black "stuff" on it. This would generally occur if flooded but check it anyway. Take a pencil eraser and/or some rubbing alcohol and Q-tips and clean the tracings good.

Unless it's just a lose connection somewhere it's not likely that the led is bad or that the driver suddenly stopped working.

If nothing else works...just order a new light...they are cheap enough and keep the old one to experiment with.