OrcaTorch D550 problem

[Zef]

Vendor just informed me they shipped the replacement from China and has provided tracking info.

-Z

 

[RainPilot]

At the price point for these lights, it wouldn't really make sense to ship the unit back to China and ship a replacement out, so Orca generally just ships a new unit out when needed.

 

[Zef]

At the price point for these lights, it wouldn't really make sense to ship the unit back to China and ship a replacement out, so Orca generally just ships a new unit out when needed.

OrcaTorch is in China.

I contacted OrcaTorch first. Apparently they will work warranty returns but prefer that customers work through the vendor it was purchased from. The D550 kit I have was given to me as a gift so I only knew that it was purchased on amazon. OrcaTorch traced the serial number to the vendor and asked them to reach out to me. The vendor is in china as well, they provide stock to amazon to fulfill orders...unfortunately they cannot pull from the amazon stock to provide warranty replacements so they are shipping a torch out from china. They have indicated that I do not need to send the defective one back....hence why I will try to dismantle it to discover why it failed to hopefully gain further understanding of the problem.

-Z

 

[Dark Wolf]

@Zef

This may be a stupid, or optimistic, thought but here goes. This may be comparing apples to oranges.

At one time, not so long ago, there were a lot of problems with Chinese solar chargers. If memory serves, it was mostly the wiring. Namely too small guage of wire, or poor solder joints.

Suppose that might be too much to hope for. And like I said, I may be trying to compare apples to oranges.

DW

 

[undrwater]

It the magnet in the ring still there? Or perhaps degraded? That's happened to a couple of my torches (not Orcs Torch).

You could test by passing a magnet around the perimeter of the ring.

 

[Brian G]

I would look at the switch first. Inexpensive magnetic switches fail sometimes. I think you could check this be removing the tail cap and using a wire to short the flashlight body to the negative battery terminal. If the D550 is like the non-diving lights I'm used to, the tailcap switch is a momentary-off design, so just holding a wire across the gap and intermittently lifting then reconnecting it will cycle through the different modes.

 

[Zef]

I would look at the switch first. Inexpensive magnetic switches fail sometimes. I think you could check this be removing the tail cap and using a wire to short the flashlight body to the negative battery terminal. If the D550 is like the non-diving lights I'm used to, the tailcap switch is a momentary-off design, so just holding a wire across the gap and intermittently lifting then reconnecting it will cycle through the different modes.

If the tail has a cap that is removable it is most likely glued along its threads and may need force to open as of right now it does not come apart. I will ise force to see if I can open it once the replacement arrives.

-Z

 

[Zef]

UPDATE:

I got bored and decided to mess with the torch:

The tail assembly of the D550 is thread and glued/thread-lock compound.

Blasted it for a minute or two with a hair dryer on high power (I don't have a heat gun), mounted it in a vice and used a channel lock pliers and was able to turn the tail cap free.

Inside the tail assembly is a just a circular solid state board with the switch components on one side and the battery contact spring soldered to the other side. The outer perimeter of the spring side of the board is exposed copper to make contact with an un-anodized lip it rests against inside the body of the torch.

The entire torch is solid state...no wires whatsoever.

The problem:
It looks like the solder joints on the switch side of the circuit board are corroded as if the manufacturer did not clean the flux off after doing the soldering. Since the components are tiny it does not take much to affect things...the corrosion could be causing a short keeping things from operating properly.

A friend suggested cleaning with a small brush (like an acid brush) and isopropyl alcohol to try to remove the flux/flux residue and any corrosion.

Will post another update once I have a chance to clean it. If I remember to, I will snap a couple of photos too.

-Z

 

[Aaron Harmon]

Waited until I was back from Cozumel to do some testing before I posted. I had an issue with my D550. Before I left, I fully charged both (original batteries, each used approximately once before). This trip, on the first battery, I used the flashlight a few times for a few seconds at a time on day dives (to illuminate swim throughs, etc.). Later, I went to use the night on a night dive, nothing, it would not turn on. I thought that maybe the battery was dead (sometimes the light gets turned on from shifting around in my reg bag). Anyway, later, on the boat, I put in the other fully charged battery and the light still did not work. I thought my light was trash. Later, I searched scuba board and found this thread.

Anyway, when I got home, I put in a 3rd 18650 battery and the light worked fine. I charged the original batteries, one worked fine, on the other the charger indicates the battery is fully charged but simply does not work in the light.

Here's my guess, I fully discharged the first (working) battery somehow probably, the light turned on bumping around in my bag. The second (reserve) battery is somehow bad. This lead me to believe the light was bad.

Thankfully it is not.

Here is my question. Why would the charger indicate that this essentially brand new (used once or twice) battery (came with the flashlight) is fully charged and yet the battery seams to be no good. Pardon my ignorance, but I know little about these batteries...

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

OrcaTorch is in China.



-Z

Yes, which is why he stated it did not make sense to send a unit back to China and then have them ship out a new one. They usually just send out a new one so there is no return shipping costs.