Rear light jammed on

Bikequin

I got to work this morning to find that my rear light, despite having not turned it on this morning, is now jammed on. I know its a long shot but has anyone else had this problem and managed to fix it?

I've taken the batteries out but when I put them back in the light is still on, hopefully I can leave the batteries out all day and it'll have enough left to get me home tonight.

Its a Smart superflash FYI.

teulk

Id make a quick guess and say that water / dirt has managed to get inside and is causing a short and keeping it on. I would say that when you get home, open it up and give it a good clean and a squirt with WD40 or something similar.

oscarbudgie

teulk wrote:

I make a quick guess and say that water / dirt has managed to get inside and is causing a short and keeping it on. I would say that when you get home, open it up and give it a good clean and a squirt with WD40 or something similar.

+1 Either that (most likely) or a faulty switch. Try leaving it with the battery cover off and batteries out to 'air' for a couple of hours and a squirt of WD40 when you get home.

rolf_f

A smear of vaseline around the join between the lense and main body will help keep the water out in future. It is the one weak point of these lights but I've found the vaseline to be a complete cure.

ince

I have two of these on the back of my bike. One works no prob the other seems to have an over sensative switch. Can turn on and off from a bump in the road. I too have had the issue of not wanting to turn off, seems water was to blame as I opened it up and stuck it on a radiator for a bit and it worked fine.

Bikequin

Thanks for all the advice - have taken the batteries out and given iit time to dry out and it now seems to be working again - will attack it with some WD40 when I get home tonight.

Damien_KW

I use Cateye lights, but often have similar problems after a wet ride in the rain. Another problem I found was the contacts and batteries rusting up which caused all kinds of problems. Now I try to take out the batteries and leave both batteries and lights to dry before putting them back in.

barry_kellett99

Same thing happens my smart 1/2 watt rear light and my Planet x wee emergency front light

If its particularly wet on the way in or out i flip them off and either dry them in the incredible office heat or leave on the kitchen table for morning.

If you dont you can sometimes switch them off but a little moisture can get in afterwards and turn the light on after you have tucked it up for the night. Went out one morning to discover both mine had been on possibly all night.

rolf_f

Rolf F wrote:

A smear of vaseline around the join between the lense and main body will help keep the water out in future. It is the one weak point of these lights but I've found the vaseline to be a complete cure.

Do feel free to continue drying them out, regularly spraying them with WD40 etc but the above brilliant advice makes that entirely unneccessary. Still, don't say I didn't tell you (twice )

Prevention is always better than cure........ Note that the way that water affects the Smart lights is to change the setting it is on. So the fact that the lights might have been on all night is actually a minor irritation more than anything. What matters more is that the water on the road could turn the lights off when you are actually riding which is a bit more important. Solving the problem when you get to the office or home is a bit late.

edtheball

My smart rear light started doing exactly the same thing after a drenching last week. It's still not working, and I was about ready to bin it. Having read this I'll persevere a bit longer! And buy some vaseline...

Thanks.

eltonioni

Seems to be the thing for Smart lights. Mine always dries out but after it went off yesterday I'm going to attack it with Vaseline and a square of electrical tape over the switch.

Which genius thought of putting the switch on the bottom in the spray? :roll:

fossyant

Common with Smarts. Radiators work a treat though. Bit of WD on switch and all OK.

PedalPedant

ince wrote:

I have two of these on the back of my bike. One works no prob the other seems to have an over sensative switch. Can turn on and off from a bump in the road. I too have had the issue of not wanting to turn off, seems water was to blame as I opened it up and stuck it on a radiator for a bit and it worked fine.

A similar problem was mentioned a couple of months ago, MikeEye's fix (see the last post on this page http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12659574&highlight=smart) worked for me. I've not had the problem since.

PP

Ian.B

ince wrote:

I have two of these on the back of my bike. One works no prob the other seems to have an over sensative switch. Can turn on and off from a bump in the road. I too have had the issue of not wanting to turn off, seems water was to blame as I opened it up and stuck it on a radiator for a bit and it worked fine.

Me too. I took the cover off, and bent the switch unit a little so that it doesn't sit so close to the cover, and it's been fine ever since.

Gussio

The vaso is a good idea. After suffering the same problem with a Smart 1/2 Watt during rain I used a piece of electrical take to seal up the join once the innards had dried out.