Lightmalls return postage

Sheppy

Has anyone posted anything back to Lightmalls (or Dealextreme, or Kaidomain) in China? After years buying cheap Chinese lights I finally came unstuck and got a duff one and need to send it back. Cheapest postage I can find is $20 for Royal Mail (it's about 370grams). Wondered if anyone has found a cheaper method to post back to China?

Lightmalls customer service is amazing of course, I think they only have one rep on their LiveChat, I always get the same person who takes 30 mins to respond to each question

Maybe this should be in the General thread but people who look at the lights thread will be in here

cooldad

By the time it gets there and hopefully back you'll be old and grey.
I think throwing the odd rubbish away is just part of the cost of saving a bit buying direct.

CitizenLee

cooldad wrote:

By the time it gets there and hopefully back you'll be old and grey.
I think throwing the odd rubbish away is just part of the cost of saving a bit buying direct.

This ^

Take it as a lesson in you get what you pay for

Sheppy

It's a fair point, always a gamble, however, I have bought about a dozen of various lights/batteries from these companies in China in the past and this is the first time it's been faulty.
Unfortunately this was a relatively expensive one ($50) in comparison to some of the other bits so an extra $20 dollars to post back makes sense in my view. Just wondered if anyone knew of a cheaper postage method.
And if Lightmalls don't post it back I will try my luck with a Paypal dispute.
If nothing else, helps me pass the time!

CitizenLee

Hmm, for $50 I’d consider it too then, but I’d be pushing LM to pay for the return postage if you can, failing that I don’t really think you’re going to find a cheaper way to get it back to them to be honest. So maybe Paypal dispute is the best way to go.

Not fancy a bit of amateur electronics? You can buy a soldering iron for less than $20

diy

what is the problem (details). We may be able to help you fix it.

It might be worth asking for a discount on a replacement. Or just getting them to send you the broken part.

and of course next time you can buy a £30 light for £200 and get free P&P on returns

apreading

I got a defective charger from them last year. Was dead on arrival, no sign of life. They insisted I return at my own cost and if they found it faulty they would refund the purchase price but not the return postage. Return postage was about the same as the charger cost, although it was a good(ish) charger and I would have been a couple of quid better off, I didnt have huge faith in them getting it and refunding me the purchase price ay time soon to be honest.

Tried to take it up with paypal but they agreed the return postage was my cost. Really dissapointed with that...

Chalked it up to experience and got on with life. The other stuff I have had is still cheap when you factor in the cost of an occasional dud.

Sheppy

Not fancy a bit of amateur electronics? You can buy a soldering iron for less than $20

I did an Electronic Engineering degree about erm, 20 years ago, still have a soldering iron/multi-meter. My soldering skills even back then weren't the best though

I think the problem is in the driver circuit. I tested the switch and it goes to 0 ohms when pressed.
Strangely, when I short the positive terminal from the switch to the metal casing the light flickers for a fraction of a second, nowhere near full brightness, but just a little flicker, so presumably power is getting through ok to at least part of it.

I'm reluctant to pull it apart too much as they will reject it when I send it back presumably. If you have any ideas/suggestions I can always break out the old soldering iron again...

diy

can you post a link to the item, so we know what you are talking about. It sounds like a loose connection.

Sheppy

http://www.lightmalls.com/golden-unique ... 50-battery

I also measured across the on/off switch, both the positive and negative wires are permanently 4.1V ish when tested against the case. ie 0V between +ve and -ve if you know what I mean... Sorry for the poor explanation!

I could resolder the joints, perhaps it is a dry one but I can't see how to get the circuit board out and it's pretty deep in the case to get at as is.

diy

Try an alternative power source directly on the contact and body. either a single 18650 with wires or a usb cable (5v) or transformer (even better). Does the inner blob bypass the switch?

Do all the LEDs come on dim or just 1?
Second thought is that one of the LED is lose and the driver is working the LEDs in serial

It looks like the bezel unscrews can you get access behind the reflector? get a voltage check on the LED side of the driver.

Can you get a DCA current reading when the lights are on dim?

Sheppy

The LEDs only flicker on for a millisecond so no way to get a current reading. All of them flicker at the same time, not even time to get to full brightness even if they could. I would presume all the LEDs are ok, there is no voltage across the input of the LEDs so I suspect the issue is in the main PCB somewhere.

I have the bezel off and there is no voltage on the LED side of the driver.

Arrrrgggghhh, ignore all that, I've just blinded myself with the damn thing! I've just got it working by shorting out the negative wire switch with the casing. So I guess there is supposed to be contact between them somehow, perhaps a massive blob of solder is required to make a permanent connection.

I'll get a picture and post it here shortly diy and see what you think if you don't mind. Thanks for all your help so far, greatly appreciate it. I wouldn't have tried meddling this much without your suggestions

Sheppy

Image is here, the connection in question is K1 at the top (slightly to the left) connection with the white wire coming out of it. If I short that to the casing, I can get the flashlight to power up with the normal on/off switch. So I will probably just stick a blob of solder in there to permanently connect it up. Wondered if you have any words of advice before I potentially blow up my torch?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bg61vvyo2xt87 ... o.jpg?dl=0

diy

check the DCA before you hard wire and check the mode changes still work. (press and hold I think on that light)

Sheppy

7.1A on full power, 1A on low, 0A (0mA in fact) when off. So to me seems ok?

The modes still work when I short it out, so I'm thinking I should go ahead with the blob of solder...?

Hmm, 7.1A, about 1A per LED, not great, getting less than half the available light out of each LED, still, with 7 should be bright once I can get it assembled!

diy

~3000 lumen (500 on low), to be honest 7.1A gonna drain the best cells in 30 mins. 500 on low is pretty useful though. You always have the option of doubling up the pack given that its 4.2v input rather than the trickier 8.4v

A few modders have taken these to 11A. but then you have 15-20 min run time

yep I'd solder it.

£27 lightmalls £34 UK ebay. very tempting but just not much use for me due to run time and mounting. Interested to see how you plan to mount?

Sheppy

Got it going now, it is very bright for a torch, but as you say, more like 3000 lumens (more what I was expecting rather than the claimed 6000 lumens!).

Yeah, mounting, I was going to cable tie it to an old mount but that might not happen now, it's heavier than expected, should have paid more attention to the spec! I will carry it as an emergency backup in my backpack for the inevitable puncture/lost keys etc...

I got one of these as well at the same time:
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S023735
Really pleased with it, fits into the standard DX bar mounts nicely and gives a good output. I run a two year old triple XML as well, not sure the 7 LED one is any brighter! Got plenty of light now

diy

i see you have one of the new Cree XP-L. Leds. which came out to replace the older XP-G. LED. However some tests are showing they are a good 10% brighter than a t6. XM-L2 because the LED is smaller and therefore punches out better. just shows what you can get for under a 10er. Im not aware of any high end lights running XP-l

supersonic

As far as I know, them selling to the UK binds them to some of our conditions. If the goods are faulty, they should be picking up the return postage. I personally don't use them as they tried to charge me extra fees on delivery of goods.

Sheppy

i see you have one of the new Cree XP-L. Leds. which came out to replace the older XP-G. LED. However some tests are showing they are a good 10% brighter than a t6

Yes, I would say it is fractionally brighter than one of my older T6s (I have too many lights...) But then, with these torches unless you shine them alternately against the wall it's pretty tough to spot a difference... Although it is a nicer white than some of my older ones, some have green tinges, some purple...

If the goods are faulty, they should be picking up the return postage.

That's my understanding in theory as well. However, enforcing that with a Chinese seller I think would be a different matter

Anyway, it's all working now and I have a super bright torch (which I can't mount ). It gets damn hot on full power after a 5 minutes, will be good to warm up the hands on the cold winter nights!

Thanks for you advice everyone.

apreading

Sheppy wrote:

If the goods are faulty, they should be picking up the return postage.

That's my understanding in theory as well. However, enforcing that with a Chinese seller I think would be a different matter

I thought (wrongly) that was where paypal buyer protection would pick up the case. Alas, they sided with Lightmalls and told me I would have to pay return postage at which point I gave up...

Sheppy

Actually, I read about your experience on the forums which was what made me decide not to bother taking it up with Paypal!

And I'd certainly never go poking about in a charger with my soldering iron and multimeter. Don't like that mains electricity stuff especially when charging dodgy Chinese batteries!