What's wrong with my Cateye Opticube (led front light)?

[PedalCat]

Admittedly i bought it 8 or 10 years ago and have had a lot of use out of it, but it has just stopped working. The batteries are fine, but when i press the on button, the light gives a quick flash and nothing more. And that's it. Any ideas?

 

[Andrew_P]

Admittedly i bought it 8 or 10 years ago and have had a lot of use out of it, but it has just stopped working. The batteries are fine, but when i press the on button, the light gives a quick flash and nothing more. And that's it. Any ideas?

that has happend to all my cateyes, only mine are after 9-13 months!

 

[HovR]

A similar thing has happened to a few of my Cateye lights, except it's when you turn them off. Depress the switch and the light turns off.. As soon as you take your finger off the switch it turns back on again.

 

[Stonepark]

Admittedly i bought it 8 or 10 years ago and have had a lot of use out of it, but it has just stopped working. The batteries are fine, but when i press the on button, the light gives a quick flash and nothing more. And that's it. Any ideas?

Need to open it up, could be a number of things, but putting a multimeter at different points on the circuit might let you figure out the problem, first thing to check is any capacitors.

 

[fossyant]

BIN it !

Sorry. New LED light needed... Life has advanced.

 

[PedalCat]

BIN it !

Sorry. New LED light needed... Life has advanced.

I am resigned to agree. I am now looking for a front light for less than £12 or a front&back for less than £20. Any suggestions?

 

[PpPete]

Planet X Phaart Aeon (Front) and Booster (rear)
Seem to be clones of the better known Smart brand (in which case the pair would be over £20)

 

[fossyant]

Planet X Phaart Aeon (Front) and Booster (rear)
Seem to be clones of the better known Smart brand (in which case the pair would be over £20)

These if on a budget. Got a few of them on the kids bike.

 

[fossyant]

There is also an Astrum copy, the two 1/2 watt led rear, I've got two of these and they are good.

Try and ensure you have at least two front and rear lights. My son has the long cat eye copy, it's Ok, and also the front one which has survived a number of down pours. The fronts are way brighter than your old optics be.

 

[PedalCat]

Try and ensure you have at least two front and rear lights.

I have several Knog Frog-style lights already, just need an unmissable big boy in the middle.

 

[Blue Hills]

Might be worth checking Edinburgh Bike Co-op - they do some good sensibly priced stuff.

May well have a sale in the New Year, though of course you'll need some sort of light in the meantime.

 

[Cyclopathic]

Sorry about this but I just had to say that I read the title as "What's wrong with my octipube" In many ways I think it's fair to say my sense of humor never really developed past the age of about 13.

 

[albion]

What model, I've got a big one not used in ages?


edit - no jokes please.

 

[albion]

Mine's an EL-300, the fitting seems a tiny bit wider than for the Smart.

BTW a quick flash might be just dirty contacts. Clean, maybe sandpaper and stretch them.
edit - a quick look shows you can slide a screwdriver under the 8 well designed battery tabs to stretch them.

 

[Nebulous]

I have a Cateye. I think it's an el 135. I use it on flash as a second light and it started to do exactly as you described - one flash then nothing.

I took it apart and the stupid thing was full of water. Where the mount fastens underneath there is a hole which lets it in. I can't believe they would make a cycle light with a hole in it, but hey-ho. In contrast the rear one has been great, despite being out in some really dodgy weather.