Light Force first time out JOKE and broke.

hammer007

New member
I can not imagine how lam other lights must be then a light Force but man, I use this thing for the first time last night and it would not work. I do not want to send it in and pay shipping and I have the ability to fix things.

Help me by listing everything mod that should be made to a Light Force so it is reliable.

My first thing is fix the in-line on off Switch.

I was going to take it right out of the wiring system and use the on off switch on the dimmer switch. Does anyone see a problem with doing that?

We did shoot a Red Fox night calling with no light.

Thanks

Hammer
 
Personally, I always thought they were way over rated myself. In all honesty though I really haven't had any problems with mine except that if you dont center the main switch the battery dies. Some people on this forum pray to the
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things like they are really some magnificent light but I just dont see it. I would never by a Nightforce scope based on what I have seen from the light and people pray to them too. I have heard they are some kind of half sister companies. One reason I haven't had problems with mine could be that I only ever used the thing twice then bought nightvision and shelved it. The light always seemed very lightweight to me, like it was made kinda cheesy but then again I wouldn't want it heavy to mount on a rifle or shotgun. When you do a comparable to what else is out there for the purpose I have to admit they aren't completely terrible...I'll still never buy a scope though.
 
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Hi Hammer007,

Sorry for your Troubles /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowingsmilie.gif,here are the choices you have::

Call Brian Gearhart at Lightforce USA,: 208-476-9814 (Monday-Trursday)they will take care of it......Pronto

or you can either go to Wal-Mart/Home-depo/Ace Hardware/Lowes /ect.. and get a (Black)110 volt in-line,lamp switch $1.98 and replace the in-line switch Thats faulty Now........

Or remove it and butt connector the wires with shrink tubes to have a tight seal...or get the but connectors with shrink tubes on them at Wal-mart (Made by 3-M)

By doing this, you will be using the BPS as your full-on,Off and BPS mode switch........for the scope light...

If you repair your wiring it will not Void warrenty on the scope light, only from where you repaired it.......in the cord.........

If I can be of Help, Please call or E-mail me.......

Rick......
 
Sorry, no actually the light has two switches. One is the main and its really a three position "rocker switch" and it is on top of the battery pack. The other is a simple two position off-on switch that mounts on the gun so you can operate the light while in a shooting position. The main has like I said three, the 1st is full power, the center is off and the 3rd is to a rheostat for dimming. If you leave the main switched all the way left or right{1st or 3rd} it will slowly kill the battery even though the remote or rifle mounted switch is off and the light itself is not lit. Kind of confusing as the light is not lit yet the battery still has a drain and will die. As long as the main switch, the one thats at the battery pack is centered{off position} you are O.K. and it will not kill the battery. It wont drain the battery as fast as burning the light if its not centered{off} but it will drain it dead and that is not good. Always try to not let the battery go flat slap dead. You also have the dimmer which is the button that rotates. For predators at night you should keep the light turned on the entire time you are calling. But keep it down dim just enough to see eyes and then turn it up enough to shoot when the animal gets close enough for the kill shot. I have a red and green lense both and alternate colors every now and then so its not always the same color the animals are seeing. Also, use the car charger when going between turn outs to get as much time as possible. I got an extra battery to be able to hunt longer. Keeping the switch in the center off postion is obviously for when you are not using it or done and going to store it. They say the animals see when you turn on the light and suspect something so that is why you keepthe light on the whole time you are trying to call one up.
 
Quote:
Hi Hammer007,

Sorry for your Troubles /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowingsmilie.gif,here are the choices you have::

Call Brian Gearhart at Lightforce USA,: 208-476-9814 (Monday-Trursday)they will take care of it......Pronto

or you can either go to Wal-Mart/Home-depo/Ace Hardware/Lowes /ect.. and get a (Black)110 volt in-line,lamp switch $1.98 and replace the in-line switch Thats faulty Now........

Or remove it and butt connector the wires with shrink tubes to have a tight seal...or get the but connectors with shrink tubes on them at Wal-mart (Made by 3-M)

By doing this, you will be using the BPS as your full-on,Off and BPS mode switch........for the scope light...

If you repair your wiring it will not Void warrenty on the scope light, only from where you repaired it.......in the cord.........

If I can be of Help, Please call or E-mail me.......

Rick......



Rick you are good at customer service and I think the light will be right after some modifications. I hope you are not offended, I just want to get it up and running without problems. I do not want this thread to turn into a LF bashing threads I hope we can get a list of items needed to be done to this light and have it running perfect.

It sounds like the in-line switch may only cause battery draining issues if left in.

Thanks

Hammer
 
Hi Hammer007,

Thank you.............and I am Not offended......Conserned, becuase of the Little time left for Hunting and the Season Closes.......

To make the wiring correct you need to install the 110 volt in-line Lamp switch as listed above and replace the Cig. Plug with a heavy duty one.....from Wal-mart/Radio Shack/Marine store, they are pre-wired and ready to put on and fused....Again blue butt. connectors and shrink tube for the connections that are water,sand,dirt,Bend/yank proof........

If you don't have a heat gun, a Cig. Lighter will due the same job,but will be disclored by the flame instead of the Hot air from the Gun.......

Once installed correctly its a tough cord, wont be coming apart........

Make sure you use a (Wire/Stripper Crimping tool) Not Plyers, to crimp the butt. connectors to the wire, other wise they will be loose and wont connect/come un-done by a Flat Crimp.......Also strip the plastic covering off the wire at Lease 3/8 inch to go in Butt. Connectors, then crimp the wire hard,if your using the Butt connctors w/tubing on it, just heat the tube and it will seal the wire......

If you using the long (Shrink)tube style, Install the tube on the wire BEFORE you install the Butt Connectors to the wires,or you will be re-doing the crimp all over again.....

When you heat the Shrink tube it shrinks with a glue that fills the voids, and makes a water proof seal for many years to come, Carefull wire has to COOL-OFF before handeling it.......

Good Hunting...........Rick
 
If you never buy a NF cause of that reason.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

I feel sorry for you.... you'll be missing out Bro..
 
I understand that there is a lot of LightForce followers here and I don't have any experience with them so I certainly am not qualified to knock them. But we sure have seen a alot more complaints from people who dished out serious cash then had them ruin a hunt by failing. From everything I have read Rick from Tufflights is a real upstanding guy who takes care of his customers but I wonder how do you get $235 or so dollars into a plastic light anyway. Realistically they gotta be a little over hyped and over priced. It makes it a little hard for somebody to go out a cough up the cash for this when we are hearing about all these quality issues. If it was really a light worth that kind of money the components should be of better quality than that.

Sorry to Rick and everyone who loves their Lightforce lights. This is just something I have been observing and I may be the only one who shares this opionion.

Rocky
 
Son of Rocky,
No your not the only one that notices whats going on with LightForce. I just got my LF 170 and I will say I like it so far, that said I knew about some of the problems so I took a few preventative measures before they become problems. The in line switch is not needed in my opinion. Use the switch on the batt. bag. Also I posted a pic of what I did with wire ties so the wire does not work on the solder joint in the handle of the light. The name of the post is "My first modification of my lightforce" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif At $235.00 I'll have to say that is a rip off. You should not have to do modifications on a light that costly. Again it is still the best light I have owned and I had three other lights.
So I'll put up with the little things I have to do to it and just bite my tongue. As far as Rick goes, he does want to satisfy the customer but LightForce Co. is makeing him look bad by not using better componants.
 
I looked at many lights and thought this was the best way to go and still do think it is the best way to go.

For your money you get:

The dimmer switch type that save battery time
Battery Carrying case strap or belt
Battery
Light light (Quality on which I am no expert)
Red Lens
Scope mounts
Carrying case

If you add up all of those cost you can maybe buy a cheaper kit for how much?

To make any other cheap light work it sounds like you need to modify them.

Thanks

Hammer
 
hammer007
If you use the shrink tube it will shrink with a good hair dryer...I used my wifes hand held dryer to shink some tubing on a project I was working on....stump
 
Hi STUMP49,

Exxellent Idea, I diden't even think of a hair drier......

May take a little longer but, wont disclolor the shrink tube, the tube colors we have at work are, white,blue,red,orange and black to keep power wires in there proper zones........
 
Hi Son Of Rocky,

There are some switch problems, but not everybody has them theres a lot of customers who have No Problems.....

Brian at Lightforce is Replacing them as fast as he can....

As far as they are Plastic, is wrong, the only plastic is the scope mounts, the rest of the light is made of spun-Nylon,plastic cannot handle the pressure, heat and abuse the way these do.......the lens/Filters are made of Lexean......you can beat them with a hammer and they wont break, the lens may have a dent, but not break........

I have 4 240 xgt's on top our H2/Hummer, Ive hit trees,limbs,they have gone through 2 Hurracanes and no Damage what so ever......I bought them before I ever started selling them........My front 140'S (driving Lights), have been thru-the mill,rocks,trees, and they are fine...

I bought a pair of PRO-PIAA 90's the first week a rock came up from my buddys truck and took out the Ion Lens, I returned the light to PIAA and they said it was not coverd under warrenty becuase it was a ROCK and not Normal use.....

I paid 430.00 (shipping Included)for them and then it cost me 140 dollars for the Ion lens 8 days after I bought them,I sold them the Next Week, thats when I found the Lightforce Brand of Driving lights, its a TUFF Light.......

Rick.......
 
I bought my Light Force from Brian before Rick started to advertise on PM. The problem I had at first was the shotgun mount. It was (and still is) hard as he!! to get the light off and on. Then the battery didn't last. Now I have had the cig. lighter plug go bad. I fixed that and last night where the wires are connected on the cord have come loose. Other than that I like it. One of the selling points for me was the video of the guy slaming the light on the concrete 3 or 4 times and then pluged the light in and it worked. Rick can you find that video?
 
Hi Copper Woods,

I saw the video on the slaming (playing Baskettball) of the lightforce light and the shooting of the shotgun at a running lightforce light on a Austraila site, Ill see if I can find it... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif........and post its where abouts.......Rick
 
Quote:
I just dont see it. I would never by a Nightforce scope based on what I have seen from the light and people pray to them too. I have heard they are some kind of half a$$ sister companies.



Nightforce scopes are 1000% better than the lightforce lights. I may never buy another lightforce however I will most definately buy additional Nightforces.

Lt.
 
Philly Bowhunter and myself used our newly purchased walkabout for the Mosquito creek hunt, and we had no issues with it at all. It was used a whole lot in those few days, including just as a spotlight from the trucks powerport. Of course, I went and modified it a little, prior to hitting the field. I basically ripped out all of the original connector's and replaced them with my own, then I used heat shrink on all terminal connections, as some have complained about the connector's pulling loose and shorting.

For the money, it's not a bad set up IMO. You DO NOT want to know what the best custom made predator hunting light costs....try almost $500.00 and at least a 6 week wait. It's a beautiful peice of equipment though, and it's designed with many features soley for predator hunting. just cannot justify that much for a light, personally.
 
Gents, between my younger brother and me, we bought 4 spotlights before going to the lightforce. But I couldn't make modifications to the night blasters and other spotlights we had - you canNOT polish a turd. I've had to make modifications to mine, too, right in the middle of a hunt. I know how to do this kind of stuff so it wasn't a big deal - just snipped & clipped, wrapped some electrical tape around the new ends and off we go to the next setup. The light is nice and light-weight so my shoulder doesn't fall out of the socket during the hunt and it is darn tuff, too! I've had friends and landowners come out with their own spotlights - anything from dewalts, to those automatic / electric motor spotlights that stick to your roof with a magnet and all kinds of other modified and every-day spotlights. Friends, they don't hold a candle (no pun intended) to the lightforce. Sure $235.00 is a lot of money and you're right - for that kind of money you shouldn't have to make modifications to the light. I hope lightforce gets it figured out and corrects the problems. I don't pray to the light, I don't sleep next to the light (well, I almost fell asleep on a setup, does that count?), heck, I don't even have a pet name for the light. I know a good light when I see it and I know junk when I see it - - - lightforce is the former and all the other spotlights I've seen on stand are the latter when you compare them.
'nuf said.
 
Take a look at my mods that i did,i have no problems now.If you buy the 170 and don't do any mods and be a bit creative,there will eventually be trouble.Brian from lightforce was in touch with lightforce in Australia and they are working on the issues with the light. OILER
 


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