How to Fix a Cheap Flashlight

Cheap flashlights are great because, well, they're cheap. For $5 you can get a flashlight, but they often have loose tolerances that lead to poor performance. Most of the time cheap flashlights will flicker. This is because the batteries aren't being held together as tight as they should be. As you walk and move the flashlight the batteries shift around and the circuit is repeatedly broken, resulting in an annoying flickering of the flashlight. Here's my quick fix to this problem, it'll make your $5 flashlight perform like a $50 flashlight.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cheap flickering flashlight
• Batteries
• Washers about the size of the batteries

1. Open the battery compartment of your flashlight.

2. Most flashlights stack batteries on top of each other, so insert the first battery and then put a couple washers on top of that first battery. Put the rest of the batteries in as you normally would. The addition of the washers will make the battery stack longer, thus tightening up the battery compartment and keeping the batteries in contact with the terminals. Metal washers are used because they are conductors of electricity and don't break the electric circuit. If you have no washers you can use coins (as long as they are relatively clean).

3. Put the battery cover back on and enjoy your souped up flashlight.

[cobrakai]

on 11/20/2009 Great advice. 5* and recommended

[xivyisazombiex]

on 9/26/2009 very handy article.

[ilonarose]

on 9/17/2009 Good info...thanks for the advice, the 5 star advice!

[lighthouse1958]

on 9/16/2009 Thanks for the advice. 5*Might come in handy someday.