R50 Pro/R50 Pro LE Discussion

[HughJorgan]

For me the double-click to turbo is good enough.

Or it was. It's been sitting in the LE charger for a couple of weeks; I just took it out and it's dead as a doornail. Time to call customer service, I guess. Unexpected.

EDIT - it appears to be a battery problem. Off the charger, it won't turn on at all. On the charger and simulating a power outage, nothing.

But on the charger plugged in, the first press of the power switch it turns on momentarily with the button lighting red, then turns off. Second press, it turns on normally and I can cycle through modes, etc, normal function. But while it's powered on, if I take it off the charger it dies immediately.

Makes me wonder if the charger is behaving correctly, if letting it sit for a couple of weeks caused it to kill the battery. The thing's not even a month old. Any ideas?

 

[gteague]

i got mine in about a month ago, tested it out, and put it in the charger. charger has a green light, but there's no indication it's charging. none at all. i read later that the green light means fully charged, but this wasn't the case at all for me. the

so tonight i had a power outage. flashlight is dead as a doornail. i have no idea if the charger is working. i tried to charge the battery in two xtar chargers and no dice. i tried two of the olight magnetic chargers and no dice. finally i put it my old r50 seeker and am charging it via the micro usb which is slow as poop.

wtf is going on? why is the charge indicator stuck on green while the battery slowly dies? that's just the height of stupidity for what is to be an emergency light. i can never trust the rapid charger again ever and now i have two lights that take about 4-6 hours to charge.

does olight have any suggestions for me? would have been nice if you'd put one of your $5 magnetic chargers into the le kit which cost much more than the regular kit which gets it.

thanks, /guy

 

[noboneshotdog]

Yes, I think Olight should address the charger problem. Does it seem to be effecting the light, the battery, or the charger???

Sadly before I read the past two posts I was getting ready to brag on how fast the R Dock charges and how much I have been liking it. Now I am a bit worried and concerned about using it.

Please please address this Olight for peace of mind.

 

[gteague]

Yes, I think Olight should address the charger problem. Does it seem to be effecting the light, the battery, or the charger???

Sadly before I read the past two posts I was getting ready to brag on how fast the R Dock charges and how much I have been liking it. Now I am a bit worried and concerned about using it.

Please please address this Olight for peace of mind.

since i wrote this i've done a little further troubleshooting. i have the original r50 along with this new r50 pro le. when i got the pro i charged it in the dock, tested it, tested the emergency light function, and it has just sat here by my computer for 2-3 months with the green light on the dock. it wasn't until the power went off the other night that i noticed the light didn't come on although it had tested good before.

i put the battery from my original r50 into the pro and the light worked fine, so it wasn't the flashlight. next, i took the battery from the pro and put it into the r50 because none of my chargers would handle it and thus i charged it using the micro usb in the r50. but, the light was green indicating full charge and my volt/amp meter showed all zeros indicating it was fully charged. but now the r50 wouldn't work with that battery in it. so i'm very positive the battery is the problem.

i contacted michael at going gear and he said the symptoms indicated i'd put the battery in backwards and it's possible, but, as i said, when i got the light i charged and tested it and then haven't touched it since. so i distrust the charger.

michael offered to send another battery, but by then i already had one coming from amazon and when it gets here i can run further tests. and i do have voms (multitesters), but for the life of me i couldn't figure out where to place the probes to test for voltage. oh, and michael did say he'd had no other reports of such problems and he sells dozens if not hundreds of these.

/guy

 

[noboneshotdog]

since i wrote this i've done a little further troubleshooting. i have the original r50 along with this new r50 pro le. when i got the pro i charged it in the dock, tested it, tested the emergency light function, and it has just sat here by my computer for 2-3 months with the green light on the dock. it wasn't until the power went off the other night that i noticed the light didn't come on although it had tested good before.

i put the battery from my original r50 into the pro and the light worked fine, so it wasn't the flashlight. next, i took the battery from the pro and put it into the r50 because none of my chargers would handle it and thus i charged it using the micro usb in the r50. but, the light was green indicating full charge and my volt/amp meter showed all zeros indicating it was fully charged. but now the r50 wouldn't work with that battery in it. so i'm very positive the battery is the problem.

i contacted michael at going gear and he said the symptoms indicated i'd put the battery in backwards and it's possible, but, as i said, when i got the light i charged and tested it and then haven't touched it since. so i distrust the charger.

michael offered to send another battery, but by then i already had one coming from amazon and when it gets here i can run further tests. and i do have voms (multitesters), but for the life of me i couldn't figure out where to place the probes to test for voltage. oh, and michael did say he'd had no other reports of such problems and he sells dozens if not hundreds of these.

/guy

Thanks for the update.

 

[HughJorgan]

Yes, I've been reading the other thread too but decided not to cross-post, just mention it in this manufacturer's discussion thread.

Perhaps there haven't been as many reported problems because this product is still pretty new to market. And if it's the LE charger, then it would only affect some portion of R50 Pro users.

But I still haven't called customer service. What I don't want to do is have to send it in and get it back NPF because it ended up being the charger or vice versa. I'm waiting for olight to catch up on this thread and hoping they provide some guidance.

 

[Marfenix]

Did you do your comparison yet Kevin? I am curious to your findings!

 

[kj2]

Did you do your comparison yet Kevin? I am curious to your findings!

Wohah! Totally forgot about this thread. Sorry about that. Yeah, took the R50 and Pro side-by-side and did notice the difference. Output-wise it's visible but also noticed that the R50 throws slightly further because it has
a smaller led. Didn't take the older R40 with me, but from what I remember from that light, the throw is comparable with the R50. It does miss the extra output, because the R40 is 'only' 1100 lumens.
For the 'standard/normal' flashlight-user I would advice to take the R50.

 

[gteague]

Yes, I've been reading the other thread too but decided not to cross-post, just mention it in this manufacturer's discussion thread.

Perhaps there haven't been as many reported problems because this product is still pretty new to market. And if it's the LE charger, then it would only affect some portion of R50 Pro users.

But I still haven't called customer service. What I don't want to do is have to send it in and get it back NPF because it ended up being the charger or vice versa. I'm waiting for olight to catch up on this thread and hoping they provide some guidance.

yeah, i'm sorry about the cross-posting. it's what happens when you're trying to troubleshoot and type at the same time while recovering from a power failure. i've gotta try to see if i can get the forum notifications fixed because without them i have to remember to come back and check for replies and i follow way too many forums and groups to remember until something changes.

i'm waiting for the new battery from amazon to come in next week before i start more experimentation so i'll have at least one good battery if i fry the one that's working now. and i have some very time-consuming projects that are distracting me. i need to pull out my best vom and run voltage tests to see if the battery i've had in the charging dock for 3-4 days now is staying charged or is depleting. i have a solid green light, but then again, i had that light for months and then when my power went out, the system wasn't working.

/guy

 

[HughJorgan]

yeah, i'm sorry about the cross-posting.

/guy

No worries here. It was just my personal decision, though the more visibility the better; I sure hope olight chimes in on this.

 

[gteague]

this is what ignoring the drawbacks of a proprietary battery gets you. there's no easy way to test the charger or the battery and no way to charge the battery if the charger is hosed. i've had the battery from my r50 in the pro for several days now and it's been sitting in the pro dock and i really need to find the time to take it apart and test the voltage to see if the charger has depleted it since it's been in the dock.

/guy

 

[gteague]

[ok, i also posted this in another thread where a nice gent showed me where to put the meter probes and i'm posting it here so @hughjordan can have a summary of the symptoms and tests and conclusion(s) i reached as he seems to have had nearly the exact scenario occur to him.]

to summarize the situation:

i received the light around the first of november just after the r50 pro le model came out.

i already had the original r50, so i was familiar with the operation and the battery polarity and charging requirements.

i inserted the battery in the new flashlight and put it into the dock. the dock light cycled through a charge cycle and eventually turned green. i then pulled the dock a/c plug and the flashlight came on. i pulled the flashlight off the dock and tested all the functions and then put it back into the dock where the indication of the led showed i had used up some charge and it charged back up to green state.

and that's where the flashlight has stayed until just a couple of days ago. the dock sits about 18" from my elbow and thus is under the exact same environmental conditions that i am under. a couple of evenings ago i suffered a power outage and noticed that the flashlight didn't come on. i pulled the flashlight out of the dock and realized it wasn't working at all. when i got time, i got my original r50 and put the battery from it into the new r50 pro and the flashlight worked. so the problem was obviously the battery, but what killed it is the question.


here's the port-mortem on the battery that died while in the r50 pro sitting unused in the r50 pro dock/charger for about 2-3 months.

the voltage is as near zero (0.0) as makes no never-mind. i could test for resistance if anyone knows what it should be. wait ... i'll do it now ....

no resistance reading either. or, more specifically, an o/l error on the meter.

oh, i tested the one good battery i had which had been inserted in the r50 pro and sitting in the dock/charger for a few days since the original battery died. the result: 4.20v indicating it hasn't lost any charge over several days sitting in the dock.

i again put the battery into my original r50 (with the micro-usb charger in the tailcap) and the light in the tailcap remained green and again my xtar voltage meter showed no current flow. next, i tried using an olight magnetic charger and got no current flow to the battery.

my informed conclusion: this is a dead dead dead battery. not even magic max could revive this battery. it's a dead as the defunct parrot john cleese tried to return to the pet store. my only guess as to why is that somehow it discharged completely while sitting in the dock/charger without being powered on.

/guy

 

[HughJorgan]

[ok, i also posted this in another thread where a nice gent showed me where to put the meter probes and i'm posting it here so @hughjordan can have a summary of the symptoms and tests and conclusion(s) i reached as he seems to have had nearly the exact scenario occur to him.]

to summarize the situation:

i received the light around the first of november just after the r50 pro le model came out.

i already had the original r50, so i was familiar with the operation and the battery polarity and charging requirements.

i inserted the battery in the new flashlight and put it into the dock. the dock light cycled through a charge cycle and eventually turned green. i then pulled the dock a/c plug and the flashlight came on. i pulled the flashlight off the dock and tested all the functions and then put it back into the dock where the indication of the led showed i had used up some charge and it charged back up to green state.

and that's where the flashlight has stayed until just a couple of days ago. the dock sits about 18" from my elbow and thus is under the exact same environmental conditions that i am under. a couple of evenings ago i suffered a power outage and noticed that the flashlight didn't come on. i pulled the flashlight out of the dock and realized it wasn't working at all. when i got time, i got my original r50 and put the battery from it into the new r50 pro and the flashlight worked. so the problem was obviously the battery, but what killed it is the question.


here's the port-mortem on the battery that died while in the r50 pro sitting unused in the r50 pro dock/charger for about 2-3 months.

the voltage is as near zero (0.0) as makes no never-mind. i could test for resistance if anyone knows what it should be. wait ... i'll do it now ....

no resistance reading either. or, more specifically, an o/l error on the meter.

oh, i tested the one good battery i had which had been inserted in the r50 pro and sitting in the dock/charger for a few days since the original battery died. the result: 4.20v indicating it hasn't lost any charge over several days sitting in the dock.

i again put the battery into my original r50 (with the micro-usb charger in the tailcap) and the light in the tailcap remained green and again my xtar voltage meter showed no current flow. next, i tried using an olight magnetic charger and got no current flow to the battery.

my informed conclusion: this is a dead dead dead battery. not even magic max could revive this battery. it's a dead as the defunct parrot john cleese tried to return to the pet store. my only guess as to why is that somehow it discharged completely while sitting in the dock/charger without being powered on.

/guy

Thanks.

I don't know what your plans are, but it sounds like if you leave another one in the LE charger and that one dies, too, then it's the charger that's killing it.

 

[gteague]

Thanks.

I don't know what your plans are, but it sounds like if you leave another one in the LE charger and that one dies, too, then it's the charger that's killing it.

yep. i put the battery from the original r50 into the new pro and then put the pro back in the dock. and, after 2-3 days, the battery voltage is sitting at about a perfect 4.20v. i'll continue to monitor it about every week to make sure and i'll take the light off and use it to see if the charging light sequence is still working.

when the new battery comes in, i'll put that one in my original r50 and charge it in the flashlight. that's my bedside light and the one i grab the most just because that dammed magnet in the pro dock is about 1000x times stronger than it needs to be unless you're bouncing around in a cop car, i guess. [g]

the mystery is what killed a perfectly innocent, virtually virgin battery in the first place.

/guy

 

[HughJorgan]

yep. i put the battery from the original r50 into the new pro and then put the pro back in the dock. and, after 2-3 days, the battery voltage is sitting at about a perfect 4.20v. i'll continue to monitor it about every week to make sure and i'll take the light off and use it to see if the charging light sequence is still working.

when the new battery comes in, i'll put that one in my original r50 and charge it in the flashlight. that's my bedside light and the one i grab the most just because that dammed magnet in the pro dock is about 1000x times stronger than it needs to be unless you're bouncing around in a cop car, i guess. [g]

the mystery is what killed a perfectly innocent, virtually virgin battery in the first place.

/guy

So from your preliminary results, it looks more like a faulty battery than a malfunctioning charger.

You're right, that cradle magnet is very strong. I plan to mount it to the underside of a shelf, will save space and it sure ain't gonna fall out...

 

[gteague]

So from your preliminary results, it looks more like a faulty battery than a malfunctioning charger.

You're right, that cradle magnet is very strong. I plan to mount it to the underside of a shelf, will save space and it sure ain't gonna fall out...

one difference in my handling of my original r50 and the new r50 pro le was that the r50 has the slow tailcap method of charging and the pro le of course has the rapid-charge dock. so the r50 battery was charged slowly and the pro battery was charged rapidly. theoretically it shouldn't have made any difference except to the overall life of the battery since we all know that quick charging will shorten it, but i've never heard of an initial quick charge doing any immediate damage.

just throwing that out there because i don't have any other theories except that particular battery was a bad sample to begin with.

/guy

 

[gteague]

new battery came in. i decided to live dangerously so you guys don't have to [g!] and i put it into the r50 pro le rapid charge dock just like i did when i first got the flashlight so we can see if this battery lives or dies. problem is that it might take 2-3 months like it did before except i'm setting reminders to check it every 1-2 weeks. i'll report back when i have anything to report.

/guy

 

[noboneshotdog]

new battery came in. i decided to live dangerously so you guys don't have to [g!] and i put it into the r50 pro le rapid charge dock just like i did when i first got the flashlight so we can see if this battery lives or dies. problem is that it might take 2-3 months like it did before except i'm setting reminders to check it every 1-2 weeks. i'll report back when i have anything to report.

/guy

Sweet! Thanks for being the guinea pig. Just keep yourself safe.

 

[Kingdomseeder]

I don't pipe in much here, but I sure spend a lot of time reading. I wanted to pipe in because my r50 pro le is experiencing the same failure. I can do the exact same things with mine while in the charger and nothing outside the charger. I have reached out to Olight, but have not heard back yet. Will wait a few more days and hopefully get this resolved. Interesting though that my light was working fine just a couple of days before. I was going to check my yard for the night and it would not work and nadda. I do leave it in the charger when not in use. Wonder if it was a slow drain or just decided to fail?

 

[HughJorgan]

So now that's three of us. I still haven't called olight about it, have too much stuff going on, but I keep reminding myself I need to do it. I'm not even sure their warranty applies to batteries supplied with the flashlight; all my other olights came without batteries with the exception of my H15S, which hasn't given me any problems.