Should I be scared my Acebeam K70 might explode?

[Str8stroke]

Oh man... Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't that seem like kind of an inherently dangerous design? The spring can literally bend into the other spring shorting it out. What is the purpose of that dual spring design? They aren't using the tube or a part of the tube as the circuit?

Not to flame Ace, but WOW. IMHO: That is not a design to be released to the General Public. I understand it has been tweaked but still. If you haven't already, I would dig a whole a foot or so deep and put those batteries to rest. Thanks for the post. I hope all K70 owners check their lights.

I am having COMETA flashbacks now. I got one of the defective designs. It was a easy fix, but still.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-CPFItalia-COMETA-2016-Dangerous-to-use-What-!

 

[fnsooner]

[FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]Glad you are safe rickypanecatyl and thanks for sharing. [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]I have the K70 and gave it a look over. My springs are centered but I will definitely watch for this.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]I gave a decent effort to remove the tail cap but it wouldn't budge. I'll leave it like that and always unscrew the head.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]Did yours unscrew on the tail cap end, when removing the battery carrier, before the meltdown?

Good thinking mhanlen![/FONT][/FONT]

 

[martinaee]

If there is one thing we all value here more than anything (but might not realize it until it's too late) it's absolutely safe designs in our flashlights and high powered batteries we use in them. Hopefully this isn't the Samsung Note 7 of flashlights.

The first light I had with springs on either end of the tube was/is the Fenix E50. That gives the benefit of spring shock absorption and easy connection. However, this DUAL spring design on the same end may not be the best idea. I'm assuming the batteries are somehow running in parallel for the high current necessary? That's gotta be partly a reason for this not-entirely-safe design.

 

[xdayv]

There's a cushion you can slip over a pencil so you get a better grip when you're writing. I'm going to give that a shot, over the center spring when I get a chance

good idea, pls share to us if it works well...

 

[rickypanecatyl]

[FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]I have the K70 and gave it a look over. My springs are centered but I will definitely watch for this.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Display]
[/FONT][FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]I gave a decent effort to remove the tail cap but it wouldn't budge. I'll leave it like that and always unscrew the head.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Display]
[/FONT][FONT=.SF UI Display][FONT=.SFUIDisplay]Did yours unscrew on the tail cap end, when removing the battery carrier, before the meltdown?

[/FONT][/FONT]

Yes it did. I bought it at a "actual store" - one of the Ace distributors here along with the 4 new batteries and we installed them in the store taking the battery tube out the tail cap.
Actually I didn't even realize you could unscrew the battery tube from the head until Mhanlen mentioned it in his post. The battery tube to the head was screwed on pretty tight and I assumed it didn't come off and only pushed it because of Mhanlens post.

I'm guessing from some of the other posts here that perhaps Ace realized the issue and locked the tail cap in place?
I'm still a bit concerned that because the inner spring is so close to the outer spring AND so long they could still touch. It seems like it would be alot safer if the distance between the outer spring and the inner spring was far enough apart the inner spring couldn't reach the outer spring...

 

[harro]

Wow, good catch. Both my K60 and K70 tailcap springs were bent slightly. The K60, with a cursory inspection, appears to have the same setup as the K70. Not to the extent that the OP's were, and easy enough to bend back to straight. I had been using the tailcap on both lights to change cells. The tailcap unscrews as easily as the battery tube does ( at least they do on my lights ). When you look closely at the carrier, there is a shallow channel machined out of the aluminium which locates the larger spring, and the center pole is protected by a round black plastic ring, which is proud of the center contact. It would appear this plastic ring is designed to stop the center spring from wandering off the center contact too far ( IMVHO ). But, for whatever reason, in the OP's situation, it hadn't, judging from the amount the center spring appeared to be bent. Looks like Loctite for the tailcap and undoing at the head end of the body, is the answer ( and also, awareness of the issue ).

 

[acebeam]

Hello there, this is Chris from Acebeam flashlight.

This incident cased by short-circuit of tail cap, which two springs touched together, and the reason of two springs touch togher is the springs were distorted when removing/filling the battery carrier from tail cap not from the head.

The battery carrier have no circuit inside then won't identigy huge current from short-circuit, if battery have strong PCB(Acebeam battery have 4MOSFET in PCB, such as 3100mAh 20A used for X45, L16 and X80) then will protect, or else battery will scorch like the picture showing.

So we kind reminder every acebeam fans that removing the tube from the head to change the battery and using Acebeam battery or 4MOSFET protected battery.

And we can replace the tail cap and battery carrier for rickypanecatyl

 

[martinaee]

Hello there, this is Chris from Acebeam flashlight.

This incident cased by short-circuit of tail cap, which two springs touched together, and the reason of two springs touch togher is the springs were distorted when removing/filling the battery carrier from tail cap not from the head.

The battery carrier have no circuit inside then won't identigy huge current from short-circuit, if battery have strong PCB(Acebeam battery have 4MOSFET in PCB, such as 3100mAh 20A used for X45, L16 and X80) then will protect, or else battery will scorch like the picture showing.

So we kind reminder every acebeam fans that removing the tube from the head to change the battery and using Acebeam battery or 4MOSFET protected battery.

And we can replace the tail cap and battery carrier for rickypanecatyl

Will you be changing the design? This seems like a potential hazard as you can't really expect all customers to realize that very well protected cells shoud be used because the springs could easily touch in the tail-cap. I do agree that heavily protected cells should be used by most customers most of the time, but reducing the possibility of a short is top priority.

 

[aginthelaw]

Doesn't the possibility still exist if you put the carrier in from the head end? My tn32 is also like that, as is my rev victor, deft-x, tn30, k50, k60, x40...some don't open at the tail end but the spring design is the same

 

[easilyled]

It seems like once the springs are engaged in their channel cutouts with the body screwed tightly against the head, that there is less chance of a problem. However there's no way of checking that this is the case without taking an X-ray!!

So the only thing we can do is check that the springs are straight in the battery carrier before screwing the body tight against the head and then turning it on and off a few times to check that the current is going in the right place.

The design is definitely a concern. This is food for thought that less expensive flashlights with excellent specs may not always be the only consideration when making purchasing decisions.

Having a separate channel for each battery rather than a battery carrier may be more expensive to machine and may cost the purchaser more but will give more safety security.

I say this as an owner of the K70, also lured by a good price and excellent specs (output/throw)

 

[coffeecup66]

"Funny" how it seems there always needs to be several deaths before action is taken to pull dangerous products like these from free public circulation.

Ricky probably should have travelled with his family and flashlight on a charter plane, or let one of his kids take it to school...

Incredible.

 

[acebeam]

Will you be changing the design? This seems like a potential hazard as you can't really expect all customers to realize that very well protected cells shoud be used because the springs could easily touch in the tail-cap. I do agree that heavily protected cells should be used by most customers most of the time, but reducing the possibility of a short is top priority.

[FONT=&#24494]Thanks martinaee, your and others mainstream suggestion is correct, Acebeam K60, K70 have the tail cap switch to control ON/OFF, so there must be durl springs(outside spring) design to built connections, the new model such as X65, X45, X80 only have one switch to control the outputs, so there are no spring in the tail cap.

So far the solution for stocked K60, K70 is gluing the tail cap with the tube then can't unscrew, reminder current K70(K60, X40, K50)users don't unscrewing tail cap when change battery(should remove from the head) and check tail cap of springs if any distorted, and last choosing Acebeam protected battery. In the future Acebeam will upgrade the current tail cap design if such dual springs is necessary or cancel this kind design.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Thank you[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif] to all who have thought about acebeam flashlight to be a better one.[/FONT]
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[rickypanecatyl]

Did the batteries trip their protection circuits ?
May be too late to tell without a volt meter.

I just tested the cells. Here's a Efest IMR on the same Xstar VC4 that I used for the O light batteries:



It measured between 4.19 and 4.2 volts on the volt meter.



The first (2) O light cells were 0 volts. The 3rd cell was .03 volts and the last cell was 3.18 volts:








The cells lined up. From the purple IMR to the K70 they are 3.18V, .03V, 0V, OV.


I don't know how the protection circuits work; did they work in the cells that are showing 0 volts?

 

[rickypanecatyl]

Hello there, this is Chris from Acebeam flashlight.

...


And we can replace the tail cap and battery carrier for rickypanecatyl

Thanks Chris! I sent you a PM with my shipping address. Could I get (4) new cells as well?

 

[Jay R]

As suggested already, I'd opt for a foam or rubber donut of some kind to ensure they STAY separated.

 

[easilyled]

As suggested already, I'd opt for a foam or rubber donut of some kind to ensure they STAY separated.

In my opinion, if ACEBEAM want to keep our goodwill, they should offer customers who currently have their lights with this design-flaw the chance to be mailed this kind of fix.

 

[blah9]

Yeah, gee whiz. Thanks for sharing all of this though!

 

[seery]

The K60/70 comes with a manual showing the proper way to load/unload the battery carrier. If the instructions are properly followed, this wouldn't have happened.

Here it is for those that acquired one without the manual, lost it, or didn't take the time read it.

 

[Lou Minescence]

I would say the cells that read zero volts tripped. Protection saved the day.

 

[staticx57]

I would say the cells that read zero volts tripped. Protection saved the day.

Just so we are clear, the cells internal protection, the ability for them to vent, saved the day. The PCB failed to trip from a short and let the cell enter thermal run away.