Should I be scared my Acebeam K70 might explode?

[AlexGT]

How much do they want you to pay for the "free" warranty replacement?

 

[rickypanecatyl]

Just to be clear, my light did NOT come with the instructions that were posted above; to the contrary, the dealer actually put them in for me the "Wrong way." Of course it wasn't his fault unless Acebeam told him--Modernflame is correct in that taking off the tailcap to put the batteries is the more common/intuitive way.

Oops! I've got to eat some "humble pie" here! I left my light along with the cardboard box it came in at the store I bought it at and picked it up the other day and the directions along with a bag of O-rings I hadn't noticed were right there in the box. Perhaps as someone else mentioned they were under the foam and the dealer put them in plain sight for me... don't know but apologize to Acebeam for saying mine didn't come with instructions.

 

[rickypanecatyl]

I just got my light back from Danny - a friend here in Kuala Lumpur who I think did an amazing job fixing the light as well as making it safer. Here's some pics of what he did:



The light still didn't work after putting 4 new batteries in and it turned out the mofset was dead.



Danny bipassed it and took the inner spring out:



Now it looks like this:

 

[rickypanecatyl]

I'm no expert but it seems safer to me now. With the original design both the inner and outer springs were so long and soft it was easy for them to touch and short.

Following Acebeam's directions to access the battery tube/carrier by unscrewing from the head as opposed to accessing it by the tailcap I'm sure is safer, but I can't see following those directions eliminating the possibility of the positive spring shorting with the negative spring. Of course screwing on/off the tail cap is more dangerous; you twisting the vulnerable parts around, but even going from the other direction, once pressure is taken off the tailcap springs and then put back on that possibility is still there.

My thought is this way the only weakness is perhaps the switch won't be able to handle the current going thru it... but that would mean the light would just stop working not blow up right?
And broken lights are better than exploded lights!

 

[easilyled]

It does look safer the way your friend modded it and I agree with you that the way it came from the factory is potentially dangerous, even when the instructions are followed.

I feel very strongly that this is a design shortcoming and that flashlights shouldn't have to be regarded in the same category as more dangerous items (such as toasters!!)

Apart from being careful with li-ions, there shouldn't be an added level of danger introduced into the flashlight, like in this case.

 

[Swedpat]

This was a scary experience and I am happy it ended up well. I have Thrunite TN32 and TN35 and these lights have very much the same design overall and also the same spring construction in the tailcap. I think it's justified with a warning for the owners of some of these lights. Personally I have never opened my TNs at the tailcap and there is no reason to do it. But still, because of this event I will give the springs an extra check now and then...

 

[rickypanecatyl]

Well one silly positive we discussed was if the light did blow up its highly unlikely it would have happened while in my pocket where most of my lights reside as it's too big!

 

[BethAtTheHug]

I also notice when comparing it to the K60, the K60 has a much better quality spring look at the pictures

K70 on the left and K60 on the right, I feel that Acebeam should have used the spring that was used on their K60 and not change to a wider, thinner spring that they used on their K70 IMHO.

Maybe Acebeam can send out some of the K60 springs...

I have a K60 and seem to have the spring on the left. I.e the K70 spring. Maybe they just use whatever springs they have handy. Unlike the OP I use high drain Samsung 30Q cells as when I did my research they seemed to be the thing to use. And IMR/INR cells are supposed to be 'safer'. Is this still a good idea?

 

[rickypanecatyl]

If you notice on my picture, it says "K60" on the K70 tail cap so you're probably right...

 

[rickypanecatyl]

TBH, I always thought these Olight batteries looked questionable and this does confirm that it was at least part of the problem.

OP - You mentioned that you like buying different colored batteries to segregate mated sets for each light. Instead of doing this, I would recommend finding good cells at one location and you can just label them with a sharpie. That's the easiest way I've found to ID batteries and keep them together.

I'm wanting to restock my batteries here shortly. Any recommendations for high quality batteries. I'm happy to pay more for better quality and I don't need the absolute highest capacity either. Just want good & reliable!

 

[seery]

The Samsung 30Q's are hard to beat.

 

[rickypanecatyl]

So a 3 month update: I've been using the light quite a bit with the mod and it's been fine... no safety issues.

(Still haven't gotten Acebeams promised new battery carrier yet but I may not need it! )