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rickofudall
Joined: 19 Sep 2009
Posts: 1392
Location: Udall, KS, USA
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 Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:24 am Post subject: Always check the ground, yet again |
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We use flashlights on a daily basis and our battery bill is pretty high because of it. We're making the leap to rechargeables but our first foray brought the old lesson about check the grounds first into play as I say, yet again.I would say the flashlight maker's name but I think the problem will be endemic to all that use the 18650 lithium ion battery.
Anyway, the flashlight came in the mail, I put the battery in the charger and waited for the LED to turn green. Put battery in flashlight, hit the switch, nothing. Fiddled with it awhile, unscrewed cap/switch and put battery back in charger for another cycle. Again, no light. I unscrewed the end again only this time I noticed a white powder coming off the threads. Examination of the threads with a magnifying glass revealed that the threads were corroded and a vigorous brushing with a stainless steel brush fixed the symptom but not the problem.
I compared the new flashlight with a AAA battery powered LED flashlight. The threads on the 18650 powered flashlight are bare aluminum. They have to be to complete the ground path for the circuit. The AAA flashlight has a plastic case that connects up the four batteries and has the ground path built into it. Two spring loaded pins on the forward end of the case connect to power and ground rings on a circuit board at the LED end of the flashlight. The threads are not part of the ground path.
I briefly considered alodining the threads when good sense hit me with the realization that I do not need another project. A few key strokes and I was printing out a return label.
So it seems to me that pretty much all the rechargeable aluminum flashlights that have no other ground path than unprotected threads are going to have this problem sooner or later. I was lucky in that the failure was immediate. If the manufacturer had put a 1/2 penny desiccant pack in the case I would probably have thrown it away in a year or two and been stuck with the bill.
Rick Girard
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“Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.” Groucho Marx
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alec(at)alecmyers.com
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:19 am Post subject: Always check the ground, yet again |
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I have several flashlights as you describe, both $5 affairs from Banggood and some very expensive ones - going back 5 years. No corrosion on any threads
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Eric Page
Joined: 15 Feb 2017
Posts: 245
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:44 am Post subject: Always check the ground, yet again |
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What a strange experience. I have an aluminum 18650-powered flashlight in my flight bag that I sourced from one of the offshore discount electronics emporia. It has a clear anodized finish and no apparent ground path from tail cap to business end except through the threads. It has been illuminating my nighttime preflight walk-arounds for several years now without fail. Very bright, very reliable, very cheap.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/her9d7w
Eric
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