Thorfire TK4A go boom... (fixed, resolved!)

Problem is, and I think this is what happened to me, is that one cell was “weaker” than the rest. It croked first, then was getting reverse-charged as the other healthier cells kept punching out the electrons. Which is why one was leaking, the other was just starting to leak, but the other two still had some juice left in ’em.

The red/yellow/green stuff presumes all the cells will stay matched alllll the way down to dead, which rarely happens.

What I should do, of course, is as soon as it turns yellow, measure each cell to make sure it’s not gonna pop open like a week-old floater.

That’s what’s more disturbing than anything, I think.

That’s why I’d like to know what’s in/on the driver, whether it could be something that easily gets knocked out of whack.

Sorry, but I had to laff at this. :laughing:

Or GT. :smiling_imp:

slapping and shaking is the answer! :smiley:

This should be stickied. :smiley:

Okay, final resolution…

I had a few days left for the Amazon return-window for the light(s), but figured I’d first ask the nice folks at Thorfire directly if they heard of such an issue, and if so, what was the cause, etc. I much much much would rather have a replacement than a refund, or even just access to, say, the driver board if they had any in stock so that I could repair it on my own. I pointed them to this thread, as well.

At first, it was, “We’re so sorry, they’re discontinued, so we can offer you a refund for both the lights in your order”, but I said the other one is safe’n’sound as far as I know, so only one is at issue. :slight_smile:

Anyway, long story short, they gave me a refund on the one light, and said to not worry about sending it back, keep it, use it in good health, etc. Okay, maybe not in those words, but that’s the gist. (Even though I specified pretty clearly that I seemed to get it working again, via slap-therapy). Also, mentioned that if there’s anything else at issue, not to worry, just contact them and they’ll take care of me.

So, again, pretty amazing customer service from Thorfire!

Time to tear it apart :smiley: and solve the mystery

Actually that sound like they knew the issue. Getting refund too easily in this case.

Wellp, now that it’s technically not in warranty or has any “value” (except to me :smiley: ), there’s nothing to lose, so…

Just need to unsolder the LED to be able to take out the head and see what’s in there. Dunno if it could’ve been a ground connection that broke (rather critical, so everything stops), or maybe a loose plastic flake in the switch itself (falls between the contacts on the tip-over, gets shaken loose after my slap-therapy), or who knows.

But yeah, now that there’s nothing to worry about, I’ll take a peek inside, see if anything obvious jumps out.

Wow, you’re Mr Glass Half-Empty, ain’t ya? :smiley:

Even if so, if a part’s discontinued, I’d rather have someone offer a refund, even “too easily”, than argue with me about it, or insist, “Hey, it works now, so there’s nothing for us to do”.

I was up-front about it, pointed them to this thread and explicitly mentioned that the problem’s fixed (even if I don’t know how/why), and they still were nice enough to offer a refund.

Hey, I’m happy.

If you do, could you possibly post a closeup picture of the driver, or specifically the switch board? I’d like to compare it to my Sofirn. I’m pretty sure the switch was bad on mine, but I damaged it trying to touch up the solder. I also damaged the green led, although I have found the Green/red led. Thanks

I’ll give it a shot…

I might have to first redo a review I thought I posted a while back, but doesn’t show here. Thinking maybe when I was ready to post the “final product” I hit [preview] again instead of [send], or something retarded like that. Figures…

I knew Olight had similar way of handling on one of their light too. They knew certain batch of lights having issue, but they would only resend it if user encounter it and report it while under warranty. But they won’t tell user how to repair it, i guessd most probably they don’t think there’s many capable modders, so why bother.
This is just my personal assumption Thorfire knew the issue, not a fact.

Thorfire has been quite forward thinking, as far as I’m concerned. I had an issue with something ( either a battery, charger, or a light. I don’t remember for sure). They replaced it without objection, and had it to me within a few days. That means a lot to someone who only spent a few dollars on one of their products. I like the fact that a company would just send out a replacement, rather than get in the weeds about proving your complaint. It speaks well of Thorfire, and Sofirn. They are the young guns in this business, but seem to be highly interested in this forum. It should only work well for them, and their business.

Looks like Thorfire customer service is very good for quite some members here. :+1:

Don’t forget the VG10 issues. The supply chain probably screwed up the reflectors, sending ones that were a tad too short, and to get the product out the door, they shimmed the LED with a coupla spacers so that it’d be flush up against the reflector. Yeah, it probably upset the thermal path a little bit, but unless you were gonna really push the Hell out of the LED, it would be fine.

Just their luck, people opened up their lights, saw the spacers, and were horrified. Mine’s still working just fine, never overheated. In fact, dunno if anyone’s VG10 actually did overheat, or if it were just the threat of overheating that gave everyone aneurysms.

Anyway, TF offered full refunds to anyone’n’everyone who bought an affected VG10, every penny, no questions asked, and keep the lights.

I was going to point out a counterexample from a different manufacturer, where a documented problem would twist LEDs right off the board, and getting replacements/fixes was like proverbially pulling teeth.

Like I said, I’ll never hesitate buying or recommending a TF light. The lights are solid, and even if one has an issue, their customer-service is phenomenal.

When you say TF it actually reminds me of Trustfire. :smiley:

you have been reported to flashlight protective services.
shaken flashlight syndrome is a serious matter even if it restores life.

Wellp, it still happens on (rare) occasion, but now that I know how to wake it up, I’m good.

Probably something loose/intermittent. I had to unload it, because I was racking up too many half-spent alkaleaks and I wasn’t burning ’em off fast enough in my 1×AA lights. When I start winnowing down that new supply, I’ll go back to feeding the ’4A.

So this remains a slap-happy flashlight, no final answer what’s wrong?
Lots of interesting discussion.
I had one of the dicey olights mentioned (which hasn’t kept me from buying another one), and agree manufacturers may well know about problems they hope won’t surface.

Not really. Hard to tell sometimes what goes on under the hood.

My Ultratac AAA started going mental. Would light pretty bright when it’d turn on, but otherwise would just refuse to turn on. Swapped alkaleaks, works fine now.

Odd that the alkaleak had enough juice to belt out some serious light, but wouldn’t turn on at all except sporadically.