Durability Test / Crash Test now online....

LED Flashlights – General Info
12

heating is not a bad thing to review.

i would comment though, that the ‘drop tests’ won;t really be all that informative.
almost every time something falls like that, it is a special case.
angles, forces, position at time of impact, are not controllable.
they are also mostly not even ‘knowable’.

you would need to do that about 100 to 1000 times per light to be reliable.
even if you find a failure it will only be one data point.
though if you drop a light 1000 times and it still works, that is good to know - even if the conditions are somewhat random and unknown.

wle

13

Interesting points.

We are thinking about doing 10-20 drop tests to see how they will hold up, not 100, and definitely not 1000 LOL.

14

skylumen (Vinh) recently made some tests on his brand new light / prototype, that may be inspiring for this:

One thing I find important is to perform the tests with less variability possible, meaning, standardized as much as possible!

This said, one question: do you intend to check “only” if the manufacturers’ specs match the real world or do you wanna go beyond that?
Meaning: check if “only” 1m is enough to “break” the light because the specs say so; or check waterproofness of a light “1m underwater for 30minutes” because that’s what specs say.

I normally don’t do these tests in my lights, but I do appreciate your efforts to check that in some “popular” (and not very expensive) lights! :wink:
Thanks :blush:

15
  • Convoy S2+ flashlight cold ,hot ,crash resistance. Tc demo - YouTube S2+ Simon video 5 years ago. Cold, hot, 5th floor window to concrete drop test. You probably don’t need to go from that high on the drop test. You probably don’t need to go to a full boil on the water heat test. Edit… he doesn’t claim that he used the same flashlight for all those tests. You probably ought to have 2 of every model if you are going to really stress them.
16

Ideally, you’d test at least 2 or 3 lights of the exact same model, to be sure you’re not either getting a “dud” or an “exceptional” light. Maybe that’s what you mean when you say 3-5 flashlights. But, even if you just test 1 unit each of 5 different models, it’s informative.

Do the same test over and over and over again. It might take dozen of tries before you get a light to land in a particularly bad way, such as on the lens or switch where it breaks.

If you don’t care about breaking the light, increase the severity of the testing, to figure out just when the light will break. e.g, Test 1 meter drops, then 2 meters, then 3 meters, etc.

For drop tests, do it onto concrete or hard rock. Asphalt is just too soft to be a good drop-test.

Water tests, might include some tests for using the switch while under water.

Personally, don’t spend too much time on hot/cold tests. You can do it, but any light that can’t operate within –20C to +60C is junk. So, no need to test it more than once for each light.

In addition to drop tests, do “throw tests”. This would simulate dropping the light while cycling, or out a car window. Maybe do it on a bumpy surface, to give the light lots of skips and bounces. You could also do this by simply tossing the light out a car window while driving.

The switch is often the weak point, so test that somehow.

Water tests might include salt water. That’s often much more destructive, especially for long periods of time.

17

How about a drop test of two of the same light, one with aluminum bezel and the other with stainless steel. I prefer ss thinking it would be much more durable hitting granite, but some others seem to prefer all aluminum to save the miniscule weight difference. Might be interesting. Thanks for the great idea of testing the lights!

18

Get Markus to blow it up. :laughing:

19

Shooting range test? :-D

Don't know who Markus is but, if blowing it up is all about we can try it with the heat test: insert a charged li-ion cell in the flashlight, place it inside an oven, select target test temperature and turn it on full blast. ;-)

20

Skip to around 3:15.

21

Good thread. I think a squish test would be valuable too. I have set my toolbox down on lights at work before and have had a few surprise my by bending out of shape while others held up and were unharmed by the same forces.

22

sure put them in the freezer for a couple hours. on and off. that would be interesting.

throw them against a brick wall. not really hard, but you know when you’re holding a light and turn quickly, but your friend is standing there and the light flies out of your hand and smacks agains something…. so that.

put them in a tupperware with water and dirt/sand and shake the hell out of it.

step on them with boots. I’m 200+ lbs so find a bigger person. :).

it would be great if more manufacturers or people would be willing to donate. if they survive. do a give away.

23

Many years ago, when I was starting to collect flashlights, I also did some machine testing; even in the dishwasher; those in the washer-drive was a mechanical stress and sealing, that in the dishwasher only of impermeability. In the dishwasher, however, the colour of the flashlight changed due to the more aggressive soap.

24

would definitely be intersted in toughness difference between regular bezels vs stainless steel. Like on the Convoy C8 that has the optional SS bezel. If you actually have to hit something of someone with the light does it make a difference?

25

Wellp, that depends on what you hit. For a pair of balls on standard clothing it may not make much difference. If your target wears something tough forget about nonsense and get a morning star O:) flashlight. :-D

26

I think you should test as many as possible, 3 may not be enough. I suggest Zebralight, Emisar, FW3A, Olight and other popular brands.

27

And if you drop it, would the stainless bezel have less flashlight damage? The extra weight over AL might result in a bit more bezel first hits, or maybe not? Would the AL slightly flex or even dent and absorb some of the impact, saving the lens or whatever? Interesting. But whatever you do will be appreciated by all of us.

28

Many interesting ideas for sure. Ssome are a little too 'unnatural' though ;)

Currently we have 4 flashlight being said for. Waiting for the Lumintop edc18 to arrive.

This will be our first round. We may end up doing another one (which is our plan) with more flashlights.

Seems like most people are interested in somessort of roughness testing. We just have to finalize the details.

29

3 lights is heaps it gives a bunch or variables.

I want to do a potted vs non potted driver test. I have some Hugsby XP2 to try it on. The drives are boost drivers, I think buck/boost driver will break easier.

I gave some XP1/XP2s to my mate and he broke one by dropping it multiple times the inducter came of (heaviest part on the board).

I think that would be interesting?

30

ChibiM, any results yet? Hope it turns out well.

31

Sorry, now uploading the test results to the site... hopefully it will be ready by tomorrow