Water is not a good conductive… it won’t short even in sea water
It won’t short in sea water, but current will certainly flow. I keep my EDC light clipped in the same pocket as my keys and knife. Even if positive is slightly recessed, I can easily see a key causing a short with those exposed contacts. I see this as a major downfall in design, and an accident waiting to happen for the average consumer who doesn’t know about lithium cells.
I do see it being useful for a fire starter with steel wool however. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!
d’Oh-light…
OK that’s good, so it won’t short in the rain while on your head. But it probably does drain the battery or am I wrong?
We’ve had at least one report on Reddit where someone’s Olight battery was fully discharged every day by metal shop debris. Even without the risk of fire, that is unacceptable.
Also, this is something that every other major brand does correctly. Everyone else has “magnetic charger protected from shorts” in their ad copy. Usually next to a picture of a bunch of keys 
Olight is aware of this, I asked them about it during a live video and their answer was “We haven’t had any problems yet”.
Danger aside, this is lazy design, pure and simple. I’m surprised this was ever approved and is telling regarding their design methodology.
1) Do not wear this headlamp over a tin foil hat
2) Do not put this lamp in the pocket of your chainmail clothing
Just calls for thinking through what could go wrong.
in the case of H2R Nova, it’s mentioned in the manual and at the tailcap… but the real issue is something else…
some of us did (including their earlier products) and will continue to…
just received the review units (supposedly newer batch) yesterday as they asked to pause the review on their initial batch (early last month) for them to rectify some small cosmetic issue… perhaps in that review I might share the experience giving feedback to the manufacturer.
(start of rant)
I think most of us who do product review knows how hard it is to convince the manufacturer to go with what we think is the better route for the product that we review. and we do understand that what we suggested may not always be viable option or commercially feasible as we do not have the full picture of their production cost. tho we do hope the manufacturers will take note of our input and put into considerations for next iteration of the product… one can only hope…
(end of rant).
Not that I am defending the design, but it should be noted that lighting the steel wool on fire is not as difficult or dramatic as it is being made out to be. The same thing can be done with eneloops.
This is fun chemistry-at-home stuff, but it does not illustrate possible dangers of the exposed contact points. What does illustrate it is trying a direct short between them (the with-keys-in-pocket scenario) and see how the light and battery fares.
It does illustrate the potential and I 100% agree that the design has some serious potentially dangerous flaws. I am just pointing out the ease of electrically igniting steel wool to disperse some of the hyperbole from this dramatic demonstration.
IMHO the contacts should be switched or at least dioded or fused.
It’s definitely possible to mitigate the risks by not carrying the H2R and similar Olights in a pocket with other items, avoiding metal dust and steel wool and taking great care to ensure the magnet does not attract staples, nails and the like. Most of us here will do so, especially having read people like me complaining about the live contacts and calling the light a potential pipe bomb.
It’s absurd to have to worry about something like that in a mass-market consumer product. It’s one thing if there are some special caveats about “Joe’s Custom Flashlights Ultimate Face Melter 9000”, but Olight is marketing this thing to casual users. It should be designed to be reasonably safe if you can follow instructions like “don’t point the really bright light directly into your eyes” and “don’t eat batteries”.
Added a video of it powering the Astrolux S41 at 700lm.
Might want to check your videos.
Thank you for doing this testing.
People have a reasonable expectation that their lights are safe (I.e. no voltage on the outside.) Every other brand has managed, except Olight for want of a penny part.
Whoa…
At first I thought maybe this was just a crybaby post, like, “See what happens when you leave your light on the barbecue grille? The horrors!”, but yeah, this design is just plain unforgivable.
Well, at least they got the right name. “Nova” has a nice ring to it. “The China Syndrome” doesn’t.
Given the number of light painters who carry around steel wool in their pockets or camera bag, this issue is quite concerning!
My Led Lenser EDC also has tail cap contacts, but I’m not a careless person that just puts random metal objects in my pockets.
It’s just something to watch out for and be aware of on all flashlights that have external charging through contacts.
My R40 uses induction charging and has no exposed contacts at all, so it is an interesting (and safer) alternative.
Personally I prefer flashlights with a micro USB port so that I can charge them without any kind of base, just a simple charging cable.
Micro USB isn’t the best for durability, but it should last several years without any problems if you’re careful to not damage the port.
Some day USB-C will be common enough to see it on flashlights, and that will be great since it’s more durable and carries more power.
My Led Lenser EDC also has tail cap contacts, but I’m not a careless person that just puts random metal objects in my pockets.
It’s just something to watch out for and be aware of on all flashlights that have external charging through contacts.
My R40 uses induction charging and has no exposed contacts at all, so it is an interesting (and safer) alternative.
Personally I prefer flashlights with a micro USB port so that I can charge them without any kind of base, just a simple charging cable.
Micro USB isn’t the best for durability, but it should last several years without any problems if you’re careful to not damage the port.
Some day USB-C will be common enough to see it on flashlights, and that will be great since it’s more durable and carries more power.
No need for external battery charger, removing the battery, or docking station for the flashlight.
I love that movie a few days later after release what happens? TMI Edison must of read the script telling people nothing happen while the core was melting.
ROFL