Has anyone opened a Zanflare F1? [OPENED - Pictures]

Hi people!
My question is, perhaps, for the owners of a Zanflare F1. Has anyone opened it? If so, can you tell me how?

Yesterday I accidentally dropped my F1 in a pool (about 1-1,5m inside water) and just took some seconds to get it back. Everything was tight, tailcap, the usb port protector ring… However, some water infiltrated the light. The driver had some issues but is now working fine.
The battery was a bit wet too.

But the thing that annoys me is this:

I tried to open it to remove the water but so far I didn’t managed to do that. Does anyone have a trick to open it (or any other glued head)?
I don’t know, but will it be supposed to “use the Force” to open it?

Thanks in advance! :+1:

Unscrew the USB port and the back cover. Put a gel pack against moisture or throw to rice for a few days.

Thanks for the tip! It’s a bit hard to unscrew the parts, but I’ll keep on trying!
Or throw it to rice, if I don’t manage to get it out. The parts are really tight…
Thank you :wink:

The torch is glued;
I had Zanflare F1, I also wanted to undress it when I was doing a review http://www.torch.pl/forum/index.php?topic=62645.0

Eventually I’ll try the rice… I can’t move a bit of it!
Thanks again for the tip :+1:

Whoa… wait a sec.

The usb charging port is so wonderfully protected against water/dust ingress because of that nice O-ringed threaded sleeve that covers it, and just a few seconds dunked in water lets water in through the front lens?!?

Good thing I didn’t do any dunk-tests… Wouldda ruined my light!

That’s a real kick in the nuts… neither the F1 nor VG10/VG10S have any front-lens protection??

Yup, that’s really it! A few seconds and the water infiltrated !
As far as I can tell, there is no O-ring to seal it, and also I guess there is nothing in the base of the head (lets call it this way) to prevent water from entering! (see stephek x-ray: Review with X-Ray image: Zanflare F1 (1x18650))
I don’t know about the Thorfires, but this one…I guess it doesn’t have…
And as it is so well glued, I can’t dismantle it without damaging the host.

The modes were not working well, it jumped from ML to Turbo and them it wasn’t possible to switch it OFF. I used a hairdryer to…dry it and it worked. But the water inside the head just doesn’t disappear! I left the flashlight in the sun for hours this afternoon (without battery) but it only created vapor and condensation…

BTW, yesterday night I sent a PM to Zanflare, and so far I got no answer. (But I’ll wait, it is Sunday, after all…)

That’s just terrible! This is a VERY serious Zenflare’s engineers mistake.
Incredible!

That’s the biggest kick in the nuts, that with all the other details and attention to detail (I positively raved about that!), you’d think it’s all done to death, everything dotted and crossed, etc., only to find out that the biggest and most obvious opening is completely unprotected!

I’m hoping yours is just an exception. I don’t even want to try dunking mine in DW (0 residue), but now I’m paranoid to even pocket it if it might be raining out.

Biggest irony, my cheap-ass EDC ’502B I KNOW is fully protected and water-tight, because I put it together myself.

I found out about the VG10/VG10S because the front bezel isn’t glued (front glass just drops into it), and I could order O-rings to fit and make it water-tight. The second kick in the nuts is that I can’t do that to the F1 because it’s glued shut! Aaaauugh!

Sorry to hear yours took on water. I tested mine for 30 minutes in over 4 feet of water and found zero leaks. Mine had all the O-rings and all were lubed up before the test.

I had to apply some heat to the head to get the glue to budge for me. If you try this, you don’t want to use too much heat as the plastic spacer inside will melt/warp easily.

I’m beginning to wonder if Zanflare has a QC issue. I ordered an F2 when they were on sale at Gearbest, then ordered an F2, F2s, and F1 when they were on sale at Amazon about a month later. I received the Gearbest F2 after I placed the Amazon order, and while that F2 works the anodizing is soft and can be scratched off with my thumbnail in places. The Amazon order looks like it’s higher quality, and the F1 looks like it has an O ring outside the glass lens. However, the “low battery” red led comes on very early in one of the AA lights. I don’t recall if it’s the F2 or F2s from Amazon, but I get a low battery red on almost fully charged NIMH batteries that get a blue OK in the other lights.

Yup, it may be! Otherwise, mine could have some problem in water sealing and that’s it! Now I just want to remove the water from it…

Honestly, and despite all, I also hope that mine is just a case and an exception. Otherwise, the production may have inconvenient flaws.
I would never use this or any other light to dive or swim…because I don’t do that.
But the possibility of something like what happened yesterday, for any of us, is real, and therefore we must be aware and confident about the light we have!
And yeah, the “second kick”… It is so good to have such a good light on the hands on the one side, but when things like this happen, it’s not that good!
BTW, I guess that using it in a rainy day won’t bring you problem, but I can’t guarantee about submersion…

Thanks!! Yeah, probably mine was “defective” on that. I saw reviews of people taking into water and whatever else, and it was top!
I can’t exactly say if there is an o-ring in the front. If it is, it is sealing well the lens preventing the water to get out :person_facepalming:
I’ll try to heat that and take the head out, and dry it properly, but I’m not being able to open it…
I’m even afraid of using the USB charger having water inside of the light… :cry:
Right now the host has rice inside…Tomorrow I’ll put it in a bowl with rice outside. :sushi:

Hum, until yesterday I had no issue with this light quality, in functioning of in its components! I don’t have any other complain. But I do believe that some batchs may have some quality issues.
Maybe that issue of charging has something to do with the charger specs! I just know my charges till 4.18V.

Rice is actually not very good at pulling moisture out. How many times have you been going to make rice only to find that it had absorbed the humidity in the air and was mushy?

What works well is getting a container of damprid (you can often find offbrand generics at dollar stores) and putting the flashlight along with the damprid in a sealed container. A day or two and its dry as can be. I’ve been using the same one for nearly 2 years and rescued 4-5 lights and 1 phone with it.

Hi, I am sorry, the item F1’s head is sealed by glue, so it can not be opened, actually.
If your Flashlight has any problems, please send it back to Gearbest after-sales service center.
The Operation team will check the Flash light and fix the problem for dear customers.
Hope you can understand,
Best Regards,
Gearbest team

While I understand wanting to seal a light to prevent tampering and such, I’d strongly suggest not gluing lights shut like that. Problems like this, both drying out the light and adding an O-ring, are simple and wouldn’t require sending back a light at all.

As with wax seals guaranteeing the authenticity of sealed documents, the smallest dab of glue could be used on a driver and emitter to make sure there was no tampering. And even if someone wants to modify the light, “breaking the seal” would nicely void any warranty due to the tampering.

Thank you for your better understanding.
We keep your kind tips into mind, as we all know, customers voice is the best policy for innovation and creation.
If there is any technical updated info, we would like to share with you here as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Gearbest

@ Gearbest
Thanks for the answer and for stepping in for the help! I sent PM, and as I said there, sending the light back to the services would cost maybe as much as a new light (in sale, at least).

@ Zanflare
Thanks for the answer! I sent PM and I’m now following some suggestions given here.

@ srs2000
Hum, gotta take a look at those damprid. I’m not sure if rice is working! When you mention a sealed container it can be, i.e., a plastic box like a tupperware or something like that?
Thanks for the tip!

@ Lightbringer
I agree with you about the glue! If it gives some confidence to the customer, it may be a terrible situation when things like these happen…

I’ll try to solve it and if/when I do I’ll let you know what was the best or working option!
Thanks for the help!!

I’m using a cereal Tupperware container just because it’s what fits. If you don’t keep it sealed up it will just pull the humidity from the air, which is its intended use.

You can get Damprid at grocery stores and hardware stores. Off-brand is a little harder to get. “moisture eliminator” was what I got at dollar tree or dollar general.

Gonna search for it! The hairdryer and the sun are “working” for this… Maybe that will help!
Thanks again for the tip and for clarifying it :+1:

Well, we have to joke with life all the time, so this is my time now!
Have you ever heard about about the remake of Metallica’s album “Ride The Lightning”?

If not, here it its, the newest version :

“Rice the Light(ning)” :smiley: :partying_face: \m/

Yeah, I now this probably won’t work, but I couldn’t find damprid today, so I’ll go for it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave the F1 tasting a bit of rice ! In a more advanced state of mind, this light will be eating: :sushi:
Ehehe!

BTW: I’ve been in contact with Zanflare and Gearbest and they have been supportive on this situation, and we are working in a possible situation if these methods (sun, rice, damprid, hairdrier, vaccum cleaner, whatever else…) don’t work! Thanks in advance!