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

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!

I agree with you: sending the light back to the services would cost maybe as much as a new light.
If 2 or 3 days the humidity and water don’t disappear as expected, please get back to us and find a solution.
Best regards,
Gearbest Team

The rice will work. You might have to wait for a week or two for all the moisture to be absorbed. Close the container and don’t open for two weeks, it should be dry by then. Every time you open the container you let damp air in and it will take a lot longer to work.

Bought a couple of the F1’s myself and one doesn’t work, flickers or doesn’t come on at all and side switch will not change modes when it does come on.

So, after putting the F1 in rice for some days, I opened the box and…guess what? Yup, the humidity was still there!
I guess that it has “no escape”, the water entered but it has no way out! Not even as vapor!
I couldn’t find any damprid, but my guess is that it wouldn’t be worthy as well…The sun, the rice, turning the light on max, heating it up with fire … nothing worked, the water didn’t disappear!

Here are some photos from when I took it out:

I must say one thing! Member Gearbest has been very attentive and we’ve been in contact to reach a solution, that has already been found!
If sometimes sellers don’t do what they should, in this case GB has been thorough and willing to seek a compromise! So, I got a new F1 on the mail right now!
Thanks GB for that!

Yup, always silicone lube everything, especially this F1 usb ring.

For what its worth, when I’ve had an electronic device become wet, I’ve placed them on an electronic appliance with ventilation holes—Dish receiver, stereo receiver, etc. Of course your device can’t be dripping wet but the slow dry heat from an appliance that is on all the time has saved my cell phone and Ipod. Use your imagination.:slight_smile:

Well, I’m here to answer my own question: “Has anyone opened a Zanflare F1?”
And the answer is “Yes I did”! There may be some to whom this is heresy, but I guess there was no way around…

After the water entered my F1, I tried to take the water/humidity out, but I guess that was nearly impossible! Especially with a so well build flashlight as this one! Really! This is almost a fortress! It just isn’t because it let some water get in, of course… :person_facepalming:

But, apart from that, the F1 is incredible in its inside and outside construction.
While trying to take the water out, I accidentally broke the lens, heating it… From them on, I knew there was nothing else to do except dismantling it!

So, here are some pictures from my disassembled F1!! It gave a tough fight to unscrew the parts…

BTW, take a look at stephenk’s X-Ray review of this light, to compare the aspect and the pieces Review with X-Ray image: Zanflare F1 (1x18650) :+1:


(NOTES: The lens in this image is not from the F1, as its’ broke! The small o-ring in the tailswitch is not in the right place, as it is originally placed between the switch and the “retaining ring” that screws in everything!)

LED, MCPCB, Shelf

Driver:

All the threads from the host were really well glued, that’s why it is so difficult to open this light!

After this I just can say (despite the issues I had and that other member presented here) that the Zanflare F1 is a masterpiece - not for modders, for sure - but as a stock light “ready to use”.

Meanwhile, I’ll wait for the new one that’s on the way :+1:

I get it, you had to take it apart once the lens got busted, but still, seeing it in pieces like that almost makes me wanna cry. :smiley:

I gotta tell you that it hurted! :cry:
Not only in the hands, due to the strength that I had to use, but in the heart, for “destroying” such a great light!

This is like a tank! Even beaten as it was, the body reveals so few bruises, especially comparing to other lights scratched by any tip of a knife!

I didn’t regret buying it and, despite all, I didn’t regret dismantling it.
The tailcap/switch are already part of another light; the driver and the LED, I’ll use them, for sure, to recycle and reconstruct other lights!
You can see the amount of o-rings and pieces it has to seal and make it such a well built light! Even the lens, after breaking, was a rough time to take it out…This is awesome, despite all!! :+1:

Did you measure the diameter (and depth) of the reflector? Wondering if I could stick a TIR lens in there. Would also get rid of the greenifying AR-coated glass (’though I gotta confess that after using it quite a while at night I’m almost getting used to it :smiley: ) and blend the colors nicely. Even the NW version might come out a beautiful true NW, not yellow-green.

I’ve been doing that to my S2+es, and the results are, ’scuse the pun, like night and day.

Then again, I can take apart my S2+es by hand, maybe ring-puller pliers to reach in there for the pill, but it’s simple’n’easy.

Well, for the reflector, here are the measures (click the photos for bigger pictures):

With TIR lenses, from different sizes (4 examples):

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -

5 - Lens with “holder” (‘shoe’ :D) inside the bezel

The first one (1) is the one that fits better! It is a TIR lens from the Amutorch S3 (that I recently replaced for a lens like the one in #2), and it has a small part in the bottom that fits the reflector hole (for the LED) perfectly.

The other lenses do not fit well inside the reflector.

I also tried a lens with holder inside the head (5), but the ones I have are larger than the “final hole” of the bezel (take a look at the last picture inside the bezel).
BUT, I guess that a TIR lens, per se, in the place of the reflector would not work, as it is shorter in height! So, I don’t think it would be worthy!

About the tint, I didn’t took a picture when the lens broke and before unsoldering the driver and LED, but what I can say is that it was white to yellow in some parts! Definitely better than the “greenish”, but not completely Neutral White, as far as I remember!

Maybe if I solder it again I can show how it looks without the AR coated lens! No promises, though :innocent:

I was going to get a good set of strap wrenches to take mine apart, but it looks glued so tight it might be a waste of time

If anything, I’d work on trying to dissolve it but dunno what the “glue” is made of nor what’d dissolve that and not everything else inside.