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

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.

If its heavily gleued only get massive heat fast to the connecting area helps,
if done right the glue melts before you overheat other parts of the light

Holy Cats! You sure went to town measuring everything… thanx!

Yeah, I guess you really do need to take both dimensions into account, diameter and depth. Too loose and it’ll rattle around; too tight and you won’t be able to screw it down all the way. An O-ring can only handle so much slop.

In the S2+, the pill just screws in and in and in, ’til whatever’s in there stops it. So a few mm play is no problem.

It affects the length of the space the cell fits into, but springs in the tailcap and on the driver pick up the slack.

That last reflector with the black “shoe”, you might be able to shave down the outside diameter just a smidge to get it to fit. I had to kind of force-fit the shoe into the S2+, and let the threads do the shaving. Nice and snug, yet still removable.

What I wouldn’t want to do is stick a nekkid TIR into the reflector. Stray light leaking from the TIR, hitting the reflector, coming back into the TIR, might muddy up the beam in unpleasant ways.

Or I can end up with a desert-tan version of the F1…

Hum, I had to put the F1 in a table vise to get it real tight, and the I had to use a big pipe wrench to make it unscrew! (1st, the part of the battery tube, 2nd the bezel).

The thing is: I was not trying to protect the host (body, “switch” or head) as it was already damaged.
But I guess that even using foam or any kind of tissue wouldn’t be able worthy because then I would lose the grip and the wrench would rotate without turning the part I would want to.

Also, the strength applicated also provokes deformation of the tubes, especially on the bezel! To avoid this, maybe the solution - if worthy - would lay on using a box or socket wrench (and a protection of ruber, tissue, or whatever) inserted from the front/top of the flashlight.
But even from there, I guess that it would provoke deformation or even a lens breaking.

It is really well glued, and in fact, I think that it would be a real waste of time and would damage the anodization and, eventually, the threads. But, I was not kind and just used brute force, no heating, no solving things!!

Hum, maybe it worked, maybe not! When I inscrewed, the glue was “dry” but even then it was hard to rotate the parts. In the head, putting a big amount of heat, maybe it had impact on the LED or the wires, maybe not. (The host is really strong!!!)
I heated it up some times, and couldn’t get any results but I was using a “jet” lighter, only :smiley:

[quote=Lightbringer]

You’re welcome :nerd_face:
Hum, there’s a huge difference from this to the S2+ in terms of head and space. On the F1, a TIR lens would have to be specifically made for this, otherwise we would get no protection and it would, eventually, rattle!

Even the last one I used (black), shaving it on the sides would make it fit in diameter, but there would be half of the bezel to fill (in height) because it is too long and the lens is short!

The S2+ can easily take a TIR if the size is appropriate. On this, I don’t think it would work.
Also, for this light’s characteristics, I think it would be a waste! The bezel is quite nice and make a good work!
The only thing that is annoying is the AR coating of the lens, that should not make the tint look green. That would be the thing to change.

And of course I wouldn’t use a TIR inside the reflector, this as more a example to show proportions and measures :wink:
With or without holder is the only way possible :stuck_out_tongue:

I agree that massive heat is one of (if not the only) way to unscrew the head.

I am interested in opening mine to change LED.

If anyone finally gets an easy non-destructive way…. let us know

I used heat to open some lights my Nitecore P12 comes close to the F1

When its hot enough you can unscrew the bezel with you hands, just used a towel to protect me from burning my fingers

Wish I had a tool to produce lots of heat :frowning: I wouldn’t have damaged it so much…
What’s done is done, no turning back!! I guess we all learn from some mistakes and improve from them :wink:

Though, I still say: with the F1, you may need a loooooot of heat ! And beware not to damage the pieces (the gasket between the LED and the bezel is plastic, not aluminium as the rest of the light… So, maybe it can melt internally, I don’t know…

If you heat up small areas fast enough internal parts like driver and Gasket are usually OK
But some o-rings got too hot

Last light was Klarus G35 I used my autogen burner with oxygen bottle, but you have to move it fast or you do change the eloxal color

I don’t have those tools unfortunately :frowning: I just have a torch butane lighter, what is not enough for this!
Still, I tried heating the part of the tube for some minutes, moving it around, without burning just a small space. I wear some thick gloves to move the parts if the tube, but it didn’t move a single millimeter …

I must say the the colour didn’t change, it remained black. Maybe because I didn’t put it into much heat, I don’t know…