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 donât 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 F1âs myself and one doesnât work, flickers or doesnât 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 andâŚguess what? Yup, the humidity was still there!
I guess that it has âno escapeâ, the water entered but it has no way out! Not even as vapor!
I couldnât find any damprid, but my guess is that it wouldnât be worthy as wellâŚThe sun, the rice, turning the light on max, heating it up with fire ⌠nothing worked, the water didnât disappear!
Here are some photos from when I took it out:
I must say one thing! Member Gearbest has been very attentive and weâve been in contact to reach a solution, that has already been found!
If sometimes sellers donât 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!
For what its worth, when Iâve had an electronic device become wet, Iâve placed them on an electronic appliance with ventilation holesâDish receiver, stereo receiver, etc. Of course your device canât 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.
Well, Iâm here to answer my own question: âHas anyone opened a Zanflare F1?â
And the answer is âYes I didâ! There may be some to whom this is heresy, but I guess there was no way aroundâŚ
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 isnât 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 partsâŚ
(NOTES: The lens in this image is not from the F1, as itsâ broke! The small o-ring in the tailswitch is not in the right place, as it is originally placed between the switch and the âretaining ringâ that screws in everything!)
LED, MCPCB, Shelf
Driver:
All the threads from the host were really well glued, thatâs 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 âready to useâ.
Meanwhile, Iâll wait for the new one thatâs on the way :+1:
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 âdestroyingâ 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 didnât regret buying it and, despite all, I didnât regret dismantling it.
The tailcap/switch are already part of another light; the driver and the LED, Iâll 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 outâŚThis 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 (âthough I gotta confess that after using it quite a while at night Iâm almost getting used to it ) and blend the colors nicely. Even the NW version might come out a beautiful true NW, not yellow-green.
Iâve been doing that to my S2+es, and the results are, âscuse 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 itâs simpleânâeasy.
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 âholderâ (âshoeâ :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 âfinal holeâ 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 donât think it would be worthy!
About the tint, I didnât 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 âgreenishâ, 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:
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 itâll rattle around; too tight and you wonât 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, âtil whateverâs 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 âshoeâ, 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 wouldnât 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.
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, âswitchâ or head) as it was already damaged.
But I guess that even using foam or any kind of tissue wouldnât 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 âdryâ 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 couldnât get any results but I was using a âjetâ lighter, only
[quote=Lightbringer]
Youâre welcome :nerd_face:
Hum, thereâs 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 donât think it would work.
Also, for this lightâs 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 wouldnât use a TIR inside the reflector, this as more a example to show proportions and measures
With or without holder is the only way possible
Wish I had a tool to produce lots of heat I wouldnât have damaged it so muchâŚ
Whatâs done is done, no turning back!! I guess we all learn from some mistakes and improve from them
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 donât knowâŚ
I donât have those tools unfortunately 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 didnât move a single millimeter âŚ
I must say the the colour didnât change, it remained black. Maybe because I didnât put it into much heat, I donât knowâŚ