Discussion : - Utorch UT01

>> All the factory had to do was drill the switch boot hole 1 mm towards the driver and It should have lined up perfectly.

So could we just enlarge the hole a bit?

No I don’t think so, I think if you did that the switch boot/bezel may no longer fit.
If it did fit there would be a open gap around part of the switch.

The switch on mine is not perfectly centered in the hole but that didn’t matter after doing komeko’s mod of a plastic disc inserted between the boot plunger and switch. Not only did it take up the gap between the plunger and switch (which was too long) I believe it also corrects the mis-alignment of the switch with the hole.

I think what corrects the mis-alignment with this mod is than I made the circumference of the plastic disc nearly as big as the hole in the body, (much wider/larger than the white button/acutator on the switch)

The plastic disc acts as a “contact plate” that in effect enlarges the surface of the internal switch button/acutator to correct the mis-alignment offset in the hole. You could even glue the plastic disc on to the end of the switch.

The thickness of the plastic I used was 1.15mm, the switch is super sensitive now, I might try a bit thinner plastic (.75mm - 1mm) But the thickness may vary between lights as komeko used a 1.5mm and that would have been way too thick for my light.

I used plastic cut from one of those bread bag closures from a sack of Bagels!

The only way I see to fix it, besides the disc fix would be to disassemble the light and unsolder the switch or lift up as you heat the soldering to try and get a little more of extra height. The switch would need a small gap under it. This will still not be perfectly lined up but close. Also moving the switch towards the outside ring takes the play out of the plunger, much better response, but if you move it to close the plunger becomes to responsive as it probably will have some pressure already pushing on the switch.

Interesting… I have dozens of plastic bread tabs. So its the rubber “eraser” thing that shifts off kilter relative to the switch… correct?

Curious, do you have to do a complete tear down for this mod? Is it possible to remove the rubber boot-eraser, and glue the bread-tab shim piece from the outside of the light?

How do you remove the rubber switch boot?

thanks!!

Now you know why you’ve been saving them… LOL :smiley:

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Yes, the “eraser” or “nub” attached to the back of the rubber switch boot, it’s not hitting directly center on the internal switch because the switch is off center. On mine there also was too much gap between that nub and the switch I was having to press really hard to even work the switch.

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No tear down at all, you don’t even have to open the light. All done from the outside of the light. The rubber boot can be pried out easily with a small screwdriver, I sort of “pulled” from the edge with the screwdriver tip, being VERY careful not to poke a hole through it.

You probably could also use small plier or tweezer and just pull it out, but I wasn’t comfortable with doing that because it seemed a higher possibility to poke through the rubber. But I could be wrong the rubber may be tougher than I think it is.

Maybe better if you have one of those plastic tools for working on cell phones, I have those somewhere but I couldn’t find them so I used a small metal flat blade screwdriver.

No need to glue the disc, I didn’t glue mine and komeko said nothing about gluing, but it was an idea I had. It would be best to try first without gluing to get the correct thickness of the plastic, if it’s too thick it will be too sensitive. When you get it to your liking you could glue it, but I don’t see it being necessary at this point.

It’s best if you have a caliper or micrometer to measure the thickness of the plastic so you can try different thicknesses to get it right. Those bread tabs come in different thicknesses, the one I have in it now was the thicker type, I may try one a bit thinner at some point because it’s quite sensitive now.

Make the disc a little smaller than the opening, then just lay the disc in the opening (over top of the internal switch button) then tuck the rubber boot back in under the rim.

For me it worked great, works every click - every time, no problem. Completely fixed it, went from “un-usable hate it” to “use it every day - luv it” :heart_eyes:

You could also try this without disassembly (post by T18 #165 above): Discussion : - Utorch UT01 - #165 by T18

I tried it but the switch wouldn’t move over, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on it for fear of breaking loose the switch or components inside, so I did the disc mod.

Just got my fourth.
Put in wire in tailcap and running great. Had good luck.

Is there a solution for the problem where if you turn the light off, it won’t turn back on until you break the circuit by loosening the tailcap and then re-tightening it? Both of my UT01s do this, but only with my 14500 cells (unprotected).

Seems there’s been a few with this complaint, I haven’t seen a fix posted. I think I recall someone did say it may be the type of battery. Sounds like a driver issue to me. I would definitely file a ticket for refund or replacement.

I’ve had a UT01 for 3 months now, heavy daily use, no problems, great light, I mostly use an Eneloop LSD NiMH

Has anyone posted a runtime test on medium on this thing?

I’m a little confused on how it could be so different from the SF14:

Sofirn SF14(AA/xp-g2): Low 3 lumen/ 111h; Medium 33 lumen/ 10h27min
Utorch UT01 (AA/xp-l): Low 2 lumen/171h; Medium 60 lumens / 11hrs
Utorch UT01 (14500/xp-l): Low 10 lumen/44h; Medium 100 lumens / 12hrs

How could this light on medium run at nearly double the lumens for longer than the SF14?
The stats on 14500 are even more impressive.

Which ratings are accurate or not?

Mine started this problem tonight. It had been working just fine on a Imren 14500 IMR, pulled the cell out measured 3.8v so I charged it and several other 14500’s, popped in an new Soshine 900mAh and the problem started, it will turn on only once until you break the circuit, and then only once again. It’s even doing it on an alkaline that measures 1.59v.

Very strange seemed like putting a fully charge battery in is what killed it. Filed a ticket with Gearbest, I’m pretty much done with this light for now.

I hope the problem is eventually fixed going forward. I’ll wait this one out until then.It must be a pretty great little light if everyone is still buying it knowing it has issues.

Its a nice light but I wouldn’t buy another one right now, not even for the for $9.99 that I paid. I already had to fix the battery length issue and switch problem to make it usable, now it’s unusable again.

Not sure why anyone would buy one of these after reading these issues, unless they like to just roll the dice, even for a host they’d need to fix the battery length and maybe the switch, and I haven’t see any deals for $9.99 anymore. The Sofirn Sp10A would be a better choice, currently on sale for $10.93

I was quite happy with it after doing the switch mod, until this happened. I do like the UI, size/form and warm tint, considered the Lumintop EDC05 but I’ve already read many are having the same issues with that one too, (both the switch issue and having to break circuit every time issue) and it also is reported to have considerably lower max output. There’s also the Manker E11 that I believe is the original of this design, suppose to have output like UT01 and is rock solid reliable, but it’s $30.

Gearbest wants me so send in a video of the problem but the file needs to be less than 2mb, so now I have to work on that now too.

Like they never heard of these problems before. By now , they should just ship out another one , no questions asked.

Yeah exactly what I was thinking, so I replied I couldn’t make a video, we’ll see what they say.

Dunno if I want another one though, maybe a credit.

Had that issue also with another item, but did not progress further. Was going to ask them if they have a video showing the item working properly when shipped. Or any proof that the item was even inspected.

One of mine was originally DOA, so I opened a ticket with GB. They wanted a video, but I told them I had no means to make one, and instead sent 3 pictures. Pic 1 showed the battery voltage on a DMM, the 2nd showed that same battery in the light, and the 3rd just showed the LED end of the light not lit up. They offered to replace, credit, or refund, and I could keep the DOA light. I took the credit and bought a On The Road M3 light, which is very nice and has a magnet in the tailcap. I still greatly prefer the feel of the UT01, and hopefully my 2 working ones will keep working properly with eneloops. Not as awesome as with a 14500, but still very good. It’s a great little light when working as it should. Really hope they get the driver issues fixed on the UT01 and also on the Lumintop EDC05. I’m thinking about trying to replace the switch. I’ve read some comments where doing that has fixed all problems for some people. Maybe worth a try.

[/quote=beam0]
Mine started this problem tonight. It had been working just fine on a Imren 14500 IMR, pulled the cell out measured 3.8v so I charged it and several other 14500’s, popped in an new Soshine 900mAh and the problem started, it will turn on only once until you break the circuit, and then only once again. It’s even doing it on an alkaline that measures 1.59v.

Very strange seemed like putting a fully charge battery in is what killed it. Filed a ticket with Gearbest, I’m pretty much done with this light for now.
[/quote]

Nothing has happened to mine yet, thankfully, but after reading this I immediately put in a fully charged battery. Maybe if I keep the battery above 4v I can prevent the problem. I don’t know, just a theory I came up with after reading your post. I hope someone finds a fix, or Utorch fixes this problem, as it is a great little light.

Edit: I guess I don’t understand how to quote someone.

My 2 UTorch UT01 behave that way (one was using AA, the other a 14500)…

After turning on and turning off, it won’t turn on again. Will need to unscrew (break the current) before it will turn on again.

Already past the Gearbest refund period… (bought a few months ago) — well actually one had been refunded due to another issue it had before I fixed it. But now, this is a new issue that affects both units…