DBSAR Lantern Mini-Review: -Zanflare T1 (UPDATE: Second T1 failed!

I may be missing something but it seems to me if the “design” was the problem…. it would affect all the T1s. I definitely think if they implemented your suggestions the design would be safer but think it is a little unfair to blame the design if the problem is only caused because someone uses an old or defective battery. That’s like blaming a gas car’s design because you put kerosene in it. You could re-design the car so kerosene would work or simply use the proper fuel so you don’t create a problem where one does not exist.

it do not matter if its an old or new cell. the lantern has a flaw that directly heats up the cell with the LEDs. not everyone who may buy this lantern will understand what we know about Lithium Ion cells and LED lights. someday someone could put a cheap ultrafire cell on this lantern and it go bad. If a product i test has a potentially hazardous flaw, i will expose it and make sure people are aware of it.

and that would be “someone” at fault wouldnt it…… not the lantern?

your missing the point. the lantern has the flaw of heating the cell, that people are not aware of.

Would be fair though, to test it with the cell it came with and see if the problem still occurs.
And for good measure, test it with a Japan made cell.
Just to make sure it’s not your old battery.

Maybe I am, but again, if this IS a ‘design flaw’ then why does my tailcap remain cool after hours of continuous use when I use a decent battery?

maybe your particular lantern has a flaw and don’t run at full output like the others. LEDs will produce heat when running at higher modes. its fact. at 1 amp draw the tube inside my L1 gets so hit it almost burns my finger. The cap gets quite warm, but not as hot as the insides sides of the battery tube.

User’s misuse/misapplication in the boon of all manufacturers… but if this all they consider all the time, no one can ever sell in the market anything anymore.

Adding to that, no manufacturer can predict and write all disclaimers as a safety measure.

And when using your vehicle… please don’t use kerosene and turn left when the road curves to the left…

…or perhaps it’s the other way around? Numerous owners has already posted that their unit, using the OEM cell, does NOT heat up unlike your unit using your old cell…

I am running a new test now with a new LG HE4 high drain 2500mah cell. I turned it on now at 9:13pm EST, on maximum mode, with the tint set to roughly 4000K ( so that all the LEDs are on at the same time, (except for the red) and will let it run for 30 minutes then check the temperature of the cap, & the temp of the inside of the body of the battery tube.

  • Will post the update in 40 minutes.

Have you checked the IR of the used, old cell that was used and is the subject of this op?

10 minutes in, on a LG HE4, on high mode, with tint ramp set to roughly 4000K, the battery cap OUTSIDE surface is already at 40+ degrees Celsius and climbing:

30 minutes in: -now the cap temperature has reached 52.1 degrees C.

for those who say that their T1 still has a “cold” battery cap after running on high for more than 20 minutes i call complete BS.

- I will let mine run with the HE4 cell for a hour or until the temp don’t rise anymore and measure the camp and the inside battery tube.

Wellp, to be fair(er), that’s still not an end-of-the-world scenario.

I took an AT01 that I gave mum, and swapped the 3×AAA carrier with a crap 18650. It needed more pressure on the spring(s) to make better contact (ie, get rid of random flickering), and a Li cell fit the bill nicely. ’Though I’m not going to waste a good cell in case she leaves the light on overnight and burns it down. Ruin the crap cell instead, y’know?

And so she did. Ran it down to vapors by leaving it on, several times. Later complained that after charging, the light would “get hot” when using it (then quickly “get dim” but no longer cook. I figure that pushing the LED with 4.2V after charging, vs 3.whatever when the AAAs would sag under load, was what was heating up. Mmmmmnope, not quite.

When charging it in my not-quite-almighty Opus at a paltry 700mA, the cell started getting quite warm. Okay, back to the AAAs.

Point being, with a lousy cell, pretty much any load would get the cell a-cooking.

see posts above using a 3 month old LG HE4 cell. it still gets very hot.

I initially thought that was exactly the case, that the come-with cell was cooking.

See my last post. Any crap cell will go supernova if it’s already predisposed to do so. Sure, heating it up might be what’s needed to push it over the edge, but that’s not the lantern’s fault. No decent cell would get that far.

Even the Mighty Maglite specifically excludes from its anything-warranty, alkaleaks taking a dump inside the light. You ruin the innards with one-a them, it’s on your dime.

Just saw it now. Unno, I might try it to see.

Half-hour enough to get most of the way to steady-state?

seems like with as many ppl got these lately on here, we might get a better sample to evaluate the problem?

I’m still running it at max. will let ot go to a hour and test again. (right now i have the lantern sitting inside a metal 5 gallon pail just in case it goes thermo nuclear. :stuck_out_tongue: