Break-in a flashlight?

Do you or is there any reason to take certain precautions to “break-in” a new flashlight? I realize that is a very generalized question and the answer may vary depending on the light. Just wondering if most folks put the pedal to the metal right off the bat or if it’s wise to run at lower levels some before we turn the light into a handwarmer.

I had my Q8 do push-ups until it got in shape……. :confounded:

I may be wrong and far from an expert, but I can’t see anything that one calls a “break in” on a flashlight. What I did was fully use it for a few days to see if there were any electronic gremlins or surprises. If that is what you mean, then yes, it’s not a bad idea to get use to it before relying on it for safety. For me, the “new generation” is going in the cars so I want to make sure they don’t sparkle and fizzle their way into my insurances heart……

When I saw this thread I didn’t see the “a” and read it as “Break-in flashlight”. My first impression was “he wants suggestions for a flashlight to use while committing burglary” :open_mouth:

As far as breaking in a new flashlight? … no I typically don’t do anything special with them. Just use them and let them run for awhile to make sure there are no problems.

In general, most of my flashlights work as described out of the box.

The only manufacturer I seem to have a big issue with in terms of reliability is Zebralight. Had a lightly used never dropped SC64w HI fail a few days ago. While I had it on, it briefly flashed high, but now only turns on in moonlight. Looks like something failed in the driver. Guess I’ll have to send it back to Zebralight for service.

Dunno about off-the-rack lights, but if you use your own thermal goop, it’s a good idea to “cycle” it a few times to get it to settle in.

And everything’s all put together cold, so if you want to cook the O-rings, etc., and make sure everything’s snugged up tight when hot and when cold, just like retorquing lugnuts after 50mi of driving or so, that can’t really hurt. Might possibly help, or might not make any difference. Still might make ya feel good. :laughing:

After all the Folomov Nichia series 18650S stories of overdriven emitter turning blue at high voltage, I decided to turn mine on medium for like 20 minutes or so and then not cook it on high for long periods for a while and have never experienced any problems with it, so maybe there is something to letting everything seat itself so to speak.

But most of them, no just check for build quality, always try first with protected cell if the light will accept it in case of dead short.
Then if all is well, drop a high amp cell in and let it rip.

Hmm, that’s an eye-opener that I had never considered. Good idea but I don’t think I even own a protected battery. Maybe should pick one up.

I never thought about it before, because most of my lights are 1 mode lights. However, I am almost 100% certain I did something to my Emisar D4 XP-L HI 5000K light.

I decided to run it full turbo on a fresh cell in a glass of ice water. Yes, I added ice. It ran about 12 minutes I think before I pulled it out and the light body and head was extremely cold. In fact I was surprised. I let it run still on 4300 lumens for another minute in my hand before it started getting warm and I turned off the light.

I noticed after I did this, the light seems dimmer to me and also quite a bit rosier at all power levels. I actually would not be surprised if I lost over 1000 lumens. It is crazy sounding I know, then yesterday I was reading somewhere that LEDS loose about 8% of their output about every 1000 hours, so IDK?

Read a thread on here one time about high lumen lights. Something about if the reflector area was not totally clean of debris and dust that firing it up full bore will turn that debris into smoke and leave a nasty film on the lens and reflector. I only have a few high lumen lights. Nothing over 5000L or so and I have never seen it but, I guess I can see that happening. I dunno. As Abraham Lincoln said “don’t believe every thing you read on the internet”.

Mmm. Hand warmer. I don’t wear gloves on cold nights anymore.

I’ve got one hand in my pocket, and the other holding a…flashlight.

I got one hand in my pocket &one hand smoking a cigarette .
I got one hand in my pocket & the other hand giving a V sign.
Name that tune!

Alanis Morisett one hand in my pocket .

Well, they’re electronics devices; any semiconductor device is worth some “burn-in” time to find out if it’s going to fail right away.
I just bought a $2.45 SK68 clone and its output is bright, electric blue — hard to imagine it’ll last very long.

I run my new lights for 10 seconds every 3 minutes for the first 48 hours.

Correct :+1:

You would be amazed. My kids carry around SK68 clones with the angry blue emitters. We are out in the sticks and they carry them everywhere. Beat the living you know what out of them. They have held up well, never needing anything other than a fresh cell once in a while. They look like they were in a car accident but they keep on trudging along. Lens’s are, well, they have seen better days. I don’t understand how light escapes it.

Other than the lights that I set aside for edc use, it’s either I test them if it works then back to the box, or non at all, just kept direct among my other possessions.

I even have chargers received untested until today.

Crazy, isn’t it?