Sofirn SP36 spewed toxic chemicals throughout my entire house

**But why would your phone be affected???

Its a totally different device … if the charger and cable are good it shouldnt matter

You can ship it back with the bats inside just tape up the both terminals on each individual bat with electrical tape

I’m pretty sure the chlorine smell is halogenated dioxins and furans. Pretty nasty stuff. the light is outside the house has been airing out for a day and a half. The chargers and my phone still have a very strong smell. Not really sure what to do about that. Maybe it will go away. I’m okay with throwing the cables out but I don’t know if I want to replace an $800 phone over this.

So in my original story I explained the phone connection. I know I am a little bit long-winded though. when I first went into the affected room my phone was dying so I immediately unplugged at the flashlight and plugged my phone in not suspecting the flashlight at this point. My phone has a strong smell from being plugged into the same charging cable for a short time. All of the subsequent cables I have used to charge my phone in the last day and a half also now have the smell. I cleaned my phone pretty thoroughly with rubbing alcohol but I don’t know how to clean this out of the port or if it’s even possible. It’s giving off a strong chlorine like odor which I suspect to be halogenated dioxins and furans given off from the burning board.

So electronically the phone works and charges fine?

I would contact sofirn about this as well as amazon, send em the link to this thread

Its possible that some screw got loose and shorted the board

Yeah my phone works totally fine. It’s not a function problem. But I’m not making this up when I tell you that you can smell like chlorine like smell coming off of the charging port on the phone a day and a half later. Just to make sure I wasn’t insane I had a couple of other people check and they don’t like the smell of it either and they can detect it from several feet away.if someone wants to give these guys a heads up about this and link them to the thread I’m totally fine with that. Hopefully they don’t get it deleted or something because this is a true story that people should know about.

Blf wont delete the thread … thats one good thing about posting here

I know it doesnt help u, but this has happened with other brands as well

Imalent …

And even what many here consider the most “reliable” light, zebralight …

it can happen to any light or brand, though thats not to say that some brands or lights might be more susceptible

What model was the charger & cable? Also you’re coming off as ridiculous to me when you’re talking about the phone charging port; clean your phone.

Who here on BLF can we mail this light to for a post mortem analysis?

^That’s the solution.

OP should return to amazon if within the 30 day window

Full refund and paid return shipping

Unless some BLFer wants to compensate him :wink:

Might want to check with Sofirn first.

Disassembling the head of the light might void your warranty.

Presumably he wants his money back though - I’m not sure taking it apart is the way to go if he wants that outcome, interesting though it would be.

I think if OP just wanted his money back he would’ve already gone through Amazon & posted a simple ‘heads up my SP36s had a problem while charging etc.’

Yeah I get that sometimes quality control issues are isolated. I also understand that they can happen with any brand, but do you think it’s a coincidence that another guy replied here and had the exact same problem? I don’t. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that after more than two decades of collecting high-end flashlights and dozens and dozens of lights none of the reputable brands have ever failed in any way shape or form. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the cheapest brand I’ve ever bought is the one that failed and also the one that has had the worst quality fit and finish and packaging. You get what you pay for I suppose. I just didn’t realize I was paying to be poisoned. I was prepared for the light to fail at some point since it effectively has no warranty from what I can tell.

Has anything like this ever happened with acebeam or Fenix as far as you guys know? Those seem like two of the better Chinese brands to me. I have more Ace beams but that’s just because I like their lights better. I’ve never had a problem with Fenix either.

As for the guy calling me ridiculous you’re not here you don’t have any idea what’s actually happening. If you don’t have something useful to contribute then maybe don’t. I already answered the charger and cable question to the best of my ability.

This is a two-week-old Amazon prime purchase. Getting my money back is a non-issue. I was more concerned about the safety of Kohl’s employees, UPS employees and Amazon employees before putting this thing in the mail.

Presumably Sofirn would want to know about this defect so they can check their manufacturing process and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Still might be a good idea to contact them even if you don’t plan to ask for a refund.

I’m not sure how to contact them. Can someone here give them a link to the thread? I would assume someone here must know something about them since my other sofirn light says blf on it which I plan on returning as well. it’s kind of a shame because I really wanted that lantern they are coming out with where you can adjust the warmth but I can only imagine what this would smell like in a tent when it can make an entire 6000 square foot house smell like burning plastic lol

Theres a sofirn thread here u can post up on

Just post the link to this thread there

I have fenix myself, used daily over the years

And i have a few sofirns

A lot of flashaholics consider zebralight superior to both yet weve had at least one explode and smoke

Weve also had iphones, samsungs and LG phones/laptops smoke and explode over the years

Its a risk with any lithium ion consumer product

What do you want? Seriously, consider what you want.

If you want to help yourself & the community by finding out why there was a problem with the charging circuit, then ask for help. I’m sure someone would be curious to check the light out before you send it back.

If you want to get your money back, then get your money back.

If you want to remove the smell from your home, then contact a cleaner or find a forum that knows about cleaning homes and give you a recommendation. Go see a doctor if you’re concerned about your health.

You’ve alluded to suing multiple times. I don’t think any of us care who you want to sue. Contact a legal professional if you seek compensation.

You started your post with a hyperbolic title. You could provide more helpful details if you want to help yourself. I think about Occam’s Razor & user error when someone is unwilling to look up the charger they used & provide as much helpful info as they can.

If you just want to bitch and moan because your home stinks that’s fine, but please tone down the rabble-rousing & inflammatory speech. That’s a lot of fearmongering & not much proactive problem solving. It also makes me think about psychosomatic symptoms. A lot of people have some fears about Li-ion batteries, I’m one of them. A lot of people don’t necessarily know why they do, I’m one of them too. A lot of people don’t know why situations like this happen, it looks like a lot of people here are in a similar boat. If your goal is information then go that route. If you want your money back go that route. Sorry your home stinks; glad it didn’t burn down.

But I think we have established this is not a Lithium-Ion problem. It’s a cheap circuit board burning up. I had a headache before I knew the problem was the flashlight, so I know it’s not a psychosomatic issue.

I’ve probably gotten as far as I can get here. I don’t think I mentioned suing anyone more than once. I think given the situation my tone has been reasonable. If you disagree then move on to another thread. If a moderator disagrees then they can throw me out I suppose.

I will spell out why I posted here for you. First, to warn others of this potential problem. If I had known about this I could have saved myself a 9 hour headache as well as several other problems. Second, to ascertain whether or not it was safe to put this thing in the mail because I was concerned about putting other people in harm’s way. Third, to get advice on what has potentially contaminated things and what would be a good course of action (I think it’s a cheap burnt Chinese circuit board giving off halogenated dioxins which are extremely toxic and smell similarly to chlorine from what I’m reading). Fourth, to ask the question of whether this has happened with these other brands I am collecting. I enjoy walking at night, but not enough to deal with this kind of nonsense if it’s likely with any of these other brands. I think we have established that it is pretty likely with sofirn since I’m not the only one this has happened to and very unlikely with these other brands since no one can cite a single instance of it happening with any of them and they have been around a lot longer.

some of the people reading this ordered this light now they know to watch out for it. I’m glad I could help them and I appreciate the people who have actually posted helpful suggestions for me. This is the nature ofan online forum though. This is why I don’t spend a lot of time in these kinds of places. Anyone can say anything and it only takes one douche to ruin it for the 99% of people who are here trying to learn or share their knowledge.