I experience the loss of the turbo mode, occasionally. I have no idea what volts the battery is at, as I have no way to measure it. But, the battery always has a solid green level on the indicator button. I usually loosen the tail cap and re-tighten it, and I am back in business. Sometimes I have to remove the battery and I wipe down both ends of the battery for it to work again. One time it was stuck in moonlight mode, until I removed the battery, that was only once.
I don’t know how to get the SP33 V2 fixed, or replaced by Sofirn. I have had the torch for a few months, so I might be out of warranty. I love my Sofirns, though this one is a little quirky. Been thinking about getting the V3 model.
Jason, I’ll give that a try again but I think I did that once before. Mine sounds like Swabs. Also probably had it too long for warranty but only used it a little and was that way from the start.
There is no reason I should be getting dirt or dust on the contact area, as the torch is waterproof and dust proof. I only use the SP33 V2 around the house, and walks around the neighborhood, and I don’t live in a dusty or windy area.
So, I cannot figure out why I have to occasionally remove the battery and wipe it down, or loosen and re-tighten the tail cap. This does not happen on any other light I own that get used the same way. All this, and the one time it was stuck in moonlight mode tells me something might be faulty with an internal component.
It’s a great light when working properly, but I would like a replacement or warranty work done. I just don’t know how to get help, if it’s even possible at this point.
I use mine daily and I’m always mechanically locking it out at the end of the day. The aluminum rubbing together against the tail cap just seems to build up something. Maybe aluminum powder? Mine will act funny maybe every 2 months. I clean the contact and it’s fine again.
You may have a different issue.
You loose Turbo at 3.70 volts, but the indicator will still glow green until you get to 3.40 volts.
Boost driver lights do work a bit different than most people are used to. They are much more voltage sensitive so any type extra resistance on the battery ends, springs, tail cap, etc… can effect it. They don’t like protected cells, high drain is preferable.
Stuck on moonlight mode seems pretty strange. I’ve never had that happen. The battery wasn’t super low, under 2.8v, was it?
You might be able to order a new driver, you’d have to ask Sofirn. It’s a bit tricky to pop the driver out, but not too bad. It’s basically a $20 light, so it may not make sense to buy a new driver. It depends on how much the driver would cost.
The battery on my SP33 V2 has never gotten lower than the flashing green indicator. At that point I recharge the battery. But, I don’t know what the volts are when the green light flashes. The time the light was stuck on moonlight, the green light was solid. I remember because I went through the process of elimination, or should I say process of illumination LOL.
Yeah, the flashlight is not worth putting any money into it to fix. And, sending it back to Sofirn would cost me close to the purchase price, I would imagine. I might have gotten one of the lemons from the bunch.
Do you think it would be worth contacting Sofirn to see if they would give a discount on a SP33 V3? What is their contact info?
I think the problem is the battery voltage drop in the turbo (high current). I would not rely heavily on the indication of the button. It seems to me that it is worth checking the operation of the flashlight with high-current batteries, I’m sure the problem will disappear.
I think it happens with all batteries with mine. I have the Shocli 5500, the Sofirn 5500 and the VapeCell 5500, all newish. I cleaned mine again last night and I will see how it acts. It’s hard to tell because it works fine until it doesn’t.
I received a reply from Sofirn. I guess they are saying there is nothing wrong or defective? It is operating as designed? I get no turbo at all on occasion, not even a lower brightness. Fidget with the light a bit, and I have full turbo again. So I don’t understand why they are telling me, that what I am experiencing is normal . I am more confused, actually.
I copied and pasted their full exact reply here:
“Hi Richard (Swabs), thank you for contacting.
Please note that the Turbo mode can only be acticated when the battery is full of juice. Green side indicator doesn’t mean it’s ful of power.
It’s kind of design. Not defective. But good news it, the design is changed. You can have Turbo even when the battery power is not ful, but the brightness is lower caused by the lower current from the battery.
Yes, everything I said here, I repeated to Sofirn. Stuck in moonlight mode, having to remove battery and wipe it down to get turbo to work, loosing and removing tail cap to get turbo to work, etc.
No step down issue. What happens is, I will turn on the light and it will only have low and medium brightness working. I turn it off and try turning it on again, and again, but only two levels initially work. I do the tricks mentioned and I get turbo again. Works normal for a while, and then repeats the no-turbo level at initial turn-on, again. Then I repeat the process of cleaning the battery or resetting tail cap, and turbo works again. Sofirn is my favorite flashlight brand at the moment, and I am attached to my SP33 V2 enough to live with its quirky characteristics if Sofirn says it is operating as designed.
The driver is glued. I just noticed something about mine I didn’t see before. The spring on the driver side is compressed. The battery always did rattle. I pulled on it with needle nosed pliers to stretch it back out. Less rattle know and maybe solved the problem . Will see.
I don’t have a Facebook account, and have no interest joining or participating on it. No offense, just not my thing, I am weird like that. I know Facebook can be a good tool for many things, but I am happy living under my rock LOL.
Mine came with a battery. The 26650 is pretty heavy and shipping may have been rough, compressing my spring. The spring seems a little light gauge. Anyway, I will let you know if it helps to stretch mine out.