Sofirn SP10V3 Defective on First Day

Does anyone have a schematic or circuit details of the horizontal board to which the switch board (vertical) is soldered? To identify that part of the circuit and the part number of the device that burns up.

If it is a FET, then it needs a pull-down to ensure that it shuts off; FETs can remain ON even with the gate signal removed due to the capacitance in the FET, that’s why they need to be driven to the OFF state and not just left floating.

If someone wants to send me a board then i will trace it out and send it back repaired.

TIFisher does your sample work with both AA and 14500?
Mine never worked with AA.

100% agree with you jasontheguitarist. The UI was the only thing that needed to change.

I will say that the beam on the V3 is slightly improved over previous models. It’s a bit bigger spot with a more blended spill. Ofcourse this is just my opinion/preference in a light like this.

Was the light OFF or ON when the temperature increased by 6° Celsius (~11° Fahrenheit) in ~25 minutes and what level of brightness was selected if the light was ON?

I have one SP10V3 from AmazonUS (shipped from a warehouse in the State of Illinois) and another SP10V3 arriving today from AmazonUS (shipped from a warehouse in the State of Washington).

No. Won’t turn on with NIMH either.

This behavior manifests while the light is OFF, tail cap tightened, sitting idle.

I bought the Sp10v3 on the Sofirn Official Shop on Aliexpress. I opened a dispute and now they replied :

“First, check that the insulating sheet placed on the battery needs to be removed to conduct normal conduction. Second, the test battery can be used normally (you can use other brands of batteries). Use a wire to test whether it can light up. If it does, it means that the tail switch can’t conduct electricity. Just send a switch. Fourth, use alcohol to clean the exposed areas on both ends of the barrel, including the exposed areas of the steps inside the tail cover, and then try again. Try to light up”

What should i write them now ? Should i just give them a link to this thread ?

Take a video of it not working with an AA battery and say it’s a faulty driver.

You could message the Sofirn member above and they should then be able to get in contact with the AliExpress team, but only if you don’t get anywhere with the video

I attached a video when opened the dispute. Ok Thanks, i message them.

Just this.
I don’t understand why manufacturers don’t simply refine their products instead of starting from scratch and screwing up from a different direction.

FWIW I ordered this light from Amazon a few days ago. So far I have not had any problems using the included cell.

Indeed, i was looking at getting one but now am going to stay away.
I waited too long to upgrade my lights, the 4AA is discontinued, this 1AA is defective :frowning:

The SF11 4x AA was a bad design since it had a floating shelf. The only thing connecting the shelf to the body was two screws, all around the sides aren’t touching anything

Egads. So perhaps better i never got one.
Are there any other 4AA lights you can recommend?

I purchased 30pcs to sell, but seems to be okay since it’s only low output.

That’s the only 4x AA model I’ve used, everything else is lithium

Supposed to be 1050 lumens, about 10W of power so still a fair bit.

BTW Sofirn’s site currently says

I put thermal grease right around the sides and didn’t heat up anymore than without it, so doesn’t seem to be an issue. It has a 3 minute stepdown to High which would help. I measured 1000 lumens, Sofirn’s early models were so accurate on the ratings.

Sounds like a great deal lol

I have an old light with a separate pill that is press fit into place with a lot more contact than two screws, when tested it had a lot of lumen sag becasue of the poor contact. Thermal paste also did not help much. So i find it hard to believe that two screws is good enough and would not be improved by not being a solid one piece setup.

And that is a weird offer from sofirn. You may be the about only one who might take advantage of it since you sell flashlights.

@WL27
I read your post not long after buying this light and was initially relieved at not having the same problem, that is until last night which is exactly one week since getting it in the mail. And you know what? My experience is 100% the same as you described. The light got hot with the 14500 battery while off, so I took it out for the night. This morning, I put the battery back in and left the light off to see if the light would heat up. It did! Then I figured it might be safe to just use the light with alkalines and NiMH batteries, but discovered that they no longer work. The lithium 14500 still works, but I can’t leave it in the light without it draining itself and making the light hot, not to mention making me fearful of it exploding (as lithiums have been known to do sometimes) and burn my house down.

This is my first lithium powered light, and now I’m more leery of them than ever. I guess I’ll have to try returning it to Amazon since I clearly can’t use it anymore. But I have to say that when it worked, it was ridiculously bright in turbo mode! Very impressive that way. At the same time, I have to point out that finding the button in the dark by feeling for it was very frustrating. It’s nearly impossible to find. I even turned the pocket clip to be opposite side of the button so it would be a guide as to where the button is, but it shifts too easily so that it can’t even serve that purpose.

Sofirn makes some excellent lights and sells them at reasonable prices (I got this one with a 40% coupon code). But this is one that fell through the cracks.

I asked for and received the coupon code for the SP10V3 a few days ago. I got busy and never sent the order in. Sure am glad now after reading the sad stories from you folks.

Keep us posted about your return request because a lot of people here buy flashlights from Amazon. Never heard you couldn’t return one.

OUCH! :open_mouth:

Just in this thread there are four different reports of SP10v3 flashlights failing in exactly the same way on the same part (WL27, Nooner, TIFisher, LEDLove).

It definitely looks like the SP10 v3 has a major defect. :confounded: :confounded: :confounded: :confounded:
Either Sofirn used a substandard or defective part, or the driver design is faulty.

I wouldn’t be surprised if ALL SP10v3 share this defect. Sofirn should issue a recall ASAP. This is a pretty colossal error on Sofirn’s part that is going to be pretty expensive in cost or reputation for them to fix (or ignore).

I was going to buy one of these, but I’ll steer clear.