Thanks, Tweaks. It worked, and that is a lot better than the troubles of sending it back, etc. I don’t normally work on lights, and so did not know what to do. I admit I am not used to repairing new items I purchase, but this was worth it.
Thanks again for your and brted’s help. It saved me some trouble.
Jerry
That’s great you got it working. Definitely better than the hassle of customer service. Congratulations!
Just got mine, popped a battery in and Bob’s your uncle - not an issue everything looks good.
Thanks ezarc for organizing this buy.
Okay so I have been really trying to look at the positive things here…I got in 2 defective lights and ‘fixed’ them, but am already having more problems with one of them. The main one I have been using has lost it’s moonlight mode. I try to turn it on moonlight mode and it won’t even light up. eventually if I keep it in the on position it might flicker (tiny fractions of a lumen, hard to even see). the medium and high modes work fine, so it’s not contact issues. and I have only been using eneloops in it (batteries are brand new. have tried other fresh batteries and get the same thing). no 14500s at all, no overheating, etc…and the moonlight is what really sold the lights for me. I guess I am going to try and get a refund. even if the second one is working right now i wouldn’t trust it to last more than a few days. has anyone else had issues like this?
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I think it may still be a connection issue. The current on ml mode is so small that any additional resistance from a poor connection and the led wont light at all even though the higher current modes still work. The ground ring might need a small addition of solder or a q-tip with alchohol but I could be wrong. That seemed to be a common fix for the BLF Mini 01. Qc seems to be a bugbear for thrunite.
There does seem to be some serious quality control issues with Thrunite. Out of four lights I’ve bought from them for myself (aside from the “bundle” of Tis for Christmas gifts) I’ve had issues with three. (The T30S has run fine, knock on wood… 
)
the ground ring…so i need to take the driver out? I’m out of town for the rest of the weekend but I’ll look at it tomorrow night or Monday. I would really like these if they worked right. I just completely stripped both and cleaned/lubed them so I don’t see how it could be the threads or anything. if it is…then even having to strip it down and clean it every few days to keep it working isn’t worth it. especially times like now when I’m out of town for a week and don’t have my stuff with me to work on it. what a pain. if I can add a little solder to it or something for a quick fix it might not be so bad. thanks for the help though the current thing makes sense
Sorry for the poor quality but this is how mine looks and it works fine. That bit of solder on the right is where the - contact is made and needs to be clean and smooth. Can you take a pic of yours? My advise might not be worth squat if the issue is with the component side. One of my BLF minis had a shaving of aluminum from machining on the component side that caused inconsistent operation until I pulled the driver and it came out.
It looks from the two holes that the driver threads in so has anyone removed the driver yet? I would do that as a last option.
Quality control on these was absolutely shitty. Thrunite should be ashamed to ship out such shoddy half assed products. Threads on mine I thought were just gritty but they are sloppily cut and therefore loose. Teflon tape to cobble it over. Disgraceful.
I’ve made the decision that I’m THROUGH with THROUGH-Nite.
Thrunite should hang their heads in shame on these skeletons from their closet.
Now, want me to tell you how i REALLY FEEL?
This brings me to a thought that if there is no way to exchange or otherwise obtain satisfaction except to return a light to China, I am not going to buy that light. That seems to be the case with this BLF buy. For $20 I would not go to that much trouble.
Jerry
I got mine on thursday. Popped in an eneloop and it was completely dead. Not even flickering.
Well, then I took it apart to try and make work. Found nothing wrong on the led or driver on the outside. Cleaned the threads and contact spring, still nothing.
At that point I felt pissed off, my first doa light, and from a brand name manufacturer. I was ready to send it back but decided to give it another look yesterday.
I tried a different spring on the bottom and it lit up 
I took a closer look at the bottom of the tube and I think that when they machined the anodising off for the spring contact there was some ano left on sides of the tube and that causes the contact issues. Just cleaning the contacts wont help if that’s the case. I made a small bend on outside of the spring on mine and now it works with the original spring also. So turned out it wasn’t a big issue but it was enough grief that this is definately my last Thrunite.
yeah mine came doa too…then I ‘fixed’ them…and a few days later they’re dead again. I wouldn’t even expect this from cheap DX lights. honestly, at this point it’s not even worth trying to fix. these are unreliable lights and i don’t think anything will change that besides gutting it and building a completely new light out of it.
I need to email them but I’m afraid I am going to loose my ass on shipping for a refund, and I don’t want a replacement. really sucks because I have been wanting a tn31 to go alongside my tk75, but this has scared me away from thrunite altogether.
On one hand Im kind of disappointed that I missed this deal, but on the other, no matter how much I love my Ti’s out of 5 ordered 2 had problems and Thrunite had to reship two pieces to me, and its kind of sad to see that current production QC hasnt improved seeing that folks still receive DOA Thrunites.
Or am I wrong?
I didn’t get in on this one (I was away, or probably would have) so I really don’t have a dog in this fight. However, it makes me wonder if the whole “group buy” discount wasn’t a way to quickly unload a specific number of defective or questionable units. What I’m reading here indicates that this batch has a disproportionate number if duds for regular production. These might be the contents of the discard bin.
It would be nice to know just what that proportion is. It seems more people chirp when they get a defective unit(rightfully so) than when they get one that works but maybe I’m wrong. I do think the BLF A8 was a better deal overall.
I suppose that could be the case, but as I posted elsewhere in this thread, my first T10 (from the Thrunite store on ebay - no group buy), my Ti and then this Saber 1A all had problems. The contact issues with the first T10 were helped by a complete thread clean and regrease with Nyogel, which damped the action enough to lessen head wobble and intermittent contact issues when going through modes. The Ti is damaged for good, as an eneloop AAA compressed the pil into the head just enough so my other AAA rechargeables, which are a fraction of a mm shorter, now won’t make contact sufficient for “high” mode when screwed in all the way. My T30S is still running strong, and appears to be better made. Maybe like many such companies, Thrunite has some design input but has their lights made for them by one or more manufacturers. The box from my first T10 lists a different address (in a different town) in China, and I only bought it in December 2012. It could be they are farming out designs to the lowest bidder, and saving money by forgoing QC.
I think the bottom line may be that, however they want to spin their identity, Thrunight is more on par with other inexpensive Chinese light companies than with better outfits like Olight, FourSevens, Crelant, EagleTac, etc, at least if you take into account their entire product line. At least that’s the feeling I’m getting having had issues with three of four lights.
I was talking to ThruNite about this thread and showed them.
If anyone is not satisfied with their BLF Saber, send a email to sales@thrunite.com with your order number and a description of your problem with the light.
They told me they will replace them.
One would have thought that Thrunite would already be aware of this Post and others and would have had a Representitive address some of the issues and threads that have been posted if they really cared about their product, or the people that bought them. To have so many failures in the same Brand, Model and Batch is a Disgrace for a Company that is trying to sell their lights for Top Dollar, like they are an Elite Brand.
The fact that they don’t have a Representitive on these posts trying to at least address some of their Clients issues and their Quality Control (or lack of it), speaks volumes to me about how they don’t care about after sales service or Brand Quality. It seems to me that they are taking advantage of the fact that most people on this site will try and repair the lights themselves, rather that have to ship them back and wait any longer. That way they can flog off all the crap and only have to replace or address the people that can’t fix their Lights. Way to save Money, Way to Lose Business.
I used to like Thrunite, but now i think it is all just overpriced Crap.
I’m not being an apologist for anyone but what company will pay for employees to check threads in every forum that caters to their industry?
I guess the same ones that read all the threads to offer suggestions and sell their Wares. I’d say just about all of them, they use the forum to sell what they want and read most things to know how to target their sales. How do you think they knew which Lights to offer in the first place, or are you a firm believer that they just had an Epiphany sent by the Devine Flashlight God.
I guess if you don’t think that Thrunite know all about this and every other thread about their product on this and every other Flashlight Forum then you will always be living in the Dark. Also one of their Favourite Customers.