It is an UltraFire 502B, 5 mode, XM-L T6 w/charger and UltraFire 3000/protected (at least that is what it sez) battery.
Charged the battery…far away from the house…lol…and watched it like a hawk. Installed the battery and it worked like a champ. It helped me ‘disperse’ some feral cats that love to hang out by my wife’s convertible…the top is too tempting for their claws…grrr…but that’s another story. It was very bright, and all 5 modes worked very nicely. I went to bed pleased with my first light purchase.
Well…last night a storm blew in, and I decided to check my rain gauge. Grabbed my new light…click…nothing. Clicked a few more times…nothing. Several frustrated, rapid-fire clicks later…nothing. Unscrewed the tail cap and pulled the battery out…cool to the touch, but the tail cap spring was hot as a firecracker!
I’m thinking perhaps the spring became overheated somehow because of my over-zealous clicking…is that possible? Could the switch be bad? Did I get a bad battery? Is something else going on? Will the world really end tomorrow?
Foil…you’re talking about the outer wrap/label area? I am at work and don’t have it in front of me, but on my initial inspection I didn’t see any scratches.
Do you have another battery to test with? First check that the reflector where it seats around the LED and make sure it's not shorting across the LED's wires.
The label says protected, but it is an UltraFire…so with a grain of salt I take it. Honestly, I’d be surprised if it was protected as I bought the light, charger and battery for about $15 delivered.
In thinking about it…the reflector could indeed be shorting out the LED. When I received the light, there were a lot of threads showing between the reflector/LED/drop-in(?) and the pill(?)…think I am saying that correctly….so I hand-tightened them together. Perhaps I tightened it too hard?
I did hear a grinding sound when I screwed the head/lens(?) back down on top of that, which made me wince…but the light seemingly functioned properly, so I thought all was ok. Later, I did try to loosen the reflector from the pill…but couldn’t with just hand pressure.
and I did order some additional XTAR 2600 protected batteries, and XTAR2 II charger…and I must confess…some other nicely discounted lights. Egads…my wife is gonna kill me! I’ll have to engage in UPS sentry duty…
I opened the reflector and was able to unscrew it from the pill. The holes in the side of the emitter mount are not lined up well with the holes below them. As a result, the two wires are pinched in between and I am wondering if that has cut through the wire casing, hence the short. Could this be the cause? Has anyone seen this before? Other than that, I can’t see what might be causing the short. Really iritating. Wondering if I should just send the light back…
There was a plastic disc on top. The wires are such that I can’t tell if the insulation is cut or not. The disc that holds the emitter seems glued down to the metal below it, so I can’t move it to see. Since the metal and emitter disc holes are not lined up, the wires are immovable because they are pinched in between…make sense? Not sure if my terminology is correct yet…lol
I think the LED disc is bonded to the brass below. I have applied slight pressure, but I am afraid of twisting too hard. Hope it is easy to see in this pic.
It's likely glued down with thermal glue. You'd have to pry/chisel it up, check the wires, and re-glue it down.
What about probing around with a meter (on resistance mode) and check for 0.00 (a short) from that red lead at the emitter to the pill, to the black wire, etc. . .? Can you do this and report back?
Ah ok, I was afraid that the star had lifted off the brass plate and the wires were pinched below it.
There is thermal adhesive below the star, that's why you can't twist it. Obviously it was manufatured that way. Dou you have a multimeter? You could check if there is an electric connection between the positive wire and the brass part.
I have a cheapo multimeter from wallyworld that I can use. Resistance is measured in ohms…correct? Which setting on the mm do I put it on? It what order should I touch the leads to? Does that battery have to be in to test it? Thanks.
