The driver-spring on my Rofis MR30 looks like this and I think this seems just wrong and might be the reason for the issues I have encountered with it so far, see background story below:
Tailcap spring:
Driver-side spring:
Background story:
I have received my Rofis MR30 some days ago. Yesterday, I took a walk outside with it to see how it performs. Apart from what the manual says, the included battery was already delivered with 4.13V, i.e. full. So, I did not need to charge it up. After using it for a about 25min mostly in high mode with some short turbo phases I discovered that the turbo mode only sustains 1-2s when the flashlight was warm (I mean warm, not hot...absolutely comfortable to hold it on the head). When the MR30 got cold again the turbo would run about 30s only to drop out to medium or high mode. When repeating to trigger turbo again, the MR30 would drop into medium instantly.
From a German review (see here) I know that the MR30 can take a lot of repeating turbo phases of up to 100min before voltage drops too much for this level.
I took out the battery and checked its voltage: 3.89V. This means the battery was still 2/3 full and the boost driver should still be able to maintain and repeat the turbo level unless there are other reasons like high contact resistance. So, I cleaned the threads in the tailcap, the face side of the battery tube, the terminals of the battery and the spring in the tailcap - no success at all. Next I tried to use an unprotected 21700 battery from Sofirn (comparable to Samsung 40T). With this battery inserted the MR30 would not even start to work. It seems there is no electric contact to close the circuit. I could not hear a rattling noise that might reveal too much space between battery and springs. Then I even tried an unprotected 18650 Samsung 35E flat top in a 21700 adapter tube with the same results. The MR30 did not start to work and this time there was even a loud rattle when joggling the MR30 back and forth.
Then I took a closer look into the battery tube to check the spring on the driver side and I assume I have found the root cause for all the issues, at least for the standard 21700 battery not working in this flashlight. I am not sure about it but it appears to me that Rofis either put a crippled spring into the flashlight or the spring must have fused during prior testing before it came to me. I am absolutely sure that I cannot be blamed for it as I always took care that batteries were inserted in the correct way. Even if I did it wrong the MR30 has a reverse polarity protection design according to their website. Moreover, the battery is a protected one that prevents shorts that would melt/fuse the spring.
What do you think?
Does this spring look normal or definitely suspicious?
What do your MR30 driver springs look like?
Can you guys use unprotected 21700 batteries in your MR30?
If you think the spring looks fused, what could be the reason? A defective driver? Is the battery still safe to use? So far, while in operation the MR30 only became slightly warm in the head but the battery and the tube remained cold as they were.
Is that the reason why the boost driver is unable to boost voltage to 12V when the battery is only down to 3.9V?
I already asked a good friend of mine who also owns an MR30 and he can even use flat top 18650s!
You probably got a light that someone else damaged and returned, hence the charged cell. They will always ship a cell at 3.6V or so, to get one already at 4.13V indicates someone else had the light before you did.
Thank you 808Hi and Dale!
I will report this to Banggood but I assume they will not listen to me no matter how hard I try. So, probably I need Paypal to side with me the very first time unless Rofis is so kind to keep their promise about the 5 years warranty.
I have now checked some more cells:
Sofirn 21700 4.000mAh = does not work at all - no electric contact
Efest IMR 21700 5.000mAh 10A = does work sometimes with slight contact but turbo drops out instantaneously at 3.9V, when at 3.8V the light flashes shortly and turn off with doubleclick
Acebeam protected 20700 4.250mAh = works fine but turbo drops out instantaneously at 3.9V, when at 3.8V the light flashes shortly and turn off with doubleclick
Rofis protected 21700 5.000mAh = works fine but turbo drops out instantaneously at 3.9V, when at 3.8V the light flashes shortly and turn off with doubleclick
All contact surfaces were of course cleaned. So there’s something odd with this MR30. Pictures and videos have been taken for evidence.
Can’t you unscrew the battery tube and get a better picture of the spring on the driver, more from the side so it can be clearly seen what has happened with it?
If the spring is collapsed and discolored that would indicate a direct short to positive has occurred and the sheer power of the cell overheated and collapsed the spring…
I wish I could but the tube is fixed onto the head. There is no way to take a better picture unless I had a boroscope or something I could guide through the tube. :-(
Um, I could of course be wrong, but I’ve modified hundreds of lights and it looks to me like the battery tube screws in and pushes against the driver. When you look at the design, with the side switch and all, how else could they get the driver in the head of the light? But of course, I don’t have the light in hand, only looking at a picture… but this picture looks to me like there’s a break between the head and tube.
Edit: The Rofis MR70 looks to be a one piece design (The MR50 also). The MR30 does not. Your picture showing inside the tube indicates the large driver is in contact with the end of the battery tube, virtually always assembled by putting the driver into the head and screwing the battery tube onto it.
The Rofis website shows a run time chart that indicates a 1 minute step down and then another stepdown at 7 minutes, thermal timed stepdowns I suppose. This is consistent with some of what you describe in your OP, but the other issue with a short spring and some cells not working, can’t be sure without getting a better look at the spring itself.
AFAIK the MR30 tube cannot be unscrewed but I might be wrong. I need to check this. As my skills to break a light are far better than those to repair it, I better keep my hands off the thought of unscrewing the tube with brute force. :-D
The two stepdowns are time-triggered, i.e. the turbo can be repeated again and again. Of course, the MR30 gets really hot as I have figured out with the fully charged Acebeam 20700 cell. But once the voltage is down to a certain value like 3.9V the light behaves strange and will not use the turbo like it did before.
So, there must be some contact problem here but I don’t know where to look for except for the driver spring I can‘t reach. I cannot imagine that Rofis intended to operate the MR30 with long protected cells only, though.
I have the MR50 model and there is similar annoying problem. Even with fresh battery and cleaned contacts, the turbo most of time drops to low/medium mode after few seconds. On rare occasions it stays in turbo for a while, but then there is again the same problem. No idea how to fix it, I strongly suspect the driver to be faulty.
I unscrewed the bezel and tube on my MR30 by using water pump pliers and rubber strips to avoid scratches. It came apart easily. The switch on my light failed after two weeks and Banggood sent a replacement unit.
For those having short turbo runtimes, try and clean all possible electrical contact points… Springs, battery terminals etc. I had such a problem with my MR70 and after cleaning it the turbo runtimes returned back to normal. I heard from JasonWW that the boost drivers are very sensitive to resistance and any dirt would increase the resistance of the total electrical circuit.
This is the response I got from Rofis customer service upon my kind request for assistance to resolve the issues I have with my MR30. It clearly points out that their boost driver is of poor quality not capable to ensure the turbo level below 3.85V (more than 50% capacity left) and that – in contradiction to their advertisement on the packaging – the MR30 only works with 21700 with protection circuit. From other MR30 owners I have heard their flashlight‘s turbo level works until cell voltage drops down to 3.5V and that unprotected 21700 batteries work just fine.
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Hello, thank you for your feedback.
Our MR30 uses a 21700 battery with a protective plate.
If you are not working with a battery with a protective plate,
you need to consider the compatibility of the protective plate with the flashlight.
Regarding the trubo, the battery needs to be implemented at 3.85V.
Below this voltage, the flashlight will not run trubo or shut down.
If you have any suggestions, we will optimize the circuit, thank you~
ROFIS Service Team
OA：No. 2990 Songbai Road, Shiyan, Bao’an District, Shenzhen.
Tel.: +86-755-82552272
Website：www.rofislight.com
ROFIS Technology Co., Ltd.
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Bottom line: So far so bad for the 5 year warranty that is worthless! No help from Rofis to resolve clearly obvious flaws on my MR30 but a cocky last phrase to encourage me suggesting ideas for a better boost driver.
This will be my second (along with the MR70) and my last Rofis flashlight.
I will test my MR30 and see at what cell voltage it stops running on turbo. This sounds very suspect… The 3.5v users reported, is it resting voltage? What about voltage sag??
I reviewed the MR50 and also noticed very aggressive step downs almost instantly after activating turbo - but that light has a ‘button’ as the positive contact, and there’s still plenty of compression on the spring, so that might not be the cause. Maybe it’s the cell itself?
I checked it with another long, protected 20700 Acebeam battery and the same happened there. I cannot tell for sure if there‘s any room for compression left on the positive side (driver spring) when looking on my pictures. The spring looks collapsed/fused and partially covered within some black residue. FWIW, it does not look like it should look like. As the tube is glued to the head I cannot unscrew it just like that. Moreover, it would void the warranty...well, what warranty do they mean if this just a „hollow promise“?
Meanwhile, Banggood has asked me to do another video, showing that the MR30 will not work with unprotected 21700 batteries. I will provide this video asap, hoping they will help me on this matter.
Started noticing very slight stepdowns at 3.67 V. And what I mean by that is:
Double click, goes to turbo and after about 5 seconds it drops to what looks like 1100 - 1200 lumens. And at the 1min mark, it drops to the 750 lumens high mode which I can clearly see.
I guess the closer the cell will get to 3.5 V the bigger the output drop will be from turbo after a few seconds before returning to the 750 lumens high mode.
Make sure your springs, battery terminals and the connections where the tube and tale cap meets are clean. I have found the grease on the threads goes very runny when the light gets hot, and then ends up going on the end of the tube because I loosen the tail cap to lockout the light. I clean it regularly to avoid extra circuit resistance….
Your light might be defective though. My 1st MR30 had a switch failure within the 1st 12 days of usage but Banggood replaced it. As for the MR70 I only get about 7 - 8 turbo runs before it starts with the same throttling effect in turbo. I am almost convinced it is voltage sag that is causing this. I am still looking for a 26650 for the lowest possible voltage sag to prove this. And I wonder how other single 26650 XHP70/70.2 lights perform, like the Lumintop ODF30 and Olight R50 Pro Seeker??
Any ideas what to do with my other MR30 shelf ornament? :arrow_right:
