My Imalent DX80 caught fire, vented smoke, almost exploded (replacement head arrived)

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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So as pick up to grab my Imalent DX80 before i went to bed to go up lock the door,(the flashlight was not used in a month) I went to turn it on and it began to hiss and vent smoke around the threads of the head burning my fingers, and blew the charge cap off, I immediately unthreaded the head off the battery tube, and it billowed smoke from the head driver area… for now I placed the light parts outside incase for saftey. This light has very little use, and never run on its maximum mode for longer than a few seconds in the past. I ent Imalent a inquiry email, & expect them to fix this issue, and replace or refund this light or get a ton of backlash. This is the first time i ever got injured by a factory flashlight.
The lens area fill with acrid brown smoke in just seconds with the LEDS flickering while the light was hissing &, venting in my hands! Photos will be posted tomorrow… right now at 1 am inhave to open my doors and windows to let the smoke and burn ing smell out of my house!

UPDATE: it appears to be a driver fire, (and in a sealed light it pressurized the head)
The battery pack still shows 16 volts. but attempting to get the retaining ring to remove the driver its seems to be fused to the back of the driver and tries to turn the entire part. Have anyone had a DX80 take apart before?
Below are photos of the smoke-filled lens and smoke residue on the battery cap:

The upper o-ring had failed, and hot smoke blew past the threads.

resulting smoke burn to my fingers, which were stinging all night. (i applied some burn cream & a band aid today)

-Here is a quick video explaining the DX80 incident from last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-XeV_pH7s8&feature=youtu.be

(UPDATES, May,12,2019)
Imalent was quick to respond to to this incident, and they told me they will ship a new DX80 or the head to my vial DHL.

UPDATES,May,16,2019

The replacement head arrived today for the DX80. I thank Imalent for the fast & great customer service, and quick solution & replacement of the failed light.

2

Glad you are ok.

Was it the LED / driver smoking? Or the battery smoking?

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My sincere condolences DBSAR. :frowning: Glad you were not seriously injured or killed. :weary:

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I dont know yet, it vented hot gas from the threaded area where the head threads to tje body… it burned my hand bad before I dropped it

5

In the event of a Lithium-ion battery fire seek medical attention immediately.

  • Burning or venting Lithium-ion batteries produce hydrogen fluoride.Symptoms from hydrogen fluoride injuries are not immediately apparent.
    "the battery can release a significant amount of burnable and (if inhaled in high concentrations) toxic gas.4"
    • Royal Society of Chemistry
    • http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2013/ra/c3ra45748f
  • Seek medical attention immediately. Don’t wait until you experience symptoms.
    • http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?141137-Inhaled-vapors-from-battery
6

Wow that is crazy man. I wonder what caused it. Does anyone know what batteries Imalent used in their battery pack?

I doubt Imalent monitors these forums. You might have better luck contacting them directly or through the dealer you bought it from. Good luck.

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:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

Wow…. so glad it didn’t end up even worse for you or your property. But with that being said, this seems like wise advice:

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Glad you survived! I think if one cell goes pearshaped, it’s going to be like a box of firecrackers! IMHO Imalent is is obliged to take very good care of you. After all, it’s a proprietary battery. They can’t hide behind the mantra that you did not handle some parts as well as you should have done. You can’t touch the innards. Maybe the Imalent people did not use well balanced cells. Be sure to make it the monkey on THEIR shoulder.

Seems they even have a Dutch website. Well, sort of. On the positieve side, the price certainly looks Dutch! But I seriously doubt if any Dutchman past the kindergarten age was involved. No contact info of any kind in the Netherlands. If something goes wrong, it’s going to be an RMA job.

9

this is horrible, but glad you are ok. Is this common with imalent lights?

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wow crazy… think now that imalent will soon release the 100,000 lumens light… i cant imagine how bad that must be if something bad would happen that amount of power in your hands… :person_facepalming: imalent should get banned from making such power lights if user safety is compromised…

can u take some pics how it looks? what cells is the dx80 even use, samsung 30qs ?

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Wow! Glad to hear it didn’t explode and you’re all right. :open_mouth:

You hadn’t used the light in a month? Maybe parasitic drain depleted the batteries in the interim. If the batteries in the battery pack depleted unevenly and are in series one of them may have ended up reverse-charging another one. Result is venting and fire. :confounded:

Doesn’t the DX80 use a proprietary battery pack though? It should have had circuitry to stop this kind of thing happening. Their QA seems a bit lax for a near $400 flashlight.

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can you please contact Imalent here: sales@imalent.com

they are very interested what happened with the light...

your description directs into a faulty driver I think?

what's the voltage of the cell pack atm?

they told me the pack uses 30Q cells which are very safe in chemistry and unlikely to explode. Also there is of course a safety circuit in the battery pack.

13

If I’m not mistaken, the batterypack is 4S2P, and the safety circuit monitors each row of 4S cells, and not the individual cells.
Glad that DBSAR is ok.

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the chemistry of the individual cells should prevent explosion in case the safety component is defect or something else happened.

but again: something bad happened in the head and not in the pack I think.

as long as the current drawn from the battery pack did not exceed the Amps it was designed for its okay at that end

15

Scary, glad you are OK and hope you get restitution fast.

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The symptoms of failure do remind me of the very first generation DX80 before the major recall.

17

Glad you are ok.

18

Hot damn, DBSAR, dodged a grenade there. Glad it was only the scare and no real damage happened.

Aaaaaand now I have even less desire to purchase an Imalent, if that was even possible.

19

I have a DT70 and the batteries would discharge over a month or so. Because of this post I just went and checked that the batteries are not in the flashlight, and they weren’t :slight_smile:

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I also have the DT70 and DT35 (love ’em both!). Big plus is that the batteries are parallel, protected, and you can monitor each battery as well.