New Flashlight Confusion

[CYPER]

@Tom E

It’s been proven TrustFire cells have been cloned with an inferior design, again, you could get lucky. The Sanyo’s and i4 charger I agree with. I think we’ve all been there, done that… I got a few UltraFire and TrustFire cells I don’t touch accept in extreme desperation - when tested for capacity, they always show much lower than rated.

Define much lower please. The ones I linked to has many reviews stating that they are very close to the advertised mAh. I find it hard to believe that all reviews are faked or from people who don’t know what they are talking about.

I have also used these since the end of 2009 and they still work.
And the charger I used them with was the cheapest on DX and apart from one of the LEDs being inconsistent it still charges.

Btw is that i4 charger you are speaking of the Nitecore Intellicharge i4 V2
If it is it looks very similar to this faked one I assume SingFire US-UC1 4-Slot Intelligent Universal Battery Charger
I might get it, cause it is quite cheap at Amazon.

[Tom_E]

I stand corrected - you could be ok with those cells - DX is emphasizing "true" etc. I've had a couple TF 2400 flames die over time while never had a failed Japanese cell, but your call again.

Illum has the i4 charger for $13.49, plus shipping but in US. Oops - your in London... GearBest has it for $20.21 --> $19 after promo code of MAXY .

I would check GearBest thoroughly for pricing comparisons.

[CYPER]

Is this the same thing?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Nitecore-Intellicharger-i4-Battery-Charger-For-18650-26650-Li-ion-Ni-MH-Cd-LB0445/1906323798.html?currencyType=GBP&af=ppc&isdl=y&src=Google&albch=Google&aff_short_key=6vYvMRFf&gclid=CjwKEAjwv9-gBRD5ofn2jd2N0UUSJACcdils5-M21s5wUDjIq3FY1H2IJVQTHmddsJuCPqzKX7aa-RoCn4nw_wcB

[Tom_E]

Yes - just make sure you get the proper power adapter/plug. i4's also have a car adapter I think...

[ranchman]

Whatever you do, NEVER, EVER buy from lightmalls.com. And be careful, because the same company has a couple of other websites. I purchased two CREE hunting lights in June 2013. They are powerful enough, but both lights started blinking off from poor connections. Then the first time I dropped one (from a sitting position so very short fall) the bulb separated and there is no way to fix it. Now neither light works. I have fully charged, quality batteries from a local battery specialist store.

Also, lightmalls did not include the DC charging cord for my i4 intellicharger. I have now been corresponding with ‘Sunny’ at lightmallls for 3 months. Sunny continues to respond with the most insane responses as if I had not provided enough info. I have provided the order number at least 7 times and the STRING of emails has ALL the info. To date, Sunny continues to stall.

Notice there are NO REVIEWS on the lightmalls.com site. Wow, wonder why. These are the most incompetent thieves, wait, they are very competent thieves…very incompetent business people.

Next purchase is from a reputable company with reviews and testimonials.

Of the now 29 emails we have exchanged, here is an excerpt of the either gross incompetence or outright stalling by Sunny. Notice I made it VERY easy and plain and the order number is in every email. I even sent the original order confirmation from lightmalls.com

On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 1:14 AM, sales <sales@lightmalls.com> wrote:
Hi billy

Problems:

1. The bulb in one flashlight came off the mounting and there is no way to fix it.
   Sunny’s response: Please tell me your order number and which model flashlight , so that I can know how to help you .

2. The second flashlight worked intermittently, but now has quit working and will not turn on.
Sunny’s response: Please tell me your order number and which model flashlight , so that I can know how to help you.

3. I received the Nitecore i4 Intellicharger, but the cord to plug into an automobile outlet was not in the box.
Sunny’s response: Please tell me your order number and take some pictures to show me what else do you want .

Best regards
Sunny

Date: 2014-09-05 05:13
To: sales
Subject: Re: Fwd: lightmalls.com: New Order # LM00021252
NO, NO, NO! Please just follow numbers 1, 2 and 3 under Solutions!

AGAIN…
Order # LM00021252

I purchased two Cree lights UniqueFire HS-802 green long range LED MO310

Problems:

1. The bulb in one flashlight came off the mounting and there is no way to fix it.
2. The second flashlight worked intermittently, but now has quit working and will not turn on.
3. I received the Nitecore i4 Intellicharger, but the cord to plug into an automobile outlet was not in the box.

I have two new batteries purchased here that are fully charged so that is NOT the problem.

Solutions to problems above:

1. Send replacement part (lightbulb assembly) or a new flashlight.
2. Send a replacement flashlight.
3. Send the DC charging cord.

My purchase order info is all in this email thread.

[Tom_E]

Welcome ranchman! Didn't realize we mentioned LightMalls - sorry to hear of your problems though. I've ordered from them in the past and didn't have issues. If you were local and still got the broken lights, I would certainly help you out with seeing what I could do to fix them. Might find another BLFer to help you out where you are at (ranch --> Texas maybe?).

[lalalandrus]

i am thinking of buying one.

have you taken apart your light to see if it has the heatsink shelf that some of these srk clones are missing?

might be useful to know for the longevity of your light

[CYPER]

@lalalandrus

i am thinking of buying one.

have you taken apart your light to see if it has the heatsink shelf that some of these srk clones are missing?

might be useful to know for the longevity of your light

If you follow the 1st link in the OP you can see the flashlight has only 1 review by me.
There are pictures + video.

If you have any questions let me know

[lalalandrus]

i saw your review, but it is missing the information that i am after.

do you have a picture of whats behind the driver?

like this shot: http://nature-photos.biz/forsale/7x%20XML%20Heatsink.jpg

some of the new clones dont have anything that screws to the flashlight and only the mcpcb floating which is real bad….

most refer it to as the pill as mentioned in this thread

skyray king "pill" mods

so i popped the top off my king and was looking at the disc that the LED’s mount to and it looks a little thin for having 3 LED’s pumping heat into it. I borrowed this image to show what i was talking about. that aluminum disc that the LED’s are mounted to looks a little thin and is only contacting the body of the light via the threads and a little “shelf” that it sits on. [image] has anyone thought of recreating this in copper or brass and making it thicker? Here is a MS Paint drawing of wha…

[CYPER]

I had no intentions in messing with the construction, but in the name of the science :bigsmile:

I am not sure how to open the flashlight from the front. The crown seems to be glued on. At least I see no thread to unscrew.
From the back it looks like this (I removed the 2 screws from the holes, hoping that I can take the silver plate out, but I think that is possible only from the other side.):

[CYPER]

The hole is about 7.2mm deep and while I can’t see clearly I think the heatsink plate is one piece with the same thickness:

[lalalandrus]

wow what fast response! greatly appreciated

looks like your flash light is well constructed, those two screws help clamp the mcpcb to the pill which is screwed on.

the crown does come out but the oring is proabably making it real hard to turn

i am going to buy one and modify it. keep you informed how it turns out

[Caleb-v]

That alloy bezel should screw off lefty loosey

[CYPER]

@Caleb-v

That alloy bezel should screw off lefty loosey

I’ve tried by hand but it wouldn’t budge.

[Tom_E]

Interesting... I'd try rubber coated gloves. I got a pair cheap at HomeDepot that work great - good grip and have gotten bezels off I couldn't budge with my bare hands. If that still doesn't work, probably glued shut.

I'm guessing from the pic that the screws lock down the MCPCB to the reflector - usually the reflectors are screwed down, going thru the MCPCB, then thru the pill top, but I don't think there's a pill top - think we are looking at the backside of the MCPCB itself. I could be wrong, but hard to say. Certainly the pill top is loose or press fit, because you can see the seam at the edges.

[lalalandrus]

from my experieince with a similar light, it is crown -> glass -> refelector -> centering rings -> mcpcb +leds -> plate

what we are seeing is a plate which is screwed to the outershell, the base screws upward so to remove it, one has to take the crown off.

perhaps they have indeed glued this crown, but mine was just really stuck with an oversized oring. a trick i used was to apply downward pressure INTO the flashlight to compress the oring to relieve the friction on the threads.

there is benefit to taking the thing apart as the mcpcb thermal lube was poor in my case and i reapplied some more grease. the screws screw down the reflector and squishes the mcpcb to the place via the centering rings. the reflector does not actually touch the plate.

[Ra226]

Interesting flashlight (RichFire RF-344). I wonder how it compares to the Trustfire TR-J18 that i have.

[Tom_E]

I got/seen SRK clones of each type - with a shelf/plate for the MCPCB, and without...

[lalalandrus]

Yes I have seen too. Zooming in on that picture the “shelf” does look a little thin. This would be not good if it is shelf less.

[dthoang]

Here’s how I removed the bezel from my SRK clone. Take a long screwdriver, wrap it with a piece of cloth, and lay it across the bezel. Press down and turn the screwdriver counterclockwise.