Oh yeah, Iâve seen this $8000 light and know what youâre talking about. Itâs indeed beautiful and a masterwork and all that, but the day I pay anything close to that for a flashlight would be the day that I either (1) get institutionalized at a maniac asylum, or (2) have just won the lottery, or both
Also with all that space on the LEP side they couldâve integrated a USB C charge port instead of going the lazy path and giving you a 21700 with on board charging
that is probably up to personal preference. I would also prefer to just plug in the light and not having to take the battery out. But I understand that some prefer it differently and thatâs fine.
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying, itâs a personal preference. Acebeam made a choice with integrated charging that some prefer and some do not - that doesnât make them lazy for doing so.
USB-C behind a screwable cap on the opposite end of the LEP âtubeâ would work well. Onboard charging for those who want that feature, uncompromised waterproofness for those who prefer no charging.
From the pictures, it appears the cell goes in the right tube under the triple.
The entire left tube appears to just contain the LEP, driver and switches. The left tube appears far bigger than needed just for those. Very likely there is a lot of wasted empty space inside the left tube.
in fact a waterproof USB solution does not necessarily need a cover. Phones nowadays already have waterproof USB-C ports, a cover is just useful to keep the port clean, but not required for waterproofing.
Iâm curious to learn what happens in a phone when water gets into the USB port and shorts its 5V and ground pins, or possibly worse, 5V and signal pins⊠presuming it manages to survive it, I would like to learn how â like, disabling the port totally if something starts drawing current but fails to negotiate a USB connection?
as long as it is not metal or something super conductive which is put into your USB nothing happens.
Water is not that conductive, especially not at these low voltages. Due to the high resistance there will be a very small current but so low that it just cannot harm anything. It might become a problem on quick charging when a higher voltage is negotiated with the charger, but the starting voltage is always 5V
Newer phones can in fact register when the port is wet and will give you a notification to preferably not use it until it has dried out.
The port may melt if you get water in it while a USB-C cable is inserted to charge the device.
I melted the port in my Google Pixel. I was using it in the rain while a charging cable was connected. It was raining lightly but water had collected inside the case and came down through the opening near the charging port.
Thanks @TimMc and @Pöbel for the thoughtful replies and additional data!
My current phone (a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S, of course running opensource LineageOS) is not waterproof, so I take extreme care when using it in wet conditions â and I always suspected the USB port could be a serious problem even in waterproof phones. Iâm relieved the manufacturers of these phones took measures to try and mitigate that, and at the same time wary that those measures do not always succeed (as Timâs Pixel issue just told us).
Tim, re: the fried port, I feel your pain: I once lost a very nice B&N Nook 11 tablet also due to a fried USB port, but not due to water: As it happened, I connected it to an USB cable that had already given me some trouble with intermittent charging earlier, and this time the intermittence resulted in resistence which resulted in heating which fried the port AND the tablet: I came to its rescue after smelling burning plastic (!) but it was OFC too late, the tablet wouldnât even turn on anymore. I grieved its passing (it was a really nice tablet, not even 3 years old) but at the same time felt grateful it didnât set my house on fire.
So, lesson learned: since then, the first time a USB cable gives me *any" trouble, I throw it immediately in the trash â and I heartily recommend everyone to do exactly the same.