Ultrafire 502B and Charger Troubleshooting

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

Hi All,

Recently bought a two of the following from KAIDOMAIN, UltraFire WF-502B 3.7V~4.2V CREE XPG R5 WC LED 5-mode Flashlight. One of them decided to die after a couple of minutes, i.e. stopped working!! :(

There was a faint burnt smell when I opened up the flashlight!!

However after a couple of hours I switched the flashlight back on, it managed to switch on but with a very very faint light.

Does this mean that I will now have to buy a replacement drop in module?? Or is there something I can do to fix the problem?? Slightly frustrated as the other flashlight seems to be working fine so far. Touch wood!!

I have contacted KAIDOMAIN “after sales service” and the first and only reply from them so far is “ Hi Friend, Did you used the correct battery??

Well I replied and told them that I used the following, UltraFire Protected 18650 3.7V 2600mAh Lithium Batteries, which I bought from DEALETREME.

Any tips and hints with dealing with the famous or infamous KAIDOMAIN after sales service??

Another question regarding the batteries mentioned above and a charger I bought from DEALEXTREME. The charger being, UltraFire 3.6/3.7V Battery Charger, SKU 1251. Which I think is the WF-139 model.

How do I know that the charger is working as it should be working, i.e. the flashing lights on mine seems to blink differently to what I have read on other forums. Mine either has a red blinking light or an alternating red and green blinking light.

I have charged my batteries for 3 consecutive nights now for an average of 3-4 hours and still no continuous green light to indicated a fully charged battery.

Am I doing something wrong??

So apologies for the rather long post, but would appreciate some advice.

Cheers

2

Red green blinking on 1 of my chargers when its finished/overcharged as it stops at 4.23v. Do you have a multimeter? as fully charged should be 4.2v Did you tell KD you brought 2 and 1 died 1 works fine, that should answer the list of sillyer questions they have.

3

Start a PayPal dispute or a claim at once. Othervise you could end up sending a lot of mails to and from

answering the same question for month. They need PayPal, so they want to stay "friends" with them.

4

Claim? dispute?

If I am not wrong only you can use that way if you NOT receive the items. If you receive them, but defective, or stop working, paypal will not help you. (AFAIK)

5

Yes they can help you. In PayPal you can report a defective item.

In your PayPal account you choose the details of the transaction with KD. At the bottom of page

you choose: Resolution center

On the next page you mark the point: Item Dispute:

I did not receive an item I puchased or the item I received is significantly not

as described.

In the next page you choose the point: Item damaged or defective

6

I didnt knew that....

But what will happens then? you say to paypal item defective.. but what will do paypal? you will have to send back? or similar actions?

7

If you start a dispute its expected that you in the first place try to work it out with the seller,

but as you probably allready have tried that, you make it to a claim within a few days.

Here its very important that you state you want a replacement or refund. In most cases if

price is low the more serious vendor will send a new item or refund you.

If your dispute wont do it, you change the dispute to a claim and PayPal will decide in the matter.

Good if you got pictures or video of the defective item.

To begin with in communication with the vendor, mensioning that you may start a dispute with

PayPal is often enought to get him in the right direction!

8

Dammit I just got one of these. guess I have to be careful to monitor tail current.

OP, I would seriously consider getting a multimeter if you use lithiums. They should be mostly charged >4.1v, and done by 4.2v. The crappy chinese chargers will go to 4.25v.

Also use the meter to measure how much current goes through the battery (put on 10A connector/mode), and if it's >1.6A or so for a xp-g, it's overdriving it.

9

Thanks for all the comments so far.

I will email KAIDOMAIN and mention a possible PAYPAL dispute and see if I get a response.

Have also just bought myself a basic multimeter, so when I get home this evening I will test the batteries.

Any more advice more than welcome.

Cheers

10

Just checked my email and this is the latest from KAIDOMAIN,

"Hi,
I just communicated with the supplier. He claimed that the LEDs is not involved in warranty. I am afraid you have to buy another drop-in. We can offer you 20% discount for the new drop-in.
Let me know."
So do I start a dispute? Me thinks so!!
11

Make another proposition first. Tell them, the damage of the LED, was caused by the faulty driver, and you want to have a new drop-in for free. They might come back then, with another, better, discount. After that, you can still decide, if you accept the new offer or you procede to the dispute.

12

They may well close your account for a dispute, whether or not you're right. Just a heads up. This is because KD believes they fulfilled their contract by shipping undamaged goods, and likely cannot recover their losses from their supplier.

What most people don't seem to realize is that these are more commercial dropshippers than retail "shops". The lack of an 30 day return policy is implied in the price.