HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I'm hit

[fracman]

HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

I imagined that might catch somebody's attention. OK, I love my little Surge. Loved is the better word. The lights dimmed to near zero and I concluded "Aha" the batteries are now defunct and it is time to put in eight new AAs. I unscrew the black cap. Then I make the non-fatal error of unscrewing the clear plastic cap that effects a nice seal... BLAMMO! a report almost identical to a Glock 9mm going off and my right palm and right "ring finger" feel some intense pain. Ditto my left thumb. Thye still feel numb but are getting better. Big red welt on the right palm.

No, I never read any user manual on this flashlight. I assume I did something wrong, if not, PrincetonTec owes me some splaining (and maybe a new flashlight).

Your help appreciated (as always). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

 

[franken2]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

unbelievable! i own many pt products, but not the surge. i've read about the bulb assembly de-soldering itself, bad news right there but your experience sounds quite frightening! i hope pt or cpf'er can explain this? not sure i need a surge anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[paulr]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

The Surge isn't that well designed a light. The battery holder of mine shorted a cell somehow while I was loading it. I felt it getting warm and pulled it out. When I got the rest of the cells back in (which wasn't easy), there was no short and the light worked fine, so I shrugged it off, but it's not a great situation.

The bulb decentering has been fixed (they were using the wrong solder), but there's also several reports of Surges flooding underwater.

Unfortunately I don't know of any comparably bright, low cost, lightweight light. It shouldn't be THAT hard to get something like that right.

 

[rodmeister]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

Sue them. It's the American Way.

 

[ikendu]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

My Surge bulb just de-soldered itself. Highly disappointing.

I got a second Surge for a friend last week. It arrived DOA (bad battery carrier/swtch). I really like how bright this light is but I've been disappointed with the reliability.

 

[fracman]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

OK, I don't intend to sue anybody unless my hand doesn't feel a LOT better in the AM. But any ideas on what happened or who to contact (instead of the generic "email us" link?)

I have never had a problem with the other products.

 

[NewsFlash]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

fracman,

Hydrogen explosion? If I remember correctly, there's supposed to be a hydrogen catalyst pellet inside the Surge. Maybe Craig (The LED Museum) can fill us in on this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[fracman]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

Built up H2 pressure and an explosion seem credible. The amount of force associated with this puppy exceeds what I would have anticipated from a rapid depressurization of an inert acting gas. Such a gas might cause the cap to pop off as soon as the cap was twisted slightly... but I can not imagine the sound or force. I can't even find the clear plastic cap and this was in my living room. I'm telling you it was scary. My wife was right there.

The good news is I can save some money on those bran muffins I have been buying for breakfast. This is offset by a dry cleaning expenditure for my trousers.

 

[paulr]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

PT's phone # (from the insert card that came with my Blast) is 609-298-9331. Fax # is 609-298-9601.

 

[MR Bulk]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

My Arc AAAA using that skinny battery in cnc dan's custom body has rewarded me with a few unexpectedly loud "pops" now and then. I grew to learn what to expect when the head wouldn't hardly turn at all when going to use it after a time. So now when I'm done using it, I simply leave the head completely loose, almost falling off, stored someplace. Not my keychain light any longer.

Are those hydrogen-absorbing pills sold somewhere?

 

[turbodog]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

It seems pretty clear what happened (after having a piece of crap SUErge myself). Two battery banks in parallel. My batt contact were intermittent. One bank discharges, other stays charged, light gets bumped, good set makes contact, discharged set gets charged in reverse (vents H2 gas). While opening light, spark gets made somehow... bang. Either that or the sheer pressure of high pressure gas escaping. I think priceton has a real problem child on their hands.

 

[paulr]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

The Surge, like most sealed lights, has platinum pellets inside, but maybe they weren't enough to deal with cells getting reversed charged. Cells operating normally apparently give off a little hydrogen, hence the pellets.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m hit

[ QUOTE ]
NewsFlash said:
fracman,

Hydrogen explosion? If I remember correctly, there's supposed to be a hydrogen catalyst pellet inside the Surge. Maybe Craig (The LED Museum) can fill us in on this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Could be a hydrogen "explosion" (unexpected venting) if one or more of the batteries shorted out inside the light, and/or were subsequently "recharged" by the other four batteries (using the light would not be necessary for this to happen).

Let me get my Surge, and see if there are catalyst pellets in there... BRB... Ok, I *very gingerly* opened up my Surge, and did not find these pellets in it. I looked around the lampholder and in the back of the reflector.
If there are any catalyst pellets in the Surge, they're under the PCB that holds the bulb.

 

[shrap]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

OK, I'm not following the original post...

What clear plastic cap?

My unexploded Surge has the black rubber bezel, and then the battery carrier... no other caps or parts in there.

 

[fracman]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

The lens is an integral bit that screws on to the body over the o-ring. That is what I was calling a cap.... It happened as I began to unscrew that lens body.

 

[louie]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

The catalyst pellets are under the circuit board - you hear them when shaken. I think you maybe took off the rubber cover that usually sticks onto the clear lens/threaded cap assembly. Did the light body burst, or did the explosion just pop the cap? Is the light still usable? If not, I'd certainly take it in on warranty. Just conjecturing, perhaps you inadvertantly activated the switch during opening, igniting a gas with a spark in the switch.

 

[Tombeis]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

A friend of mine had a hydrogen explosion of a dive light that was on on a storage shelf.

The light apparently had discharged batteries inside which can produce hydrogen gas. The pressure was so great that the bezel and the lens separated from the body and flew across the room. The lens hit so hard against the wall that it cracked the heavy plastic.

I had an experience with a dive light (Pelican). It held eight D cells so their was plenty of chemical available for hydrogen gas to form. Someone used the light and ran down the batteries then returned the light to storage.

It must have blown when I was away because, I don't remember hearing the noise. I found the lens and bezel seperated from the body. Both lens and bezel were cracked.

This light did have the gas absorbing pellet installed. I believe there was just too much gas generated for the pellet to absorb it all.Or, the pellet had absorbed gas at some previous time and was depleted.

It is probably a good idea to remove the batteries or at least loosen the bezel of this type of light when it is stored, so gas that may form can escape without an explosion.

 

[FoxMulder]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

Oh man, you guys are scaring me. I just looked over to my bookshelf full of flashlights and I'm waiting for one of them to explode.

 

[Streak]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

This could happen to any water tight light.
Happened to my CMG Infinity last week. Blew the head across the room. I found that there was some corrosion inside the battery holder indicating some leakage from the Duracell battery. The battery volatge checked out fine. I put the battery back in and two days later same thing happened. Battery is now in the trash!!

 

[Ray_of_Light]

Re: HELP, My PrincetonTec Surge just exploded; I\'m

With two battery banks in parallel, it can easily happen. There are two cases to consider.

1. One of the banks, due to a bad contact, was disconnected, and randomly reconnected when the other was almost totally discharged. This is what Craig suggested, too. The reverse charged batteries would generate hydrogen.

2. The two banks were correctly working in parallel, but one cell ended its life way before than the others. In this case, one banks discharges on the other, with the same gas production.

I own three Surge, and I found them to be very good lights. The reflector is made of an high impact polymer, instead of cheap plastic, and is very reflective. The bulb is a very high-quality Welch-Allyn.

As a golden rule, never leave almost dry batteries in the Surge, because an explosion is what, very likely, will happen, even if on a much smaller scale. Be also careful, when you load batteries, that both banks make good contact.

May be PT can put pressure indicator on the Surge...

Anthony