Tonight I discovered a potentially catastrophic fault with my ThruNite Catapult serial no 2009100150. I have reported it to ThruNite of course and await their reply but I felt I should post here too in case there are any more like mine out there. I would hate anyone to suffer a problem if I could prevent it.
Quick history - Catapult was purchased in December as a Christmas gift (to me!). Since receipt it has sat on my desk loaded with two AW 2200 protected button-top 18650's. I think I have topped up the cells once or twice. The light has been operated less than 100 times and always for short periods indoors. It has not yet been used 'in anger', it's a shelf (or rather desk) queen.
Tonight I picked it up and as I often do looked down the business end into the reflector (the light was off) - I love that reflector. I was surprised to see what appeared to be a drop of clear liquid at the bottom of the reflector around the emitter. Puzzled, and very aware of the potential for a short circuit, I quickly removed the two 18650's and investigated further.
Upon removal of the head from the light engine I was horrified to find the whole surface around the emitter soaked with the same clear liquid I had seen in the reflector. Looking closer it appears to me that the liquid has come from beneath the white insulating washer that surrounds the emitter and it appears to be present beneath the washer too i.e. all over the star mount and emitter. I have no means of measuring the quantity but judging by eye I would say there is perhaps five or six good sized drops of liquid sat on the surface of the washer and who knows how much more underneath it.
I disassembled the light in order to investigate where this contamination came from. I found no evidence of any liquid anywhere within the light other than on and around the emitter and the base of the reflector. The batteries are perfect. The body tube is dry. The back of the light engine is dry. Taking into account that the light has always sat on my desk head down the only possible place for the liquid to have originated is from within the light engine itself.
I have not done any further investigation pending a response from ThruNite so cannot tell you any more at this stage. My conclusion currently is that the liquid is either contamination from within the light engine from manufacture or perhaps some compound (heatsink paste or sealer) has broken down with the heat (even though the longest the light has run is perhaps ten minutes) and is leaching out the liquid.
I do not know at this stage if the liquid is conductive. Bearing in mind how intolerant Li-Ions are of short circuits I am assuming so until proven otherwise for safety's sake and I am pretty scared as to how close my wife and I have been sleeping with a potential pipe bomb. Overreaction maybe but I think I will be removing all Li-Ions from my lights before bedtime. I admit I am pretty shaken by this.
Here are the pics I took and sent to ThruNite. The first one shows the inside base of the reflector, clear liquid is pretty difficult to photograph but if you look carefully around the right hand side of the emitter opening you can see the liquid from about 11 o'clock round to about 5 o'clock.
Here is a shot of the AW cells exactly as they came out of the light. They are completely dry all over and both measure 4.09 volts. This is definitely NOT a battery failure.
Here is the back of the light engine. As you can see it is perfectly dry, no contamination whatsoever. The light tube is the same.
Finally the shocker. Here is the emitter side of the light engine complete with its puddle of clear liquid. As you can see it is quite literally soaked. (Ignore the strange look of the outer groove in the aluminium, that is simply black cardboard I added as a spacer in order to try and stop my light suffering the popped emitter dome problem others reported.)
Sorry for the length of the post but to me this one is potentially serious and I felt you should all have as much info as possible. I will be retiring for the night shortly and I am honestly trying not to imagine 2 18650's in a sealed metal tube shorting out while we slept or even going off during the day when my wife was here alone. Can anyone please reassure me I am over dramatizing this?
I will update the thread with any feedback I get from ThruNite.
Olef
Quick history - Catapult was purchased in December as a Christmas gift (to me!). Since receipt it has sat on my desk loaded with two AW 2200 protected button-top 18650's. I think I have topped up the cells once or twice. The light has been operated less than 100 times and always for short periods indoors. It has not yet been used 'in anger', it's a shelf (or rather desk) queen.
Tonight I picked it up and as I often do looked down the business end into the reflector (the light was off) - I love that reflector. I was surprised to see what appeared to be a drop of clear liquid at the bottom of the reflector around the emitter. Puzzled, and very aware of the potential for a short circuit, I quickly removed the two 18650's and investigated further.
Upon removal of the head from the light engine I was horrified to find the whole surface around the emitter soaked with the same clear liquid I had seen in the reflector. Looking closer it appears to me that the liquid has come from beneath the white insulating washer that surrounds the emitter and it appears to be present beneath the washer too i.e. all over the star mount and emitter. I have no means of measuring the quantity but judging by eye I would say there is perhaps five or six good sized drops of liquid sat on the surface of the washer and who knows how much more underneath it.
I disassembled the light in order to investigate where this contamination came from. I found no evidence of any liquid anywhere within the light other than on and around the emitter and the base of the reflector. The batteries are perfect. The body tube is dry. The back of the light engine is dry. Taking into account that the light has always sat on my desk head down the only possible place for the liquid to have originated is from within the light engine itself.
I have not done any further investigation pending a response from ThruNite so cannot tell you any more at this stage. My conclusion currently is that the liquid is either contamination from within the light engine from manufacture or perhaps some compound (heatsink paste or sealer) has broken down with the heat (even though the longest the light has run is perhaps ten minutes) and is leaching out the liquid.
I do not know at this stage if the liquid is conductive. Bearing in mind how intolerant Li-Ions are of short circuits I am assuming so until proven otherwise for safety's sake and I am pretty scared as to how close my wife and I have been sleeping with a potential pipe bomb. Overreaction maybe but I think I will be removing all Li-Ions from my lights before bedtime. I admit I am pretty shaken by this.
Here are the pics I took and sent to ThruNite. The first one shows the inside base of the reflector, clear liquid is pretty difficult to photograph but if you look carefully around the right hand side of the emitter opening you can see the liquid from about 11 o'clock round to about 5 o'clock.
Here is a shot of the AW cells exactly as they came out of the light. They are completely dry all over and both measure 4.09 volts. This is definitely NOT a battery failure.
Here is the back of the light engine. As you can see it is perfectly dry, no contamination whatsoever. The light tube is the same.
Finally the shocker. Here is the emitter side of the light engine complete with its puddle of clear liquid. As you can see it is quite literally soaked. (Ignore the strange look of the outer groove in the aluminium, that is simply black cardboard I added as a spacer in order to try and stop my light suffering the popped emitter dome problem others reported.)
Sorry for the length of the post but to me this one is potentially serious and I felt you should all have as much info as possible. I will be retiring for the night shortly and I am honestly trying not to imagine 2 18650's in a sealed metal tube shorting out while we slept or even going off during the day when my wife was here alone. Can anyone please reassure me I am over dramatizing this?
I will update the thread with any feedback I get from ThruNite.
Olef
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