2 Pet Peeves, anyone concur?

JohnnyBravo · Feb 25, 2012

The more I explore, learn, and invest into this hobby, the more I see/witness 2 bothersome things. Am I justified, or not, veterans? 1. When watching a flashlight video, I see the user dropping in the first battery + end down, and letting gravity slam the battery against the + end within the flashlight tube - you can hear it sometimes. And then following it w/ a 2nd and/or 3rd battery. I understand some lights have very little gap between the barrel and the cells, so escaping air slows down the cells; but not all do. I usually feed my batteries in slowly while the light is horizontal, unless the light has a spring on the + end. 2. And in many photos of lights on different websites, is it really necessary to show the lights disassembled while its threads, o-rings etc, lay on some kind of dirt/sand/gravel/pebbles? Sigh...

LE6920 · Feb 25, 2012

Doesn't bother me in the least. You would go crazy watching the beating weapon and duty lights take.

Mikeg23 · Feb 25, 2012

They are tools not fine china. Plus I don't get too bothered about what others do with their own property.

ico · Feb 25, 2012

The same for number 1 I guess. I crunch every time they do that. At least its not my light, it's their light and therefore they can do whatever they want. I've also never heard of malfunctioning due to that

craigshipp · Feb 25, 2012

It may be their light now but some day they might sell it and then....

eh4 · Feb 25, 2012

Yeah things like that make me cringe, unless I know the tool is designed for it.

flatline · Feb 25, 2012

I, too, dislike seeing batteries dropped into lights. Not because I'm afraid they'll hurt the flashlight (any quality light should be able to handle that), but because over time, it damages the batteries. Probably not a big deal for primary cells, but rechargeable cells may experience significant damage over time.

--flatline

JohnnyBravo · Feb 25, 2012

Cringe and crunch. Good words guys. I reckon that if it doesn't take any more effort to NOT do these things, why not choose so? Isn't also true to not let the slide slam closed on a dry chamber on certain semi auto pistols too? Flatline, good thinking on the primary vs. rechargeable cells. Perhaps the + button end on primaries would be "softer" than the + contact within the torch itself?

NeonLights · Feb 25, 2012

For #1 at least, if a flashlight can't handle having the batteries dropped in while completely vertical, it is a fragile POS that I wouldn't want to own anyways, not a tool to light things up.

eh4 · Feb 25, 2012

Any light that can't handle it is too cheaply made in that sense, agreed.
But damage can be cumulative if a material isn't resilient enough and if I don't know exactly what's going on behind the + terminal I'd rather keep the total count and intensity of impacts down.
Aluminum isn't known for it's spring back abilities for that matter. I had a dog who was pretty rambunctious, after a year of running and jumping, her aluminum vaccination tag was mushroomed with the edges completely rolled under, just from many thousands of little tiny pings against the ring on her collar. -Of course there are different grades of aluminum.

And there is nothing good about getting grit into threads.

phosphor · Feb 25, 2012

flatline said:
I, too, dislike seeing batteries dropped into lights. Not because I'm afraid they'll hurt the flashlight (any quality light should be able to handle that), but because over time, it damages the batteries. Probably not a big deal for primary cells, but rechargeable cells may experience significant damage over time.

--flatline

....no doubt someone here has already labored over a flow chart plotting the damage.

purelite · Feb 26, 2012

Dont forget

how many times does the toilet seat get slammed down? how long before it cracks?
how many times does the car door get slammed shut? how long before something breaks in it?
how many times do I drop the TV remote on the floor? How many before it breaks?
how many times can I run in my shoes before it starts to damage the soles?
how many times can a light switch be "flipped" with a finger instead of being gently activated using thumb and forefinger?
how many times can the kids slam their bedroom doors before something in the mechansim breaks or the door cracks?
how many times can the computer be accidently unplugged without properly shutting it down?
how many overly hard presses on the doorbell with gloved hands before it breaks?
how many times can a utensil drop into the garbage disposal before it is damaged permanantly?
how many times can I jog on the treadmill before my knee cartilage gives out?

Is everyones life so simple and unprioritized that all we have to worry about is a battery travelling a cpl inches down a tube and the irreversible damage it will eventually possibly cause?

I have a solution!!!! only buy flashlights with SPRINGS on the positive end. Then the battery just goes boing,boing,boing!!!

and I thought I had issues!! LOL

JohnnyBravo · Feb 26, 2012

Hey Purelite. Those are many good "how many" points/examples; and I agree w/ many of them. I'm not very concerned w/ a couple inches down as in a single 18650 - that'd be about a 2.75 inch drop. But w/ 2 or 3 18650s as an example, the drop is from about 5.5 to 8 inches for the first cell. I do own some flashlights w/ springs on both ends; but there are some quality name brand lights out there that only have a spring on the - end only as I'm sure you know. Boing, boing, boing... sounds like Tigger bouncing around w/ Pooh. LOL...

purelite said:
Dont forget

how many times does the toilet seat get slammed down? how long before it cracks?
how many times does the car door get slammed shut? how long before something breaks in it?
how many times do I drop the TV remote on the floor? How many before it breaks?
how many times can I run in my shoes before it starts to damage the soles?
how many times can a light switch be "flipped" with a finger instead of being gently activated using thumb and forefinger?
how many times can the kids slam their bedroom doors before something in the mechansim breaks or the door cracks?
how many times can the computer be accidently unplugged without properly shutting it down?
how many overly hard presses on the doorbell with gloved hands before it breaks?
how many times can a utensil drop into the garbage disposal before it is damaged permanantly?
how many times can I jog on the treadmill before my knee cartilage gives out?

Is everyones life so simple and unprioritized that all we have to worry about is a battery travelling a cpl inches down a tube and the irreversible damage it will eventually possibly cause?

I have a solution!!!! only buy flashlights with SPRINGS on the positive end. Then the battery just goes boing,boing,boing!!!

and I thought I had issues!! LOL

PhotonWrangler · Feb 26, 2012

I generally try not to slam the batteries into the case (especially if they're lithiums) but occasionally I find that there's something oddly satisfying about that boing that happens when the first battery hits the spring. It tells me that the battery made it all the way down the tube without getting stuck along the way.

purelite · Feb 26, 2012

Haha. Just bustin' on yah!!! I know what you are talking about and I myself actually take care not to let my batts go flying down the tube even if i do have a spring down there.

I actually only have lights with positive springs in them now and it solves the flattop battery problems and I know I have better protection in a drop. That is waht worries me is needing my light and dropping it and lights out!! It seems with lights that are super tough and rugged it is the battery that gets damaged ie. dented in on one end and causes a failure before the light itself is damaged.

dingo1799 · Feb 26, 2012

JohnnyBravo said:
The more I explore, learn, and invest into this hobby, the more I see/witness 2 bothersome things. Am I justified, or not, veterans? 1. When watching a flashlight video, I see the user dropping in the first battery + end down, and letting gravity slam the battery against the + end within the flashlight tube. And then following it w/ a 2nd and/or 3rd battery. I usually feed my batteries in slowly while the light is horizontal. 2. And in many photos of lights on different websites, is it really necessary to show the lights disassembled while its threads, o-rings etc, lay on some kind of dirt/sand/gravel/pebbles? Sigh...

did you ever happen to think about the fact that the clearance between the batteries and body of the light causing pressure or suction slowing the batteries down??? all of my lights are like this... you CANT slam a battery in it... air pressure differential wont let it happen.... one less thing i have to worry about
:huh:

TEEJ · Feb 26, 2012

I use a shot gun to fire the batteries into the lights, is that bad?

Seriously, I had a hammer, but was worried because the constant pounding would probably cause fatigue and failure...and if the hammer's head were to catastrophically fail, pieces of shrapnel could fly off and kill or injure myself or others.

I therefore gently press on the hammer to slowly push the nails into the wood, rather than risking damage with hard strikes.

I try to open the battery compartment so the batteries load into the neg end where possible.

Norm · Feb 26, 2012

Please spare a thought for the cells in a weapon mounted light. :devil:

Norm

TEEJ · Feb 26, 2012

Norm said:
Please spare a thought for the cells in a weapon mounted light. :devil:

Norm

Excellent point.

Always remove the batteries before using the light to shoot at targets in the dark to avoid damage.

DM51 · Feb 26, 2012

We have had "Pet Peeves" threads before. Some members mistakenly regarded those as an opportunity to rant/vent about minor annoyances on random dissociated topics inappropriate for this board.

If that happens here the thread will close, as did its predecessors.

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