harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!boom

harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!boom

a friend sent me this pic of a harbor freight battery that exploded in one of those cheap n nasty 3aaa led lights.
blew off the end of the light and the guts of 1 cell.
he thinks it came on in his pocket and overheated.maybe one led shorted when it died and popped the battery?
or a weak cell reversed?
oops no place to upload the pic!

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

No idea as to what happened, but I have 6-8 of those lights around the house as HF has them as freebies all the time.. have to keep an eye on them. 'Bout half of mine have rechargeable NIMH cells in them.. as the original cells die I replace them with rechargables.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

I think the key here is "and the guts of 1 cell". One of the AAA cells was defective. "BOOM" events must result from a power source, and cells are power sources (so are capacitors when charged), but emitters and drivers are not.

I had a friend who encountered a similar surprise from a ITP A3 with single AAA a few years back.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

I once ripped open a dead cheap (but not expired) alkaline 9V battery when I was young. Several cells were leaked. One of the AAAA cells suddenly exploded, blowing its top and throwing pellets of junk across the room. The battery itself shot about 3 feet back, while people 20 feet away were hit in the face by flying bits of battery content. Alkies are not immune to explosions.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

a shorted led can indeed make a battery overheat and possibly explode.energy being converted to too much heat and BANG!
its getting filed under it was unsafe crap from harbor freight.
its long ago hit the trash so no autopsy possible.

Rexlion said:

I think the key here is "and the guts of 1 cell". One of the AAA cells was defective. "BOOM" events must result from a power source, and cells are power sources (so are capacitors when charged), but emitters and drivers are not.

I had a friend who encountered a similar surprise from a ITP A3 with single AAA a few years back.

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Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

the subject of this discusion is on one of the other pages!
its the never in stock flashlight.

WILSON said:

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Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

Lol....love the flier.

I have been calling them harbor fright for a long time.

That said...I buy stuff there if it's too hard to screw up/ I might only need to use it once, etc.

I had a 5 K lb truck collapse a set of their 3 ton jack stands for example. ..but when the 6 ton ones were on sale for $20 each, I got them for the same weight truck that collapsed the 3 ton version. (And gave them to the guy who's 3 ton stands had folded).

For the cells, if one is damaged or different internal resistance, in series like that, bad things can happen.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

TEEJ said:

Lol....love the flier.

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When you need a tool that's good for a job-and-a-half, some cheap drill bits that you intend to abuse then use as center punches, just want something that's simultaneously heavy yet fragile, or are willing to pay a modest premium for a heavy-duty tool that you intend to use for light tasks which it might handle for a long time...

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

I don't buy anything at Harbor Freight that plugs into the wall. I would probably be careful about climbing under a car held up by a Harbor Freight jack too.

Pete Steinmetz

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

TEEJ said:

...I had a 5 K lb truck collapse a set of their 3 ton jack stands for example. ..but when the 6 ton ones were on sale for $20 each, I got them for the same weight truck that collapsed the 3 ton version. (And gave them to the guy who's 3 ton stands had folded).

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Which set of jack stands folded? Was the full 5000 lbs of weight on the jack? Did the truck fall on the jack or did it just fold under normal use? We have some HF jack stands so I'm wondering.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

PhotonWrangler said:

Which set of jack stands folded? Was the full 5000 lbs of weight on the jack? Did the truck fall on the jack or did it just fold under normal use? We have some HF jack stands so I'm wondering.

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The rear was on the tires, and only the front was held up by the jacks during an engine swap, as I'd removed the front tires to make engine bay access easier to engine mounts, etc.

That means the TWO 3 ton jacks were ONLY holding up HALF of the 5,000 lb truck, and, they folded over during the night when no one was working under it luckily.

Also luckily, I had chocked the rear wheels, set the brake, and, chained the front bumper to a tree to keep the front end from moving...and the POS jacks STILL folded like cubby quail.












Two 3-Ton Harbor Fright Jacks "Supporting half an Xterra, poorly...."

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

Gads. Thanks for the additional information, Teej. Glad no one was hurt!

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

Anyone got a pic of the flashlight Thunderbolt Magnum? Is this the $2.99 9 led light sold by register. My 6 year old has this beside bed with nimh.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

TEEJ said:

Two 3-Ton Harbor Fright Jacks "Supporting half an Xterra, poorly...."

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I think the picture voids the warantee. It shows the heavy wet leaves on top of vehicle, something no jack designer or disclaimer could predict.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

I see the thunderbolt is the cell. The light is what brand?

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

degarb said:

I think the picture voids the warantee. It shows the heavy wet leaves on top of vehicle, something no jack designer or disclaimer could predict.

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LOL

I think the fact that it was used as a JACK STAND probably voided the lifetime warranty. It probably had a disclaimer saying it was "not intended to support weight, and was for decorative purposes only"

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

It looks like there was some side force on the stands too.
They are probably rated for 100% vertical load only.

Re: harbor freight "thunderbolt magnum" aaa in cheap flashlight lives up to its name!

degarb said:

I think the picture voids the warantee. It shows the heavy wet leaves on top of vehicle, something no jack designer or disclaimer could predict.

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Excellent troll