Humour does not always have to make perfect sense .. It made me laugh anyway.
ITP A3 Eos EXPLODED!
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Humour does not always have to make perfect sense .. It made me laugh anyway.
It does not really matter what happened because we don't have enough information to determine anything. The one thing that I never do is to use alkaline batteries in flashlights and would only use them in an emergency if nothing else was available. I have both the SS and Ti versions of the ITP A3 and use only enelopes or Energizer Lithiums.
Egsise
Banned
Yeah I know, living in another continent sure is nice.
Sorry for my comments, but there's just too much speculation on what happened without any proof.
The eyewitness is a non flashaholic, which I think can't accurately describe these things.
Apollo Cree
Enlightened
Obviously a non flashaholic wouldn't correctly recognize concepts like "bang", broken glass, objects imbedded in his hand, gunshot sounds, swelling, corrosion, etc.
Egsise
Banned
Yes you are right, he would recognice them in a non-flashaholic way which is not accurate because he does not know what to look for.
I worked out the riddle (ie more speculation). Your friend went to a funeral. He had to travel a long way from home. Before he left, he checked his flashlight, before packing it into his bag. He might even have changed the battery, and tightened the tailcap. Your friend lives at sea level. The funeral was at a higher altitude. The air trapped inside the flashlight expanded as he was no longer at sea level. He turned the flashlight on, and the heat caused further air expansion. The glass shattered and blew out. As the flashlight exploded, the pill moved forward and broke contact with the battery terminal. Your friend dropped the flashlight to the ground, causing more damage. He picked it up and tried unsuccesfully to turn it on. Still anxious and shakey, surprise turned to anger. He threw it out in a fit of rage. Maybe.
Linger
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just fyi for anyone still reading and unfamiliar with the light: it is a twisty with a single separation where the tail is attached to the one-piece body and head. Within the tail is a decent sized spring and any AAA, 10440 fit with plenty room to spare (impossible to over tighten cap down on the cell).
It does have a boost circuit but a simple one, no capacitators and no pre-flash in any modes.
I run mine with an AW 10440 cell, for the low mode and sometimes medium, but fantastically enough for any CPF'er, on 'high' it pull over 1000ma at the tail (with the li-co cell!!!)
It does have a boost circuit but a simple one, no capacitators and no pre-flash in any modes.
I run mine with an AW 10440 cell, for the low mode and sometimes medium, but fantastically enough for any CPF'er, on 'high' it pull over 1000ma at the tail (with the li-co cell!!!)
McAllan
Enlightened
Even if you closed it at sea level and took it to outer space (vacuum) the pressure difference wouldn't be enough to blow out the glass or overcome the holding force of the threads. It's only a pressure difference of 1 bar. You would hear a fizz with such a difference (if it's not a vacuum where opening) but nothing violent.
Apollo Cree
Enlightened
15 PSIA at sea level. Heat the case of the flashlight to 100 degrees C, and you only get 20 PSIA inside the flashlight. Go to 10,000 feet and you only get 10 PSIG.
1/2 inch diameter of the head. 7 pounds of pressure.
Probably less because 10,000 feet and 100 C is probably way too high.
10 PSI of the small amount of air in an A3 or 7 pounds of force is not going to make much of a bang.
Maybe you wouldn't have recognized broken glass, the sound of a gunshot, shrapnel embedded in the skin and the other things he described before you joined this web site, but I think most of the rest of the human race would have no problem doing so.
Ok, you guys know your physics too well. I retract my hypothesis...maybe it was Mossad.
LightChaser
Newly Enlightened
There's no way to really determine what happened to the light without going through the light and the batteries, but based on what happened recently with my Fenix E01, I figure it's probably the battery.
A few days ago, I noticed that it was a bit hard to twist the head on my E01. There was no scratching or grinding - it just felt like the head was pretty tight. I decided to open it up, and while I was opening it to check the threads, I heard a pop - I thought nothing of it at the time though. Everything looked fine, so I tried twisting it back on, and everything was back to normal - or so I thought.
The next day, it was tight again. I opened it up again, and heard the same pop. The cause of the problem became clear - the difficulty twisting the light and the popping told me that pressure was building up inside the light.
I checked the battery (an alkaline that came with the light), saw nothing wrong with it, then checked the battery tube for signs of leakage, and saw nothing. I then decided to put the battery back in, wait a few hours, then try twisting the head again to confirm if the cell was really causing pressure to build up in the light.
A few hours passed, but I couldn't replicate the problem. I figured I'd play it safe and replaced the cell with a lithium primary that I'd been waiting to put in the light. I left the suspicious alkaline on my desk, then left.
When I came back after a few hours, the alkaline had leaked, and I was thankful I played it safe. I still can't quite say for certain that the alkaline was venting inside the E01, but that's the only explanation I can think of for the pressure build up in the light.
I figure the same thing could very well have happened with the light mentioned by the OP, except the owner never opened the light, and inadvertently allowed the pressure to build up in the light until it finally exploded. We can't know for sure, but based on my experience, I think it's possible.
A few days ago, I noticed that it was a bit hard to twist the head on my E01. There was no scratching or grinding - it just felt like the head was pretty tight. I decided to open it up, and while I was opening it to check the threads, I heard a pop - I thought nothing of it at the time though. Everything looked fine, so I tried twisting it back on, and everything was back to normal - or so I thought.
The next day, it was tight again. I opened it up again, and heard the same pop. The cause of the problem became clear - the difficulty twisting the light and the popping told me that pressure was building up inside the light.
I checked the battery (an alkaline that came with the light), saw nothing wrong with it, then checked the battery tube for signs of leakage, and saw nothing. I then decided to put the battery back in, wait a few hours, then try twisting the head again to confirm if the cell was really causing pressure to build up in the light.
A few hours passed, but I couldn't replicate the problem. I figured I'd play it safe and replaced the cell with a lithium primary that I'd been waiting to put in the light. I left the suspicious alkaline on my desk, then left.
When I came back after a few hours, the alkaline had leaked, and I was thankful I played it safe. I still can't quite say for certain that the alkaline was venting inside the E01, but that's the only explanation I can think of for the pressure build up in the light.
I figure the same thing could very well have happened with the light mentioned by the OP, except the owner never opened the light, and inadvertently allowed the pressure to build up in the light until it finally exploded. We can't know for sure, but based on my experience, I think it's possible.
Egsise
Banned
This is like a debate on what does a weather balloon look like.
It could be even a UFO to normal people, a specialist takes a glance and recognices it immediately as weather balloon.
Gunshot next to his ear and no any damage to his hearing? LOL!
march.brown
Flashlight Enthusiast
In a normal room, even a kiddies balloon bursting sounds loud ... Even with moderate background noise it can make people jump ... A build-up of pressure that was high enough to blow out the glass lens of a sealed torch would certainly sound like a gunshot.
Since there was no flash observed, it really can only be the battery venting that caused the explosion ... The battery was the only item capable of producing gasses.
Reading this and other threads, it seems that there have been quite a few cases of batteries venting ... It does seem to be the cheaper primaries though that are the culprits ... I wonder how many torches would have exploded if they had been manufactured with better "water-resistance" ... Even a plastic bodied torch could cause serious personal damage if it exploded ... Maybe the plastic ones would just split instead of shattering.
It would seem that with this method of On/Off switching, the torch is much easier to make sealed/waterproof than with the tail-clicky ... It also becomes a pressure vessel where the weak-point is the lens ... With this in mind, perhaps we should consider drilling a couple of 2mm holes in the body and waterproofing these with something like candle wax ... I would expect a 2mm plug of candlewax to pop out before the pressure built up enough to explode the glass lens.
It would be interesting if someone was to drill and tap a hole in the torch body and use a pressure hose and monitor the "explosion" on video ... We would then know what pressure it would take to cause the lens to shatter and the original exploding torch owner could see if it looked and sounded the same.
"The glass lens, and the LED bulb, were imbedded in my hand, and also turned almost to powder, and was scattered on the table, and across my suit jacket. It blew the end cap off also, although it did not disfigure it, or the any other metal parts. It truly sounded like a gunshot. As for the battery, the only thing I remember about it was that it was not a brand I recognized, and I noticed that it almost looked new. There was no swelling, or corrosion on it. None of us can remember the brand though. Sorry."
From the above statement, the fact that the LED was also embedded in his hand does worry me a bit ... Did it completely detatch itself from the soldered fixing ? ... What happened to the reflector ? ... He also said that the end cap was blown off without being disfigured ... Were the threads not stripped in the process ?
We need Hercules Poirot or someone like him to solve this ... Difficult without any evidence though !
.
Since there was no flash observed, it really can only be the battery venting that caused the explosion ... The battery was the only item capable of producing gasses.
Reading this and other threads, it seems that there have been quite a few cases of batteries venting ... It does seem to be the cheaper primaries though that are the culprits ... I wonder how many torches would have exploded if they had been manufactured with better "water-resistance" ... Even a plastic bodied torch could cause serious personal damage if it exploded ... Maybe the plastic ones would just split instead of shattering.
It would seem that with this method of On/Off switching, the torch is much easier to make sealed/waterproof than with the tail-clicky ... It also becomes a pressure vessel where the weak-point is the lens ... With this in mind, perhaps we should consider drilling a couple of 2mm holes in the body and waterproofing these with something like candle wax ... I would expect a 2mm plug of candlewax to pop out before the pressure built up enough to explode the glass lens.
It would be interesting if someone was to drill and tap a hole in the torch body and use a pressure hose and monitor the "explosion" on video ... We would then know what pressure it would take to cause the lens to shatter and the original exploding torch owner could see if it looked and sounded the same.
"The glass lens, and the LED bulb, were imbedded in my hand, and also turned almost to powder, and was scattered on the table, and across my suit jacket. It blew the end cap off also, although it did not disfigure it, or the any other metal parts. It truly sounded like a gunshot. As for the battery, the only thing I remember about it was that it was not a brand I recognized, and I noticed that it almost looked new. There was no swelling, or corrosion on it. None of us can remember the brand though. Sorry."
From the above statement, the fact that the LED was also embedded in his hand does worry me a bit ... Did it completely detatch itself from the soldered fixing ? ... What happened to the reflector ? ... He also said that the end cap was blown off without being disfigured ... Were the threads not stripped in the process ?
We need Hercules Poirot or someone like him to solve this ... Difficult without any evidence though !
.
As for elevation gain, it was about 1300 feet... Tulsa OK to Hays KS. I never thought of that possibility before. But a pretty small elevation change, not enough to cause such damage.
My friend is a veteran of the Gulf war. He doesn't seem like the panicky type. (Although he did get some Serin gas, which they say still affects him some.)
My friend is a veteran of the Gulf war. He doesn't seem like the panicky type. (Although he did get some Serin gas, which they say still affects him some.)
waddup
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,269
this is the only serious problem ive ever heard of with the itp/martac. 1000s and 1000s sold,
only 1 serious problem.
much better track record then almost any product ever.
im not worried about the itp on my girls keychain
odds are waaaaaaaaaay to good nothing will go wrong
only 1 serious problem.
much better track record then almost any product ever.
im not worried about the itp on my girls keychain
odds are waaaaaaaaaay to good nothing will go wrong
sabre7
Enlightened
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2007
- Messages
- 559
Gunshot sounds, shrapnel, glass embedded in the hand, oh my! Three more pages of speculation might grow into "flaming shards of jagged metal hurtled through the air, the crowd swooned and ran for cover as the massive fireball grew into a mushroom cloud, the pall of death and destruction lingered for hours as the search for maimed and lifeless bodies amid the rubble and destruction..." 😱
Instead of "an audible pop was heard, the glass of the flashlight broke, the owner cut his hand on a piece of broken glass."
Instead of "an audible pop was heard, the glass of the flashlight broke, the owner cut his hand on a piece of broken glass."
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Flying Turtle
Flashaholic
"It blew the end cap off"
I didn't realize this light even had an end cap. Thought it was pretty much like a Maratac AAA, head and battery tube. Maybe it was a different light altogether.
Geoff
I didn't realize this light even had an end cap. Thought it was pretty much like a Maratac AAA, head and battery tube. Maybe it was a different light altogether.
Geoff
Apollo Cree
Enlightened
Nothing says it was next to his ear. "Fortunately he lowered it away from his face as he gave it another twist, and was starting to bring it up again."
Plenty of cops, soldiers, and hunters shoot pistols or even rifles and shotguns with multiple rounds with no hearing protection with no obvious hearing damage. Especially things like 22's, which do qualify as "gunshots."
Back in the 60's, nobody wore hearing protection while hunting. They rarely wore hearing protection while practice shooting. Almost nobody noticed their hearing being damaged until years later, if at all.
Do you really think that because someone doesn't have obvious hearing damage, that proves that they weren't right next to someone firing a gun?
Plus "sounds like a gunshot" doesn't mean the volume was as loud as a real gunshot.
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