Orb RAW 1W vs washing machine

Joe Talmadge

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2000
Messages
2,200
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I love the 1W, reasonably low low, and the tritium locator makes this the only light I can find on my nightstand. the Raw 1W is my nighttime walk-through-the-house, check-on-the-kids light. Accidently sent it through the washing machine. Found it at the bottom of the machine, turned it on ... still works, both low and high mode! The inside of the lens was a little steamed up. I unscrewed the top, took out the battery, and let the whole thing dry for a day. Put it back together, works perfectly now.
 
Big deal, the same thing happened to me with a cree-modded mini maglite that cost me like $15, and it survived just as well :D
 
First time I did something so dunderheaded, so I had no idea how remarkable or not this was. Actually, I think I've sent through a number of Photons, but nothing this expensive until now
 
Try it with your cell phone, if THAT survives, I'll be impressed :D

I think with flashlights they usually have pretty good chance of surviving as long as the water isn't too salty or full of minerals, because clean water is not a very good conductor of electricity. At worst, most lights would only need to be dried off, then they would be good as new. Like my Elly lights, I dropped one of those in a pond while on a boat one night, fished it out of the pond, the dumb thing wasn't waterproof and was full of water but the light was still shining hehe. The driver board was fine even though it got soaked.

I think if I could afford a flashlight that expensive I would be really happy to find out it wasn't harmed by the washing machine so I can see where you're coming from! Even with my $5 Elly I was relieved it was OK so imagine the feeling with an Orb Raw :)
 
Hellbore said:
Try it with your cell phone, if THAT survives, I'll be impressed :D

Not a washing machine, but a tank filled 8 feet deep with water. One of my colleages had a phone in his shirt pocket, he bent forward to pick something out and splosh. It was on too. Fished it out later, let it dry out and it worked :)

A couple of my USB Memory sticks have survived the wash a few times too.

Stu
 
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I recommend that if you run something through the washing machine, and there's any chance of water having gotten in, disassemble it and rinse the insides thoroughly with distilled or deionized water, then dry in a warm place. Even the washing machine rinse water could be pretty corrosive.

c_c
 

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