Surefire battery problem

[crosley]

Hi and thanks! Have a Surefire XXX for several months. Noticed a smell one day I couldn't track down. Finally discovered it was coming from my Surefire. Opened the flashlight and Whoa! What a smell! And by smell I mean rotten eggs my wife could smell two rooms away within 2 minutes.

Called Surefire for a return and their two cents.

They were kind enough to call me and say there was nothing wrong or any smell. I told the customer service rep he was full of it and challenged him to walk down the hall and smell it himself. And I’d pay him if he could honestly tell me there was no smell. He accepted. Called me the next day and said there was a bad smell, but the techs said it was normal (laugh) and not a safety concern. And told me I had counterfeit batteries despite the fact I ordered them from Surefire and still have the Surefire battery box. Then they sent the flashlight back. LOL

Opened up all my other flashlights. No smell. My only guess is a bad battery? Anyone else have any thoughts here? I'm assuming it is still safe to use?

 

[Sgt. LED]

Woah
Toss that cell just to be safe.
So Surefire is shipping counterfits of their own batteries? That is friggin' weird too.
In reality I bet you just ran into another SF rep that didn't know much of anything about what he is a rep FOR. I've had that happen too.

 

[Kestrel]

Woah
Toss that cell just to be safe.

+1. Cells are cheap. SureFires, on the other hand, are Priceless.;)
Kind of a wierd response by SF though...

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Replace the darn batteries and quit whining! LOL

 

[MarNav1]

I have noticed odor quite a few times. No certain make. No problems so far. Figured it was just "lithium" smell.

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, crosley.

We have a separate section for discussions and queries about batteries, so I'll move your thread there for you.

It sounds as if something died inside your Surefire; it could just be the battery, but you might just want to use another light to check what is inside, just in case it also contains the rotting corpse of a small but pungent animal, lol.

 

[Kestrel]

[...] just in case it also contains the rotting corpse of a small but pungent animal, lol.

like, say, weevils?:sssh:

 

[metlarules]

like, say, weevils?:sssh:

Let's hope one of the dreaded chip weavels didn't die in there.:huh:

 

[Kestrel]

Let's hope one of the dreaded chip weavels didn't die in there.:huh:

Oh man, the OP will never get the smell out if that's the case.:green:

 

[Mjolnir]

Hopefully it is a queen chip weevil; I here those are quite rare. However, I thought queens only lived in multi die LEDs, and surefire doesn't have any Multi die models...

 

[crosley]

Thanks for the welcomes! Sent it to Surefire and they 'cleaned' it and it checked out 100% good. They still maintain the battery was 'counterfeit' despite the fact I purchased it from them. Replaced batteries and so far so good. Just wondered what I should do if it happens again.

By the way, my light is a Surefire L6. Meant to add that to the posting.