Zebralight Torture Test

[run4jc]

Okay - the "hot car" test is over. The light spent about 2 hours in an oven set at 200 degrees. The photos (unretouched, for any of you skeptics out there) tell the story. The light was over 200 degrees while inside the oven (YES, the Surefire primary WAS in the light!), then quickly dropped to mid 180s after removing and while I grabbed my camera and thermometer. (Geez - looks like I need to run the self cleaning cycle - and excuse the pork shoulder behind the light - it's Labor Day good eats!)

Does it work? You bet!! :twothumbs

Immediately after switching it off...

For you skeptics out there (and you KNOW you are out there, right?), the FULL photo essay can be found HERE, with times of each photo, etc., if you look at the full info of each photo. See statement added in OP.

Now to the Freezer in a cup of water, soon to be ice!

 

[silentlurker]

Nice, but could it survive with the light on? Freezer should be no problem with the light on, but the oven would have to be turned down a bit.

 

[scout24]

Simply awesome, Dan. Just realized that you included sand in the mix for the Bag o' Rocks test, great idea to see how the boot and seals held up. :thumbsup: Hot car test probably far surpassed any real life exposure to heat, it's a tough little bugger... ZL popsicle next? Sweet! Sahara to Arctic in one morning...

 

[lisantica]

Dan, I think you've adequately put this flashlight through its paces, now toss it back into your pocket. In some respects it's probably sentimental to you now.
Your Mrs. Run4JC is sure a patient wife to let you do your baking like you did.

 

[run4jc]

Nice, but could it survive with the light on? Freezer should be no problem with the light on, but the oven would have to be turned down a bit.

Interesting notion, but with all due respect, the fact that the light baked for that long and came on while still at 186 degrees satisfies me. If any of you EVER decide to use a light in that harsh an environment, PLEASE take photos and videos!:shakehead

Simply awesome, Dan. Just realized that you included sand in the mix for the Bag o' Rocks test, great idea to see how the boot and seals held up. :thumbsup: Hot car test probably far surpassed any real life exposure to heat, it's a tough little bugger... ZL popsicle next? Sweet! Sahara to Arctic in one morning...

See below...:devil:

Dan, I think you've adequately put this flashlight through its paces, now toss it back into your pocket. In some respects it's probably sentimental to you now.
Your Mrs. Run4JC is sure a patient wife to let you do your baking like you did.

Thanks Lisa - I have grown quite attached to the little bugger, but it has one more test to survive - as Scout called it, the "popsicle" test...and yes, my Mrs. R4JC is a patient, understanding wife! Although she and my 16 year old daughter often shake their heads in collective disbelief!

So for the final test - take common, ordinary rock salt - yup, the kind that we put on our sidewalks when it is icy out...

Add one loved, but abused little ZL SC30W in a cup...

Turn on the light to lo, add ice...

Add water and 'stir'...:devil:

Place in freezer, and wait until everything is nice and chilled/frozen/abused!

Final postings once everything is frozen...see you then! :thumbsup:

 

[candle lamp]

It's an extreme torture test! :sick2: Many thanks for your effort. :thumbsup:

Please don't forget to take good care of it.

 

[GadgetGeek]

This is great stuff, should be on the ZL website. As already mentioned, this is much more abuse than my beloved Zebras will ever be subjected to.

Thanks again run4jc for all your work and for sacrificing your ZL for the community!:thumbsup:

 

[uknewbie]

Thank you very much for this test :bow:

If I understand the results correctly, what it shows is that this little, made in China, affordable, lightweight light, with huge choice of batteries can stand up to more abuse than one would ever be likely to be put through? Who would have thought it eh...

Well done ZL.

 

[2100]

Hi,

Those are nice torture tests, but it'd be nice to have slightly more extreme torture tests which we get to see from other brands. Not that i am dissing anything....but just a passing comment.

In fact it was on purpose that i use dry ice, or - 80 deg C, on my triple XM-L, to see how much max lux it can do while driving the XM-Ls to 6A. And for several times because i always needed to defrost the front glass. It wasn't a torture test for that Sky Ray budgetlight, btw.
I also dumped it into water for like nearly 20hrs, but not to prove that it is watertight, but to cool it coz i was running runtime tests for batteries and/or cycling my cells.

There are quite some torture tests for Fenix here, and of course that Olight torture test on youtube. Perhaps can get some ideas from there. Again pls don't misunderstand, i am not dissing any light.

 

[DM51]

Those are nice torture tests, but not really extreme

Are you joking? This light is being put through a series of ordeals which it would never have to withstand in the real world and which it was never designed for. Despite that, it is surviving admirably.

Full marks to ZL, and many thanks to run4jc for a very interesting thread.

 

[oldways]

Are you joking? This light is being put through a series of ordeals which it would never have to withstand in the real world and which it was never designed for. Despite that, it is surviving admirably.

Full marks to ZL, and many thanks to run4jc for a very interesting thread.

Yes indeed!!!!

 

[run4jc]

Final Test Results...PASS! One of the nice things about the ice and salt in the water? It froze quickly. Sure, some might have preferred that the light be left in the ice all day but you know what? This little guy has proven itself tough enough for me. Heck, I may put it in a case on display somewhere...nah, it wants to be used! So here you go:

Frozen solid in a block of ice:

Check out the video:
[video]https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JqbHp495AuVGvvkCwJfV3g?feat=directlink[/video]

Now to 'thaw' it out of the cup

Works like a charm!

Finally, rinse off all the salt water

And it functions perfectly.

I realize I labeled this post "Zebralight Torture Test", but it was not my intent to torture it beyond what a light might encounter in REAL world use. Boiling water, dry ice - all very extreme, but IMHO, environments unlikely to be encountered in REAL WORLD USE. I think this little bugger passed with flying colors.

And I think uknewbie said it best, "well done, ZL"!! :twothumbs:twothumbs

 

[riccardo.dv]

but will it blend?

 

[guiri]

Oh, I an assure you it will blend, given enough ooomph on the blender.

Thanks a lot to poster for risking his light to ENLIGHTEN us

 

[scout24]

:bow: Not just to the ZL, but to Dan for taking the time not only to run these tests, but the thorough documentation... Way beyond "real world", right into the realm of downright abuse. Adds a bit of comfort in making one or two trusted members of the EDC rotation. Hopefully others will be inspired to do their own testing here on CPF and post the results for the benefit of our community as well!!! :thumbsup:

 

[uknewbie]

Dare I say, I am pretty sure a light like this could standy up to military/police use without any trouble.

 

[2100]

Are you joking? This light is being put through a series of ordeals which it would never have to withstand in the real world and which it was never designed for. Despite that, it is surviving admirably.

Full marks to ZL, and many thanks to run4jc for a very interesting thread.

Nope, i am not really joking, like that Xeno E03 on youtube 30 x 1m drop.....well on first use i managed to fling it down and away like standing on a 2m high platform while pointing towards something at the sky. I know I have butter fingers.... I managed to shatter my Balder BD-4 lens just hours i got it (while cleaning it), luckily a UCL is already on the way and same size too. And of course that closed thread on my Ultrafire U80, in which it chipped concrete after it ricocheted off ceramics. Not regular daily happenings, but it happened.

And the Balder BD-4 scratched the TK70 (few weeks new) while on a meetup with pjandyho. (yea bro....now you know what happened when you told me my TK70 got a scratch at the bezel LOL!).

I do apologise if i seem to be dissing anything, seriously i am not. Coz a regular $16 Tank007 M10 already stood up to abuse from my son, i think easily it's a couple of hundreds of drops from 0.5-1m, thrown against the wall, etc......daily happenings. I use this as a good decoy from my other lights. My couple of HIDs would not survive!

PS. LED lights do work in places like Alaska, Harbin, Yakutsk daily. Cameras too....until the shutter freezes. In 2001 my Canon digital P&S worked in -29 deg C for quite long . I guess it's the batteries. (you'd know better - think you are in Helsinki?)

 

[Glock27]

I've been cycling at least 2 batteries a day through my SC60w for the last 207 days. Over 4,900 hours of run-time. It is always on at least Low-1. I would estimate 500 hours of high -1. I only have an above ground pool that is 4' deep. My SC60 has spent at least 70 hours the last month in the pool as it's been swimming every night.
I haven't intentionally abused it, but it has hit asphalt, concrete, gravel and ceramic tile from waist level lots of times.
The 7 center nubs are almost gone from my switch. They seemed to wear down fairly quickly and haven't gotten worse.
I love the compact size and toughness of the SC series. Only having 1 O-ring to worry about is awesome!
G27

 

[GadgetGeek]

Well done Zebralight, well done run4jc!!!

I hope Zebralight is watching this thread!

 

[run4jc]

:bow: Not just to the ZL, but to Dan for taking the time not only to run these tests, but the thorough documentation... Way beyond "real world", right into the realm of downright abuse. Adds a bit of comfort in making one or two trusted members of the EDC rotation. Hopefully others will be inspired to do their own testing here on CPF and post the results for the benefit of our community as well!!! :thumbsup:

Thanks, Scout24 - you have a bit of experience (in fact, you inspired ME to do this test...) doing these tests. You folks should check out Scout's test here!

Nope, i am not really joking, like that Xeno E03 on youtube 30 x 1m drop.....well on first use i managed to fling it down and away like standing on a 2m high platform while pointing towards something at the sky. I know I have butter fingers.... I managed to shatter my Balder BD-4 lens just hours i got it (while cleaning it), luckily a UCL is already on the way and same size too. And of course that closed thread on my Ultrafire U80, in which it chipped concrete after it ricocheted off ceramics. Not regular daily happenings, but it happened.

And the Balder BD-4 scratched the TK70 (few weeks new) while on a meetup with pjandyho. (yea bro....now you know what happened when you told me my TK70 got a scratch at the bezel LOL!).

I do apologise if i seem to be dissing anything, seriously i am not. Coz a regular $16 Tank007 M10 already stood up to abuse from my son, i think easily it's a couple of hundreds of drops from 0.5-1m, thrown against the wall, etc......daily happenings. I use this as a good decoy from my other lights. My couple of HIDs would not survive!

PS. LED lights do work in places like Alaska, Harbin, Yakutsk daily. Cameras too....until the shutter freezes. In 2001 my Canon digital P&S worked in -29 deg C for quite long . I guess it's the batteries. (you'd know better - think you are in Helsinki?)

Wow. Interesting stuff. I would love to read your threads where you duplicate these conditions...can you point me to them?

I've been cycling at least 2 batteries a day through my SC60w for the last 207 days. Over 4,900 hours of run-time. It is always on at least Low-1. I would estimate 500 hours of high -1. I only have an above ground pool that is 4' deep. My SC60 has spent at least 70 hours the last month in the pool as it's been swimming every night.
I haven't intentionally abused it, but it has hit asphalt, concrete, gravel and ceramic tile from waist level lots of times.
The 7 center nubs are almost gone from my switch. They seemed to wear down fairly quickly and haven't gotten worse.
I love the compact size and toughness of the SC series. Only having 1 O-ring to worry about is awesome!
G27

Thanks, G27!! Now THAT'S real world testing. I love my SC60W, too, and it's great to know that the 'larger' lights can handle the abuse, too. Many thanks for posting.

Folks, I didn't intend for this to be the "end all do all" of tests. Any of you with additional ideas should put those ideas into action and post your own threads - and I will be watching for them with great anticipation!