Inova X03...warranty saga continues

Hello all,

Some of you may have read my initial post concerning lithium corrosion in my X03 Inova flashlight. Well I ordered a second flashlight and Duracell agreed to cover the costs of the replacement. My new light arrived today before I had an opportunity to ship the origional and so I opened the new light up to compare. It seems the new light has virtually identical white corrosion (at least I think it is corrosion) inside of the light on the back side, probably where it sat in a warehouse for a while.:huh2:

So since my new light, and old light have virtually the same thing going on, perhaps it is not corrosion. Anyone have any idea what it could be? It is a slightly powerdery white substance that has discolored one side of the battery well, but does not seem to be eating away the metal or anything. I'm afraid to try to wash it out for fear of screwing up the electronics. Oh yeah, and both lights work perfectly.

So what should I do? I left a messege for Inova to call me back so that I may ask them, but I don't see that this is Duracell's problem, if indeed there is a problem at all.

Is it purely dusty or is it oily?

If it were me, I'd probably just rig up like a cloth dowel for lack of a better description, and clean the inside of the flashlight body and the tailcap, then I'd use a very small amount of gun oil such as FP10 and use that in the first 2/3 of the body and the tailcap. Then I'd go through it a second dry cleaning to remove all of the oil. Then I'd spend a bit of time making sure the threads are as clean as possible. Then I'd use both of the lights until you find the substance comes back... which hopefully you won't.

I looked in my XO3 and saw the same thing. Perhaps they all have it? Neither of my X5's do.

I tried cleaning it out, but was unable to rub anything off. I tried using metal polish even (good stuff) and was unable to get anything off the spot. I don't think it's a problem, whatever it is. Maybe it's a machining mark of some kind?

They all have it.

All 3 of my T3s have it to. It mave have occurred in the manufacturing or finishing process.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Now I can sleep better. Although, this is so sad it's really funny, the X03 I bought as a replacement to the one I "thought" was corroded, doesn't make good contact on the end cap. I can turn it either fully on or fully off, but the temporary on off doesn't work worth a dang. So back to Inova that one goes. And I just bought the thing.