UPDATE: My SF M3 blew its top

Hi, all. I'm new here, thanks for accepting me to this forum. It's kinda comforting to see that many others have the same illness as myself, kinda like an AA-meeting of flashaholics... (except here you don't get any help )

I have an M3 which i bought in -99. Haven't used it more than ab. 3 - 4 sets of batteries. A few days ago I decided to use the very three Duracells that came with the light back in -99. Used them on-and-off for maybe 3 minutes with the mn11 (250 lumen) bulb installed. Then one day I was in the basement of my house, turned on the light. First 10 seconds; normal light, next 5 - 10 seconds, gradually dimmer, next second a sharp crack (not loud, but quite clear). Turned on some light and looked down into the bezel, and it looked like it was full of milk... Pulled out the bulb, and out comes white smoke and tiny shards of glass. The filament was still intact.

Tried to clean out the bezel with a q-tip and some water. Bad idea, this damaged the reflector.

I then discovered that Surefire has some kind of warranty. I have now sent the light to them, but don't know what they will do. I've always been a little disappointed with the M3 anyway, because of its uneven light beam and moderate output.

What do you think actually happened? Has anyone else experienced something like this? Input appreciated, thanks.

Oscar

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

Sounds like the gases leaked. SF will take care of you.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

It sounds like your lithium batteries blew up. The bright light then dimming indicating a cell just lost it and the other batteries were discharging into it. Lithiums generally do not like it when that happens so one of the cells ruptured creating your milky mess.

Generally it is a good idea to check the voltage on your batteries after they have been in storage. If they are close to equal, test them in a single cell flashlight for a few minutes to make sure they won't die quickly.

Welcome to CPF... were are here not to help you with your addiction

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

im thinking it was from the batteries. i remember a while back the local gun shop had a sign up that said not to use the duracell batteries that were really common at the time b/c they got too hot and blew up the bulbs. i didnt buy it and continued to use my m3. it was fine for some time, but at one point i guess i had the light on long enough and the same thing that you described happened. i just replaced my bulb and batteries with surefire ones and was good to go though. good luck.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

I can add that the cells where cold when I turned on the light, and it took less than 20 sec. before the bulb exploded. I don't think the cells got time to heat up. The bulb was also as new as maybe 5 minutes of total runtime.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

I had a SF M6 low output bulb explode, using the original SF batteries, with about 15 minutes of total runtime after I bought it.

I returned the whole thing to Surefire and they replaced it. One of the low outputs they sent me also went bad, so I wrote to tell them. Now they don't seem to sell low outputs for the M6.

I have been using the high output and it hasn't given me any problems.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

Sounds like a bad bulb.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

Yep sounds like a bad bulb to me too.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

Hopefully you didn't "finger handle" the lamp assembly and maybe left some residue on it which might have attributed to its demise.

Re: My SF M3 blew its top

I hope things work out for you. I am very eager to know how Surefire handles this though. Please keep us posted with an update!

UPDATE: Just received my M3 back from Surefire today. They replaced the bezel and lamp, no hassle or BS. Very quick too, in fact the light was back on my porch so fast that they must have fixed it the same day they received it. I live in Norway, so postage often takes a few days. To me this indicates that SF really mean something with their warranty. That's nice to know, for all us SF-owners.

Seems Surefire are quick with warranties to Norway; I got a new tailcap for my U2 in half the time some of the US owners have got theirs

Even got it by messenger at work

BTW Welcome to CPF and hold on to your wallet

Wow, that was a quick turnaround. When did you send it out? I have been waiting for 6 weeks for a replacement tailcap and I'm in the US. Lucky you live in Norway I guess. Good luck with it.

Something has definitely changed with SF customer service. It has improved greatly since my recent experiences -- I've dealt with Stuart and he went above and beyond on a problem for a friend.

I also made inquiries through their web form and received several extremely informative and kind replies from them within minutes. Not days or hours...minutes. I have lamented about recent customer service problems a couple of months ago and am extremely pleased to see these improvements. I bought my first Surefire (a 6R...still have it) in 1991 and it appears the customer service of today is akin to that from 1991...I'm very happy about that...not just for me, but for them.

JM-99

OscarO! :thumbsup:

Enjoy!

dizzy said:

Wow, that was a quick turnaround. When did you send it out? I have been waiting for 6 weeks for a replacement tailcap and I'm in the US. Lucky you live in Norway I guess. Good luck with it.

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I think it was ab. 10 business days in total. The shipping alone often takes more than that.

Did they say what the problem was? 'Cause from your description it sounds like the bulb might have leaked and then exploded. If the batteries would have been the problem you should have noticed that at the source ... by checking the condition of the batts.
Just curious ...
bernie

wow that was fast for in the US, but to Norway!! wow!

OscarO said:

I think it was ab. 10 business days in total. The shipping alone often takes more than that.

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You are the envy of us all !!!!!!