HELP! My Jet1 is busted!

This past Sunday, I was using my Jet1 with a 14500 all day. I used it on and off during the day for various tasks looking for things in the garage and around the house and it was working normally. Later that night, I took it out with me. While outside, I noticed the output seemed lower, but I didn't do much about it. When I got home, I checked the output again and sure enough, it's MUCH MUCH dimmer than it was that morning! Instead of the 65+lms normally on a 14500, it seems closer to 15-20lms. I tried various batteries to make sure it wasn't my 14500 cell and still the same result. Output is MUCH lower on a primary CR123A and off an alkaline AA. I cleaned all electrical contact points (ends of tubes, contact rings, spring, PCB, etc.) on both AA and CR123A tubes and head and still dim. I have a feeling the driver may have crapped out or the LED possibly may have been damaged. Anyone else have any probs or suggestions?

I've emailed Emilion at the cs.jetbeam email, but haven't gotten a response yet. I've noticed he hasn't been on the boards lately, perhaps busy with the other Jet1 stuff. I'm really hoping to hear from him soon. This is my priciest light to date and I'm filled with emotions that it crapped out and so early in my ownership at that.
Anyone know what shipping service to use and how much it costs to send the light back to Emilion in case I have to?

:nana::nana::nana::nana::nana:

Equivicae said:

:nana::nana::nana::nana::nana:

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WTF?


jsr,
I'm sorry to hear about your Jet-I. I'm sure emillion'd make it right.
Did you try USPS.com?

is there a possibility that it burned out cause it was over driven? (it's happened before...i think...)

Equivicae said:

:nana::nana::nana::nana::nana:

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yeah... way to make yourself a marked man with your 2nd post on the boards... thats rude...

that really sucks JSR... I don't know much about the Jet but can you change the LED... that way you can tell if its the electronics or the LED... just a thought!

Thanks for the empathy all (except Equivicae).

Owen - I haven't looked at USPS yet. I was hoping other CPFers had experience with a certain carrier they could recommend. I'll check USPS out tho, thanks for the suggestion. It would suck if I had to pay a big chunk to ship it back to HK to get it repaired. I've had it for less than a month and it doesn't have much runtime. My priciest light seems like it will cost even more now.

Dark Messenger - Not sure what happened. I didn't have it on for a long time before I noticed it was dim. In fact, if I recall properly, it was dim right after turning it on rather than becoming dim while on. It may be due to overdriving as I measured 1.78A pull from the batt off a 14500 before. But Emilion said it runs fine and even made it to run off a 14500.

jar3ds - The warranty is void if I open it up. By looking at the bottom of the contact board, it looks pretty difficult to open (requires really small, fine tipped tools...I don't think my small needle nose pliers will even fit).

I'm hoping to hear from Emilion soon. This also makes it more difficult to justify these purchases to my fiance while we're in the middle of planning and paying for our wedding. She doesn't have a problem with my lower priced lights and wouldn't care if one of them malfunctioned, but my priciest light and possibly costing me more, ooh, that'll be a sensitive subject. It was hard enough to get her be ok with the purchase in the first place.

jar3ds said:

yeah... way to make yourself a marked man with your 2nd post on the boards...

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"man" might be overstating things a little. Equivo looks to be a little younger than that to me...

nerdgineer said:

"man" might be overstating things a little. Equivo looks to be a little younger than that to me...

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I second that :scowl:

Email Water at jeteam customer service.
My light died a few minutes after receiving it. I sent it to her, she is sending me a new one, no problem.:rock:

cs.jetbeam AT gmail.com

nerdgineer said:

"man" might be overstating things a little. Equivo looks to be a little younger than that to me...

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Do you really think so?

Check his first post/thread >>> "Free surefire G2"

I think that equivo might be a troll... thought of that about the other thread of his.

I'm betting your emitter is overheated. If 1.78 amps is being pulled from the batt, that's way to much current. And if the circuit steped it down, then the current from the cell would actuall be less than wha'ts goign to the led.

Measure current again, what's it pull now?

setherd said:

Email Water at jeteam customer service.
My light died a few minutes after receiving it. I sent it to her, she is sending me a new one, no problem.:rock:

cs.jetbeam AT gmail.com

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Seth - I emailed Emilion, or anyone, at cs.jetbeam AT gmail.com and haven't gotten a response yet. Who's Water?...is that one of Emilion's employees? So far, no response from them at all.

Edit - Ok, just emailed them again. Said the same thing - all of a sudden, it got really dim. Maybe they don't feel my situation as severe as yours since yours completely didn't work (that must've sucked). I'm hoping to receive a response from them soon. I'd prefer not to have to ship my light back...I've read it costs $20! So far, 3 days and no response. Hope Emilion's just busy, but it'd be nice to at least know someone's looking into it.

jsr said:

Seth - I emailed Emilion, or anyone, at cs.jetbeam AT gmail.com and haven't gotten a response yet. Who's Water?...is that one of Emilion's employees? So far, no response from them at all.

Edit - Ok, just emailed them again. Said the same thing - all of a sudden, it got really dim. Maybe they don't feel my situation as severe as yours since yours completely didn't work (that must've sucked). I'm hoping to receive a response from them soon. I'd prefer not to have to ship my light back...I've read it costs $20! So far, 3 days and no response. Hope Emilion's just busy, but it'd be nice to at least know someone's looking into it.

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here is her contact info from their website:
General Enquiries

Ms Water SIU

Email: [email protected]

She usually takes a day or two reply. BTW I shipped mine USPS airmail and it was under $5.00 I think.

Thanks Seth. I just tried emailing them through their website and it kept giving me errors. I re-emailed them and sent them my S/N.
None of the packages I've gotten from asia ever say the cost in USD, only the many asian stamps used. Shipping out to other countries, I've read USPS with insurance (extra $8) is close to $20...I'll check more if I have to, but I hope not to.

JSR,

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Mine did the exact same thing. Ran well for about 20 minutes then died. I just thought it was a dead battery. I replaced with another energizer AA bat and I had to fiddle with how tight the fittings were. One I got it dialed into the exact correct spot (and don't adjust it) I came on but maybe at 25-30% of what it was.
I feel your pain.
I have followed your advice and emailed Emil and his customer service. I am not going to hold my breath though I am still waiting on my preorder #92. Still waiting without a response. He is not even responding on Jetbeam Preorder.
It has been two weeks since his last post.
Im sure Emil is working hard and will take care of us eventualy. I think this project was a little (lot) more then he planned.
There were people talking earlier in the preorder thread about excess HA coating. Could this cause any of our problems? Or could it be the the clickie?
Do not know any answers but I 'm sure Emil will figure it out if we are patient.
Robo

jsr said:

She doesn't have a problem with my lower priced lights and wouldn't care if one of them malfunctioned, but my priciest light and possibly costing me more, ooh, that'll be a sensitive subject.

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Cheap lights are a false economy. What you gain by spending less on a JetI as opposed to a Peak, you lose several times over in poor reliability, poor build quality, short lifespan, and difficulty of getting repairs when something breaks. If money is an issue, you're better off forking over a higher up front cost for a quality light than buying something cheap. An expensive light in the same class as a cheap light will actually cost you less in the long run.

Robo - I read the pre-order thread off and on and I saw yours, and others CPFers', posts. Really sorry about your pre-orders not having come yet. I don't think it's the contacts. I cleaned all electrical contact areas and even tried both my AA and CR123A tubes and still the same problem. Also, my Jet1 doesn't completely die, it's just extremely dim like you mentioned, about 25% what it used to or should be. So it still works, just something, either the driver or LED, is damaged. Yeah, I haven't heard anything from Emilion or his staff either. I'm confident he'll eventually come through for us, but it's always been difficult for me to wait for service on something purchased (and even harder to wait for a product I already paid for).

enlightenment - I hear you on quality and honestly didn't think the Jet1 would have such problems. I see it as a light in between the mass produced and full custom ones...a custom light in higher production. I know there's always potential problems with first run lights, but... Regarding Peaks, for me, anything more than a keychain light and a light in my house to use is a hobby and no longer only a tool and as a hobby, other criteria weigh heavily on my decision including aesthetics. I just don't find the Peak lights that attractive. I do like their performance, but since it's not just a tool to me anymore, I take other things into consideration. And in the defese of MIC lights, I have many that are working very well and outperform my US lights and many of the US mfrs have first run, and continued, quality/field-failure issues. SF is easier to get a hold of, but when you do, you still have to wait 3-4wks (and sometimes over a month) to get a tailcap. I'm just disappointed my costliest light to date pooped out so early.

Ok, finally got a reply from Water at Jetbeam. I have to send my light back for them to look at. So, more money going into my costliest light to get it fixed/replaced. I hope it doesn't get lost in the mail.

Seth - have you gotten your repaired/replaced light yet?

jsr said:

Seth - have you gotten your repaired/replaced light yet?

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yes, I got it Thursday I think, It works great

amazing little light, I can't believe how hot it gets on a CR123 or NiMH battery:goodjob: