My KD Tough Q5 died.

richardcpf · Aug 17, 2008

I had this $23 light for about 6 weeks, normal use and carrying. Very nice bright flashlight...

Yesterday I accidentally dropped it with my car keys, Later when I was about to use it, the light didnt turn on.

Then I tried new battery, shorting the thread, and using the voltimeter but it shows 1.2v@0A. The problem is with the circuit board, because the LED is fine and lights up.

Must say goodbye and invest for a fenix L0D. Here are some pics... (taken with my n82)

shomie911 · Aug 17, 2008

Well that's great, I just ordered one of the new V5 ones.

yaesumofo · Aug 17, 2008

You get what you pay for.
between sending the light back and forth and the down time you would have been better off dealing with a domestic dealer selling a higher quality product.

I notice that there are several dealers as well as Ebay dealers who sell lights based upon BIG lumen numbers preying upon users new and old who are seeking the brightest flashlights for the least amount of cash.
Heck It is so rare that I use my lights on their brightest settings anymore.
This is a good case as an example for the buyer beware concept.

Again there are a number of domestic dealers who sell imported lights. They might turn out to be better sources for lights of this nature.
Yaesumofo

richardcpf · Aug 17, 2008

yaesumofo said:
You get what you pay for.
between sending the light back and forth and the down time you would have been better off dealing with a domestic dealer selling a higher quality product.

I notice that there are several dealers as well as Ebay dealers who sell lights based upon BIG lumen numbers preying upon users new and old who are seeking the brightest flashlights for the least amount of cash.
Heck It is so rare that I use my lights on their brightest settings anymore.
This is a good case as an example for the buyer beware concept.

Again there are a number of domestic dealers who sell imported lights. They might turn out to be better sources for lights of this nature.
Yaesumofo

Lets say before I started liking Fenix, Nitecore, SF, etc lights I was in love with cheap Sub-30 ones. No more DX/KD in my next purchases =)

7Freeman · Aug 17, 2008

i bought 3 of them.
one i gave my unclle as present and one i gave my aunt as present. the last one i used some times.
the one that my uncles owns, is dead and the one i had (i gave mine to my uncle because if got enugh lights...) often looses the head while i was carring it in my trouser bags (on the key ring or clipped on).

for now i use the e20 on my keychain and the extremeBODY-e1eHEAD or e1eBODY-extremeHEAD in my trousers bag.

Superdave · Aug 17, 2008

Did you pull out the board? it might be an easy fix...

zipplet · Aug 17, 2008

I'll wager and say the board has an inductor that has probably sheared off. Common failure mode of a dropped light!

richardcpf · Aug 17, 2008

Superdave said:
Did you pull out the board? it might be an easy fix...

Pretty hard, tried boiling method but wont work... I has glue all over the board.

I hope the L0D can survive drops.

glockboy · Aug 17, 2008

Try grounding the outer cirle of the board.

Gator762 · Aug 17, 2008

richardcpf said:
Pretty hard, tried boiling method but wont work... I has glue all over the board.

I hope the L0D can survive drops.

If it's anything like the E01... 12 stories.

DArklite · Aug 17, 2008

+1 on what Yaesumofo said.

Guess it wasn't so "tough" after all. Maybe it's just me, but when I consider an EDC light, reliability comes first; price is a distant second when determining value when I'm anticipating carrying something for years; then I don't mind ponying up some dough. My $35 Arc AAA lasted almost 7 years and is still going strong (well, the output is a joke for today's standards). I'm hoping the L0D (<$40) can carry the EDC torch on the keyring even half as long as the Arc did. If it doesn't, then RA Twisty here I come!
Too many vendors are rushing the newest/brightest/most whiz-bang features out into the market nowadays chasing the buck, and I'm reading too many posts about even the high dollar feature-laden lights having issues within a year of product release.

Illum · Aug 17, 2008

richardcpf said:
Yesterday I accidentally dropped it with my car keys, Later when I was about to use it, the light didnt turn on.

A common issue with cheap lights is the absence of potting in the circuit board. Should force be asserted directly on the board certain surface components [especially the inductor] could be damaged beyond repair [ferrite core shattering or an open circuit due to a snapped cold joint] and rendering the light useless.

If you can get the bezel open it may be a very small issue, if not... :sigh:

shomie911 · Aug 17, 2008

Illum_the_nation said:
A common issue with cheap lights is the absence of potting in the circuit board. Should force be asserted directly on the board certain surface components [especially the inductor] could be damaged beyond repair [ferrite core shattering or an open circuit due to a snapped cold joint] and rendering the light useless.

If you can get the bezel open it may be a very small issue, if not... :sigh:

Is there any preventative measures one can take to ensure this doesn't happen?

FlashKat · Aug 17, 2008

I had mine for 1 week when I dropped it from 3 feet with my keys and it died. Kaidomain seems to sell more junk under their name brand that they advertise as being well made.

FlashKat · Aug 17, 2008

Don't carry it, or don't buy it.

shomie911 said:
Is there any preventative measures one can take to ensure this doesn't happen?

shomie911 · Aug 17, 2008

FlashKat said:
Don't carry it, or don't buy it.

Problem is I bought one a few days ago (probably won't get here for a few weeks).

Is it possible to pot the board yourself, maybe seal it with epoxy or something?

FlashKat · Aug 17, 2008

The light is sealed and hard to access those areas. Maybe attach a lanyard to your light. After wasting my money on a version 3 and version 4 which both died after a short time I bought a Tiablo A1 that has been flawless.

shomie911 said:
Problem is I bought one a few days ago (probably won't get here for a few weeks).

Is it possible to pot the board yourself, maybe seal it with epoxy or something?

Illum · Aug 17, 2008

shomie911 said:
Is there any preventative measures one can take to ensure this doesn't happen?

Since not all lights can be disassembled completely [in fact many manufacturers take preventive measures to discourage completely disassembly], only real things you can do is external protections, measures like rubber sleeves may dampen the impact but it is often with limited success. try lanyards, if you wear a belt you could loop one end on your belt and your light/keys fitted into your pocket, if your lanyards long enough you could drive without having to take it off your belt:thumbsup:

the most effective way to ensure this doesn't happen is by reading up reviews of lights before you buy, learn from the mistakes of others. Since DX has more lights than anyone on CPF could ever hope to own, don't be tempted by uber low prices but regard lights with names familiar to CPF, you'll be better off than experimenting with lights of unknown quality...unless of course money is of no concern to you.

shomie911 · Aug 18, 2008

Illum_the_nation said:
Since not all lights can be disassembled completely [in fact many manufacturers take preventive measures to discourage completely disassembly], only real things you can do is external protections, measures like rubber sleeves may dampen the impact but it is often with limited success. try lanyards, if you wear a belt you could loop one end on your belt and your light/keys fitted into your pocket, if your lanyards long enough you could drive without having to take it off your belt:thumbsup:

the most effective way to ensure this doesn't happen is by reading up reviews of lights before you buy, learn from the mistakes of others. Since DX has more lights than anyone on CPF could ever hope to own, don't be tempted by uber low prices but regard lights with names familiar to CPF, you'll be better off than experimenting with lights of unknown quality...unless of course money is of no concern to you.

I actually did read a fair amount of reviews, but never stumbled upon anything saying that the V4 (and later) versions were fragile. It's in my nature to research a purchase relentlessly but because of the relatively low price of the light, I just went ahead and bought it after a little research.

Stupid me.

I guess I'll just keep the Arc-P and Streamlight Microstream for my EDC. They've been pretty dependable so far.

MrGman · Aug 18, 2008

Richard, you say you got the LED to light up? I am assuming you used a higher voltage to go directly across the LED input points to do that, yes? Have you tried running that same voltage across the normal input where the battery would go now that it no longer runs off 1.2V battery. You may get it to work direct drive. They make a 3.7V lithium battery that is the size of a AA don't they?

If you can't get it to draw current from the normal battery terminals. It may be possible to simply bring the positive terminal of the LED to the positive center terminal on the board to where the battery is and direct drive it with that bypass using a 3.7V battery. If it dies, you haven't lost anything you didn't already lose. If it works, you probably just gained a brighter light with simple battery change.

Otherwise by Fenix L?D.

My KD Tough Q5 died.

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