Just received UltraFire C3 from Deal Extreme - not working!!!

Just received UltraFire C3 - not working. Its got the 2 AA battery extension. I bought it from Deal Extreme based on how good it was from reading this forum. I received it today and its not working. I've tried it with 1 battery and 2. Theres only 1 button on it... Also its very hard to see if theres even a LED in the flashlight part, it almost looks empty.

Can anybody help? Is there some way to get it working? Do these normally come bad?

BTW new member this is my 1st post!

Re: Just received UltraFire C3 - not working

Here is the flashlight:




Is there an LED in there?? I can't tell.



Does this look brand new right out of the box?




Also I've been modding my hummer for more light what do you think? HID converted headlights 10k color, HID driving fog lights 6k color, 4 offroad lights on the roof. Think thats enough light?

Re: Just received UltraFire C3 - not working

Try cleaning the contacts, but sometimes you just get something bum from DX and need to contact them, its a bummer.

pteam, first, :welcome:! Second, I also have a UF C3 and it worked fine out of the box. The contacts on your light definitely look sketchy - you may want to use some deoxit on it to clean the contacts and try it again as that looks like the likely reason for your light not working. If you don't have any deoxit (see this link), you can try isopropyl alcohol. I'm also assuming that you've either recharged your AA batteries or they are fresh out of the box.

Btw, as for the question about the LED; the yellow square you see there is the LED emitter, which is covered by a clear dome.

One more note... you may want to repost your HID mod on your truck in the Automotive threads here as I'm sure some people will want to hear about how you did it...

Hope this helps.

Ok I got the flashlight working. Its really bright, especially for a little flashlight. It needed the contacts to be cleaned. Not that it should be like this brand new.. quality control? Very happy with the product I think I'm going to order a few more for my other car's glovebox's and throw away my cheapo 9 led that is like 1/10th as bright lol

Glad you got it working!
Often with new lights the contacts are dirty from the factory and can create resistance. I clean all of my new lights when I get them.

All new lights need cleaned upon arrival.

The UltraFire C3 is my current favorite light because it's such a great value--especially at DX prices. I have bought several of them from DX over the last year. Unfortunately, I can always count on my order being a 50/50 crap shoot. For me, it's very common for these flashlights to show up DOA. When I place an order with DX, I order more than one to increase my chances of getting a working one. Then I'll RMA the defective ones. Very slow, you cannot be in a hurry to get what you need from DX.

The RMA procedure has recently become a PITA, though. They want digital photos of the package and a written statement of what's wrong with your order.
My last order was for 5 UltraFire WF-606a, 4 of them showed up dead. I did not feel like tinkering with 4 new lights just to get them working so I demanded a refund which I got after several email exchanges and waiting a few weeks and then some more email exchanges.

The biggest problem area with the C3, that I've encountered, is the switch. They can be flaky and really destroy my confidence in the light. The soldering jobs in the head have ranged from immaculate to nasty. I do not believe there is any QC with these lights. Also, I never carry an UltraFire C3 alone--or any light--it always has backup.

The only thing I don't like is the 5 different modes. I would actually prefer on / off, theres no need for low and medium and the two strobe modes IMO.

Also I want to try another brand for a glovebox size light for a car that uses AA batteries, anybody have a suggestion?

I have never used any of these other kinda batteries like 18650 based on bessiebenny's review this was the brightest for AA batteries, should with 1950 in throw and 160 in lightbox (assuming higher numbers mean more light thats not really explained) .

Theres an eastward light in there that uses a 18650 battery but gives off 9500 in throw which is like 5 times mre than the 1950 from the ultrafire c3.

You might want to give some of the Romisen lights a try as well......check Shiningbeam for some of there Q5 versions. Nice truck, must light up the night like the sun does during the day...lol.

pteam said:

The only thing I don't like is the 5 different modes. I would actually prefer on / off, theres no need for low and medium and the two strobe modes IMO.

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Actually, the multimode version came out after the single mode UF C3. It's still available & it would have been a few bucks cheaper too.

As for suggestions ->What's your budget for an AA based light?
-AZ

Yes, after trying to return my last DOA light from DX (I gave up), I've decided it's just not worth the hassle. Once before, I had to return a light 3 times to get one that wasn't DOA. They finally did get that one right, but now it's a hassle. My time is worth more than the money I would save.

+1 on the Romisen lights. The RC-N3 is a good single mode 2xAA/1xCR123 light at a great price.

The single mode C3 also has better regulation than the multimode but is not quite as bright.

I bought quite a few lights from both DX and Ky, but after getting a few DOA and others that required a bunch of work to get them to work properly I have decided that it is false economy to buy the cheap lights from them. For me it is better in the long run to at least get a Fenix, than buy cheap lights which may or may not work.

Just my 2 cents

alphazeta said:

Actually, the multimode version came out after the single mode UF C3. It's still available & it would have been a few bucks cheaper too.

As for suggestions ->What's your budget for an AA based light?
-AZ

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I dont really have a budget. I could spend up to maybe $50 but these are lights only used once in a while in the glovebox's of my different cars.

I do want to get a nice big handheld maglight style flashlight for the house to replace my 100 led one I have now. It has 100 leds and I thought it was really bright yet the ultrafire is brighter and its the size of a peashooter compared! lol Any ideas? I want something big that puts out lots of light but is big enough for protection if a burgler breaks in or something.

pteam said:

I dont really have a budget. I could spend up to maybe $50 but these are lights only used once in a while in the glovebox's of my different cars.

I do want to get a nice big handheld maglight style flashlight for the house to replace my 100 led one I have now. It has 100 leds and I thought it was really bright yet the ultrafire is brighter and its the size of a peashooter compared! lol Any ideas? I want something big that puts out lots of light but is big enough for protection if a burgler breaks in or something.

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Where are my manners?? *Ahem* :welcome:

Well, with a budget of up to $50, I'd say get your lights from a source other than DX or KAI. I'm no longer well versed with the multitude of lights being sold by dx or kai but from the pics of your UF C3, quality seems inconsistent or even downhill. When I used to order UF C3s for gifts, the internals were MUCH MUCH better. Clean solder joints, smooth threads, gold plated contacts, etc. Looking at the internals, I don't even recognise the light anymore.

For riding in the glove compartment, I'd worry if some of the shoddy solder joints in the light could eventually fail from all the impacts.
I'll suggest you look at some of the lights available at brick & mortars in the states. With lights from B&Ms, you'll at least have some QC control. For lights in the $20ish range, perhaps one of the AA river rocks? Also look at the reviews for lights such as the 2C cree taskforce. I'm not keen on alkalines in my car light so I personally keep a fenix p3d w/ cr123s in my glove compartment. I suppose you could also go with 1.7volt AA lithums.
A stock cree light that closely matches your maglite style requirement would be the cree rayovac 3C.

My personal $0.02 would be just to wet your feet with no more than a handful of dx/kd lights. After the max lumen rush passes, you'll want to step up to better quality lights. No sense in stocking up on pile of subpar or just okay lights when you'll eventually be happier with a handful of good ones.
Hope that helps.

CostcoAAcells said:

The biggest problem area with the C3, that I've encountered, is the switch. They can be flaky and really destroy my confidence in the light. The soldering jobs in the head have ranged from immaculate to nasty. I do not believe there is any QC with these lights.

Click to expand...

Well said! My thoughts exactly. :thumbsup:

The switch was loose on mine. I just received it today. Once I tightened the switch down it worked fine.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!!

How many watts or lumens is the ultrafire c3? Why can't all these places just list how many watts or lumens they are for easy comparison? I know that manufacteres will list what they want but its better than telling you nothing!

How many lumens are equivalant to 1 watt?

I plan on buying a few different small ones to try for different glovebox's. Any suggestions?

Also I don't know anything about batteries, so I'm guessing the 18650 batteries are one of the strongest, should I make a jump to these with a recharger?

Is there a review or top 10 rated bigger hand held / maglight size with 4 D battery equivalant thread? Is there a place to go that has top rated ones to buy?

Any other top suggestions?

Totally ignore any wattage ratings on any LED light. They are complete rubbish and tell you absolutely nothing about how bright the light actually is.


IIRC, the C3 single mode is around 60ish lumens.

Ok so lumen is the only way to rate? Its hard cause most of the time lumens are not listed at all on these places to by like deal extreme!

Also I'm kinda wondering what exactly the store for example DX has to do with the quality of the product, theyre not making the product right? Just selling it...

Also if thats 60 lumens if I went with something like the Romisen RC-T6 which is 500 lumens for my house flashlight it would be 8-9 times brighter? Looks pretty good for $60 ?