what's the first thing you do with/to your new lights?

after the oohs and aahs of course , what do you do with them? do you do anything for preventative maintenance, or just throw a battery in 'em and go look at stuff?


notsobrite

Full tear down and inspection.

Look at everything up-close. Emitter, o-rings, lens, boot, switch, threads. Check for flaws or defects and see what can be improved on right away. Make sure the soldering is well done. Alter the activation pressure of the switch if it's too light. Decide if it will be easy to mod the emitter in the future.
Then it's time to clean the threads and lube it.

First throw in a battery and go OOOOOOH AAAAH. Then take it apart lube it and put it back together.

1st thing. to do is to see if all parts are in the light (led bezel etc) while trying to jam the battery into it as fast as i can.

2nd thing. turn it on. turn it off. turn on and off and on.

3rd thing. then test all modes it is supposed to have or not.

4th thing. check the extra parts and stuff in the box while the light is running on max. (heat issues)

5th thing. add lanyard or pocket clip etc.

6th thing. play with it.

7th thing. compare it to others: tint, beam, clicky feel, u.i. size&weight, knurlings etc.

8th thing. think why did i buy it, what do i need it for, will it replace something else in lineup and where wil i put it then.

9th thing. find use for it or hide it.

First, I spend 1-20 minutes trying to get the light out of the packaging, depending on what kind of packaging it uses. Then, I check the anodizing for bare spots, check the lens/window for scratches, and check the reflector for dust, foreign particles (stuff bigger than dust), and scratches. Then I put in a battery and make sure it works. Then, I clean off the stock lubricant and put on nyogel 760G. THEN I "ooh" and "aaah" over it.

I take them apart, which means, I unscrew everything that is meant to be unscrewed and sometimes I get angry when the lens falls out at that point or if the reflector just lies on the heatsik.

Then I have a close look on the built quality, each detail is noticed, the o-rings checked, the state of the lubrication, the thickness of the metal and everything else.

After that, I perhaps change the black tailcap for an orange one and/or install the lanyard, have a look at the accessoires. Everything is screwed back together again, the needed cells put in and then it's time to see what it can do. As I am still sitting at the kitchen table by daylight, I'm disappointed by the performance, switch the light off again and go to the bedroom, which I darken. Some friends out of my nightstand will join the new light for some comparisons.

Sooner or later it'll get dark and i walk around in the house with the new light and I think of when it's time to take it to a forest at night or if it shall stay a nightstand queen...

Throw away all the lanyards, clips etc.

Can't stand the wretched things - just get in the way . . .

Moonshadow said:

Throw away all the lanyards, clips etc.

Can't stand the wretched things - just get in the way . . .

Click to expand...

Send them to me then!

What do I do?
I review them

And that involves taking them apart, lubing them, and after the initial pics are done, swapping orings for silicone ones, cleaning parts...
Then a shower waterproof test!

How do you review lanyards and clips?

FIrst thing to do is to do the drop test.....
I kid :laughing:

Switch it on...
Check function...
Check body for dents and missing ano...
Check reflector and led...
White wall testing for beam profile checking....
Then momentarily blind a person nearby, which sometimes could be myself.

(1) Check functionality
(2) Measure the battery voltage (if it was supplied with batteries)
(3) Lube threads and O-rings
(4) Compare the light emitted with my other lights

Pop in a battery and go white walling.
Grab some other lights to compare and go white walling again.
File a report to CPF.
Wait for dark, then shine it into the back yard along with a few other lights.
File another report to CPF.
Carry it around for a few days, turning it on frequently for no good reason.
File two or three more reports to CPF.
Change the battery and maybe clean and lube.
Start considering the next new light. :shakehead

Geoff

Hide em' from the ol' lady.

1st play with em
2d use em
3rd lose em im the king of losing small items

NonSenCe said:

1st thing. to do is to see if all parts are in the light (led bezel etc) while trying to jam the battery into it as fast as i can.

2nd thing. turn it on. turn it off. turn on and off and on.

3rd thing. then test all modes it is supposed to have or not.

4th thing. check the extra parts and stuff in the box while the light is running on max. (heat issues)

5th thing. add lanyard or pocket clip etc.

6th thing. play with it.

7th thing. compare it to others: tint, beam, clicky feel, u.i. size&weight, knurlings etc.

8th thing. think why did i buy it, what do i need it for, will it replace something else in lineup and where wil i put it then.

9th thing. find use for it or hide it.

Click to expand...

NonSenCe I could not agree with your "8th thing" more. Except I usually think that right after I purchase/order it. Especially the where am I gonna put it part.

I put batteries in new lights, point them at my face, and turn on strobe.


Oh wait, it's the TSA guys that do that....

First turn on the light (it does work?), check out the tint of the LED and the beam profile.

Second I'll take the light apart and check it out. If it's a twisty and the threads are not greased they'll get lubricated. This means wiping down the threads with a clean cloth and lubing them.

Third, see how the light performs in hand for at least a few hours. Probably on a dark wooded trail on a moonless night.

Fourth - burn in. I burn in all my LED lights by tailstanding them and using them as lamps on their low to medium settings. For a few months at least, until the light has 500-1000 hours of use (these are all CREE power LEDs, that are good for > 50,000 hours). I figure if the driver/LED survive the burnin the light will last nearly forever.

1. Disassemble
2. Clean
3. Lube
4. May be necessary to repeat part 2-3
5. Dunk and scrub bath using a toothbrush, this applies for store bought lights too...as you never know for sure they've cleaned all manufacturing residue/solvents off of it.
6. Switch between modes, if its a clicky click it a couple times in rapid succession
7. Break in by burning it through an entire set of batteries [If its alkaline, I use eneloops; if its CR123A oh well, I don't buy enough CR123A lights to warrant an alternative]

usually you find problems in:

1. Part 5 with water resistance
2. Part 6 with clickie reliability, UI
3. Part 7 with premature failing, runtime, and whether or not the LED is thermally floating

field strip, inspect, clean, re-lube, load and fire.

I burn in all my LED lights by tailstanding them and using them as lamps on their low to medium settings. For a few months at least, until the light has 500-1000 hours of use

Click to expand...

Crikey ! You must have a ready supply of batteries !!!