ITP A3 Eos EXPLODED!

:eeksign: I am shocked and dismayed. I gave a brand new ITP A3 Eos SS light to the wife of a friend/co-worker for Christmas. Yesterday my friend was showing the light to some relatives (at an after-funeral get-together, of all things). He says it didn't seem to be turning on, and he had it pointed up to his face looking at it and trying to figure out why. Fortunately he lowered it away from his face as he gave it another twist, and was starting to bring it up again to see if it had come on, when the business end blew out! He got some glass in his hand, but thankfully no other injuries to anyone. :sweat:

He said the explosion sounded like a gunshot and startled everyone in the building (I think he said a VFW hall). I asked him about the AAA cell in use. He said it was an alkaline cell, and after the explosion he examined it and the cell looked perfectly normal. So that is not what blew. Which leaves just the electronics end. What is in there that could hold and then release energy so violently?

Unfortunately he threw the light in the trash, so we can't send it back for inspection to see what went wrong. (I would really have liked to see it firsthand, and try to have some expert look at it also.) :sigh: But it's long gone now.

I have another one of these lights myself (the head is on a Preon body at the moment), plus a couple of Maratac AAAs that I use a fair bit. I'm not sure what to think. What could have gone wrong, and is there a danger that it could happen again?

It had to come from the battery venting in some way (even if not visible). I can't imagine that there is anything in the electronics that could release that much energy. The evidence is gone so we might not ever know.:duh2:

Sadly, without the light all you will have is pure speculation which will answer nothing.
Evidence is everything.

Usually the only electronics component that can go with any force is a capacitor and I can't imagine anything small enough to fit in the A3 EOS causing enough mayhem to break glass. Just not big enough, not enough capacity. All you are left with is mechanical failure of some kind which seems unlikely in this case as this would not produce the reported explosion or a battery event.

Come to that, I'm really struggling to imagine enough power from a single alkaline AAA to produce anything that could be described as an 'explosion'.

Did the light get hot?

There must be more to this than reported. Energizer lithium perhaps? 10440?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting your reporting of events as given to you is accurate but I am not certain you were given the full story. If it transpires normal off the shelf alkaline AAA's have explosive capabilities then I for one am going to be very surprised.

Olef (with a SS A3 EOS c/w Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAA on his keychain)

Possibly overheating causing stress to build up in the lamp glass, which then shattered violently. It would explain a lot, but the user would surely have felt the heat build up in the torch body. Maybe the glass was already stressed, perhaps due to the O-ring being trapped. It's a shame it was dumped as examination would surely have pinned down the cause.

Olef said:

There must be more to this than reported. Energizer lithium perhaps? 10440?

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I was wonderfing if it would have been worse on a 10440.
It doesn't sound like it the folks would be using a 10440 in this situation.

This story is very important to me because I frequently use my L0D/Microstream in close proximity to face and eyes.
Was the explosion a 'safer' event with Stainless Steel body compared to aluminium? Titanium??

It was the battery, I'm sure. I checked the A3 yesterday that I gave my mom and it didn't twist. It was very tight. When I did open it sort of popped from pressure built up from a leaky battery. I cleaned it out and put a nimh back in. No more alkalines.

If it was the battery venting then going to SS or Ti would make things worse. The pressure would reach a higher level before something gives way.

Many of the flashlights designed for hazardous operation (Streamlights and UK etc.***) have 2 features to prevent battery venting from causing an explosion.
1) They have a chemical or catalyst pill in the head to neutralize any hydrogen vented. Note alkaline batteries vent hydrogen so you can have a hydrogen oxygen explosion not just pressure from the venting gas.
2) They have a vent in the body to release any pressure buildup.

*** Not all Streamlights and UK lights have these features. Only the ones with hazardous Class 1 Div 1 & Class 1 Div 2 ratings.

It certainly sounds like a battery venting. However, I wonder if it would be possible to torque it down so much that, under just the right conditions, the glass might shatter. If it was not coming on and "he gave it another twist", perhaps it was simply overtightened. Not very likely I suppose. Can't believe he would just toss it in the trash.

Geoff

Possibly caused by a venting battery? Unfortunately, since the explosion was reported by a 3rd party and the flashlight and battery no longer exist, all explanations are open to endless speculation without there ever being a definite answer as to the cause. :shrug:

Without recovering the damaged light its 100% impossible to say for certain what went wrong.

Knowing the electronic components used in a typical DC-DC board and XPE emitter, I think a leaky / venting alkaline cell is most likely the culprit.

How does a AAA alkie vent??

(I also EDC the AAA Maratac model. Now I'm wondering if I should be worried. I keep a Duraloop in mine.)

Man, I would have loved to have had that burned out shell of a flashlight. Too bad he threw it away. Though I imagine he was pretty mad at it. I hope he got all the glass out okay.

+1 on the battery outgassing somehow, unless some water got in it, shorted, and turned in to steam. I don't know what else would expand like that.

Monocrom said:

How does a AAA alkie vent??

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I have no idea, but I have seen them "bulge" and leak before. So of all the components inside an LED flashlight, the battery is the only thing in there thats capable of creating a pressure increase. I merely speculate...

They aren't 10440 people... wouldn't even know what that was. And they're not into rechargeables. So I believe them when they say it was an alkaline.

Since he told me it wasn't coming on at the time, I doubt it could have been a heat buildup. Twisting too hard... I could see that, but no way it could make the thing go off with a loud bang like this one did.

As for throwing it away, to them it was junk... no longer functional, and it had proved itself somewhat dangerous, so why hold on to it. Yeah, you or I would have kept it, but not everyone is like us.

I guess it made me wonder if there were a capacitor in the head of that light, or if there were some way a malfunctioning LED could act similar to a capacitor, with sudden release of energy. It seemed like if the cell vented hard enough to blow the glass out with a loud noise, the cell should have looked non-normal. But what do I know, I'm not an engineer or anything! It sure puzzles me.

I have an iTP A1 (CR123A cell instead of AAA) E0S SS and the stainless steel shell certainly does fit/screw together well/snugly and seems to have good O-rings. Probably the same with the A3 SS. I had never thought about letting battery venting out of the shell! :huh:

From the Energizer Alkaline MSDS data sheet, section 7:

www.omega.com/msds/msdspdf/MSDS0373.pdf

"Mechanical Containment: If potting or sealing the battery in an airtight or watertight container is required, consult your Energizer Battery Manufacturing, Inc. representative for precautionary suggestions. Batteries normally evolve hydrogen which, when combined with oxygen from the air, can produce a combustible or explosive mixture unless vented. If such a mixture is present, short circuits, high temperature, or static sparks can cause an ignition.

Do not obstruct safety release vents on batteries. Encapsulation (potting) of batteries will not allow cell venting and can cause high pressure rupture"

Makes me think about drilling a 1/32 hole in the side of my light to let any built up pressure escape...

Seems this thread has turned into speculation about battery issues rather than issues with the ITP A3 Eos

I have my doubts that enough hydrogen would build up to make a big explosion. There just doesn't seem to be enough volume for a large hydrogen/air explosion. There might be enough to explain the broken glass.

Consider the weight of the air that fits in the volume of the empty space in the light. Now multiply that by 20% because that's how much oxygen there is in air. Now multiply that by 1/8 because it takes 8 grams of oxygen to burn 1 gram of oxygen.

Now, you have 2.5% of the mass of air in the flashlight body as hydrogen to fuel the explosion. That's not much fuel for the fire.

Now before anyone points out that there might be a higher pressure of hydrogen inside the battery, there's only enough oxygen to burn that much hydrogen, unless the battery vents oxygen (or some other oxidizer) as well as hydrogen. More hydrogen won't produce a bigger explosion because only that much hydrogen will burn.

Pressure buildup from venting sounds like the most likely choice.

Tantalum capacitors can burn/explode, but it doesn't seem likely that there would be enough mass in any tantalum capacitors likely to be in the flashlight to make a big bang.

It seems to me that the only thing in the package with enough potential energy is the battery itself.

sabre7 said:

Seems this thread has turned into speculation about battery issues rather than issues with the ITP A3 Eos

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One explosion doesn't really constitute a design issue with that light. Although obviously it makes me feel a bit uneasy about EDCing my AAA Maratac model.

There's still a good chance that this was just a fluke due to a defective battery.

Monocrom said:

How does a AAA alkie vent??

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Alkalines don't vent, there are no vent holes so they just leak.
Maybe the battery was put in the wrong way, the A3 eos is not reverse polarity protected.
Maybe just maybe he used carbon zinc/zinc chloride batteries which aren't suitable in high drain devices. They are the worst kind of batteries you could buy.
Maybe he bought the batteries off ebay, if so, I rest my case

Giving a SS light to a non flashaholic wasn't the best move IMHO.

Rexlion said:

He got some glass in his hand, but thankfully no other injuries to anyone.

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This has me surprised. Between the front lens and the battery, you have a small pcb, then the led, then the reflector followed by the lens. I would of expected all the components to end up in his hand as well. Mystifying to say the least.