Air travel barometric stress & SF

batman

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Hi all,

As title of this thread states, I have a question about air travel with Surefires or most lights in general. Since they are O-ring sealed and the pressure is greater at lower elevation than the ~8,000 simulated air pressure in most airliner cabins at crusing altitude,..could there ever be damage from barometric stress on these lights? I'm going from sea level to cruising altitude for 14 hours both ways very soon with an E2E and M6.

TSA makes a lot of hype about barometric stress and how it can damage you and/or your stuff if your not careful.(i think the biggest risk for most people is drinking on a plane.)

Batman
 

HotWire

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If they are in your carry-on baggage, they will be in a pressurized cabin. If they will be in the cargo hold you could remove the batteries and tailcap. Batteries should be well packed in plastic tubes or such.
 

nbp

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I have never in 5 yrs here heard of a problem with a flashlight resulting from pressure changes in an airplane.

If my can of shaving cream doesn't blow up in the luggage compartment, a flashlight certainly won't. I suspect the o-rings would give long before the flashlight itself would suffer any damage.
 

Empire

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I have never in 5 yrs here heard of a problem with a flashlight resulting from pressure changes in an airplane.

If my can of shaving cream doesn't blow up in the luggage compartment, a flashlight certainly won't. I suspect the o-rings would give long before the flashlight itself would suffer any damage.
I had an iPhone BLOW UP right after a trip to Vancouver.
Either it was coincidence or what.
I did some prank a while back on a plane because I was mad at Delta for losing my 1St class seat so I bought a RC Truck that was TINY but fast and the controller was a kind that wouldn't interfere with radio. Scared the S%#+ out of the flight attendants, I stuffed in my carry on and looked after landing.... BATTERY EXPLODED :poof:
I would put the batteries in a pelican, otterbox.
I don't trust Li batts on planes anymore!
 

Qoose

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I don't think I've ever heard anything from the TSA that was either useful or true.

The pressure might tickle our lights a little. Having taken a variety of lights hiking in at high altitudes, all my lights have been fine. Nothing more than a Nalgene hissing at me after hiking from 4000 to 8000 feet. Used my SF to check for bears that night. Also, I'm pretty sure I took my Zebralight skydiving with me (0, to 12k, back to 0 AGL really fast) and it's still my happy EDC.

Maybe if you fly twice every day, the pressure might fatigue something, but I would bet against it.
 

walterr839

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it certanly seem that the pressure change noted on a commercial airline flight would be a lot less that taking the light 40 feet underwater.
 

batman

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Interesting thoughts, I'd agree that there's probably nothing to worry about. I once left a brinkman max fire XL in the checked compartment for an unpressurized ride to almost 40,000 ft. no problems.
 

ABTOMAT

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Even on a completely sealed Surefire light I'd think the only thing that could happen is the tailcap switch swelling a little. Someone once posted a photo of a SF that the batteries exploded in--the switch boot was inflated like a balloon.

Reminds me of my old army snow boots that had a valve to let the air out when you went up in a plane.
 

Illum

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I've shipped my M3T in the cargo hold of 767s beside my socks and underwear for over half a dozen international flights lasting over 18 hours each. The occaisional "freeze over" is common, but I found greasing the O-rings helps alot.
 

batman

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I think what I'm going to do is keep the E2E in my carry on, ready to go with batteries installed. Plus the surefires SC 2/4 spares carrier with 6 cr123a primaries in the same carry on. I'm hoping these batteries are safe for that. (I'm sure thousands of airline pilots also carry a 2 X CR123A light each day too.)

On another note, I'm taking my son's RC race car that uses a 4 X aa rechargable NiCad battery pack. Empire, is that the kind of battery that exploded in your car?
 

yellow

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Is this still true with the pressurized chamber and the unpressurized luggage compartment?
Because to me it seems much easier to build a plane totally sealing at all outsides instead of some "pressure wall" inside the plane ...
:thinking:


PS: have everything it the hand luggage
 

Shurefire

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I've taken my 6p several times on a nice plane ride around North America, and a cruise in the caribbean without any issues. My surefire L7 also went on a nice ride without issue. The 6p was always in the carryon, but the L7 was in the cargo area for a round trip flight. I didn't even take the battery out. No problems at all.
 

Norm

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IMHO your flashlight is capable of handling far greater pressure changes than the aircraft itself.

Norm
 

lwknight

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Our atmosphere at sea level is 15 psi or 1 bar. To get to 1/2 bar or 7.5 psi you would have to go up to 18,000 ft.
Even if the flashlights were totally sealed ( like a dive light that can stand 10 bar outside) the cheapie plastic cases could easily tolerate the 5 or 6 psi ( 0.3 bar ) internal pressure difference at cabin pressure.
So how much more could the heavy duty cases tolerate? I guess , a lot.
 

tolkaze

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SF have pretty tight tolerances, so there is only a small amount of air inside the reflector, and maybe a little around the rear spring. Worst that will happen is that the boot might swell a little bit, then return to normal. The actual light won't suffer damage, simply because the thickness of the materials being used, and the tight tolerances. I wouldn't want to take a light to the extremes (deep ocean, or space) but flying shouldn't be a problem. Take your lights in carry on if allowed, it saves the hassles, and also saves them getting stolen.
 

Bicycleflyer

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In 25+ years of flying all kinds of airplanes (presently a 747) I have never heard of a flashlight rupturing due to differential pressure. Even in unpressurized airplanes as high up as 15,000. Most airliners are designed to climb up to a cabin altitude of 8000 feet. But you will only reach that if the airplane is at it's max altitude, which is unlikely. In most cases your cabin will be pressurized to an altitude equal to about 5 or 6000 feet. Which should pose no problem.

Yes, the TSA requires you to carry your Lithium batteries in your carry on luggage. They must be carried in such a way that they will not short out on anything loose in your baggage. The easiest way to do this is simply wrap some tape around the ends. Additionally, if the batteries are being carried in your flashlight, then that is considered an acceptable method as well. This rule came about after several incidents, most noteably the UPS DC-8 that emergency landed in PHL.

FWIW, I carry a surefire in my professional equipment and a spare set of batteries in one of those slim-line battery caddies. Never had a problem.
 

yliu

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You can just twist the tailcap until the o ring does not seal anymore, and leave it that way until you get off the flight.
 
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