Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contact quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

Hi Guys.


Does anyone know whether Sunwayman has released any fixes or changed the design of their T60CS to cover the exposed centre contact on the tail end of the T60CS flashlight where the charger is plugged into it.

The exposed centre contact on the tail end has the full power capacity of the three Li-ion batteries installed in the battery carrier available to allow a highly possible and nasty short circuit to occur when the tail end of this light is placed near metal objects such as keys, stood tail down on a metal surface or where some screws or nails etc might be located even though the centre contact is recessed by about 6mm.

Maybe SWM has changed the design of this light by including a fuse or at least making some sort of cover available that can be installed over the exposed contact as a quick fix.

Any effort by SWM at providing a fix for this problem would probably lower the odds of any user accidentally causing damage to the light itself or to the installed Li-ion batteries and/or inflicting bodily harm upon any user or bystander due to the potential safety issue regarding the exposed centre charging contact.

Has anyone noticed any changes to the original design of the tail end of this light as pictured below in the Selfbuilt review of the T60CS done on July 16 2012?






CHEERS

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

Can you get a voltage reading with a MM. That seems irresponsible and dangerous to me. Are the two connections the outside ring and the center portion?

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

Gauntlet3D said:

Can you get a voltage reading with a MM. That seems irresponsible and dangerous to me. Are the two connections the outside ring and the center portion?

Click to expand...

Hi Gauntlet3D.


You certainly can get a voltage reading between the centre pole and outer area on the tail end of this light.

The centre pole is the positive contact point and the outer area of the tail end is the negative contact point.

When testing with a multimeter or any other instrument be very careful not to let the two probes touch each other whilst they are in contact with the the charging contacts at the tail end of this light.

If both of the probes make contact with each other accidentally then a dangerous short circuiting of the installed Li-ion batteries will occur.

The danger of the two contacts on the tail end of the T60CS was pointed out in the Selfbuilt review of the SWM T60CS dated July 16 2012.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?341167-Sunwayman-T60CS-%283xXM-L-3x18650%29-Review-BEAMSHOTS-RUNTIMES-VIDEO-and-more!



CHEERS

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

Sad, this light had a lot going for it until the design team at Sunwayman decided to integrate charging. Even the cradle which supposedly can be installed in a vehicle is really not very safe in its implementation either.
I was going to purchase this light, thread the nylon/plastic white insulator and fabricate a screw in plug easily removable if I needed. But since Sunwayman has decided to not even address the potential risk of the shorting scenario i'm not going to buy it, I'll definitely think twice about buying more Sunwayman products, and I have three of their lights now, which are very good.

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

texbaz said:

Sad, this light had a lot going for it until the design team at Sunwayman decided to integrate charging. Even the cradle which supposedly can be installed in a vehicle is really not very safe in its implementation either.
I was going to purchase this light, thread the nylon/plastic white insulator and fabricate a screw in plug easily removable if I needed. But since Sunwayman has decided to not even address the potential risk of the shorting scenario i'm not going to buy it, I'll definitely think twice about buying more Sunwayman products, and I have three of their lights now, which are very good.

Click to expand...

Hi texbaz.


I am really surprised that SWM have not addressed this safety issue at all as far as I can see.

The "exposed contact" safety issue has put a big black cloud over an otherwise great flashlight.

Why should buyers have to make any "quick fix" for a fairly expensive flashlight from a reputable and well established company like Sunwayman?

How would most average buyers be aware of this safety issue at all unless they had read about it on forums like CPF?

If I had bought this flashlight and found that the the high capacity Li-ion battery energy was readily available at the charging contacts when the charger was unplugged and not protected as they should have been by the normal safe operational designs found in most flashlights I would have returned the T60CS straight away and let the dealer and the manufacturer know about this error in the design of the SWM T60CS.

It is rather hard to believe that any experienced flashlight manufacturer could design a flashlight that allowed the battery power to be protected by only recessing the positive centre contact.

It may have been an oversight by the design department but surely someone else at SWM would have recognised that this was a safety issue well before any of these lights had left the factory.

I always look for potential issues when I receive any new light as I have had plenty of experience in the dangers that any electrical equipment can pose unlike the average flashlight buyer.

A lot of buyers of this light whether they purchased it as a new or second hand one would more than likely not be aware that such a simple low voltage device like this could pose any danger at all as it is "just a flashlight".

All of the local people that buy a flashlight by way of my recommendation get "lectured at length" about the safe use of Li-ion batteries that they were not aware of.

Most of the buyers of Li-ion powered flashlights that I talk to are not "flashaholics" and have only used Alkaline, NiCad or NIMH batteries in their flashlights previously.

The high outputs, variable light levels, Strobe and SOS modes plus the longer run times of modern Li-ion flashlights make them highly attractive to those seeking a new flashlight.

I don't know whether SWM issued any warning about this very unsafe design or not.

The reason that I posted this thread was to find out if there was any more valid information on this issue.

This safety issue is a very important one to me.

I am an Electrician/Technician by trade and I would be very surprised to hear that nobody has accidentally damaged their light/batteries or injured themselves at all in using this light as it was designed very badly in this one key area IMHO.

If the owners of this light use "unprotected" Li-ion batteries in it and the charging contacts were to be shorted together at the tail end most likely by accident then the outcome is probably going to be one of a much more volatile nature than using protected Li-ion batteries.

"Protected" Li-ion batteries would probably trip the protection circuits (PTC boards) if the user was lucky but I would still not like to test that theory out.

At my age I try even harder not to become a "CRASH TEST DUMMY" or a "STATISTIC" in my use of anything electrical!

What is the main problem in your opinion in using the charging cradle in a vehicle?



CHEER

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

I believe that if you read the reviews of the Sunwayman rechargeable lights it is stated that there is a fuse in the battery carrier that will "blow" if the contacts are shorted. I'm also thinking it's going to be hard to short that. A key most likely won't as it would have to fit in the recess and touch the outside as well. I suppose it is an issue but a minor one.

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

itguy07 said:

I believe that if you read the reviews of the Sunwayman rechargeable lights it is stated that there is a fuse in the battery carrier that will "blow" if the contacts are shorted. I'm also thinking it's going to be hard to short that. A key most likely won't as it would have to fit in the recess and touch the outside as well. I suppose it is an issue but a minor one.

Click to expand...

Some keys brushed mine and it sparked and it was done. Battery carrier had to be sent from SWM and replaced ...........

Re: Sunwayman T60CS "exposed" charging contacts quick-fixed or redesigned yet?

Oztorchfreak said:

Hi texbaz.


I am really surprised that SWM have not addressed this safety issue at all as far as I can see.

The "exposed contact" safety issue has put a big black cloud over an otherwise great flashlight.

Why should buyers have to make any "quick fix" for a fairly expensive flashlight from a reputable and well established company like Sunwayman?

How would most average buyers be aware of this safety issue at all unless they had read about it on forums like CPF?

If I had bought this flashlight and found that the the high capacity Li-ion battery energy was readily available at the charging contacts when the charger was unplugged and not protected as they should have been by the normal safe operational designs found in most flashlights I would have returned the T60CS straight away and let the dealer and the manufacturer know about this error in the design of the SWM T60CS.

It is rather hard to believe that any experienced flashlight manufacturer could design a flashlight that allowed the battery power to be protected by only recessing the positive centre contact.

It may have been an oversight by the design department but surely someone else at SWM would have recognised that this was a safety issue well before any of these lights had left the factory.

I always look for potential issues when I receive any new light as I have had plenty of experience in the dangers that any electrical equipment can pose unlike the average flashlight buyer.

A lot of buyers of this light whether they purchased it as a new or second hand one would more than likely not be aware that such a simple low voltage device like this could pose any danger at all as it is "just a flashlight".

All of the local people that buy a flashlight by way of my recommendation get "lectured at length" about the safe use of Li-ion batteries that they were not aware of.

Most of the buyers of Li-ion powered flashlights that I talk to are not "flashaholics" and have only used Alkaline, NiCad or NIMH batteries in their flashlights previously.

The high outputs, variable light levels, Strobe and SOS modes plus the longer run times of modern Li-ion flashlights make them highly attractive to those seeking a new flashlight.

I don't know whether SWM issued any warning about this very unsafe design or not.

The reason that I posted this thread was to find out if there was any more valid information on this issue.

This safety issue is a very important one to me.

I am an Electrician/Technician by trade and I would be very surprised to hear that nobody has accidentally damaged their light/batteries or injured themselves at all in using this light as it was designed very badly in this one key area IMHO.

If the owners of this light use "unprotected" Li-ion batteries in it and the charging contacts were to be shorted together at the tail end most likely by accident then the outcome is probably going to be one of a much more volatile nature than using protected Li-ion batteries.

"Protected" Li-ion batteries would probably trip the protection circuits (PTC boards) if the user was lucky but I would still not like to test that theory out.

At my age I try even harder not to become a "CRASH TEST DUMMY" or a "STATISTIC" in my use of anything electrical!

What is the main problem in your opinion in using the charging cradle in a vehicle?



CHEER

Click to expand...

Oztorchfreak, I hear what you are saying and couldn't agree more. Here in the States we have a term " Murphy's Law" This light fits that profile.
I work with a flashlight all day long, and having rechargable is a Plus, Plus, especially when I can walk out of work cradle the light in my car or truck and have it fully charged the next morning. I have access to equipment and can manufacture a plug for the tail-end but like you why, should I this is not a cheap bargain light.

I think I commented in another thread over a year ago, but it was the V60c that I thought the charger implementation and position was totally unsafe for a motor vehicle. To have this heavy object just sitting in a cup holder ready to launch on impact. Looks like jvc55349, just proved our point. too many other lights are available hopefully, Sunwayman will eventually see the light, this design stinks.