Flashlight maintenance ?

Hi chaps ,
I'm very much a novice and just after a bit of advice. I have an Olight SR52 ( rechargeable ) which i really like but just want to know how often i should lubricate the base cap and what is best for cleaning the lens glass ?
Also is there any other maintenance i should be doing ?
When should i think about new batteries or do they recharge ok hundreds of times ? ( Told you i was a novice ! ) .
I use the light around 3 or 4 times a week for around an hour each time to take my dogs walking in Thetford Forest ( UK ) .
I love the long throw on this torch but noticed there is an improved version with an 800m beam , would it be worth me upgrading or would the beam throw difference not be that noticeable ?
Any help or advice much appreciated .

Much of what you're asking is subjective. Individuals are more (and less) obsessive about their lights. How dirty is your light getting? My work light (used several times daily) and pocket light (lots of lint) get the threads wiped down with alcohol and then a dab of lube about once a month. The lights sitting around my home might get used once a week and cleaned once or twice a year. As for general maintenance, check the O-ring/s when you change the battery. Check the screws on the clip, if there are any. Check the bezel to see if it's loose. Give it a shake (without the battery) to see if anything is rattling. Wipe down the battery compartment as well but there's not much need to do a complete disassembly.

Take your battery out and use alcohol to clean the threads then lube it. Then spend a few minutes loosening & tightening the cap to get a feel for the threads when clean. Then you'll know right away the next time you change the battery if you need to clean it more frequently.

Not sure which batteries you're using so no idea what they're rated for. This will be subjective as well since it's going to depend on how hard they're being driven (flashlight requirements) as well as how hard you're using them. Cheap batteries running at their limit & pushing the discharge level beyond what's recommended? Or quality batteries run moderately and not being over-discharged?

How far from you are the dogs wandering when you walk? If you can see them and any possible dangers to them or yourself then I'd use the light I have and not worry about the latest and greatest. There will always be something newer, shinier, and better in 6 months. 800m (for me) is a fun toy but nothing I need for practical purposes. That's a long, long way but also subjective. Save your coin and use the light a while and decide what you like and dislike about it. Spend time surfing here and figure out what you want to buy next.

Dan

edit: Wrote my OP last night while tired. Read it this morning and realized it needed to be rewritten. Hope it makes more sense now.

orbitalforest said:

Hi chaps ,
I'm very much a novice and just after a bit of advice. I have an Olight SR52 ( rechargeable ) which i really like but just want to know how often i should lubricate the base cap and what is best for cleaning the lens glass ?

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I treat my glass like a camera lense; I do my best not to touch it and when it does need cleaned I use the same lense wipes that I use on my eyeglasses.
I clean and lube my threads once a year for all my lights - and whenever I notice that they are dry. So some of my lights get cleaned once a year, and some much more often.

Also is there any other maintenance i should be doing ?

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I think KBobAries has great advice above!

When should i think about new batteries or do they recharge ok hundreds of times ? ( Told you i was a novice ! ) .
I use the light around 3 or 4 times a week for around an hour each time to take my dogs walking in Thetford Forest ( UK ) .

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Batteries are consumable items that will wear out. They are also not very expensive. What I'm trying to say is to use your light and enjoy it! When the runtime of your light starts to get noticeably shorter you will know it's time to think about replacement. Until then just make sure to recharge after each walk, and check on it every three months if the light hasn't been used.

I love the long throw on this torch but noticed there is an improved version with an 800m beam , would it be worth me upgrading or would the beam throw difference not be that noticeable ?
Any help or advice much appreciated .

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When I got into this hobby I bought many lights that I now don't use because my taste has changed as I learned more - I sure wish I had saved the money I spent on them for now, ha ha ha! My advice is to take your time (again like KBobAries mentions) and really enjoy the light you have right now, and to really think about it: what do you like most? What do you like least? What do you dislike most? What would you change? Then you can decide for yourself whether a new light is worth getting.
A note on upgraded lights: it takes fully twice the lumens to merely make a beam noticeably brighter and FOUR TIMES the lumens to make it look twice as bright. What this means is that when comparing specs anything less than a full-blown two-fold increase is hardly (or not even) noticeable in actual use, and that unless one light has FOUR TIMES the power of the other, you're probably not even going to notice a difference. My point? It is almost never worth upgrading for more lumens. Now if that light has other things that you want, it's a different story!

Regarding upgrade, if it throws enough for you as it is then not really. I find here i struggle finding places with much more than 400yds of open area anyway.

If you do want more throw, check out some of vinhs lights, de-domed, PDT and tint of choice with 4-500 or more kcd. Something of this type of throw/range maybe worth an upgrade and then use the sr52 as back up or even rotate your lights........

I have the sr52vn(around 250kcd) and recently the tn32UTvn which i really like!! The control ring UI is very nice, nice solid made light that is pretty much up there with fenix/olight build quality now..........

ven said:

Regarding upgrade, if it throws enough for you as it is then not really. I find here i struggle finding places with much more than 400yds of open area anyway.

If you do want more throw, check out some of vinhs lights, de-domed, PDT and tint of choice with 4-500 or more kcd. Something of this type of throw/range maybe worth an upgrade and then use the sr52 as back up or even rotate your lights........

I have the sr52vn(around 250kcd) and recently the tn32UTvn which i really like!! The control ring UI is very nice, nice solid made light that is pretty much up there with fenix/olight build quality now..........

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Hi guys , thanks for the helpful advice .
Excuse my ignorance but what is a vinh light though ?

Vinh light refers to a well known modder who has a sub-forum on cpf (apologies, I don't know how to link to it on my phone) and runs the website skylumen.com

I don't have any if his lights sadly but they have a stellar reputation and look amazing from what I've seen.

ncgrass said:

Vinh light refers to a well known modder who has a sub-forum on cpf (apologies, I don't know how to link to it on my phone) and runs the website skylumen.com

I don't have any if his lights sadly but they have a stellar reputation and look amazing from what I've seen.

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Ah ok thanks for that , i'll have a look at the website.
Cheers.

orbitalforest said:

Ah ok thanks for that , i'll have a look at the website.
Cheers.

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I had a look at the website and like the look of this .

SR52UTvn - LEO Thrower

http://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights/products/sr52utvn?variant=5876316996

What i don't understand though is spec 2 has a lower lumen output than spec 1 ?
Will it throw further but have less light ?
I'm interested in spec 1 or 2.

orbitalforest said:

Hi guys , thanks for the helpful advice .
Excuse my ignorance but what is a vinh light though ?

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I'll let ven elaborate on that one , however they are a very good (and expensive for the most part) custom light.

For instance, i have a 4000 lumen Fenix TK75 (thrower). A vinh modified light can go up to 20,000 lumens. :huh: He is pretty good at modifying

Another thing to note on throwers though is that the distance in the specs is not always indicative of how much light it puts out at that distance. I saw a spec that someone quoted that it needs 0.5 lumens at that distance to make the claim, but how often do manufacturers get that number right (ie Armytek uses LED lumens versus ANSI or Out the Front measured lumens). Anyway, i have a few throwers that go way further than i can realistically see clearly. However at a given distance i can see, the longer length throwers can really light up a larger radius.

Anyway, to be more on point, look for the throw distance on lights you are interest in. I saw someone say on here that you can always duffuse a throw light, but you can't make a throw light out of a floody light...

Ahh, looking at my post, i just realized that I'm tagged as a flashaholic. So much for denial...

orbitalforest said:

I had a look at the website and like the look of this .

SR52UTvn - LEO Thrower

http://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights/products/sr52utvn?variant=5876316996

What i don't understand though is spec 2 has a lower lumen output than spec 1 ?
Will it throw further but have less light ?
I'm interested in spec 1 or 2.

Click to expand...

To keep it simple(as i am) more lumens does not mean more throw. Its down to many factors such as width/depth or reflector and LED.
Now as we are talking the same light, the reflector is the same, i will presume the lower LED will be the xp-g2 which is a smaller die(smaller more intense). So less lumen, having a smaller surface area=more throw. For example the xhp70 is good for 5000lm, stick this in the light and you would be lucky to get 100kcd! Large(4) LED,not as concentrated/focused...........hot spot.

As an example i use, the deft x which is a little over 600lm, yet it will throw 1000kcd+...........of course this is helped by the waven collar, but even without it should achieve 500kcd(ish without splitting hairs)..

So for your use, do you prefer a more pencil type beam, very tight concentrated hot spot with minimal spill, or a brighter spill, slightly larger less concentrated hot spot.

Example----When i chose the tn32UTvn, the choices were the xpl PDT(premium dome tint) of around 400+kcd, and 1600 ish lumens, or the xp-g2 of around 800lm and 500+kcd. More pencil beam, less bright spill........

My uses i like to have usable spill, so i chose the xpl PDT version............its amazing and to my eyes and use, 400,500 even 600kcd without binoculars is close.


So back to the sr52, tough choice with this light tbh as closer and not too sure on the spill, do you prefer cool or neutral.

If it was me, option 3, drivervnx2 is superb, 20 different mode groups to choose from, over the 3 modes iirc of standard. Your getting 1300 OTF lumens(and its conservative too along with his throw measurements) .Also a very respectable 270kcd which is kind of middle ground from option 1 and 2. The USB is handy to have but by far a must imho, so would not worry about loosing that function. Granted its handy come times of no charger, still require a USB input though and its not the fastest charger , iirc 1a between 3 cells...........

So no to 1 and 2, yes to 3


If 3 is out of the question, then its tough, i prefer a little larger hot spot, but prefer neutral(the cool is fine though!). Maybe a neutral xpl PDT option then......

Good luck

MX421 said:

Ahh, looking at my post, i just realized that I'm tagged as a flashaholic. So much for denial...

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Denial is a problem, the hardest part is to overcome this, now thats done, move on and get more lights

Thanks chaps , i went for the spec 2 in the end as vinh said if i was after a lot of throw that would probably be my best option .
I do tend to prefer a narrow beam so hopefully i'll be happy with that.

Never unless u have issues. Think about it, your grandfather probably had 1 or 2 lights his entire life and I doubt he thought about maintenance. Most people on here will not use their lights more than 10 min per year and are doing maintenance. A big life lesson for you, don't worry abou "stuff".

keeping the lens clean is a PITA. When it comes to glare coated light lenses think more along the lines of keeping the lens "clear" instead of "clean". I use a can of compressed air and a couple of micro fibre lens cloths. First I hit the lens with the compressed air which does extremely well. For debris that doesnt get blown off then LIGHTLY and QUICKLY wipe the debris with the cloth then hit again with the air. Dont waste your time trying to get a lens perfectly clean because it is pretty much impossible especially glare coated lenses. Glare coated lenses 99% of the time have the cheapest glare coat they could put on it. Any more than very light and quick wipes with a micro cloth will likely leave scratches. I only clear my lenses when there is debris on the lens that cause artifacts. Modern light glare coat is the cheapest of the cheap its only purpose being to improve light transmission. Try to clean a glare coated light lens the way you clean a glare coated eyeglass lens will leave you with a near ruined light lens.

orbitalforest said:

Hi chaps ,
I'm very much a novice and just after a bit of advice. I have an Olight SR52 ( rechargeable ) which i really like but just want to know how often i should lubricate the base cap and what is best for cleaning the lens glass ?
Also is there any other maintenance i should be doing ?
When should i think about new batteries or do they recharge ok hundreds of times ? ( Told you i was a novice ! ) .
I use the light around 3 or 4 times a week for around an hour each time to take my dogs walking in Thetford Forest ( UK ) .
I love the long throw on this torch but noticed there is an improved version with an 800m beam , would it be worth me upgrading or would the beam throw difference not be that noticeable ?
Any help or advice much appreciated .

Click to expand...

My opinion on an upgrade is this, did you buy the iPhone 5 after owning an iPhone4? Did you wait until the 6? Cellphones have planned obsolescence, just like flashlights. They still sell flip phones, and they still sell mag lights. But up to date flashlights always beat older ones. The degree to which they do depends on everything. So in 2017 better still will exist. I don't know boutchu, but my budget limits the often-ness of flashlight purchase. If you buy that, will you buy the next thing that beats it by the same percentage margin when it comes out next year? Or will you hold your own now and increase the margin of performance increase by going straight from the iPhone4-to the 6s.