Dropped my L4 and the KL4 is toast

I had my L4 clipped to my leg pocket of my carpenter pants. And when I reached in to pick out something else, the L4 unclipped itself, fell and hit the bathroom floor (ceramic tile). Picked it up, clicked it on and nothing... Changed out the batteries, tried an E2e body and the KL4 is definitely dead. Couldn't believe it. It was only a 2 foot drop from my leg pocket to the ground. Are these things that fragile?!? What if I was in a combat situation and the exact same thing happened? I'd be toast. From the outside, the KL4 looks fine. The lens is perfect. But it's really dead. I'm going to contact Surefire and hopefully get a replacement. Think they'll cover it? The guarantee says it doesn't cover lamp assemblies. And the KL4 is kind of a lamp assembly. Keeping my fingers crossed cause I do not want to be spending $100 for a KL4. This one I had was great. It was very white and also worked on an E1e body.

I believe Surefire will repair or replace it. If they don't for some reason, you can get it fixed by CM or one of the other guys.

They should cover it.
My KL4 has been dropped on steel and concrete floors many times. Maybe yours hit "just right" or something.
Still hate to hear about one dying from being dropped-makes me nervous /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

They should fix it. I busted a 2 day old Surefire and they fixed in 2 days for me.

NikolaTesla /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif


An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!
My Lights: *** http://www.tjtech.org/gallery/NikolaTesla/Nikola_lights2_001Nikola_lights2_001

I've never busted the KL4, and I've abused it with far more force than a two foot fall to the floor would cause.

Does the switch feel different after the fall?

Try removing the tailcap and short the end of the battery to the inside of the body tube. If it lights, you've got a bad switch.

Peter

Switch feels fine and I can confirm that the Z57 still works. I've swapped tailcaps, batteries, bodies, a KL1, a regular E2e bezel with MN03, tightened everything down, shook everything around, tried a paperclip between the negative terminal of the battery to the KL4...it's definitely my poor KL4. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

In that case, I'd call SF and tell them what happened. I would think that you'll taken care of. It would be nice to see/hear SF's "official" policy as it relates to LED modules being a "lamp assembly".


Peter

Sorry for your troubles, but I thank you for the post: You have confirmed my reasoning for not spending that kind of money on a light. Like automobiles, you still have problems with the most expensive ones. This is why I believe the best products are usually in the low to mid-range prices (Streamlight, Pelican, Princeton Tec, Dorcy, etc.). Leaving the high-priced goods for those who have money to burn.

Ceramic is very hard and unyielding. When your light hit the floor, it likely experienced several hundreds of Gs for a split second. I'm guessing it fractured the Luxeon chip.

ET,

I'm sorry you had that experience and I'd be surprised if Surefire doesn't make good on it. While it's true that ceramic tile is one of the worst surfaces to drop a flashlight on I'm still surprised at the result. I dropped My L4 down a rocky slope, saw it bouncing from rock to rock for about 50 feet without suffering any functional damage, and I've heard of many L4's taking brutal punishment in stride. OTOH I'm not willing to test my L4 on any bathroom tile.

Brightnorm

It could actually have been any of the mounted components. It's amazing how many things stop working if you drop them simply because a part pops off the circuit board. The inductor appears to be the most fragile part of most of the lights I've dis-assembled. The better lights might pot it in epoxy, but that could make the light un-repairable. The circuit board ends up being replaced.

The LED assembly is fairly strong, in that I had to use pliers to rip one apart.

It doesn't matter what broke; like Litfuse said, let Surefire fix it for you.

Daniel

\"Should\" Fix it?

Surefire unconditionally guarantees their products. There is no "should" anywhere in their warranty. They will fix it, period. Sure, you'll have to be without it temporarily, but they do stand behind their products.

JK

Re: \"Should\" Fix it?

I know that Surefire says they don't cover lamps in there warranty...but you know what?

I called Surefire after my Surefire E2 bulb died after 8 battery changes...about 8 hours of usage. They said they'd send me a new one and SURE enoegh they sent one in 2 days.

They'll replace it, i have faith in there word.

I've previously asked SF about the L5 warranty and the answer is :


" On the L5 everything except batteries is covered by the warranty. "

ET, Could it be the positive contact of the KL4?

Please let us know how you get on with SureFire Customer Service.

Thanks

Al

[ QUOTE ]
brightnorm said:
I dropped My L4 down a rocky slope, saw it bouncing from rock to rock for about 50 feet without suffering any functional damage

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, very impressive. I wish I could see that on tape!

[ QUOTE ]
Size15s said:
Could it be the positive contact of the KL4?

Please let us know how you get on with SureFire Customer Service

[/ QUOTE ]

Al, not sure how to test the positive contact of the KL4. It looks fine and I've even tightened it on my L4 and E2e bodies very tight with fresh Surefire batteries with good positive nibs and nothing.

I'll follow up on this post and let you all know what Surefire decides on this.

Emailed Surefire and they said:

[ QUOTE ]

Our LED lights are warranted for life. Just call us for a return authorization and we will repair it. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to write back or call us at 1-800-828-8809.

[/ QUOTE ]

So I phoned up and they said to send it in. I can't wait to get my L4 back. I can't stand this purple/blue/green KL1 stuff.

[ QUOTE ]
ET said:
[ QUOTE ]
brightnorm said:
I dropped My L4 down a rocky slope, saw it bouncing from rock to rock for about 50 feet without suffering any functional damage

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, very impressive. I wish I could see that on tape!


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there were some dings but the lens was fine; I was pretty surprised, but I'm still not going to do a ceramic tile drop test /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Brightnorm

I guess the soldering of the contact spring's wire is loose and the impact or vibration from the drop could have severed the connection. My KL3 suffered the same fate. I dropped it but it was still working fine for a few days. Occasionally I would get some intermittent failure to on and one fine night when I switch the bezel with my incandescent it just goes dead. Surefire replaced me another new unit.

Andy Ho