Streamlight Strion: Impressive!!

No, this is not a thread about how bright the light is or how good it feels in your hand...

Today I dropped my SL Strion down a set of wooden stairs consisting of 21 steps. It dropped out of my hand about 4' above the first step and fell bezel down on it. It then started bouncing down the stairs, and before hitting the ground it skipped 5 steps (fell on the ground from the 6th step). It made a lot of noise and I had a tear forming in my right eye as I watched my EDC fall towards, what seemed at the moment, it's doom.
When the light had reached the ground and lay wounded, I started running down the stairs to be at it's side.
I picked it up, whew, lens is still in one piece... Turned it on... and... it's beam illuminated the sky! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I was extremely impressed by this! It took quite a fall, and had sustained absolutely no damage! I would have at least expected the bulb to blow.

I hear all the time people complaining about SL bi-pin bulbs falling out of thier sockets at the wrong time, but it didn't even move this time...
I hear LED junkies gloat about how LED's don't break when they fall... well... my incan. survived the fall....

I know where they get all these ideas... I've seen a 3D Mag bulb blow and lens crack when it fell from a guy's waist level...

This experience has made me so much more of a Streamlight believer... Best bang for the buck, no doubt about it...
WTG Streamlight! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Good story and I'll agree that Streamlight makes great lights. However, I'm willing to be that the light was OFF when dropped. Try it again with the light ON and see how it survives. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I'd like to see someone convert a Strion to LED. Maybe make it direct drive Lux3. That would be one sweet light then.

Mark

I once threw a Pelican StealthLite out of the fourth (could have been the fifth) floor of a hotel I was staying at in. It slid across the carpack and into a bank of snow. I found it because it was still switched on and working. It was late at night and I was dressed only in a towel. I admit I was just a little bit rat-arsed and I did throw it on purpose.

Sometimes these "hotwires" can really surprise us!

Al

Yea... the light was off when it dropped... and, no, I'm not willing to try it again with the light on!

That's great to hear! I just got my Strion and it is my favorite light (over my L4). I can't think of anything else I would like in a light.

Well, I think I've found a design flaw in the Strion having to do with the not-as-good-as-a-Stinger switch it has.

Depending on the individual light it's more or less easy to get it into a half-brightness "mode" which is actually arcing the switch contacts.

If it turns on bulb-down and runs out its battery it will partially melt the top of the battery housing. This may only happen if in the half-bright mode.

I got my battery replaced once and even though the new one isn't looking melted yet, and hasn't run more than 10 minutes at a stretch, if I sniff the top it has a bit of a burned smell.

I'm thinking of using electroless gold plating on the switch contacts (it comes apart pretty easily), or maybe that Deoxit stuff that Radio Shack is now selling ($10).
c.f. http://www.caig.com/

Consider yourself lucky. I had my first Strion bulb go on me before I charged it the 3rd time. I was rather disappointed, It has only been out of the house a couple times, and never dropped more than a couple feet, and even that was onto carpet. Hopefully the spare bulb will last for a long time now.

-Keith

[ QUOTE ]
radellaf said:
I'm thinking of using electroless gold plating on the switch contacts (it comes apart pretty easily), or maybe that Deoxit stuff that Radio Shack is now selling ($10).
c.f. http://www.caig.com/

[/ QUOTE ]
Caig's DeoxIT, CaiLube & ProGold are awesome products, unfortunately they cost a fortune over here though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif Anyone care for a groupbuy? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Great story. I've been every pleased with my Strion and use it for EDC (among a few others /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Are they... Well, for $10 maybe it is worth a try, although RS doesn't sell "ProtectIT" and I wonder if I need that for the effect to last. If I could have only one of DeoxIT and ProtectIT I'd take the latter, as a good scrub with a swab and alcohol cleans the contacts just fine.

[ QUOTE ]
03lab said:
[ QUOTE ]
radellaf said:
I'm thinking of using electroless gold plating on the switch contacts (it comes apart pretty easily), or maybe that Deoxit stuff that Radio Shack is now selling ($10).
c.f. http://www.caig.com/

[/ QUOTE ]
Caig's DeoxIT, CaiLube & ProGold are awesome products, unfortunately they cost a fortune over here though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif Anyone care for a groupbuy? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

hell they cost a fortune here too! will tell ya though as far as musical electronic's go, it's the bomb.
But I had no idea what kinda magic it would do in a highend light. I put pro gold 100% on all pertinent part's of my E1e a few days after i got it, and the tree tops on my land that are 3/4's of a football field away went from
being lightly lit to being well lit. i have used caig and it's for runner cremolin for at least 25 yr's, never knew it would work on a FL. dumb me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif VDG

radellaf, I think you mean preserve it. Here'a little secret, I talked to Gene Bail's and Mark Lohkemper, of caig a few times at Namm show's, and the pro gold has the same base as presevIT. in addtion to gold's extra conductivity.
If one want's the same deal in less steps go deoxIT > pro gold. done. HEAVY oxidation,caig Kleen NF>deoxIT> gold. done.
even on narly oxidation, i have skipped the Kleen NF and had same result's. Ireally think it's not needed at all to be honest. VDG

EDIT: for step mixup

When you say, clean contacts of Strion, do you mean the two springs that contact the two parts of the battery top, pos-neg, and the bulb contact area? Did you unscrew the body from the head to expose the direct battery contacts?

Bill

[ QUOTE ]
03lab said:

Caig's DeoxIT, CaiLube & ProGold are awesome products, unfortunately they cost a fortune over here though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif Anyone care for a groupbuy? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

That sounds good. Where I am I can't even GET it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I cleaned the internal contacts of the "switch" after taking the head completely apart.
I wonder what they're made of. My gold plating solution won't do aluminum, steel, tin, or lead but will do nickel (it kinda looks like nickelplate) and silver. Otherwise I need silver plating or nickel plating solution, which I haven't seen for reasonable prices and in small (4oz) quantities.

Or, I could try the $15-$20 Caig labs stuff.

Or, I could just be real careful to back off the back end every time I put it in my bag, and hold the switch in firmly while using it.

Or, let it melt another cell whenever it may and then send it back to Streamlight whereby they might learn from their mistakes.

Took apart the switch again and gold plated some of the switch parts. The pin (one contact) took the plate very well, it must have been nickel plate. The bulb contacts (I did both, the one going to the - screw and the switch contact one) took it nicely too. Also did the copper lug that touches the other side of the spring that conducts from the pin to the lug (which is the + screw/charging contact).

No more half-brightness mode!

The spring on the pin, the small one you see looking into where the batttery goes, is unplated steel and turned black, but simichrome polish got that back to looking new. Seems that's the only part that'd need nickel or silver pre-plating.

I've had similar luck with a stinger I used to own. I purposely left it on and let my 1 yr old daughter play with it. She immediately commenced banging the bezel on our concrete floors. No bulb damage.... but there were some good dings in the bezel edge.

[ QUOTE ]
radellaf said:
I cleaned the internal contacts of the "switch" after taking the head completely apart.
I wonder what they're made of. My gold plating solution won't do aluminum, steel, tin, or lead but will do nickel (it kinda looks like nickelplate) and silver. Otherwise I need silver plating or nickel plating solution, which I haven't seen for reasonable prices and in small (4oz) quantities.

Or, I could try the $15-$20 Caig labs stuff.

Or, I could just be real careful to back off the back end every time I put it in my bag, and hold the switch in firmly while using it.

Or, let it melt another cell whenever it may and then send it back to Streamlight whereby they might learn from their mistakes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am confused radellaf, which product(s) did you end up using? BTW, you can get many of the Caig, "ProGold" & other products at Fry's; for standard size aerosol cans, the price is under $10.

Since you cannot see 'oxidation', unless it is more pronounced, I am not sure I would just go with spray on, or light swabbing of contacts, be they the aluminum in the M*glite, nickel, brass, lead/tin, silver/tin, or even gold-plated. Switch arcing is easy enough to see /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

I'm looking into some other contact cleaners both non-flammable and non-conductive so you can spray it onto to 'live'/energized circuits, contacts, etc; as well as 'hands on' cleaning, for my upcoming thread on cleaning M*glite contacts, principles which can be applied to any FL.

I did get a kick out of the backside label on the Caig products showing a very dim yellow flashlight next to a brighter white one, supposedly before and after pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .

There are numerous contact cleaning products from various sources, MG is widely distributed, but is higher priced (Fry's has a few of the products at 1/2 to 1/3rd the price smaller electronics stores carry them at.

www.mgchemicals.com

Local to me, and what I will probably get for expediency and lower cost,

www.puretronics.com

As far a gold-plated, well the MG product brochure has their Super Contact Cleaner model #801B, which has a 'lubricant' that 'protects gold for life', namely Polyphenyl Ether (which I believe is in Dupont's Krytox) which I mentioned in this thread: Silicone grease recommendation

But download the pdf for Nye Lubricants 'product of the year 2004', and read the 2nd paragraph of the 2nd page, about oxidation on gold-plated contacts. Link contained in this thread in my post: Electrical Contact Grease

Anyone up for a GB on 34KG of the ultra-premium Unifor 8917, 2004 product of the year? Split a 1,000 ways we should get the cost under $10 easy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.

I ended up using alcohol and a q-tip to clean the contacts. The second time I disassembled it I gold plated them. I don't think the gold really needs any protection, though it may eventually wear through. Streamlight used a bad design with what look like nickel and silver contacts. Phosphor bronze would have made more sense.

There's no Fry's in Raleigh, NC.