Need help

I just got my Inova XO, I love this light.
I checked to see what kind of 123's came with it and they were Duracell's, when I pulled the batteries out I noticed the inside of the tube had a white substance, I tried to use a q-tip to see if it would come off but it doesnt.

I also noticed there was some on the 123's.

My question is, Is this normal? Or should I pull these duracells and put new batteries in?
The light runs just fine with these duracells,any answers would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks folks,
Ryan

I don't have a straight answer for you, but my guess is that it is a protective film similar to what is in the surefire lights(except the film in theirs is kind of a light gold color). I believe the film is to protect the inside surface from corrosive acid from batteries or other liquids that may be accidentally leaked into the light. If the white substance is powdery and fairly easy to remove, it may be leftover from whatever processing was done to the light at the plant it came from. If it is kind of rough, hard to remove and slightly crumbly, it may be corrosion from bad batteries. If it is smooth and will not come off at all, it is probably the protective film. My suggestion is if it is the last condition I mentioned and the light works fine, leave it alone. Possible clean out the inside of the light anyway with a mild soap/water mix or some isopropyl alcohol to be safe. Just make sure to remove any o-rings from the light before doing this and make sure the surfaces are dry and clean before putting the rings back on. Good luck and welcome to CPF. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks for the reply, I used some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip but it didnt come off, it seems a little rough but nothing seems to be flaking off.
What I cant figure out is from the threads down to about an inch there is nothing, its starts about an inch down and is mostly on one side.
Dont know if that helps at all??

I would probably just get new batteries for it and enjoy the light. If it didn't come off with alcohol, i don't think it is anything to worry about. Maybe others on this forum have better advice or different input than me, but that's what I would do. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

My XO3 has this strange stuff in the tube as well. Could be from the anodizing process.