Gladius potential problem

PEU

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I received a Gladius this week and I want to comment something that may cause troubles in some delicate situations, I.E. real tactical engagement.

The selector in the base uses some kind of magnetic switch, my best guess is a latching hall sensor, so if you approach a magnet (I used a neodymium one) to the selector it activates the light regardless of the switch position, and yes this includes the light in position 4 which mechanically disables the back button.

Why I see this is dangerous, if the light turns itself on in the presence of a magnet at the wrong time, as a shooter friend of mine likes to say, it goes from flashlight to bullet magnet...

I guess the solution should include some magnetic shield from the outside.


My 2 cents (of peso)


Pablo
 

Frenchyled

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Pablo..it's funny I just saw that when I bought, during my vacation, a shaking flashlight "EverLight Mobile".
I was surprised when I woke up, I saw my Gladius was on and no more power in the two batteries /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I agree with you, this problem must be corrected /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

NewBie

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Wow.

How sensitive is it?

I wonder if it turns on by accident if near motors, ac or dc or dc with magnet, strong magnetic fields near powerful electronic equipment, rf transmitters that have both E and M fields, radio speakers, microphones that have magnets, portable two-way radio speakers, and other similar situations.
 

PEU

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I have my unit in the office, so I can't test it until monday, but I will for sure.

One thing I can add is that I was able to activate the light, with the switch in the locked position, in any of the modes it operates: momentary on, on-off and strobo, all with a tiny magnet from the outside.


Pablo
 

beezaur

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Ughh.

How effective would nickel be? I tried shielding a sensitive compass of mine from a cow magnet with thin stainless steel, that worked ok. Not sure if it was the iron or nickel, but the sheet is nonmagnetic.

Scott
 

dougmccoy

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Pablo

I acknowledge that 'potentially' there could be a problem but in reality I believe it to be as likely as finding hens teeth!

During the extensive testing done by Ken and his team I am confident that commonly used personal radios and weapon systems were used. This problem did not show up then and I believe would be unlikely to show up in real world use.

However, wouldn't it be fairer to ask Ken Good or one of the other Strategos team for their comments on your discovery? If only out of courtesy?

Doug
 

elgarak

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I second that this is not much of a problem. Yes, I can manipulate the modes with one of my numerous tiny, but strong, Neodymium magnets. But even those you have to move very close to the tailcap. I noticed no inadvertent interference from TVs, motors, usual weak fridge magnets, speakers, subwoofers (like the unshielded one in my office, which my predecessor had foolishly positioned beside the monitor, so that the monitor image is greatly distorted, if I remove the subwoofer) or other common sources of magnetism. I doubt that a tactical team would encounter problems from magnets not on their bodies. Or to formulate it differently, if you're in a tactical situation in a location with a magnetic field strong enough to interfere with the switch in the Gladius, you have other problems than to worry about inadvertent activation of the light!
 

TorchMan

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I've had mine around a recharger (Inova T4), next to two different cell phones, one of which is a Motorola I550 + that interferes with anything around it like the telivision or stereo, and the Gladius has not turned on.

It's good to know that the switch can be activated by magnets. I actually thought my magnetic switch in the Gladius might be bad for the phones, etc.
 

Kiessling

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Can be done with the SF U2, too, but you'd need strong neodymium magnets and be real close. Guess it cannot be avoided if you want to profit from this great switching mechanism.
bernie
 

UVvis

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So, don't take your gladius into rooms with NMR's or MRI's running...

Not that I'm trying to pass this off as insignificant, but a strong EM pulse would probably disable the light as well. The odds of running into a strong enough field, in the field, seems unlikely.
 

dano

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It's a non issue.

I tried activating one of my Gladii, around common household magnetic sources, and it didn't turn on.

-dan
 

PEU

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[ QUOTE ]
dougmccoy said:
However, wouldn't it be fairer to ask Ken Good or one of the other Strategos team for their comments on your discovery? If only out of courtesy?

Doug

[/ QUOTE ]

I will send him a PM so he knows about this thread.


Pablo
 

Ken J. Good

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It is something we were aware of and never considered it a detriment to tactical situations.

Administratively as in having your batteries drained…..Users should be made aware of our use of hall-effect sensors. I have sent this to Vaughn Baker the lead Brand Manager to see if we should include this in our instruction manual sooner than later.
 
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