Monday, June 6, 2016

Death of a flashlight. A cautionary tale.

I had a pretty decent flashlight stashed by the back door. (Fenix E21) This is a convenient spot since it's by the kitchen. Literally I just used it...and now it's not working. WTF batman......

Checked the batteries (Duracell Ultra)...ruptured cell....DAMMIT!!
and it's stuck. This model had a removable head so I was able to pound out the stuck cell. Fresh batteries did not help. It's a paperweight.

Oh leaking batteries are no joke. ACID! take reasonable precautions. Wash/flush your hands throughly.  It did eat into the metal cylinder of the light. That is what I think caused it's untimely demise.

There isn't anything I could have done to prevent the situation. Warranty covers manufacturer's defects and not ruptured cells. At least it wasn't a $300 Streamlight or something! And I have several lights that can easily take it's place.

After some google-fu it appears the light is discontinued...so even if I wanted to fix it somehow it' would be not worth the effort to find the parts.

Hope you learned something!

3 comments:

  1. Take pics, document, & fire off a note to Duracell; batteries are NOT supposed to do that.

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  2. Duracell changed something in their battery contents. What you saw is now common for their batteries. I suspect that they also make them for Kirkland/Costco, since they are also starting to crap out like that.

    I suspect that they tried to cut corners to offset inflation. LOTS of manufacturers seem to be doing the same in all areas of products. Suspect EVERYTHING you now buy, both food and durable products.

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  3. Doubletrouble:
    It's probably not worth the effort. At most I might get some coupons for more duracells.

    Will:
    Yup, It's just like now "pound" bags of coffee are 12oz instead of 16.

    ReplyDelete