My microfire warrior III just died....

[Razako]

Well this sucks. My HID 3500 lumen microfire warrior-III that I've had for like 2 years just randomly died. I turned it on and then it started flickering for like 2 seconds then nothing. Now it's completely dead and I think the driver for the bulb must have gone bad. I bought it a long time ago so there's no warranty either

To make things worse I've tried disassembling the head to try and change the bulb just to see if that fixes it and it seems that the threads are COMPLETELY JAMMED somehow. They start unscrewing and then completely seize up. Idk if they were glued at the factory or machined badly, but there's absolutely no way the head is coming apart. Leave it to the chinese to make a HID flashlight that you can't take apart to change the bulb. Now it looks like I have a rechargeable 12v lipo battery, a spare HID bulb and a $400 paperweight.

RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rpaloalto]

Thats sucks
Do some searching on CPF, or post a help me thread. I'm sure one of the custom flashlight gurus would be willing to help you out.

If not get in touch with flaminpyro, and have him make a custom host for you. I bet that thing could hold a massive 12-oz copper heatsink

 

[Razako]

Thats sucks
Do some searching on CPF, or post a help me thread. I'm sure one of the custom flashlight gurus would be willing to help you out.

If not get in touch with flaminpyro, and have him make a custom host for you. I bet that thing could hold a massive 12-oz copper heatsink

I sort of alienated the people over at CPF a while ago and that's putting it nicely. I have no interest in going back there.

 

[rangedunits]

CPF are a bunch of haters, they arent users friendly.

 

[Razako]

Anyway I finally got the driver out. The extraction process involved a hacksaw:cryyy:
In this picture you can clearly see what looks like arcing damage to the driver. If that wasn't bad enough the driver is potted in epoxy so there's basically no hope of even attempting a repair. Oh and it's completely unlabeled and unmarked so I have no way of looking for a replacement:thinking:

 

[rpaloalto]

Well, I guess it's time to make a 445nm host out of this $500 bad boy

 

[roddenberry]

It is indeed an extremely good-looking host, worthy of a future high-power laser project. Plus there's plenty of space in there so you'll have many options for driver/battery/diode combos.
Sorry 'bout your loss though. It's always a major annoyance when an expensive piece of gear dies.
- Robert