Xtar D26 1600

[scubadiver888]

I just got a D26-1600 (literally 5 hours ago) and charged up two EVVA 5200mAh 26650 batteries for testing. I'm wondering if this light is the "new" @stuartv was talking about.

I'm going to put a battery in the D26-1600 and the other battery in my old D26. I'll leave them over night and see what the battery drain is plus if the red indicator light comes on the D26-1600.

Tomorrow I'll try testing the burn time to see how it compares to the older D26 and to the specs on the Xtar website.

 

[Hitham]

I just got a D26-1600 (literally 5 hours ago) and charged up two EVVA 5200mAh 26650 batteries for testing. I'm wondering if this light is the "new" @stuartv was talking about.

I'm going to put a battery in the D26-1600 and the other battery in my old D26. I'll leave them over night and see what the battery drain is plus if the red indicator light comes on the D26-1600.

Tomorrow I'll try testing the burn time to see how it compares to the older D26 and to the specs on the Xtar website.

what do want to know.. cuz i think i did all variation of tests on d26 models

 

[scubadiver888]

After leaving the dive lights off for 12 hours I checked the batteries. The battery in the D26-1600 was ever so slightly lower than the battery in the original D26. The difference could have just been the battery. Both batteries started at 4.2V and after 12 hours sitting in lights they read 4.1V (97% capacity).

So I decided to see how long the lights would shine at full brightness with a battery which has been in them for 12 hours. Within a few minutes the D26-1600 turned off. The D26 was running fine.

I took the battery out of the D26 and put it in the D26-1600. Within a few minutes the indicator light on the D26-1600 was flashing red. In less than a minute the D26-1600 turned off. I pulled the battery out and checked it with a battery checker. The battery still had plenty of power left. I put the battery back in the D26 and it worked fine.

It feels like the circuitry in the D26-1600 'thinks' the battery is nearly exhausted and turns itself off. I know @stuartv got a new spring which is supposed to fix things. I'm going to write to Xtar and see what the deal is. The dive light I got is brand new. I arrived yesterday evening from China. It was couriered here 2 day delivery. So if this is one of the new dive lights, it is still broken.

I've taken a fully charged battery (4.2V) and put it in the D26-1600. We'll see how long the light stays on. I'll check the battery after it goes out as well. My gut tells me that the light will not stay on for 2.48 hours, as the Xtar website suggests. I also suspect that when the light does go out, the battery will read 4.1V.

 

[scubadiver888]

Left the D26-1600 running with a camera on it. This time it ran for almost 3 hours. When the indicator started flashing red (less than 5%) I turned it off, took out the battery and check the voltage. The battery was at 2.98V. The specs for the light say it needs 2.75V minimum. So everything seems to make sense.

However, my camera died and I only captured 44 seconds. So I put a new battery in the D26-1600, put a new battery in the camera, turned the light on and within seconds, the indicator starts flashing red. It is a fully charged, new battery. I pull the battery and check it with the volt meter. It is fine.

So occasionally the light works fine but most the time it turns off in minutes, some times seconds. I'd hate to be using this on a dive and have it start failing 5 minutes into the dive.

I might have thought it was the batteries I'm using but I can take the failing battery from the D26-1600, put it in my D26 Whale and it works fine.

I've send a message off to my contact at XTAR to see if she can get me in touch with someone in support. Right now the light has worked once correctly. All other times it fails to keep working within minutes. I'm DEFINITELY not using this light until someone can explain what is happening and how to fix it.

EDIT:

I charged a battery to 100%, put it in the D26-1600, turned on the camera. Turned on the D26-1600. Let it run. Within 2 minutes the D26-1600 turned off. I review the camera and it ran for a total of 1:38. I took the battery out of the D26-1600, put it in my D26 Whale, turned on the camera, turned on the D26 Whale. After 15 minutes the D26 Whale is still running at full brightness (1100 lumens, I believe). This is the same battery which will not even turn on the D26-1600.

Next attempt will be to take the battery used when the D26-1600 ran for almost 3 hours. I'm charging this battery right now. Once it is fully charged, I'll try it in the D26-1600 again. Maybe only that one battery works with the D26-1600. Still a problem for me, all the batteries work fine in the D26 Whale. Why don't they work in the D26-1600?

 

[scubadiver888]

Well, for the most part my D26-1600 runs for around 2 to 3 minutes then shuts down. If I take the battery from the D26-1600, immediately after it shuts down, and put it in my D26 Whale, it works for hours. I mentioned this to my contact at XTAR, Catherine Hu, and she says she will talk to her engineers about it.

I have until December 12th to return the light to Alibaba for a refund. So I'm giving XTAR a few more days but if nothing happens soon I'll just return the light and stick with my D26 Whale. By the time I have confidence in XTAR again, I'll probably be looking for a cave light and not bother with them.

 

[scubadiver888]

This is a follow up for my D26-1600. I filed to return my D26-1600 and XTAR asked if they could ship me a new spring for the dive light. I remember someone else mentioned they had a new spring shipped from XTAR. If I did get a refund on the light I would still be out the cost of shipping. So I figured it was worth trying the new spring.

I received the new spring. It looks identical to the spring already installed in the D26-1600. It did not appear that I could install the new spring over top of the old spring. So I removed the old spring and installed the new spring.

I then charged up my EVVA 26650 5200 mAh battery. I put it in the D26-1600. Less than 3 minutes later the dive light turned off. I charged up another battery and tested the dive light again. Same results. This time I paid closer attention to the light. In less than 1 minute the light went from a green indicator light to a red light (75% power). A short while later it switch to a flashing red light (25% power). Just over 3 minutes and the light turned off.

Bottom line, the new spring has solved nothing. I've written Catherine Hu at XTAR with the bad results. I'll let everyone know what happens but it looks like the new spring doesn't solve anything.

 

[stuartv]

They said they were sending me an updated spring. It never arrived. I emailed them last week and they said they would overnight me another, or I could wait (on their production run) and get a whole new light.

Since they already told me they had made new electronics, I opted for getting a whole new light. They then told me I would have to mail them back the old light first (at my expense). I asked for an address to send it to. They emailed the address but I have not mailed the light yet.

TBH, I am quite disappointed with the problem the lights have and with the way they are handling it.

 

[scubadiver888]

@stuartv I remember you mentioning they were going to send you a spring. I thought you had already received the spring and figured, "no news is good news." So rather then push for a refund I agreed to wait for the new spring. When I started the process for a refund, they offered to send me a new spring. There was no mention of a new dive light.

Attached is a picture of the old spring. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the old spring out of the bottom of the dive light (it is just held in by friction). It looks identical to the new spring (now in my D26-1600).



By the fact that I just bought my D26-1600 from them (and received it in November) I would guess that the "new" dive light, they are going to send you, isn't going to be any different from the one I currently have. If they tell me to mail the dive light back to them, at my expense, for a new dive light then I'm just going to write this off as a bad transaction and never do business with XTAR again.

I recommended the D26 Whale to people in my dive club (72 people) in Canada. It has been a great light for me. A few people have purchased the D26 Whale light based on my recommendation and they are very happy with it. I'll probably also mention all this to the 2 dive clubs I attend in Dallas (going back to Dallas next week).

To anyone reading this, if you are thinking about purchasing a D26-1600 dive light manufactured by Shenzhen XTAR Electronics Co. Ltd. I would not recommend you waste the money. They seem to have some serious issues with this light and possibly other dive lights.

 

[stuartv]

They told me (in email?) that they had a new spring and they also had done a new version of the electronics. They also told me last week that if I want a new light I will have to wait for their next production run. So, I am expecting a new AND IMPROVED light. Or maybe I should say I’m hoping for, anyway...

At this point I’d rather put a few bucks into shipping and hope for a useful light. It may be good money after bad. We’ll see...

 

[inka]

@stuartv

Attached is a picture of the old spring. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the old spring out of the bottom of the dive light (it is just held in by friction). It looks identical to the new spring (now in my D26-1600).

View attachment 495992



To anyone reading this, if you are thinking about purchasing a D26-1600 dive light manufactured by Shenzhen XTAR Electronics Co. Ltd. I would not recommend you waste the money. They seem to have some serious issues with this light and possibly other dive lights.

Just curious to know what the new spring would have changed to the problem, seems strange solution to a bigger problem