ACETECH Lighter S Tracer Unit Issue

[Yetiwatch]

Hi All

 

Wondering if anyone has any experience with the Acetech Ligher S tracer unit. I bought recently and it is turning the unit off after 20 minutes even while using. Any help would be grateful.

 

Thanks

[Guest]

@Dan1712 ??

[Rogerborg]

Mmm, mine's a bit temperamental too, it likes to flash red codes even when fully charged.  It does seem to settle down after a few on-off cycles though.

 

There doesn't appear to be a user manual for the Lighter-S, but the Lighter manual suggests that holding the power button for 3 seconds while turning on toggles the auto-shutdown mode on and off.  While off, it should flash green twice a second rather than once.

 

Not that it should shut down while being used though.  Have you spotted it flashing red at all?

[Yetiwatch]

When i was testing it was green flash. I will try the 3 second trick tonight otherwise it will be going back for a swift refund!

 

Thanks all.

[Rogerborg]

As the most recent Lighter-S trouble topic, I thought I'd BUMP this thread to report that both I and ex-workmate Eddie have been having problems with our Lighter-S tracer units.

 

Mine is still stroppy.  It will sit ostensibly charging for many hours, but then if you disconnect and reconnect the charger, will show as full.  It requires several on-off cycles before it stops flashing red error / bogus low battery, even when freshly charged.  Once it's on, it will stay on, but the intensity has dropped off significantly since I first got it (with both ASG blasters and AirsoftWorld green tracers), leading me to suspect that some of the LEDs have failed already.

 

Ex-workmate Eddie dropped his Lighter-S and wrecked it, so had a brand new one on Sunday, freshly charged, and functional at home.  On site, it failed immediately, ostensibly turning itself on (green light flashes) but then it wouldn't turn off, and didn't function at all.

 

I really couldn't recommend them.  Nice idea, but the quality is shoddy even by airsoft toy standards.

[Rogerborg]

Just to confirm, mine has lost the LEDs on one side, 2 out of the 4 in there.  There's no obvious breaks in any of the solder, and a dip in isopronol and then a blast with a heat gun to try and reflow it hasn't helped.  They're surface mount LEDs with the surface on the inside, so I can't even solder in some wires to bridge the bad ones to the good without tearing the thing apart.

 

Oh, and despite having only a few hundred rounds through it since the last "charge", it was down to 3.3V, so it''s not charging properly either.

 

They're vendor trash, I'm afraid.  At this point, I'm considering just gutting it and using the shell and battery (210mAh 3.7V) to power some manually switchable LEDs instead.

[Rogerborg]

Another little BUMP, after reviewing the unit on Amazon, ACETECH asked me to contact them, then asked for a video of the issue.  They're not even suggesting that I send it back, just that if they reckon it's a unit fault rather than user abuse (how would they tell?) that they'll send another one as it's within a year of purchase.

 

Let's see if they make good on that.  I'm highly sceptical, which means I can only be pleasantly surprised.

[Syks]

Ive been put off of acetech since mine went faulty,  I do hear there customer service is ok though so I think they will send you a new one rogerborg

[Rogerborg]

Video provided on Thursday, no contact since.  At this point they've just wasted more of my time.  I've followed up again, more out of interest about what the story will be now.

 

 

 

(Fun fact: that was recorded in landscape mode, the file is in landscape mode, but YouTube has decided that it should be portrait, presumably because it was recorded on a phone)

[Rogerborg]

Funner fact: bastarding Amazon was stripping the video link out of my messages, and Acetech wasn't making that clear, they were just asking for another video.

 

I've since sent them a direct email with a link to that video, and got this rather peculiar reply:

 

Quote

Dear Sir

 

It should be a faulty

 

Could you destroy it like squash and send us photo to prove you have done?

 

Also provide your serial number

 

Please keep adapter and accessories as replacement

 

We will ship you a brand new

 

Also please remove the video

 

Thanks

 

Sincerely

 

[Acetech, etc]

 

That's... peculiar.  I've asked them to confirm that they really want me to destroy it, and that there's no misunderstanding here.

 

Also: "squash" a lithium battery, nice try.

 

 

[L3wisD]

Seems they aren't kidding ?

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/airsoft/comments/b6rqd3/update_acetech_said_to_smash_my_tracer_to_get_a/

[E21A]

4 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

Funner fact: bastarding Amazon was stripping the video link out of my messages, and Acetech wasn't making that clear, they were just asking for another video.

 

I've since sent them a direct email with a link to that video, and got this rather peculiar reply:

 

 

That's... peculiar.  I've asked them to confirm that they really want me to destroy it, and that there's no misunderstanding here.

 

Also: "squash" a lithium battery, nice try.

 

 

Probably just trying to ensure you’re not having them over, by saying it’s broken when it isn’t to get a freebie 

[Musica]

seen many reddit videos of destroying acetechs

[Rogerborg]

Yup, they've confirmed.  So: angle grinder, or blowtorch?

 

I'll initially be destroying the internals and filing the branding off - I expect that their concern is with broken units being sold on and harming their brand.  It'd be nice to be able to run the carcass as a bijou silencer or extender though.

[Musica]

stick some putty on it some wires and a 9v battery then leave it on the pavement. It will get a warriors death 

[Skara]

3 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

Yup, they've confirmed.  So: angle grinder, or blowtorch?

 

I'll initially be destroying the internals and filing the branding off - I expect that their concern is with broken units being sold on and harming their brand.  It'd be nice to be able to run the carcass as a bijou silencer or extender though.

Blowtorch like a man, and make sure to send them the full destruction video

Posting it on here is a given

[Rogerborg]

Mrs Borg had some issues with blowtorching the table.

 

Destroy like squash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5E_1jNhpo

 

 

Email sent, let's see if they actually make with a replacement.

[Skara]

Inb4 "lel t'was a joke"

[Rogerborg]

14 hours ago, Skara said:

Inb4 "lel t'was a joke"

 

I know, right?  It does feel weird, and I have a dislike for destruction and discarding rather than repair, but it wasn't for being fixed.

[Syks]

after my acetech tracer unit went faulty after using it twice I have been totally put off by the brand, I luckily got a full refund from amazon and ended up buying the xcortech 301 mk2, so far it has been faultless, just hope it stays that way lol

[Rogerborg]

Oh, I wouldn't have another.  I'm still having a back and forth with Acetech, who seem determined to drip feed everything they want me to tell them one email at a time, rather than just listing it all up front.  Who do they think they are, airsoft site owners? 

 

[Musica]

seems they had a bad run on their lighter range my BT is still kicking and my pal has used it the past 2 game days and thinks its better than his nuprol one.

[Rogerborg]

After many many many emails to "Evan" at Acetech "UK" (snort, guffaw), I was rather surprised to receive a text from DHL saying that my parcel from Acetech will be delivered next Tuesday.  Followed by a demand for import duty, fortunately only £3.04, for my "LED SEARCH LIGHT".

 

Well, well.  Let's see what I actually receive, but it is looking like they do support their product.

[Rogerborg]

BUMP from beyond the grave.

 

I should have said, I did actually did finally receive a replacement Lighter-S, which worked every bit as well as the first one. As in...

 

On 17/11/2019 at 22:06, Rogerborg said:

Just to confirm, mine has lost the LEDs on one side, 2 out of the 4 in there.  There's no obvious breaks in any of the solder,

 

 

Yup, the replacement is now doing the same.  It's also erratically shorting on one side, so the LEDs either don't come on, or stay on solid, and I can feel the circuitry heating up.  Gentle touches on the circuitry turn the LEDs on and off, so I reckon it's just mis-soldered somewhere rather than component failure.  I can't spot the problem beyond some solder-spatter which I've gently removed with a plastic spudger.

 

Surprise, surprise, ex-Workmate Eddie's replacement unit is also doing the same.

 

However...

 

On 17/11/2019 at 22:06, Rogerborg said:

a dip in isopronol

 

And a soft brush scrubbing has ameliorated the issue, for now.

 

They are fragile though, and I won't be buying another or recommending them, especially now that spitfire units can be had for £40 delivered from AliExpress.

[MagpieTactical]

Yeah I wasn't impressed with my. Lighter S, it did the sporadic not working even though fully charged etc

 

A couple of months ago I (stupidly) bought a Brighter C. 

 

Lights up BBs brilliantly.  But the flashing LEDs when just idling (I. E. On but not shooting) were a huge beacon during a night game, so very hard to sneak about before shooting.