So I have an Angelfire A1 host and a Spiderfire X-03 host for P60 sized dropins. The two dropins I have are a one mode XP-G R5 that has never given me any issues and an XM-L U2 that has lost a ton of its brightness….
and by a lot of brightness I mean it is now less bright than my XPG module
I just thought my XML unit was going bad but as I had the light on I unscrewed the tailcap a quarter of a turn and the light came to life again! I screwed the cap all the way tight and it maintained the normal output as I received it months back. I switched modes to the low output and it diverted back to less bright than XPG (that is, the low light output that the unit produced when it was less bright than the xpg on high). strobe same thing (I hate that mode).
Turned back to bright it it had reverted back to crappy output. I turned the tailcap again and same thing, output rose dramaticaly but switching the modes or turning the light off reverts the module back to turd-like output.
Those batteries are crap. You definitely need some better batteries. :( Have you tried replacing the tail cap with a key? Does that give it full brightness.
HAHA you’re telling me! that’s why I was embarrassed to admit it! Ive played with everything. I use a piece of wire to bypass the tailcap and I get the same thing and I always get same results of brightness… except only when I took the module out of the light and inverted it on an translucent film canister and hard wired battery directly to module with wire and only touched one strand of wire to negative connection on module did I get full illumination….
I just put two new energizer 123 primaries in it however, and turned it on and full brightness!! but now it wont change modes (not that I’m complaining!)
Can bad batteries cause the light to act like that?
Please stop using those CR123A batteries, they will most likely kill the driver in your drop in. What it sounds like is your host has to much resistance, I would recommend cleaning off all the threads.
clean the whole thing up and check that the reflector is not shorting out the wires that attach to the LED. Not the typical symptoms of that problem but thats where a lot of goofy behavior comes from and it’s worth checking out. Tighten the switch retainer ring if this light has one.
Make sure the reflector isn’t sitting directly on the wires (make plastic washer if needed. 8.4v should be OK with 2 CR123s.
Do all the cleanup but it sounds like possibly a driver issue to me. SolarForce P60 drop-in?
I’ve had some drop-ins that just didn’t work correctly with certain hosts and battery combinations and worked fine in others - good excuse for one of those L2M bodies on sale at SF!
like CRC 2-26. I’m starting to sound like a frickin’ recording about using this stuff first before a unit is definitely claimed defecto.
Ponder that these lights of ours are exposed to Gaw’d knows what in the factory much less in transit. Salt air, sweat, moisture, hairs, dirt, dust, contaminated greases, swarf. You name it. These things AFAIK aren’t assembled in a clean-room either.
The batteries could be too long and pushing against the driver. Get shorter batteries and see if that works. Most of all get better quality batteries and you will see the same.
I have similar issues with my uniquefire 2100, as it does not pulls as hard. Before it used to pull 3.5amps easy now it's more like 2.8amps.
After running it for a little bit, only the high mode remains. Neither the low output or the strobe feature work (this bothers me not). Could I have “burned out” the other modes somehow?
Was able to get a tailcap reading of 1.9A. Is this typical?
Also, I was working on the ole Jeep today and found a tube of permatex dielectric grease, is this okay to use on flashlights?
