Fenix pill removal

My untrusty Fenix E20 must be fixed. I think I could figure out the problem if I could just get it apart. I don’t think I would actually figure it out but I could replace parts until it worked. It appears that the pill is either glued or press fit into the body. The exposed part is very thin so I can’t get a very good grip with pliers. I know I can’t use a torch but I have seen mention of freezing. Is there anything to this? Anybody know how to get it out?

Without seeing it, I can't offer too much help. The usual suspects of freezing, boiling, and a good cursing are worth a shot. It's also much harder to disassemble if you intend to re-use parts like the driver.

This guy got the pill out, though it isn't clear from the pictures how, or how easy getting the driver out and a new one in would be.

Put it in a plastic bag you can seal. Squeeze out as much air as possible first.

Set the freezer to its lowest temperature and leave the light there for a few hours. Try disassembly then. If you have access to dry ice, try that but remember to wear appropriate gloves - cold burns can be just as painful as heat burns. It is a very good idea to remove batteries, tailcaps and the like first. Don't try liquid nitrogen - you are likely to kill stuff with that.

Failing that, again a sealed plastic bag with as much air as possible squeezed out.

Yup, boil in the bag illumination.

Remember to wear gloves.

I don't think Fenix routinely glue stuff so it is more likely that a close examination with a magnifier will help.

Ah...ok. That link that Don posted helped with pics. Try this:

Remove the black plastic ring from around the emitter. Save it because that's what prevents the reflector from shorting everything out.

Once removed you should see two holes in the head were the + and - leads com up to the emitter. If you carefully insert both ends of a needle-nose pliars into the holes (and make sure the wires aren't getting pinched), you should be able to apply enough torque to unscrew the whole pill.

OK thanks for the help guys. Freezing didnt help. It turns out there are the two holes in the pill for the wires and two extra holes. I tried a lot of things to get it off and in the end i cut a small hex wrench in half and pounded them into the holes. I then put the hex wrench studs in a vise and turned the body with channel lock pliers. I tried nails in the holes but they were too soft and bent even though only 1mm was exposed from the vises jaws. This thing was not made to be removed.

I removed the driver. The bare emitter was glued directly to the aluninum pill. I removed that. Now i guess I might as well upgrade things to try to repair it. I was thinking of putting in an XP-G emitter. The driver was 17mm so any ideas on what driver to use for that emitter? I know I have to decide on modes but what current would be best? The old emitter was fastened directly to the pill so I imagine I would do the same. Any concerns with that? I think I saw thermal paste somewhere on DX, would that be appropriate for this use?

I hope that that is where the problem is, I will try to test the tail switch also but I really dont know what I am doing there either but I have a post saved somewhere that shows how to test flashlight related things with a multimeter. I dont think the problem is with the switch because it always turned on fine. It would just come on very low and i would have to smack the head a few times before is would go to full brightness.

So thats where we are at. Thanks again for the help and chime in with anything you think would help.

I am trying to put together a DX order to get this thing going. I have to choose between xpg or XML. What I really am having trouble with is picking a driver that will work with these emitters. It would be running off two AAs. Can someone who knows about this stuff help me with a DX driver? DX because I am getting everything else from them. I measured the old driver at 17mm. The old one had little ears that held it in place but I guess I would solder a new one in like I see on the bottom of a p60 dropin. I don’t care about modes, one to three would be best. Thanks for the help

I've had good luck with this driver from DX. Single mode, but runs great on 2xAA.

That is the one I was looking at. I ordered it and an r2 so now I just have to wait a month for my order to get here.