I recently received a non working Fenix L2D from my father, and I’d like to swap a modern emitter/driver into it. I believe he tried to use lithium ion cells in it at some point.
I’m open to doing the work myself, but if someone has the know how I’d be more than happy to pay them to refresh this light. I’m thinking an SFT25r could be a good option for this light, but am open to suggestions. If anyone has any advice on this, I’d be greatly appreciative. Thanks!
Afaik, Fenix is not mod friendly. Most of the threads are locked and drivers glued and potted. They also like to use pressed in retainer rings instead of threads. This old model seems to use CR123 cells? You might need some serious skills to mod it.
I’m not familiar with that particular Fenix, but I have modded or attempted to mod some other Fenix lights.
Fenix likes to squirt a whole tube of red threadlocker into the pill threads. Good luck!!!
I hope you have fun here, EveryDayLarry!
I’ve heard of Leisure Suit Larry, and now I’ve heard of EveryDayLarry. 
Welcome to the forum! Seems this is a very old 2*AA light? These came out in about 2007.
Do troubleshoot first to establish why the light isn’t working.
Clean the threads, ensure the switch retaining ring is tight, use a paperclip across the end of the light with the tailcap off to bypass the switch.
Also establish if lithium cells were used and what kind- 2x 14500 3.7v cells would likely have fried the driver. I see an old review on the other forum where they ran a single 14500 and it worked.
2x lithium primary AA (energizer lithium type) should have been fine. Likewise, 2x usb rechargeable 1.5V AA cells would have been okay.
If the driver is fried, you’ll probably have to replace it, I couldn’t find dimensions online, so you’ll have to measure it once you get the head open. I’ve not seen any drivers available that mimic the Fenix user interface of head tight: turbo/strobe and head loose: low-med-high-SOS, so you’ll probably be stuck with a “normal driver” perhaps one of the ones from Convoy would fit.
I did an LED swap in a LD20 (successor of this light) a long time ago- removing the bezel was the hardest step, reflowing a new LED and re-soldering the wires from the driver was pretty easy in comparison, my LD20 had an XP-G MPCB so I could slap a Nichia 219 straight in.
The L2D used an XR-E LED, I think, so you’d probably need a new MPCB to match the footprint of your desired LED.
Wow, blast from the past!
The L2D “Rebel 100” was my first LED light(unless you count nite-ize converted Maglites) in 2007. The Rebel 100 emitter was cutting edge then. No idea if the Rebel name was Fenix re-naming or the actual name of the LED. For like 2 months after the light came out it was the brightest AA light in existence on the planet… Then some yutz came out with a new emmiter that put out 15 more lumens and ruined my bragging rights. lol
I ran NIMH rechargeables in it for a decade, (still have it, it still works), and have wondered if I could run it on a single 14500 without frying it… that’s interesting!
But yeah, sorry, way off topic… I cant help any, but I hope you can get yours going, they are bulletproof workhorse lights, be really cool to see another one still going!
Thank you for sharing all of that information, I believe lithium ion cells were used in it once before which is why it’s no longer working now. I’m going to take a shot at sending it back to fenix to have them repair it, and if that fails I’ll be following your advice and attempt a repair/mod. The driver seems fairly easy to get at with this light, but I’ll have to find out if that’s true the hard way eventually. Thanks again for sharing all of that knowledge with me, I look forward to delving into my first official mod if fenix doesn’t have any luck.
I totally agree, and thank you for sharing. It’s super cool to see a well loved light like this still kicking, and the brightness surprised me for its age as well! All the more motivation to get it fixed up.
I have one too since 2007 and still going strong. But i did manage to open the head and swap emitter and i will do it again since new FFL emitters throw more but with huge CRI unlike Nichia 219C that’s in it right now.
I’ll post some photos when i come back from a business trip.
Just for info, since XRE emitter is removed you need to grind a bit the base where the new MCPCB will be installed cause the reflector focal point is a bit different than today flashlights
I’m late to the party here
I used strap wrenches for my LD20, didn’t need boiling or anything, just firm pressure until the locktite gave way. I forgot which direction it threaded, think it was normal.
Your assumption about where it unthreads would also be my best guess.
While attempting to unthread the bezel, ensure you have the head screwed onto the flashlight body- it will help prevent deformation of the head of the light.
Regarding a new driver, I’m not sure the T4 driver will physically fit, photos on Simon’s website it looks quite tall, and I’ve no idea the diameter of the original Fenix driver. The T4 driver has a wide voltage input range to accept 2x AA or 14500 cells.
Given you fried a driver with 2x14500 cells, I feel it important to say now that unprotected lithium cells in series are a tad risky. To minimise the risk, they should be “married” and always charge them together to the same voltage before putting them in the light.
Thank you for your answer, including all of the advice on what drivers might be compatible, it’s very helpful, plus the safety info about the batteries. It was really pretty stupid not to have checked if it could take li-ions before slamming them in there.
Unfortunately I’ve made a bit of a pig’s ear of opening the head, used an axle clamp in a vice which worked fine to hold one half but strap wrench on the other kept slipping. Eventually I lost patience and used a sheffield footprint wrench with some rubber wrapping. Got a lot of force but no joy and managed to gouge the coating too. It’s quite impressive that the head still unscrews off the body smoothly after the force I used, no deformation has taken place
I’ll give it a rest and come back to it again for another go when I get or make a more suitable tool.
I’m just wondering if the head splits on a reverse thread on this model, I put a hell of a lot of force through it.
In the meantime there is a slight upside, I have re-purposed the very nice rubber button from the L2D to use in the tailswitch of this Trustfire L2S. It’s a cheap light but with an interesting USB port covered by a threaded collar. It also is extremely well regulated. The button that it came with was really awful, but this improvement has turned it into a light that I actually like a lot.
If I get the L2D going again I’ll swap it back.
