Fenix LD10 let me down, today

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
1

So, this very morning I decided to swap the much-used cell in my Fenix LD10, which hasn’t been recharged for weeks, for another eneloop.

At work, I switched it on at around 10:30, it worked flawlessly.

At 12:00 o’clock, it wouldn’t do anything at all, no matter how many times I pushed the tailcap switch. I’d put it on the bench, leaving it there, and went on counting some 400 bottles of matured wine; a BIC lighter casting all the light instead of my fenix torch (my thumb is still sore!). When I looked up, bitchy Miss Fenix suddenly lit up, all by herself. Clicked through all the modes, perfectly. Took it to the racks, no light at all, again. Cleaned the contact surfaces, swapped the eneloop for yet another eneloop - nothing, zip, nada, about as dead as Gaius Julius Caesar (that does remind me of something… “Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come!”)

Two hours later, it was working perfectly again. Went down to the wine vault, and - surprise!!! Comrade Fenix on general strike, again. Went up again, it lit up perfectly. First thought: I greatly dislike an unreliable torch.

Now, back at home, warm and comfy, that pesky little light is functioning as good as ever.

I’ve cleaned all the contacts several times, and replaced the cell several times; yet, throughout the day, it left me stranded with no light at all; lighting up only when it felt like it.

Have the numerous drops (hip-height) finally taken their toll?

Is it really time to discard it and let the gorgeous Quark Tactical QTA 1-AA take its place? (on second thoughts, the Quark QTA does have a much nicer beam, really - and a forward clicky, and a deep-carry pocket clip, and it’s programmable, and… oh, I’m distracting, again)

Or, scrap the thought of carrying rather expensive torches like these, altogether; and put one of my SK68’s to good use instead of giving them away all the time?

2

maybe you should tear it up to see if something is loose,maybe tailcap or the circuit is bad contact with the body.
try to connect the - battery with a wire to the body just to make sure :slight_smile:

3

Most likely the switch went south.

4

Worth a try: Tighten up the washer holding the switch in the tailcap. It tends to loosen with time.

5

Switches are always problematic. This is why I prefer twisties

6

an update, of kinds:

Miss Fenix seemingly dislikes two of my eneloops.

I stuck in the old one, today, which reads 0.92V on my Gossen Metrawatt DMM, and it lit right up. Worked perfetly throughout the whole day, with no problems at all. Put in the freshly charged ones - and it starts acting up, again.
Just on two of my eneloops…

At work, I still have two pairs of “Duraloops” sitting, last time I charged them was in may, Miss Fenix took them with no complaint. Tried an Energizer Lithium primary cell, no problem either.

What’s puzzling me is that said eneloops in question do work with every other single-AA light I do have, so they’re not bad cells.

Is my torch developing a character of its own?

s.: my EDC lights get inspected, cleaned and the threads and O-rings very lightly lubed once a week, and everything which could become loose gets tested to be still tightly on.

7

My guess is also that you have intermittent connection problem in the tail cap clicky. Try removing the tailcap and use a paperclip to connect the neg batt terminal to the tube edge - this will at least tell you if the problem is in the head or tail.

You should also consider EDC’ing a small piece of tinfoil in your wallet. For one, you can use it to turn mechanical clickies into twisty lights (in the case of clicky failures), and more importantly for me - in a real pinch, it allows the use a variety of batteries (AAA/9V/CR123/18650/etc) in/with my 1xAA (0.9-4.2v) EDC light.

8

I had a problem with my LD10, I had to send it in to Fenix. It was a “free repair” or 5$ or something, but cost me 15$ to ship. On a 50$ light. And this was only a couple days after I received it.

Anyways it was fixed and its really nice light.

9

I should have posted that long ago;

usually I don’t like to cause a fuzz and not get back in touch.

So, all is well, again - indeed, it was the tailcap switch which had gone south. For now, I have switched the bad switch (pun intended) for the good one of my LD20 which rarely sees any use, anymore.

10

If you’re careful you can take the switch apart and clean the contacts. When the switches get old the contacts can get dirty and oxidize making a bad connection. Cleaning them will restore it. Just be careful as you usually have to pry them apart with a sharp knife and the spring can drop out and bounce around never to be found again.