new to this forum. Fenix L2T with problems

Introduce Yourself
1

been lurking here for years, great site.
about ~5 years ago bought first LED flashlight. Fenix L2T. today on Amazon, says is 152 Lumens. don’t know if that is what mine is, or if they have updated. seems high. (not seeing it on Fenix site. takes 2 AA)

anyway, been great. use if for night walks and at first only goal was to see if that was a skunk, then avoid. vs CA Black-tailed jackrabbit or cat or fox or possum, does that great, and more.

however, over time it has gotten worse with on/off. as in go to turn it on, and does not turn on. click it again again etc, shake it, and goes on. stays on fine. have cleaned contacts (amazing how when look perfectly clean, still come up black) that used to seem to fix it. not really any more.

so, thoughts on this? is it an issue INSIDE the click tail switch? is fixable? replaceable?
AND, if I buy a new one, is this something that some brands are far better at? don’t want to be replacing flashlight every 5 years. I notice all kinds of controls on some of the new ones, with magnetic switches and such. better?

also, when I did buy this, bought another one at the same time. it had rotate the dial into various positions for on/off, or some such scheme. returned it, as too much work to just turn on off. while the Fenix was tail cap on off and rotate cap for dim bright. that was FAR better user interaction (I’m a user interaction designer by day) so I’m more interested in not so much how many features a flashlight has, but how fricking easy it is to use in day to day use. willing to pay more for solid engineering. but not a fortune. and features such as dim, bright, turbo seem useful, but only if able to use them without jumping through user interaction sillyness.

thanks, matthew
( and apology as new user if in wrong post slot, as I both introduced self AND asked question
OK if you need to move it )

2

more info: the tail click on click off switch also has a momentary off when partly pressed, but not clicked from on state. sometimes on click turn on, when it does not go on, I can push the momentary press but not click off and then on release will be on. sometimes. not always.

3

Is the retaining ring in the tailcap fully tightened?

4

if you mean the tailcap tightened onto the body, yes. as for some kind of ring to tighten, does not seem to be an option on this one.

what your comment DID get me to realize ( THANKS ), is that while I’d been focusing on cleaning the spring in the middle, I did not realize that of course, contact is also made from ring outside the spring, to the body of the flashlight. so extra cleaned that as well.

seems somewhat better, yet still wonky. somewhat subjective, yet, if really worked every-time perfectly, that would truly be different than maybe is working sometimes more often than before.

5

Ok, I have the following model (LD20 Q5) and it has a retaining ring inside the tailcap (around the spring) with two little holes by which it can be unscrewed/tightened with needlenose pliers. Are you sure it doesn’t have that, there must be some way to remove the switch assembly?

6

Red Forrest means the little ring IN the tailcap that holds the switch in place. It sometimes loosens or gets dirty. There should be a little ring with two holes holding down the bits. To test if it is the tailcap or not, remove the tailcap, put to fresh cells in the light and take something like a paper clip or key or knife to contact the body of the light with the negative end of the cell. If the light works fine, the problem is the tailcap.

7

Use pliers or tweezers in the two holes. Turn counter clockwise to tighten. That should fix your problem.

8

wow, thanks to RedForest UK & eebowler & Ouchyfoot

YES, I do have that ring. on looking at it, just assumed was solid locked in. did not know could be rotated. just happend to be looking at Nitecore flashlights and saw they have exact same style ring, so that started to make me suspicion was some kind of industry standard, like back of wrist watches for opening.

so now I will try.
YES, on direct wire, it works.
tightened… HOLY GOSH something or other. it works!
WOW, thanks.

power of internet & forums win again.

bringing this to a close, if one were to buy another flashlight…
are there some with better switch systems, contacts to batteries etc
such as magnetic switches just started reading on.
do the parts inside the switches in version such as mine, with clickable end, ever get dirty parts that are internal and cannot be cleaned. OR to put another way, should I UNSCREW mine to clean any internal parts or does that just ask for disaster???

anyway, thanks overall, now to test on some skunks tonight to see how well this holds up. I did NOT tighten too much, just maybe 1/8 or less turn.

9

Tighten it up tight.

10

You sure about the direction? :stuck_out_tongue:

11

Yup. I even pulled the tailcap off my LD20 to double check. It was a bit loose and needed a tighten too.

12

Fenix uses counter clockwise for their lights.

13

my first thought was clockwise, and missed the careful read of counter-clockwise. and indeed, clockwise seemed to do it.

now I wonder if just jiggled it. need to try other direction. although does seem cannot go any further with clockwise.

really need a specific tool for this, or maybe more needly needle nose.

14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BRPdgTN7g0

Generally just tearing it down and cleaning it will fix it ...95% of the time ..most problems are just contact issues .

Needle nose pliers or hemostats will work

tail cap issues are always contact issues

15

Thanks for joining the gang, matthewS!

16

went for a walk in the dark, light brighter than before, switch better, sort of. and sort of is not good enough for a flashlight and skunks.

back inside kept working at the tail cap. finally unstuck, and screwed it out, counter-clockwise.

now I just need to figure out if just all needs clean up OR if the actual switch is broken. if so, any suggestion on how to get the right replacement switch? I notice many places sell something that “looks” the same, but is it?
is there a just sort of standard size? any suggested quality switch to put in?

cleaned it up. put it back together. “seems” better. wait until tomorrow and the skunk walk.

thanks all again

17

If you need replacement switch, this one might work for you: http://www.fancyflashlights.com/goods.php?id=141

When buying switch, make sure that it’s forward clicky (most are reverse clickies) and that the dimensions are right for your light (measure the old one)

But if the old switch works fine after cleaning/tightening, I don’t see any reason to replace it.

18

This switch is good too.

http://intl-outdoor.com/forward-clickytactical-switch-module-17mm-pcb-p-461.html

19

You say that now because you haven’t gotten the bill yet. :stuck_out_tongue:

Welcome to the forum, Matthew.

20

WD40 works well. Flood the switch with it, click on and off a FEW times then shake out the excess WD40 and put everything back together. Deoxit works a lot better if it’s still available. If it looks like the solder connections are broken, then that might be the problem otherwise, it just could be dirty contacts.

The retaining rings on my L2D and L2P tailcaps (both are the same) tighten clockwise. I guess fenix changed their tailcaps over the years.