Hi friends,
I am a newbie to this world and have a question please. I currently have a Solarforce L2i, 3xAAA battery version, with an XML drop in. I haven’t used it in the past couple months, but my wife and I decided to go camping and I wanted to bring it along. So I swapped in new batteries and went to fire it up… no luck. I tried different batteries, still no luck. So I swapped in my XPG drop in and it works perfectly. I wanted to use the XML for some extreme lighting but I had to settle on the XPG for the trip.
Well, I went to Manafont to order a new XML and just recieved it yesterday. Needless to say this one doesn’t work either. Did I get unlucky or is there something wrong with the flash light body or tailcap? The original XML worked great for months, then I let it sit for a couple months and that’s when it wouldn’t light up.
I don’t have another flashlight body to test the XML out with unfortunately. Can anyone please point me in the right direction on how to test both XML drop ins that I currently have? I have a cheap multimeter if that helps.
Hoping a don’t have to spend another $18 on a third drop in. I also haven’t investigated Manafont’s return policy… if they even have one.
Hi,
I am using off the shelf Energizer AAA batteries. Nothing fancy. I understand that the voltage of the batteries exceed the 4.2V max of the drop in, but I was under the assumption that this would not hurt the XML due to the quality of over the counter batteries.
Yes, the High Med Low functions of the stock Solarforce tailcap all work on the XPG drop in. No memory function though.
No, none of them work on the XML. I have tried clicking the tailcap on, leaving it on, removing the XPG and simply setting the XML in there but I am still getting nothing.
I am sorry, does DMM mean digital multi meter? I have a $20 craftsman multi meter for reference.
Can you possibly wire up the battery carrier (it has one, right? - I've never seen an L2i) directly to the driver's positive (center spring or center contact ring) and negative (outer ring of the driver)? Use good fresh cells. If it lights up, then you could deduce the issue is in the flashlight body (which wouldn't make sense since the XP-G works). If it lights, try cleaning threads on the body (negative path). If it doesn't light up direct, take your multimeter and measure voltage at the two wires connecting to the LED emitter board - do you get voltage there? (Guessing you should see 3.5 to 4.5 volts.) I did this just recently when my Ultrafire HD2010 quit lighting up. Seeing voltage here should be indicating that the driver is sending the current to the LED, but the LED is "burned out", but others should comment on this.
Thanks Garry! Hoping to get my hands on a friends L2i very soon as well. This will be a good test prior to trying out my dropin in a host that I know is working properly.
It’s odd that both the old drop in and the new one won’t work but the xpg will. Suggests to me a possible current based problem, assuming the two xm-l drivers are fully driven at 3a and the xp-g is driven at 1.5a ish, perhaps the cells drop too much voltage or the holder is corroded and the voltage drops too much at 3a to light the Xm-l, but the lower current of the xp-g puts less of a demand on the contacts, if you have a friend with another p60 host and/or cell type/battery holder, I would try to borrow these as well as doing some educated probing with your meter.
Well guys, I am going to have to swallow my pride on this one and give you all the truth… it was user error
In my haste to swap out the batteries after the original AAA’s wore out from the XML, I installed them wrong. In the L2i host, 2 of the AAA’s insert with the + side up and the 3rd with the + side down. I installed all 3 AAA’s with the + side up. I am fortunate that I didn’t cause any damage to myself or the unit. I guess there was enough “juice” in the batteries to power only the XPG drop in but it was very poor at that. Given that I’ve never seen what the XPG drop in should have properly looked like in the first place, I just wrote it off as a “dim” drop in. I learned that it is actually pretty nice now.
Thanks to everyone for the trouble shooting as it will be helpful in the future and in my learning process.
What a great forum! I will try not to pollute it with my stupidity anymore
