Baffled by AELight

Wow... I don't know what else to say... wow.

Please bear with me.

I just ordered a "demo model" AELight Xenide 20W a few days ago, identical to the older one I own... or so I thought. The reason I bought this demo model is because I thought my ballast blew (contrary to me thinking the battery died), so I figured why not get a cheap replacement ballast from a slightly used Xenide? I get all the extra goodies too, like an extra battery, bulb and an entire head assembly!

So the "demo model" came today, and as I was about to test the bulb from it, I noticed something very peculiar. I looked under the bulb, and it clearly said "EP20W". I looked at the bulb from my old Xenide 20W, and upon closer inspection of what I previously thought was a scuff mark, said "EP25W". In other words, AELight installed the wrong bulb to begin with!

It's no wonder I was experiencing all the problems I had. The light would turn on, but there would be a glassy-purple effect and then shut down completely. Pretty soon it got to the point where this would happen every time I hit the switch... then the light wouldn't come on altogether.

Then there was the "strobe" function.:green:

This was actually the second issue I've had with the same light. The first issue was they included a Powerlight charger instead of a Xenide charger. This is somewhat (please take that word with a grain of salt) understandable, but to have the wrong bulb installed as well is just downright silly.:shakehead

I shot an email to Marc, so hopefully he'll make this one right. I'd like to have the old ballast checked out just to be sure it's safe to use.



So my advice to Xenide owners: CHECK THE BOTTOM OF YOUR BULBS!!!

That's too bad...sorry that you've had trouble. If it were me I'd probably just convert one to a 25W but I know that you like the 20's a lot.

My guess is that AE will get you taken care of with whatever you might need.

Let us know how it turns out though.

Thanks for the support Pat36. I contacted Marc and he said he'll make it right. He told me to send the light in, so I went ahead and did that today.

I'm just relieved he's going to fix the problem.:twothumbs

Just checked my Xenide 25W; it has the correct LA.

Good to hear that. According to Marc all these issues stem from a bad first production run.

So what's the plan.... to have two 20W lights or will one be a 25W?

I don't think I'd personally have a use for two 20 watters but might be able to talk myself into two similar lights with different fixed outputs.

Good question, the original plan was to "frankenstein" parts from my newly acquired Xenide to fix the old Xenide; but that fell through.

Had Marc completely ignored me, I would've most likely just bought a 25W ballast and went from there... but there's another issue. My 4800 mAh (extended) battery briefly shuts off when the light's turned at specific angles. It's possible it's just a fitting issue, but I wanted that checked out too. Could be electronic so I sent it in as well.

I might end up selling the newly acquired one... or like you said turn it into a 25W... who knows. The funny thing is I wouldn't have known better about the bulb had I not bought another 20W. My recent string of luck with HID's haven't been so good, right along with Polarions...

This is rather long, you might want to put on some

Hm, I'm fairly baffled by AELight as well. I bought a Xenide last year, around September. It worked just fine for at least six months, and I used it quite a lot. I must have put a couple hundred hours on it. Around that time, I started to feel a shocking sensation in my hand and arm when I started it sometimes. I posted a question about this back then, and was advised to call Marc for a warranty replacement.

I was experiencing the problem for about 3 months when I sent the light back. Marc was very friendly and helpful (has been through the whole ordeal). He told me to send the entire light back, and that he would replace it, because he wanted to figure out why it was doing what it was doing. I sent the entire thing, including the plastic box and accessories back to AELight.

When he sent the new light back, I checked everything out, and he had included new AC and DC chargers (the original had included only a PowerLight AC charger). He also threw in a nice looking hat. I thought that was a nice gesture, and I could tell that he cared about taking care of his customers. I noticed that the "new" light still had my original lamp assembly, and I figured "OK, they must have checked it and found that it wasn't at fault." I turned the light on and every thing seemed fine. It started, it stopped, it charged. I was happy.:thumbsup:

A couple weeks later, I went on a CPF camping trip for a weekend. While we were out there, my new light mysteriously stopped working. It wouldn't fire up, it wouldn't charge, nothing. My friend peewee bought an identical Xenide (25W) on that trip (from Mike@PTS). I figured it would be a good idea to try and diagnose the problem, so I borrowed his battery, and screwed it on to my light. I clicked the button and nothing happened. So I thought "great, my new ballast or lamp is dead..". Then he put his battery back on his light, and it wouldn't fire either. I could tell he was more disappointed than I was, and he had a good reason. As a trucker, he didn't have anywhere to receive a new battery on the road. Mike took care of him though, and traded batteries with him. His light worked again.

As soon as I got home, I called Marc, and explained what had happened. I said that the battery wasn't showing any voltage, it wouldn't charge, and the ballast appeared to have a short circuit. I was also concerned that my warranty would be ending in a couple weeks. He said that the battery's protection circuit had tripped, and that I should send the entire light back for testing. After about a week of waiting, I called him to see what was up. He said that they were testing some 3rd generation ballasts, that had better cooling, and gave me the option of shipping out a 2nd gen right then, or waiting a couple more weeks for the latest ballast. I opted to wait for a new one.

I received the light and checked it out again, this time he had replaced the battery and the ballast again, but I still had the original light bulb. I tested it, and it lit up right away. I used it for a couple days, charged it several times, and didn't have any problems with it. After a couple days, however, the light started having problems igniting. It would quickly flash, and fail to start, then do nothing until it was turned off. I started to suspect a bulb issue. I looked at the bulb, and noticed that the ceramic around the base was cracked on either side of the lamp, but the bulb itself looked fine. I completely charged it up, thinking that it might also just be due to a low battery, and it did the same thing.

It had to be the bulb, I called Marc once again, and couldn't help but think he was getting a bit tired of hearing from me. At this point, my light was out of warranty, but he agreed to replace the lamp. I put the lamp in a box and mailed it away. About a week later, I received a little box from AELight, and was getting a bit excited. As soon as I installed the lamp, I would have a completely different light than I started out with, a brand new lamp, and the latest revision ballast and battery. I felt very thankful for everything Marc had done for me, especially since my warranty was expired now. I placed the lamp in to the head, tightened the bezel down, screwed the head on to the ballast, and took a deep breath. I pressed the button, and my deep breath turned in to a long sigh, as it failed to strike once again.:sigh: I proceeded to test the battery with my multimeter, and nothing. It had tripped again. Was it the old bulb that did it? I had no way of knowing.

Now, as most paragraphs have started, I called Marc AGAIN! I'm sure he's sick of me at this point:sick2:, and I know he's not obligated to continue helping me. However, he seems to have a genuine interest in making sure that his customers are 100% happy with his product. He graciously agreed to replace my battery once again. It's packed up in a box on my desk. I plan on sending it Monday morning.

I seriously hope that the new battery will finally fix this for good. I've never had this many problems with a light, and I feel terribly unlucky. I've got dozens of other lights, incan, LED, and an HID, and the worst problem I've had was a switch on a SF L1. I really feel like I'd be better off selling this thing and getting myself some kind of P7 light, but I don't want to sell it if it doesn't work.

(Fingers crossed...)

Yikes. I think I feel the electric shocks you described after reading the whole story!

I completely understand where you're coming from. I'm having similar problems with Polarion; I'm on my third light at this point and I'm still having problems.:sigh: Sometimes I feel like I made a mistake buying it, but I know deep down Polarions are great lights. It's most likely a bad production run I'm experiencing.

I feel the same way about Xenides. They're always great to me... it's just I had the wrong bulb.

I've heard lots of good things about Xenides, and I know two other people personally that own the AEX25s, neither of them have had any problems. I know the problems I'm having aren't very widespread, I just feel like I'm quite unlucky with them. If I sold the light, it would probably work just fine for it's next owner.

electromage said:

I've heard lots of good things about Xenides, and I know two other people personally that own the AEX25s, neither of them have had any problems. I know the problems I'm having aren't very widespread, I just feel like I'm quite unlucky with them. If I sold the light, it would probably work just fine for it's next owner.

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I was wondering how that was turning out... guess at least it's a big +1 to Mark (and Mike@PTS for Peewee as well). Let us know how the newest chapter unfolds. I've been quite impressed with the AE HIDs that I've seen. Hope it all goes well for you.

electromage said:

I've heard lots of good things about Xenides, and I know two other people personally that own the AEX25s, neither of them have had any problems. I know the problems I'm having aren't very widespread, I just feel like I'm quite unlucky with them. If I sold the light, it would probably work just fine for it's next owner.

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Any threads that have some beamshots of the X25 I'm not having much luck finding more then two or three on the internet.

PhantomPhoton said:

I was wondering how that was turning out... guess at least it's a big +1 to Mark (and Mike@PTS for Peewee as well). Let us know how the newest chapter unfolds. I've been quite impressed with the AE HIDs that I've seen. Hope it all goes well for you.

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Yeah, Marc has gone above and beyond to take care of me, I just keep ending up with a non-functioning light somehow.

I'm glad to hear Marc will at least take care of me.:tinfoil:

That's sounds like quite an annoying ordeal electromage.

I'm glad that you're getting some help and cooperation though. Like you stated, Mike doesn't own you anything but none of this sounds like it's due to any fault of your own. Just a run of bad luck maybe.

At least these issues seem to be the exception and not the rule with AE.

CajunJosh said:

Any threads that have some beamshots of the X25 I'm not having much luck finding more then two or three on the internet.

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I recall there were a few comparison beamshots of the Xenide 25W, but I can't remember which thread it was. I'll let you know if I find it.

I'd be happy to post a few once I get mine working again

Patriot36 said:

That's too bad...sorry that you've had trouble. If it were me I'd probably just convert one to a 25W but I know that you like the 20's a lot.

My guess is that AE will get you taken care of with whatever you might need.

Let us know how it turns out though.

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What would be involved in converting one to a 25W? Approximate cost?

Parker VH said:

What would be involved in converting one to a 25W? Approximate cost?

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I don't think you can really "upgrade" a 20W to a 25W, they used different lamps, ballasts, and batteries. You might be able to get away with using a smaller battery, but after learning the hard way about their current protection, I wouldn't try it.

I sent the light out close to 2 weeks ago, and haven't heard from AE since. The light arrived at their location in Oregon on 12/01.

Hopefully I'll hear something from them soon.

Parker VH said:

What would be involved in converting one to a 25W? Approximate cost?

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It's definitely possible (and practical) to upgrade.

If you already have the extended 4800 mAh battery then it should cost you about $220 (shipping included) for a 25W ballast and bulb. If not then it should set you back about $320 for the bulb, ballast and 4800 mAh battery; again including shipping. You'll save about $80 using this "mega lego" method instead of buying a new 25W Xenide.

Lots of fun, lots of options.