damn, my first burnt out Q5

crofty

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153wxgg.jpg


That there is my 8 month old P3d that`s had daily use and worked fine untill I decided to do a runtime test. :green:

I set it to high, placed it on a heat sink and kept an eye on it, it stayed slightly warm to the touch but not hot.
After recharging I repeated but this time on turbo and I periodicly dunked it in water because it was getting hotter than I felt comfortable with.
After another charged I turned it on and noticed the hot spot was brown, "that`s burnt out.. damn" I said. :(

It seems I`ve got my first casualty then, my question is, dispite my best efforts to keep it cool (and it didn`t really get excessively hot), have I just overheated it or has it premeturely failed and I`ve got grounds for a replacement?

I`ve been eyeing up a new light anyway so haveing to buy a replacement wouldn`t be too bad but based on how easily this one`s burnt out I`d certainly be a lot more paranoid about heat if it hasn`t failed premeturely.
 
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DM51

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Re: Oh b%&!£#, my first burnt out Q5

Don't tell me - running it on RCR123s?

BTW, I've edited a word in your thread title. Can you guess which one?
 

DM51

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Re: Oh b%&!£#, my first burnt out Q5

1. Too much voiltage for the LED.

2. I edited the title for a reason. By changing it back, you have come close to incurring a suspension of your posting privileges. Please edit it at once - and the version in post #3.
 

crofty

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2. I edited the title for a reason. By changing it back, you have come close to incurring a suspension of your posting privileges. Please edit it at once - and the version in post #3.
Sorry I thought you were just messing around because you didn`t remove the instance in the first post aswell, I`m not sure why you want that word removed, it`s not swearing or offensive. At least not in my country, strange. :thinking:

I`ve always used RCR123`s hot of the charger and I`ve not read about it been a problem. hmm.
 

Marduke

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Running it on RCR123's was not a problem, running it at max without external cooling was.

What was your "heatsink"? Simply laying it on something won't cut it.
 

crofty

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[off-topic content removed - DM51]

Ambiant temp was low and the heatsink was a dumb bell weight, just rested it on the top and in turbo mode kept picking it up and dipping it in water. Wasn`t much hotter than when it was on high tbo, which is why I`m so supprised it got damaged.

I think it was mdocod who recomended secondaries and I didn`t find any reason to doubt that.

Thanks.

*edit* there was no off topic comment but whatever :(
 
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ImGeo

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If you bought the light from 4sevens, you likely are able to get it replaced... even if it was your fault. I'm sure they won't like it... but ... bleh.

Hope you don't do this again.
 

rockz4532

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BIG x2... I have never seen fenix or 4sevens recommend RCR123s in that light (and most of their others too).

People do it (with the smaller 1xRCR123 lights), but theres a REAL risk of overheating the phosphur die running direct drive in this form factor. The lights are too small to adequately conduct heat away from the emitter.

Man, I had to read this post after getting my RCR's yesterday...

Would it be safe to use RCR's in a P2D for ~10 minutes or less?
It seems just as bright as turbo on primaries.
 

Carpenter

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If you bought the light from 4sevens, you likely are able to get it replaced... even if it was your fault. I'm sure they won't like it... but ... bleh.

Hope you don't do this again.

Why would a vendor replace a product that was damaged by using it outside of it's recommendations? I believe with that model it even states you should not use the Turbo mode for more than a couple of minutes at a time even on primaries because of heat build up. Chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on.
 

jirik_cz

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Fenix P3D/PD30 works fine with RCR123 batteries. I've personally made many runtime tests with P3D and PD30 with RCR123 batteries and without any problems.

quoute by 4sevens from here.
Those graphs in the first post are 2xcr123a and 2xrcr123. Fenix specs state that it's fine with 2xrcr123. It's a buck circuit.
I've tested it up to 16v (unofficial :) )
 

Bullzeyebill

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If you bought the light from 4sevens, you likely are able to get it replaced... even if it was your fault. I'm sure they won't like it... but ... bleh.

Hope you don't do this again.

Maybe they won't replace it. Often times LED lights than run on two primary CR123's are running a buck type circuit that drops voltage from the batteries above the vf of the LED, so the LED can run in spec. However, running two RCR123's that can measure 8.4 volts fully charged is something we do at our own risk unless the manufacturer or dealer says it is ok; not just because one of our fellow CPF'ers says it is ok, if indeed that was said by one of our fellow CPF'ers.

Bill
 

Marduke

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Fenix recommends ONLY PRIMARIES in that light.

We're talking about the P3D, not the P2D. The P3D DOES work on 16340's. It will even work on three of them. Voltage is NOT the issue here.

[off-topic content removed - DM51]

Ambiant temp was low and the heatsink was a dumb bell weight, just rested it on the top and in turbo mode kept picking it up and dipping it in water. Wasn`t much hotter than when it was on high tbo, which is why I`m so supprised it got damaged.

I think it was mdocod who recomended secondaries and I didn`t find any reason to doubt that.

Thanks.

A dumb bell weight is NOT a heatsink. There is no way for the heat to actually transfer to the mass if you just lay it on top. For continued testing on high (as you did), you need an ACTIVE cooling system, such as the reviews usually use.
 

Gunner12

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There's very little cooling if you just place the light on something. Very little contact for heat transfer.

Placing the light in a glass of water would have been a better idea. You could have tested water resistange and runtime at the same time.
 

Patriot

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I'm using RCR123's in two P3D's also without any negatives. Common sense is required to manage the heat on turbo mode though. If the light is uncomfortable to the touch then it's become way too hot which I think was proven with this "experiment." The light simply resting on a object doesn't provide a proper thermal pathway. You would need to surround the light tightly with more surface area in contact with the light body in order to draw the heat from it. A good example of this would be something as simple has holding the light in your hand which probably would have kept it cool enough not to damage it. You could also just leave it resting in an inch of cool water for the run-time test on turbo.

Hopefully you'll purchase another one since they really are great lights. Thanks for the picture too since I've never seen one burned like that before. :)
 
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