Foursevens Preon P0

[Got Lumens?]

Edit: fixed the twitchy mode switching. It uses no threadlock, so you need to tighten the pill really hard. If the pressure/twist motion on the foam pad can make the pill move ever so slightly, then it will ruin the reability on the mode switching.

Use Caution, over tightening the pill will expand the oring out of the front.

The conductive path between the alluminum pill and the SS body is not an easy fix.
While I could stake it or add a burr to the pills threads, I chose the safer route and applied a very thin coat of No-Ox to the alluminum pill after carefully using a small wire brush to clean it.
I would like to see a spring wire on the edge of the pills board or better still a positive stop like stopping the threads at the correct point so that the pill can screw against it to eliminate the frustration of an intermittent connection causing unwanted mode changes.
It's a great little light and I'm keeping mine
GL

[jorn]

Removed the foam pad and polished all the light today. Now it feels more like the DQG. Super smooth, and everything works perfect. It's really easy to twist now. With the foam, I was always wondering if i was torquing it too hard. IMO it feels far better witout the foam. I see no need for knurling when it's this smooth. Now the battery rattles some, but i dont mind on a keychain, everything ratles on my keychain, so i dont notice the difference. My DQG has no magnet in the tail, so the battery rattle is worse on the DQG.
Now its all shiny like the old preon ti. Polishing it was a 5 min job. Strap it in a eletric drill and use a rag with rubbing.

[chris975d]

Did the "solder blob" mod to both of my Preon P0s yesterday, then filed the blob down flat to about 0.5mm higher than the IC chips surrounding the positive contact on the driver. Reinstalled the pill, put foam back in, and presto...perfectly working PO with Eneloops. Gone is the occasional mode flickering and shorting out when using Eneloops. As Got Lumens? and jorn said above though, make sure to tighten the pill very snug so that the conductive path solid. I'm keeping both of mine now too. Fantastic little lights once they are working solidly.

[127.0.0.1]

it is too bad that the fabled Preon has a design flaw. this will totally prevent wide distribution, no one
will want to carry and sell these if you have to tweak them. the IC's are just located poorly. need a blob
of epoxy on them as a cheap fix. need to redesign the circuit as a perma-fix. this could have been on
store shelves like the Fenix E11, but not in it's current state. need a Preon P0 v 1.1 to show up

I commend the effort, this is a tough job running a company. if it were easy I would design and sell lights,
but it takes committment and ability to bounce back from this stuff, -and- also everything else a business
needs including capital for making changes

[shelm]

need a blob of epoxy on them as a cheap fix.

this is actually an excellent idea!!

Why not cover the circuit parts with hot glue (transparent epoxy or similar) as general protection, and then file the blob layer down and finally bore (or drill) a center hole down to the PCB's center plate/pole for the battery nub?
This measure would also counteract eventual shorts!

DQG Tiny III is in the making with improvements but if the PCB layout (location of the IC's) is again poor or unimproved, then i will consider blobbing the IC's with hot glue. It's like potting the driver!!

The main reason why the driver doesnt come potted or epoxied is: the manufacturing tolerances are too fine and thus too expensive. Maybe someone on the forum can share a photo series of the epoxying measure.

[RedForest UK]

On a side note, the P0 fits perfectly in the top tube of my Toollogic SLPro utility knife, as the original provided light is a bit rubbish and uses 4 tiny coin cells it was a big improvement in power and practicality. I used the original magnet tail as a base with a couple of small neodynium magnets attached to it and all epoxied in the back. It all comes together perfectly, and the P0's finish even matches up very nicely with the matte finish of the knife.

To clarify, I didn't mean I stuck the tail magnet of the preon into the tube. I used the tail magnet section of the original cheapo light provided with the SLPro as a base at the back of the top tube and epoxied that in with a couple of neodynium magnets. The Preon P0 then magnetically attaches quite strongly (can't shake it out at all) to the base in the tube. So it is still removable, but easy to put back in again.

[jorn]

For me, the only "fix" really needed was to tighten the pill. This is common with all "no threadlock" lights i own.
Most of my lights (and other stuff) are tweaked in some way. I think i only got 4 or 5 100% stock lights left, some of them are hiding from me right now

I think it's no threadlock because it will be messy with a short pill, and youll prob end up with a mess on the inside of the lense on a high % under production.
If you put threadlock on the pill and screw it in, it will really be no treadlock left on it when it's screwed all the way in there. And you will have to clean up the threads in the head really good on all samples. <-- not fast , not cheap.
If you put threadlock on the inside of the head, (short pill = close to the lense). The pill might push some threadlock in front of it, and mess up the lense and gitd plate. You can apply a tiny amount using a toothpick and a slo and steady hand. But it's not fast, and there will be a mess on the lense in some %, especially if you are in a hurry. This is not a problem for usual sized reflector lights.
I have drop tested the P0 on my tile floor ~15 times from the hips with no problems, and it's waterproofing is way better than the former "worlds smallest aaa"
If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.

Here is a pic of the quick polish job. The logo is still there under the clip. Taken with a mobilephone, but not all that bad.

[Flying Turtle]

Nice work, Jorn! It looks classier now.

I haven't needed, yet, to tighten the pill. I'll wait til it starts acting up. Sometimes the LF2XT needs some tweaking like that.

Hope some O-rings are available soon, though plumber's tape works pretty well.

Geoff

[jorn]

The lf2xt was acting up repetedly until i gave is as mutch torqe as i dared
Loving the new shiny look on the P0, it fittet snug in my drill. I could see the tube shine after seconds of rubbing. Used the normal household stuff used on cars and got pro results. It's also way more scratch resistance than the oldstyle shiny preon ti.
Hoping the pill will hold up on the p0, but it's a twisty, so it got something working against it here. If it works it's way loose again, i might carefully add a 1/4 of a drop with superglue on the threads in the head. I have been playing alot with it now, and no signs of the pill coming loose or mode switching yet.

[127.0.0.1]

If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.

huh ? the circuit and IC type and location is clearly poorly designed. eneloop doesn't need to be redesigned. the Preon does.

no one should have to monkey with a light to make it function. none of my aaa lights ever had an issue that the P0 does with shorting
due to the ic legs so close to the pos batt terminal. stinks because I wanna buy 5 of these Preons but I am gonna have to wait
for the next version. I cannot gift out a light that can have complications

[toylover]

... I wanna buy 5 of these Preons but I am gonna have to wait
for the next version. I cannot gift out a light that can have complications

I'm in the same position. I want to buy them as gifts but they won't be going to techie people so they gotta work flawlessly right out of the box. Hopefully by next Xmas;-)

[Got Lumens?]

Here is a pic of the quick polish job. The logo is still there under the clip. Taken with a mobilephone, but not all that bad.

Jorn,
Very Nice, very nice indeed. Good job, looks great
What clip did you use?
GL

[Samy]

I was going to get a couple but i want to use Eneloops. I will hold off for a while...


cheers

[shelm]

Here is a pic of the quick polish job. The logo is still there under the clip. Taken with a mobilephone, but not all that bad.

why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me

[Got Lumens?]

I have drop tested the P0 on my tile floor ~15 times from the hips with no problems, and it's waterproofing is way better than the former "worlds smallest aaa"
If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.

why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me

I think he may have just finished testing waterproofness

[jorn]

huh ? the circuit and IC type and location is clearly poorly designed. eneloop doesn't need to be redesigned. the Preon does.

Location? where would you put them if you were trying to make the wolds smallest aaa light? Add ~1.5mm on the P0's lenght, and your'e out. The maker of the DQG even skipped a o-ring in front of the optic to save length. So you really need to make compromises all the way to beat the size of it. My DQG is not waterproof around the optic, and got the exact same layout on the driverboard btw.
My sample looks good. It's no way it can short out by the nipple hitting paths on the driver.
If Eneloop makes a poor copy of a aaa shape, then it's 4sevens responsibility to fix it by making a new v2? I have tested 7 different batteries, 2 NIMH and 5 types of alkalines now, no problem.
There might be some lemons out there, but keep in mind that it was sold out really fast (many samples out there by now). And i havent seen too many complaint's about lights shorting out. But i dont doubt there are lemons that might short out. I bet most of the copmplaints is fixed with a tightened pill. A loose pill in a multimode twisty, gives all sorts of failure syndroms.

What clip did you use?
GL

From the maratac aaa cu. the cu version comes with 3 clips. The clip is stripped for paint and polished with a dremel.

why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me

I tried to capture how shiny it turned out. Crome like shiny stuff + macro shot and mobilephone was a hard job. When i finally (after ca 20 shots) got a semisharp picture without glare, i saw the p0 was full of dust and fingerprints So soap and water it was. couldent toutch the light so i held it after the spilt ring and shooked off most of the water before photoshoot nr2

[127.0.0.1]

I think he may have just finished testing waterproofness

polishing compound has to come off somehow.

[Houdiny]

FOURSEVENS just got a new and supposedly updated batch of P0s in! The status on their website is back to "Buy now".

[bltkmt]

FOURSEVENS just got a new and supposedly updated batch of P0s in! The status on their website is back to "Buy now".

How do you know they are "updated"?

[Streamer]

[QUOTE=bltkmt;3871506]How do you know they are "updated"

Just got off phone with 4 sevens. Was told (by female) there was a new o-ring and that was all. I asked about the eneloop problem and was told " they officialy have not announced a problem."

I wouldn't order one yet.

[Houdiny]

How do you know they are "updated"?

Well, I asked if their new batch was revised in any way and was told that the new batch was "supposedly updated".
I still hope that the P0 isn't faulty by design. If the new o-ring is the only thing that got changed there must be a reason for that. Perhaps they just turned their quality control up a notch, so the flickery and not-mode-changing P0s a few of us experienced don't get to the customers any more.

[Streamer]

They haven't had time to remedy...I seriously doubt they have "updated" the issues we have been discussing on the "eneloop" problem and the misfits that go along with it (i.e. IC's in the way of eneloop node and resulting short circuits).

[jorn]

I think 4sevens and the "dqg dude" buys the pill from the same company. They look almost exactly the same. The layout on the driverboard is identical on both. There are some extra holes in the p0 board, and slightly different coulor. They have different outputs so i guess they can't be exactly the same. My DQG have been my trusty edc for some time now and with no issues or hickups at all. So im not worried about the design. The only thing i worry about, is the pill coming loose and make my light twitchy when i dont have the time to fix it.. Or a drop on the head will crack something on the driverboard. (i removed the protective/anti-rattle foam pad for smoother twist action, and thats the reason why i felt the need to drop test my P0.)
I would like one of those "one modes" played around with a qtc pill and it worked out really nice when in hi mode. Ramping P0 (worked really nice both when the qtc were placed on the pill, and in the bottom of the tube.) Qtc is magnetic, so it was held secure in place by the magnet, but a pain to fish it out

[kaichu dento]

no one should have to monkey with a light to make it function... I wanna buy 5 of these Preons but I am gonna have to wait for the next version. I cannot gift out a light that can have complications

+1
I wanted to buy at least a few but the excitement of a tiny light with nice low level is greatly diminished by the need to fiddle before being able to reliably use one.
Some have been lucky and others not - I'd like to buy mine after the bugs are worked out and they could easily have had much higher sales levels initially if they'd done all the trouble shooting before shipping them to all of you guys to do it for them.

[this_is_nascar]

Prior to purchasing my (2) P0's, the last thing I purchased were several E05's and Revo's. Boy, how time and fame has changed the customer service provided by 4Sevens. I used to get an email reply with 24-hours. Now, an email to CS goes for a couple/few days before getting a human response. I guess 4Sevens will evenually become like most other small companys that went big, forgetting about quality customer service.

[jorn]

He sold out pretty quick, so higher sales could not be possible i guess

I dont think the ic's is getting moved just so the eneloop nipple will fit. You can't rotate the ic's, then the legs are exposed. And its no room to move them any wider apart. If the pill is getting loose, it's no big deal. The hi-lo ring on my malkoff gets loose now and then, and no one complaints about it. I think this light is mutch better than it sounds like here I got many exellent aaa lights to choose between, but the P0 rides on my keycain.

[127.0.0.1]

they need to use MLP instead of huge SMD IC's they chose

that would fix everything

costs more to make

or put the IC's on the other side of the board

or bury them in epoxy

[4sevens]

Customer service post removed in violation of dealer/manufacture policies

[jorn]

or put the IC's on the other side of the board

or bury them in epoxy

Both sides of the board is packed. The glow disc covers up all the stuff on the top side.
Epoxy woulden't help eneloop users.

[127.0.0.1]

I just got my hands on one and checked it out. now I know the eneloop problem better.

they do need to spec MLP IC's
that way they can keep the design intact but the IC will be far more flush to the board
and allow room for eneloop heads

or make the light 2 threads longer and bring the pos contact up