TK35 battery pack problem

[Jerimoth]

I took the battery pack out of the TK35, charged the batteries, and put it back in. Only I may have put it back incorrectly, because now the light goes on when I screw the head back on, and the buttons at the back appear pushed out, and don't work. So I guess if you're not careful you can put the battery pack back in the light incorrectly? Does anybody have any idea how to get it out? It appears to be stuck. Thanks for any suggestions.

[kj2]

Think you may have to go back to your dealer, with that one.

[Cataract]

Shake it, tap it in you hand, see if it moves sideways... I fail to see how the pack would fit in backwards without at least some effort. Unless you did force it, the problem might be something else that fell inside or some loose part...

[loquutis79]

Man, you must have really forced it in as it is keyed so as not to be able to do that. Hope you can sort it out. Best of luck. Its a great light.

[Jerimoth]

Definitely didn't force it- let it slide gently in. I have two Kallie's custom batteries that themselves fit very snugly- overly so- in the battery pack, but that thing is jammed now. I pay too much for lights and rely on them too much for LE and SAR to treat them anything but very carefully. Thanks for the feedback looks like I will be returning it to Fenix.

[jhc37013]

Did you try and remove the 4 screws at the tail end of the light, take that cover off and see if you can get a better look. If you broke any of the plastic tabs either on the battery holder or under the switches maybe you can ask for those parts instead of sending the entire light off.

[roadkill1109]

I agree, must have been put in the wrong way. Be careful when inserting the battery carrier! the recessed button should be lined up with the mode button and the protruding one is the main power button.

Fenix support is the way to go.

[flashlight chronic]

You can't put the battery pack in wrong because it will only fit if the battery pack is in the correct position (not backwards or upside down).

[loquutis79]

I tied to put my battery holder in backwards and there is no way it will even start to go in with the way it is designed. I mean, it wont even start. Maybe if you put them in right after a charge they became swollen and now they are jambed? Could this be the cause? If it did slide in carefully as you said, they must have puffed up in the body and are now stuck.
Did you try what jhc37013 suggested? That should afford you a good look from the other end of the battery pack.

I am remembering another post as I type this where another TK35 owner had the batteries pop on him. All he saw was the buttons on the tail cap pushed out beyond what they should be. I think he said all else was find. Sounds like the same thing happened to you maybe. That post was not too long ago. I'll try to find it.

Keep us posted please.

[Jerimoth]

Thanks everybody- I did what JHC proposed and was able to pop the battery holder out no problem. So while you can't put the pack in upside down, you can put it in wrong side down and, at least in my case, with perhaps larger than usual 18650 batteries, the holder will get stuck. But the fix was simple so thanks.

[jhc37013]

So did any of the plastic parts break or did they bend out of shape?

[loquutis79]

Glad you got it sorted out. Any chance you can post a picture of the large end of the holder and the body opening. I am curious if something is different from mine as I still can't imagine how it could even get in. I don't want to make the same mistake with mine

[jhc37013]

Glad you got it sorted out. Any chance you can post a picture of the large end of the holder and the body opening. I am curious if something is different from mine as I still can't imagine how it could even get in. I don't want to make the same mistake with mine

There appears to be either some confusion or either the TK35 has been made differently at some point so lets try and get this figured out, first lets try this and see if everyone is on the same page. With my battery I can slide it in the wrong way, on the end of the battery holder with your switches look at the protruding on/off switch now slide that down into the body tube and rest it against the protruding mode switching "rod" that is in the bottom of the body, don't use any force of course this is just to see what happened to the OP.

If everyone's TK35 is the same and like mine you'll notice about a inch of the battery holder sticks out the body of the light, normally if installed correctly the battery holder is flush with the body. I'm guessing the OP had a lapse maybe and tried to tighten down the head while the battery tube was protruding thus getting stuck and pushing out the switches.

I got my TK35 when they first came out from the first batch for reference.

[loquutis79]

Yes, but here's the thing.
If you look at the larger diameter of the battery holder, the end which comes in contact with the head of the light, and now look at the outside wall diameter of that section. It is not a perfectly round diameter. It has a larger rounded 'bump' if you will sticking outward from that radius. This 'bump' or 'key' allows the holder to index into the body in only one way. It can not be rotated 180 degrees so as to mismatch with the switches at the bottom end of the holder/body point

The body of the light has a matching key cut into the inside diameter of the wall. If I try to reverse the holder by 180 degrees to slide it into the body, it will only allow the holder to drop in as far as the hight of the batteries. The larger round head of the holder will be stopped by the indexing key, hitting the lip of the threaded section of the body thus stopping it from going all the way down into the body. Even if that was not noticed, and it can not be on my TK35, if you tried to screw the head onto the body it will not even come close to the threads engaging. There will be a gap between the light body thread section and the head threads by more than half an inch due to the large diameter of the holder being in the way.
Simply put...it can not happen.

What I am curious about here, is did Fenix make a change at one point due to an over sight which allowed an earlier version of the TK35 to have it's pack inserted wrong by 180 degrees. This is what I would like to find out.

And actually, as I am typing this, I just looked at the "FenixTactical.com" web site and the photos of the battery holder clearly show the key, or bump, that I am talking about.
Have a look at the picture in the photo gallery for the TK35 there.

[Jerimoth]

Ok I have the same bump and groove. Apparently despite my recollection I must have pushed- not hard- and the result is that the pack slides down easily, 180 degrees misaligned. Maybe it's the fatter Callie batteries, but it doesn't take much force at all to end up with the problem I had. Then I was stuck until I unscrewed the four rear screws. I can say for sure that in the field when I'm under pressure I will never ever make that error again!! Thanks everyone for your patience and assistance.

[Cataract]

Glad to know it worked out. If need be, you can always make an alignment mark with liquid paper (or GITD paint if you feel fancy) so it doesn't happen again.