Fenix p2Db.Rb100 cooked

[2manybikes]

I think by using a cheap battery I ruined a brand new p2Db.Rb100. First it did not get brighter on Turbo, then the battery popped, but still had juice keeping the light lit. I had to unscrew the light to get it to go off. It's obvious from looking inside what happened. I could smell it and it was a pretty loud pop! The light is dead, I would not trust it now anyway.

Was it the cheap battery?

Kick me. :sigh:

 

[Gunner12]

Probably the cheap battery.

Clean up the light and see if anything is actually broken(as in the circuit and such).

I'm guessing the rubber tailcap popped(or at least ballooned).

That really stinks, I hope everything gets fixed.

 

[jsr]

If the Lithium 123A cell blew, both the cell's internals and gas are toxic. You may want to make sure you don't have any symptoms.

 

[Albinoni]

Mind if I ask what brand batt you used, I've seen these really cheap CR123 batts on Ebay and I mean dead cheap but really not sure about their quality, also I reckon if a companies batt ruins your torch by rights they should re-imburse you with a new torch.

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, 2manybikes.

Battery failure is an important topic here, and any additional information you can give us, with photos if you have them, would be very useful.

The discharge from vented batteries is unpleasant and toxic, so please be careful.

I'm moving your thread to the Battery section, where I am sure there will be interest in what happened to your light.

 

[2manybikes]

Thanks for the good comments.

It cleaned up very easily, but does not work correctly. I can usually fix something like this, but I decided I don't want to.

A long time ago I read about a more serious battery explosion here in the forums. Even if I do get it working there could be something else wrong with the light that I don't know about. A hidden partial short could strain a brand new battery, and it could fail at any time.
I realized I would never be comfortable having it in my pocket all day, or even in my hand, using it. The best thing for me was to throw it in the trash.

I would have taken photos but it's gone. The light looks normal, only the battery looks dirty, covered with black soot, not even expanded or cracked. One of the vents on top vented.

I threw out three new batteries of the cheap brand also. I'm only using the best from now on. I understand that the best would be Duracell and Panasonic. Let me know if Im wrong. The batteries were these...

http://www.megabatteries.com/item_details2.asp?id=14802&cat_id=228&uid=1433

Ultra Photo brand?

I would be glad to read anything about battery failure.

 

[Jarl]

The light itself should be fine as long as you use good quality cells.

 

[Federal LG]

:welcome:

And baterry failures really sucks!

 

[nerdgineer]

With the kind of outputs and runtimes that we can now get (for pretty cheap, too...) out of 1 AA lights running nimhs, the stability of LSD nimhs like the Eneloops, the the low cost of individual channel nimh chargers (my early 4 channel Rayovac PS1 cost $10..), I find fewer and fewer reasons to go for CR123/RCR123 lights. I'll keep the ones I have but a new one would have to be really something to make me consider it...

 

[matrixshaman]

I think if you could salvage the light you might have a couple fairly good options unless it is gone with the trash. One is you don't know for sure it was the battery so it is possible the light developed a short and caused the battery to blow up. So it is a possible warranty item. Second is that I'm sure there are modders here that would pay for the light even in 'Not working' condition with disclosure of what happened. The body and LED alone are worth a bit for modders. But if it's gone then no worries - another one will find it's way to you I'm sure. And I would stick to batteries suggested here. The newere Battery Station batteries are cheap enough and if money is no issue I'd say Duracell.

 

[2manybikes]

The light only worked on low.

I was more comfortable having it in the trash, even if the chance of another battery problem for someone else is very small, I prefer to throw it out and have no chance. Thanks for all the thoughtfull suggestions anyway, I will think about them carefully if something similar happens again. I did not think about the possible use of the parts.

I ordered a 2x AA battery light that does the same thing to carry in my winter coat all the time. I have big hands, and the 1 x 123 battery light was so short I could not quite wrap all my fingers around it. Just for me, I think the extra length is more comfortable. Plus I think the head sticks out enough so I can turn it to Turbo with one hand without changing the grip of the other hand much. It should be here soon.

This is not my only Fenix light, for the record, the service and response from the Fenix store is fantastic.

 

[2manybikes]

Two weeks later.

The light was cleaned by the Fenix store. The turn around was incredibly fast, I think they cleaned it the day it arrived ! When I sent them an email question, the reply was in my mail the next morning. They take service very seriously. It makes me glad that I bought Fenix lights. They read about it in the forums here and suggested I send it to them. The light is fine now, but I have not put a lot of hours on it yet. It's hard not to use the Fenix T-1 when I go out. It calls my name when I get ready to go outside. Really it does.........there it goes now, hear it?

BTW now I have four Fenix lights. As I said I'm very happy with the way the Fenix store took care of me, and.........wait............................can you hear that? It's dark, time to walk the dog, bye....

 

[Albinoni]

Whille on this subject of CR123A batts and good and bad quality cells etc, in one of my torches I use a brand called Golston CR123A. So far and touch wood I've been using these batts over 2 months now in one of my LED torches that takes 1xCR123A battery. I've never ever yet encountered any probs what so ever with these batts and they've worked perfectly well for me every time. Here in Australia batts are a total rip off and if I was to buy a Energizer, Duracell or Sanyo Lithium CR123A I would pay at least $12.00 per battery, mind you I scored a bargain on Ebay few days ago and grabbed it, got 10x Sanyo CR123A Lithiums for $20 :nana:. The guy I bought the Goldstons from said to me the difference between the Energizers, Duracells and more ecpensive CR123A's is that they will last slightly longer in terms of run time. I buy 1xGolston for about $4.00

Here listed on the Fenix UK site:

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/batteries/golston_cr123a.html

 

[tsask]

Two weeks later.

The light was cleaned by the Fenix store. The turn around was incredibly fast, I think they cleaned it the day it arrived ! When I sent them an email question, the reply was in my mail the next morning. They take service very seriously. It makes me glad that I bought Fenix lights. They read about it in the forums here and suggested I send it to them.
BTW now I have four Fenix lights. As I said I'm very happy with the way the Fenix store took care of me, and.........wait............................can you hear that? It's dark, time to walk the dog, bye....

Fenix-Store is an excellent souce for Fenix lights and excellent service.:twothumbs

 

[Edwood]

Those batteries are only cheap in quality. For less than the cost of those "Ultra Photo's", you can get Duracell Ultra's in bulk. It's the only Primaries I use. Otherwise I use rechargeables.