Inova X1 vs. Duracell?

[tnuckels]

I bought some X1s for my kids a while back, maybe last Christmas. Recently, my middle son came to me and said his little brother has broken his flashlight. I checked the battery, contacts, whatever I could think of. A bit of searching on CPF turned up that the X1 might not be up to Inova's durability standards, compared to their other offerings. The head was fairly beat up, so I took it apart, as best I could, to see what its guts looked like, and chalked it up as one strike against Inova.

A few days ago, my youngest son brings me his X1 and says it is broken as well. I checked the battery, contacts … but this time I just happened to swap batteries, and lo-&-behold the light works. It works fine on some AA cells, of a certain voltage, but not on others, often showing higher voltages on my multi-meter.

Following are the batteries I had handy to try:
Energizer Alkaline, black & sliver w/red & yellow underline – 1.225v – Lights up
Duracell Ultra Alkaline, copper & black w/blue ring & highlights – 1.351v – Doesn't light up
Panasonic Industrial Extra Heavy Duty, black & white w/silver label – 1.366v – Lights up
Duracell Rechargeable NiMH 2650 mAh, black & green – 1.436v – Doesn't light up

Both of the Duracells will light up my old ARC AA and I'm pretty sure the Ultra was the type battery I originally had working in all the X1s. This has me wondering if I didn't destroy a working light last time around, and why my Duracell batteries won't fire the X1 up?

 

[Marduke]

Perhaps one or both were either fully or partially damaged by your sons fiddling with it and putting the battery in backwards. I know that some (most, all?) Inova's have no reverse polarity protection, and will promptly fry themselves if a battery is installed backwards. The lack of a polarity protection circuit is one of the only drawbacks to an otherwise wonderful brand.

 

[Noxonomus]

The X1 does have reverse polarity protection but a short fall onto carpet will kill it. I think it deforms the positive contact which is why some of the bats worked but not the others. Mine fell 18" and that was all it took.

 

[Nyctophiliac]

I've had no problems with X1's versions 1 and 2 and any kind of AA cell to date, at least unmodded.

Both my Modded X1's with red Leds are slightly touchy. One will only work consistantly with a Energizer Lithium, and the other only with rechargeables. I've put it down to my lack of expertise with the old soldering iron!!!



Be lucky...

 

[tnuckels]

Inova X1 vs. Duracell? SOLVED!?

No modifications here. The boys could have done anything under the sun to their poor defenseless flashlights, as boys are apt to do, but the second light works, at least with some AA cells.

I removed the tailcap from the working light, inserted the + end of the battery, then completed the circuit across the – end of the battery to the X1's case along the flat end of the body where it is not anodized. The Energizer and Panasonic cells work, the two Duracells do not.

The positive contact inside the X1 is recessed into what appears to be a rubber plunger that rides on a long travel spring, so it seems like it would be hard to "bend" this to where you wouldn't get a contact, short of breaking it loose from where it connects to the fixed electronics package. I bypassed all this by inserting a screw wrapped in electrical tape into the X1 touching the positive contact, applied the + end of the battery to the screw, then finishing the circuit with a loop of solder from the – end to the bare spot on the case. Voilà! All the batteries will light the X1 now.

Examining the 4 different AA cells more closely, the two Duracells appear to have broader & more squared shoulders and a shorter male contact, sorta' like those body building dudes on steroids. The other batteries have more tapered shoulders and/or longer positive contacts. I clipped a bit of solder and dropped it onto the X1s recessed + contact, inserted each Duracell in turn, and now they work. Perhaps a drop of hot solder will fix this permanently.

I pity the manufacturers that have to work around sloppy specs, but am disappointed that Inova didn't do a better job a accommodating these different AA cell sizes. It might have saved me a lot of trouble, especially considering I Dremel etched the kid's names on their lights.

Live and learn … hopefully.