Photon Freedom problems

Anyone else have intermittent problems with their photon freedom after changing batteries?

While the Freedom is improved, changing the batteries in a Photon has always been a PITA. At least they got rid of the four microscopic screws.

Most likely problem area is not getting both cells completely under the upper contact strap. It is better than the little tab they used to have, but it is possible to kind of mash it over to the side edge of the top cell. Check this out.

Also, I make it a practice to wipe the flat surfaces of the cells with IPA before installing them. Can't hurt to use a swab on the upper and lower contacts too.

Mark

Getting the cover off the Freedom is much harder than on the old Photon I. I haven't had problems after changing the batteries though. Maybe you should clean the contacts... (with ProGold or something?)

The same problem I had back in september is happening again. See this thread. http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=92090

I ended up sending that light back to LRI and they sent me a new replacement. That light worked fine until a couple days ago when I noticed it was weak. Changed the batteries for the first time and it immediately started acting intermittent and never achieved full brightness. Check voltage of the batts and get 2.9 and 1.3 Try another set and same thing happens. Have gone through 2 sets of batts. Checked voltages before inserting to make sure they were good. 3.2 volts or better on every one.

I am extremely careful swapping out batts. There is no way I damaged anything.

When I drop the first batt in the light will flicker a couple of times. The only way I can see that would cause this is somehow the + batt contact is making contact with the sides of the gold contact strap. Should it be doing this? Mine has what appears to be green insulating epoxy or enamel on the sides of the strap. :thinking: :thinking:

Hey up! (Friendly Yorkshire greeting.) I've lurked on CPF for about a year. It's now time for me to come out as it were.

Right, that's the pre-amble out of the way. Down to business.

I too have a Photon Freedom with the same problem. The lower cell would be OK but the upper one would be discharged. The problem was caused by the green insulating material crumbling from the gold contact strap. This allowed the +ve of the lower cell to make electrical contact with the gold contact strap, thereby short circuiting the upper cell. I solved the problem by cutting two small pieces of plastic from a drinking straw and wedging them between the +ve of the cells and the contact strap in place of the green insulating material. Bit fiddly but it does the trick. Hope this helps, John L.

Yorkshire Pudding said:

Hey up! (Friendly Yorkshire greeting.) I've lurked on CPF for about a year. It's now time for me to come out as it were.

Right, that's the pre-amble out of the way. Down to business.

I too have a Photon Freedom with the same problem. The lower cell would be OK but the upper one would be discharged. The problem was caused by the green insulating material crumbling from the gold contact strap. This allowed the +ve of the lower cell to make electrical contact with the gold contact strap, thereby short circuiting the upper cell. I solved the problem by cutting two small pieces of plastic from a drinking straw and wedging them between the +ve of the cells and the contact strap in place of the green insulating material. Bit fiddly but it does the trick. Hope this helps, John L.

Click to expand...

Hi John and Welcome to CPF-

I think you have it upon the problem. This is a design weakness as a number of people have had this depleted cell problem. I think this must be inherent in the newer Photons with the contact strap and not in the older ones that used a smaller tab for the upper contact.

If you are able, some pics of your fix would be very welcome. I am going to check on my Photon freedoms, although I am somewhat hesitant to open them as they seem so fragile once you do.

Mark

I have opened up and taken out the batteries on my Photon Freedom a number of times -- three or four. Never had that problem. Maybe it's in how you're taking out/putting in the batteries?

Just been on a rather steep learning curve on how to insert photographs into postings!

Picture shows the small pieces of drinking straw. The red vertical bands are just the stripes that normally run along the drinking straw - you can use any colour!

All I have to do now is get it back together and working!

Hope the photo is of help. John L.



Oops! Sorry about the oversized picture, haven't quite got the hang of it yet!

carrot said:

I have opened up and taken out the batteries on my Photon Freedom a number of times -- three or four. Never had that problem. Maybe it's in how you're taking out/putting in the batteries?

Click to expand...

I use a small jewelers and am extremely careful. I first pry the top battery up very slightly opposite of the contact strap. I then push the side of the top battery on the opposite(contact strap)end sideways until the battery pops out. Turn the light upside down and the bottom battery falls out.:shrug:

Do you get the flicker when dropping the first(bottom) battery in?

Yorkshire Pudding said:

Hey up! (Friendly Yorkshire greeting.) I've lurked on CPF for about a year. It's now time for me to come out as it were.

Right, that's the pre-amble out of the way. Down to business.

I too have a Photon Freedom with the same problem. The lower cell would be OK but the upper one would be discharged. The problem was caused by the green insulating material crumbling from the gold contact strap. This allowed the +ve of the lower cell to make electrical contact with the gold contact strap, thereby short circuiting the upper cell. I solved the problem by cutting two small pieces of plastic from a drinking straw and wedging them between the +ve of the cells and the contact strap in place of the green insulating material. Bit fiddly but it does the trick. Hope this helps, John L.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Its nice to see that at least one other person has noticed the same thing. Did yours flicker also when inserting the bottom battery?

bhds said:

Do you get the flicker when dropping the first(bottom) battery in?

Click to expand...

Nope, only when I put in the second one. (That's from memory, so I might be wrong.) I still haven't figured out the easiest way to pry off the lid, though, so the little tab on mine is all ugly and misshapen.

Before it was modified, I can't remember whether it flickered when the lower cell was fitted. I suspect that it would, because the +ve would be making contact with the contact strap and so would be powering the pcb with 3 volts. Since the modification, it doesn't flicker when the lower cell is fitted, which is what I would expect.

By the way, I should have mentioned previously that all the green insulating material should be removed before the pieces of plastic are fitted. As a small bonus, the plastic isn't quite as bulky as the green stuff, so it leaves little bit more room for the cells to be fitted. (It is only a little bit though!)

I've had a Photon II with the switch (which was pretty problematic) for a couple years now.
I've put a couple sets of coin cells through it, but its long since been retired to collect dust.

I'll take a little extra size along with an easily changeable battery anyday.

I just view Photons as a novelty item nowadays. They were neat when they first came on the scene, but there's alot more choices around now.