My L2 failed me recently

This being my first serious light purchase(for my first serious job - aircraft mechanic)...I've enjoyed the L2 for about 6 months here at work; the batteries being really the only thing that sucks. It would also be kinda nice to have a more focused beam for hitting the top of aircraft rudders during night inspections. EVERYONE else here uses Stingers.

Anyway, so I've dropped it a few times in 6 months, but nothing major. It has some minor scratches. Never had any problems after dropping it.

Suddenly a week ago I noticed it was dim. I replaced the batteries. Still dim. Then I looked at the LED itself. The emitter, which is a square, had sections of it that were no longer emitting light...basically it's like the square is made up of many smaller squares and almost half of them were out...and the sections that were emitting light weren't very bright at all.

WTF? I hadn't recently dropped or abused the thing to explain the sudden failure. I thought these things were supposed to be very durable!! TACTICAL lights!

So anyway...I mailed it off last week for RMA service. Of course the guy at SF said they were currently out of stock and he had no idea how long it would be. They always seem to be out of stock...like when I originally purchased the light.

I've been using my big *** 3D cell mag at work since then....but after testing everybody's stingers here, and seeing how reasonable the prices are....I will soon be the proud owner of an olive drab Polystinger....complete with piggyback fast charger and extra battery! All for just over $100! :rock:


I'll probably use the L2 as backup, whenever I get it back, since I can save a lot of money using the rechargeable Stinger. As far as the L2's problem....has anyone else experienced it?

I am sorry for your loss. The L2 was my first big purchase as well.

I have had my L2 for about 4 years now. I have only dropped it a few times also. The only major time was when it got dropped onto solid concrete from a 4ft countertop. Haven't had any problems with it though. I just recently purchased some rechargeable cells for it. I have been cycling them and love them.

Here is the thread to buy the protected 14670 cells from:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=103009

I am still waiting to get my U2 back from SF. I bought these cells to keep me busy while waiting.

Wow. . .That's too bad. I've had my SureFire L2 since they first came on the scene. Have had not experienced any problems so far. . .

That's a bummer, but I'm not sure I would worry about it happening a second time. Maybe a bum LED. My bet is the your repaired L2 should be as reliable as you expected.

I don't know if the L2 works with rechargables, but you could consider a light light the HDS U85 with the 18650 lithium-ion battery pack. This light is designed to work with rechargables, and the 18650 pack has a lot of capacity.

Also, you can set the U85 to run at slightly reduced output for even longer uptime.

The HDS lights have good throw. I like to pair mine with a with a SF F04 beamshaper for close up work.

If I was looking for a serious workhorse, I think this is how I'd go - U85 w/18650 battery pack and F04 beamshaper.

Get a few batteries and you'd be set.

-john

Thanks guys. Toker, thanks for the links...i'm probably gonna get some rechargeables for the L2.

What is a U85?

Sounds like the Luxeon V went caput. It has 4 dies in it. Wired series parallel. If one of these got too hot and thermal run-away happened, it could fry, or go dim or become high resistance. Since it's in series parallel then that will affect the other die chips getting power.

It's known that the luxeon dies will lower Voltage forward over time, and matching 4 identical dies has got to be hard to do. It could be one just dropped a lot lower than the others, and thus led to the demise. I haven't heard of this happening in many lights, especailly ones that don't overdrive the led like Surefire.

Aviator said:

What is a U85?

Click to expand...

Like this, but 85 lumens instead of 60. There is a section here on CPF for the discussion of these lights, here.

The light comes with a 1x123A battery pack, but you can get an optional 2x123A pack (which some folks are running 17670 lithium-ion batteries in- which are the same size as 2x123a) and there is a soon to be released 18650 pack (as well as a 2xAA pack).

Runtime is about 3-4 times longer with the 2x123a pack over the 1x123a pack, and the 18650 should outrun the 2x123a battery setup.

-john

I had an L2 suddenly shift into the green and dim quite a bit. (no abuse and not event many hours on the clock). -Eventually- Surefire replaced it with a new one.

Surefire has quite a reputation and a lot of people swear by them but I keep seeing a lot of persistant quality control issues that just should not be there for lights at that price point.

Hope you get your light fixed, after that you should get it on a lanyard so you don't keep dropping it <grin>.

As for me, further Surefire purchases are very much on hold.

I also work on aircraft.

I use a Streamlight 4AA Propolymer 1 Watt Luxeon. I use rechargeable's with no problems. The light takes abuse. I've dropped it numerous times. Used it in the rain. Has good throw.

I have been using the Streamlight for over a year.

You can get one at http://www.fox-intl.com/ for a total of around $27.00, shipping included.

zespectre: Sounds like something simalar happened with yours. When a white led goes dim and changes color to green or blue-green, it's overheating/overdriven badly. Perhaps they got a bad batch of LuxVs?

A LuxeonI or LuxeonIII light would not have this problem as long as it was well heatsinked and current was regulated. LuxV due to the multiple dies arangement have that failure point..

Unless you like short and very stubby flashlights which the HDS U85 and its siblings are. . .Then—

I really don't know what happened to it exactly, but it DIDNT change color. And it was really weird the way the different sections failed on it...it was very irregular...several lines of different length on the square were out...it definately wasn't like just one corner of it. I suppose it could have overheated, but the last time I had used it, it was fine. Then the next night I went to use it, it was f'd up. :thinking:


It doesn't really matter, I just hope the replacement I get is alright.

CHC said:

Unless you like short and very stubby flashlights which the HDS U85 and its siblings are. . .Then—

Click to expand...

Um? With the 2x123A battery pack, the U85 isn't what I'd call short...

That's with that "spares/extension" tube. As is in "singular" cell form, then S & S (not Saimin) it is.

Enjoy Your Toys!

Just an update...

SF FINALLY replaced my light. They just replaced the LED assembly and the tail switch assembly and sent it back. Works great again. The LED is nice and bright, although it has more of a greenish hue to it that my first one didn't have. It's just as bright as the first one though.



I'm STILL waiting on my Stinger to be shipped to me. :scowl: