My P1 is P - U

As in stinks. Has this happened to anyone ? I just today received my brand spankin' new Fenix P1, dropped a battery in it and voila.......nothing. Took it apart, cleaned the contacts put in another different 123........nothing. El broko, I guess. I wondered if anyone else had run into this predicament ?

Cliff

Re: My P1 is P - U (fixed)

FYI to all. Found the problem. Took the P1 apart again and double checked everything - including the batteries. I noticed that all three 123 batteries that I had tried seemed to have the minus side slightly indented. That is, the case of the battery extended past the metallic bottom (contact surface). So I took a small rare earth magnet - the ones used for charging flattop batteries and placed it on the bottom contact surface (neg). put it together and presto light....glorious light.

I still am wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

Cliff

What is the P1?

The Fenix P1

Morelite said:

What is the P1?

Click to expand...

The Fenix P1, sorry I should have said Fenix. I guess I've seen too many CPF posts where folks just give numbers and everyone's supposed to know what they're talking about. That bugs me and I went and did it.

Cliff

Yep, same problem, but with new non-dented cells.

Someone suggested taking the black spongy ring out of the bottom of the light. Seemed to work o.k.


-dan

I had the same problem with one of mine when using Surefire cells. Once I removed the foam ring from the bottom, it worked fine, but there was some battery rattle when the light was off.

Rather than throw out the foam ring entirely, I ended up cutting out a couple of segments and sticking them back into the P1's body. This seemed to do the trick. The light works much better, and there is no battery rattle when it is off.

Here's what it looks like.



My other P1 worked fine right out of the package.

my fenix P1 arrived DOA (dead on arrival) also....

have yet to try the other tricks to work.... will do soon...

Just got my P1 today and no problems....love the light.

I thought mine was a lemon. I couldn't get it to work on all the battery types I have around the house, especially Sure-Fire. When I found out by watching the posts about various problems seems that the Sure-Fire batteries have this green plastic ring spacer thing that disallows good contact at the bottom of the flashlight. Removing the green spacer solved the problem. Now my P1 works very well. I had considered returning it for replacement but now I'm going to keep it. I'll keep removing the stupid green thing or quit using S-F batteries. Love the P1.

Has anyone noticed a rattle in their P1 ? Now that I got the little beast going, I've been playing with it and when you back the head off 'till the light goes out, I get a considerable battery rattle. The rattle appears to be both sideways and up & down (top to bottom). Sounds like a single castanet.

Funny thing is, when I tried a Li-ion 123..it fit like a glove, no rattle and I didn't need the rare earth magnet on the bottom of the battery to make contact. The AW CR123 must be slightly larger diameter and the bottom is flush with the case so correct contact is made.

I have to say, it is a cool little light and plenty bright too. My Li-ion was not fresh so I can't say that the output was brilliant but I like this small light.

Cliff

Mine worked fine with a rechargeable but as soon as I put in a Surefire battery- no dice. Since I am just going to use rechargeables I'm not going to mess with taking out the foam. Very bright considering what you pay for. The P1 so tiny I keep on losing it.

Rather than taking out the foam you can modify the battery. There might be a plastic washer beneath the plastic wrapping that you can dig out with a pair of tweezers or tiny flathead screwdriver (you might rip the wrapping a bit, but that's irrelevant if the battery is disposable anyway). This should correct the contact problems and the battery won't rattle if you keep it tight enough when off. FYI my SF and Duracell CR123As have this washer, the one Titanium cell I have does not.

A protected li-ion will have a strip of metal (part of the protection circuitry) running along side the battery underneath the wrappings (you can feel it underneath) which makes it wider in diameter. That's why these won't rattle as much (or on other lights, not even fit). If you remove the foam, or it still rattles with foam, just wrap a bit of masking tape around the battery so it's snug inside the case (but not so snug you can't get it out again).

I had the same experience; I had to screw the head down TIGHT to get the light to turn on. One little rare earth magnet on the bottom of the 123 cell later, voila! I now love this little light. But, really, this is a design error IMHO. But overall, I think this light rocks. I can't remember another stock light running on a single primary 123 with such flat regulation.

sorry to learn of the battery issues. hope my P1 does ok on those protected RCRs from lighthound.

While my LIR 123's work, Duracell, Panasonic and Energizer lithiums don't.
I could remove the foam rubber but I don't like batterys that rattle.
Trimming the negative end of the battery seems to work for me.

OK, so when the head is screwed down a bit the foam holds it in place and stops the battery from rattling. When you screw down further the foam compresses and enables the bottom of the cell to make contact with the bump on the bottom of the case thereby switching the light on. I agree that the best bet would be to avoid batteries that have a washer in the bottom. If not, you can cut the insulation/washer off the bottom of the cell as Cabo shows above then the metal part of the cell should not make contact with the side of the case and it will work as designed. You have to be careful not to cut the cover on the side, only the bottom.
I tried Battery Station which worked fine and Panasonic which needed trimming. MP rechargeables also work ok.

Once the foam breaks in it becomes easier to turn them on.

I've been running my P1 with AW's RCR123 (protected 3V). Runs like no tomorrow. The engineering and build quality of this light leaves me aw struck. Primo from top to bottom. Never a hiccup and I just can't say enough good things about this light. The ingenuity, care and thought that went into this light leaves me speechless. The detail, machining and the price of P1 just makes me giggle with joy.:goodjob:

Using the magnet? Well... you may forget and throw it away with the battery.
Trimming the bottom of the batt? Again you have to do that every time for new batt.
Permanent fix? :rock: I sprayed the caburator cleaner onto the foam ring and let it sit for a minute (if you try to remove the ring right off, most likely it will come out in pieces because the nasty glue), remove the foam then trim off all around the outside about 1/16" and glue it back (I used contact cement). It works great now.

Surefire and Panasonic have "thicker" sleeves!