Photon Proton did yours do this???

I like photon flashlights I have been using them for years and have had spots of trouble when they disintegrate after being on a keychain for a time.
That said over all I do like them. I heard about a small light they were working on I was very pleased. This is like a jump into a another level for the company.
I was plaesed and exicited so I preorderd one.
I received it today.
To Be frank I was exicited when I pulled the light out. It has a cool look and nice feel.
he problem is that it wouldn't turn on. So I unscrewed the tail cap and right after the lithium AA cell popped out so did this little peice:




Here is the view down the tube showing the loss of the contact:


Did Photon make a mistake with cheap chinese manufacturing on the proton? Poor QC?
Maybe. Maybe this is just a bit of bad luck and part of a normal small % of defective flashlights.
Lets hope so. Somthing like this can spoil a whole production and distribution of a newflashlight if it is widespread.
I will send this one back and get another we will see how that one does.
Yaesumofo

wow!! maybe it's where it's soldered to the board was weak on that one? Was the metal peice broke from like a bending stress fracture or just looks like it fell off?

Let me quote what I posted in the other thread. This is what happened to me this afternoon. It was the first time I took out the battery.

I should add that TIN also has a broken light.

TrueBlue said:

Proton #1 is dead. The positive tab inside the barrel was lightly soldered on a flexible rod. I simply screwed off the barrel and the positive tab fell out. Luckily, the tab hit my foot so I knew something fell out. I replaced the battery and the light didn't work. Unluckily, the tab bounced under my dining table where darkness is frequent. Luckily, I had the reliable SF L4 light nearby and 5 minutes to spare to find the tab.

There is no way to put the tab back. The head is glued on tight. Even using rubber gloves to unscrew the head had no luck. I'm going to try to warm up the head to see if I can weaken the bond. If I don't then I get to try the lifetime LRI warranty.

If other Proton lights have as lightly soldered tab as the first one I tried then there are going to be a lot of returns.

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Sounds like a rocky launch of this light is in it's future!! rott rough!

Solder (which is soft and malleable) is a very poor choice for the battery contacts on a light. Arc has had continual problems with their 'solder blob' as the positive contact on most (all?) of their AAA lights.

It's hard to discern from the comments and photos so far, but is the solder being relied upon as a mechanical component of the positive (+) contact?

It is hard to tell where the tab goes. It is very hard to see what the tab is attached to because the head is sealed to the body of the light.

The tab could also wrap around the the straight steel spring. But there is solder on the end of the tab with gives the idea that the tab is soldered to something inside the light. I've got three lights, one each for ARC mania and Katokichi and, of course, the broken light is now mine. But I don't want to send the other two lights to Japan yet. Of the two working lights, one tab is not quite positioned; it is pushing out like a V. The second tab is mounted flat. I don't know which position the positive tab is suppose to sit. And I don't want to mail these lights to Japan until I make sure the light is going to work consistently.

The tail cap of one of the remaining good lights popped open on its own a moment ago. There is not much threading on the tail cap to hold the battery in place.

The Proton light is stumbling out the gate.

It is definitely a solder joint gone bad. It appears to me that this is a load bearing joint. This positive contact is under constant load. This is exactly the kind of thing that can ruin sales and overburden customer service. This is why sales and delivery happen to Cpf's happens first. We are a great test market for flashlights. What better place to beta test a mass production flashlight? So they order a first batch. Send them to paying Cpf's, learn very quickly how good or bad your manufacturing really is. Notice there is not even any packaging? Photon can afford to make one bad batch in the name of research and development. Now they can go back to the manufacture and say "this is bad and this is bad and we need to fix this aspect of the design and then we will place the BIG order". National and international brick and mortar sales ....to the masses so to speak, will have to wait until these problems are sorted out. Lets hope it isn't too late.

We are paying beta testers. I hate that.
I should have known better that to buy into the idea that Photon could bring a quality cheap chinese flashlight to market and be successful with it right off the bat.

At over $60.00 I would have to say that this light is too expensive, now that I have held it in my hand. Unfortunately I haven't even seen it turn on.
That will have to wait.
What a pain in the *** to have to send it back.
Whatever.
Yaesumofo

wow, tailcap threading gave way? Not good at all!!!!!!!
Seems like the Fenix with it's farther throwing beam, but no fancy multi-levels seems to still be on top. Came out first, and so far seems to be better made. Sure a few clickies might give out, but at least it's not falling apart out of the box!!

Just posted this in the review thread, but wanted to repeat here since TrueBlue is having an issue as well:

For all those who have experienced a problem with their Proton, please send me a PM or an email with your order # & email address and I will email you a pre-paid return label to send it back to LRI for the repair. If you could give a brief description in your message again of the problem you are having, I would appreciate it as I am trying to keep track of the failures as they come up.

Click to expand...

Edit: It appears the email function on the board may not be working properly as I have not received any emails despite reports of a couple being sent. For the time being, please email me directly at bryan at photonlight.com or send a PM.

One of the advantages of buying from a company with great customer service like LRI is that they will quickly deal with any problems you have. So even if you happen to get a unit with a manufacturing defect, you know they'll take care of it for you with no hassles.

Good job PhotonLight. :goodjob:

Yes props for the prompt response. I hope all the "culprit" lights are not that many, and get taken care of soon!

I really like their keychain lights, I have a red Photon II that I've had for about three years now which I love and is still on the original batteries and is still as bright as new. I had a turquoise Photon II that wouldn't work anymore after I changed batteries.

This new light is intriguing, but I'm going to take the wait and watch approach. I'm not impressed with several things about it, such as the lack of regulation, throw (to be expected with 5mm LEDs) and the funky switch.

I might go for an improved (regulated) 2 cell version with a tailswitch and something better than Nichia LED's. A made in China light that's close to $70 should not have those headache inducing yellow-blue nichias.

Excellent pictures! It is hard to tell, but it looks like there is solder on the fractured portion of the contact tab. This would indicate that the tabs were fractured before any soldering was done, maybe before the contacts were installed in the flashlights. I think we are looking at a very serious problem, and a lot of lights may be making that return trip.

TrueBlue said:

...

Of the two working lights, one tab is not quite positioned; it is pushing out like a V. The second tab is mounted flat. I don't know which position the positive tab is suppose to sit.

...

Click to expand...

My light has been fine and its like a V... its basicly the same as the negitive contact...

Yikes. I was going to order one, but no thanks now. It's just too much hassle to exchange/return things from the US from Canada. Even if I get a good one, I want to be confident this tab thing won't snap in the future.

I definitely still want a Proton. Although I am going to wait for v2.

I'd rather not buy the first of anything...

Mark

for all you regulation lovers... i have started my review:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/121585

This is disturbing

I lost my Arc AAA with red LED and figured maybe the Proton could be my new red light. Not to be used as a white light as a variable output red light would meet my needs. Now the thing has a soldered on tab and very poorly engineered tail threads to go with it. Since I use red lights in very harsh conditions, there is no way in hell I would want to have something that cheezy on my belt.
Since the light has been in design/manufacturing phase for 16 months, there is no excuse for the simple and very basic design flaws in the light. Gee, forgot about tailcap threads but it does have variable output... oh, the positive contact? Yeah, but the red LED has variable output.
Was there ever a prototype for the light? The tailcap threading and soldered on tab would of shown up quickly under actual use. My red and UV Peaks do not have variable output, but they always work and the electronics are potted with a gold plated contact for durability.
After all this time I am giving up on the Proton for many, many reasons. It started as a super light with a 60 lumen Jupiter and ended as a poorly designed and manufactured unreliable light with variable output. Now to find another AAA/AA red LED light with at least a few levels to replace my Arc.

pos. and neg. are both V on my light...

What does this mean?

nemul said:

pos. and neg. are both V on my light...

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The more I think about this the more I realize that this is a very smart move on the part of photon/LRI. Using CPF as a test bed for these new lights is brilliant. The test lights get paid for by Us users, we test them and report in detail to direct to the manufacture what issues need to be corrected before the larger order is placed. It really is a brilliant strategy. This kind of research would normally cost a small fortune. Here we offer it up for nothing. Yet we still have to pay full price for the privilege. That part bothers me. I have been a long time supporter of the photon product. I have at least 10 to 15 various photons. That doesn't' include the photons that I have had that have stopped working or disentegrated over time due to heavy key-chain use.
I like photons. I do believe that there are some very smart people running that company.
I also believe that some bad choices were made along the way with the proton. Lets hope that they are not blinded by $$ signs and re-design the light so that it will have more inherent reliability and lets hope the light's price comes down from the clouds into a range which is more suitable for a cheap Chinese flashlight.
Yaesumofo