Malfunctioning P3D

Hey guys, I recently got a Fenix P3D and after the first day it started messing up. I tried replacing the batteries several times and cleaned the circuit board and threads of the head, body, and tail.

Whats going on is the bulb is struggling to turn on. It looks like its about 5 lumens and it flickers. It stays like that all throughout the modes of general mode. It will not go into turbo mode even though the head is turned all the way. The only mode that works is SOS. Im using some crappy powerizer batteries, maybe some higher quality ones? Would that be a sympton of low quality batteries?

Again ive cleaned it several times with a cotton swab and alcohol and have tried different batteries but nothing. I bought it from a vendor on amazon so I assume I should contact them for a replacement?

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

Who knows although I have some thoughts.

Clean the threads and body ends meticuously with alcohol. Screw the tail cap on first real tight then the head second. Make sure both are tight. See if you have turbo mode. While you state yours is a PD3, I have seen a number of the PD20 and 30 lights that need to have the tail cap screwed down first very tight or the light did not work. This usually becomes less of a problem as the light gets used or broken in.

AND YES by all means buy some decent batteries. If you have a volt meter measure the voltage on your present batteries. I bought Powerizer batteries and a number of them were dead out of the box. The ones that did work only lasted half as long or less than my Surefire batteries. I only buy Surefire, Panasonic, or Streamlight Lithium CR123 batteries.

If none of this works I suspicion you have a dead LED or bad electronics in the light. Fenix is very good about customer service, although I'm not sure about Amazon.

Good Luck

Bill

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

Thanks for the suggestions. I realized if you put the tailcap on after the head, it wont screw in all the way and I can still see the rubber o-ring. I cleaned everything and installed the head first and sure enough the tailcap closed all the way. It works about 50% of the time now. Turbo mode is back, but doesnt function all the time. Once the light is on full power it will stay on, no flickering or anything. Although some times it will struggle to turn on. I just ordered some surefire batteries to see if those would fix the problem 100%. Many thanks again! :wave:

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

Is the switch retaining ring inside the tailcap tight? Mine needed tightening.

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

I tried tightening it, but I dont have forceps as instructed in the Fenix maintenance video. I used the pointy thing of the nailclipper (used to pick underneath your nails) and it wouldnt budge. Not sure if I have to get a hold of both holes and turn it. Thats what I thought it was at first till I got it to screw all the way in. And wouldnt that make it not work all the time instead of once in a while?

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

WHT_GE8 said:

And wouldnt that make it not work all the time instead of once in a while?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure it'd cause the problems you describe, but it can make it intermittent if it's just a bit too loose. I use a small pair of pointy scissors to tighten mine.

Re: Malfuctioning P3D

Sounds like your cells are way to long.