Help Please LD01 Noise!

I have owned my LD01 now for just over a week maybe :s
I just went to use it and noticed in medium and low setting it makes a almost buzzing noise but not in high mode? Does anyone know why this is I have not noticed it before but maybe its always been like that :s :thinking:

It's inductor whine, and happens in alot of flashlights... Nothing to be worried about.

I noticed my L1D doing the same thing the other day, it had different tones in the different levels the higher level the higher the tone got.

I notice it in most of lights if it put them to my ear now I guess its all fine then if they all do it. Not all of them do it in certain modes.

that's weird that a LD01 does that; i have 3 LODs (older version) and a SS LD01 and none of them do that. they were supposed to improve the PWM on the newer version, so maybe it's some new circuitry that's the culprit.

That the reason why I only buy single mode lights. Nothing much to go wrong or annoy you. Unless its real loud I can deal with it though.

carl8190 said:

I have owned my LD01 now for just over a week maybe :s
I just went to use it and noticed in medium and low setting it makes a almost buzzing noise but not in high mode? Does anyone know why this is I have not noticed it before but maybe its always been like that :s :thinking:

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You're screwed dude! Soon you'll hear it in your sleep like I do!

Oh wait, that's just me losing my hearing.

Ive had 5 L0D/LD01..only 1 was quiet, the 4 others all have some kind of hum, but I can only hear it if its close to my ear, so your LD01 should be fine :thumbsup:

I've been through 3 of them and they all whine.

My Fenix TK20 whines as well, only in turbo mode though. It's loud enough that I've been bombarded by bats one night...Not a good experience! Needless to say the light now sits unused.

Inductor whine is fairly common, even in high end flashlights. It also shows up in many other consumer products... hold a smart phone to your ear with the backlight lit up, and you can usually hear the electronics there too.

Nothing to worry about.

wingnut86 said:

My Fenix TK20 whines as well, only in turbo mode though. It's loud enough that I've been bombarded by bats one night...Not a good experience! Needless to say the light now sits unused.

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Interesting. Could it be that insects were attracted to the light and the bats were eating the insects? To the OP. Don't worry, its very common. Might wanna try using a different battery. My LF2XT whines loudly on lithiums but not on Eneloops.

I'm guessing the noise is because the regulator is PWM ('pulse width modulation'). Essentially this means the light is rapidly pulsed (turned off/on) when in operation. If this frequency is > 100 Hz or so the flickering is not obvious. If this pulse rate is at audible frequency (< 20 KHz) or has beats that are within the audible frequency range you may hear it. If bats noticed it it's probably a relatively high pitched whine.

Only way around this is to get a light with a regulator that's not PWM (like constant current)

wingnut86 said:

My Fenix TK20 whines as well, only in turbo mode though. It's loud enough that I've been bombarded by bats one night...Not a good experience! Needless to say the light now sits unused.

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Interesting, I'm not sure if your serious or not, but I was using an AW soft start switch out in a very rural area one night recently where there were some bats flying around. When I used the light on the Medium power setting the bats seemed to be intrigued by it.
I wasn't sure if they really were or if it was just coincidence.
Perhaps the frequency used is similar to their own?

Anyway I usually don't acknowledge any sound except during soft start with high amperage bulbs. I don't notice it at all with my Fenix light, but I think the one I have is current controlled not pwm.

FloggedSynapse said:

I'm guessing the noise is because the regulator is PWM ('pulse width modulation'). Essentially this means the light is rapidly pulsed (turned off/on) when in operation. If this frequency is > 100 Hz or so the flickering is not obvious. If this pulse rate is at audible frequency (< 20 KHz) or has beats that are within the audible frequency range you may hear it. If bats noticed it it's probably a relatively high pitched whine.

Only way around this is to get a light with a regulator that's not PWM (like constant current)

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inductor whine affects ALL varieties of lights, including constant current regulated (such as the tk20). that's because, as the name suggests, it's the INDUCTOR that is creating the noise, which is a common component not unique to pwm based lights.

Apparently I guessed wrong.

the coolest thing is the music made by the EX10 when ramping up/down..it's very faint, so you have to put it right up to your ear..but it sounds like
swiping your hand across the keys on a synthesizer.