L2T Q2's LED now brown

I was just out a few minutes ago taking out my dog with my mom, who uses my L2T and I realised that there is now a dark brown spot in the middle of it's hotspot and in the middle of the phosphor. I don't know exactly when it happened as I don't really use it too much anymore, but I just changed it's batteries about 3 or 4 days ago and I always click it on just to make sure everything's good. Both my mom and I know not to leave it on high too long, however my sister used it 2 days ago and doesn't know how to change modes and doesn't know which mode it was on. But here's the thing, it was in the high 30's that night and was raining, so I'm puzzled.

I'm still under warranty, however Fenix's site mentions a warranty card and honestly I don't recall ever having one. I have already e-mailed 4Sevens, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyone on here mod one of these things? If for whatever reason I can't get it repaired under warranty, I'd love to have an XP-G put in it.

Thanks guys!

Hmmm.... as far as I know, the L2T has a regular high setting, not a turbo, so it should not be a problem to let it run on high for a long time...

I guess you have a defective led.

For the upgrade, once you succeed in unpotting the head, an emitter swap is fairly easy. Fenix use a white glue a lot easier to remove than epoxy. Once it's gone, you can unsolder the old emitter and put a new one in. Even if a XP-G can be installed, installing a XR-E (Q5 or R2) would be easier since the heatsink is designed for that emitter. Also, changing to an XP-G will change the beam pattern since the reflector is not made for it. Still, you can have a nice beam but with a different hotspot if you use a XP-G.

defloyd77 said:

.....
I'm still under warranty, however Fenix's site mentions a warranty card and honestly I don't recall ever having one. ...

Click to expand...

Warranty laws vary by country. In the USA, it used to be that consumers were not be required to submit a card to qualify for warranty service. Not sure if this is still true. A purchase receipt might suffice instead.

I had an L2T do the same thing. Went brown and dim. 4sevens replaced the head for me under warranty after sending it to them for inspection.

Phospor turns brown when its burnt. So the Phosphor coating on the die which is what makes the "white" light is burnt at that area. The die got real hot, the area in the center, furthest from any heatsinking got above the temperature at which the Phosphor coating burns. No way to reverse that. Must have been running at highest power setting just a little too long.

derfyled said:

Hmmm.... as far as I know, the L2T has a regular high setting, not a turbo, so it should not be a problem to let it run on high for a long time...

Click to expand...

High/turbo whatever it's called, it's 150ish lumens and it does get hot. I never would have thought after all of the times I've used it for a bike light on turbo for a long time in the summer and it being fine, that it being on for a while in the high rainy 30's would allow it to get hot enough to burn the phosphor, but alas, it obviously did.

I just got a response from 4Sevens, they just told me to send it in. Since it's a discontinued light, are they just going to open it and replace the LED?

Thanks a million guys for your input!!!!

Guys, how long do you suppose it would take for an L2T to get hot enough to burn the phosphor when it's say in the low 40's and held in hand? I'm seriously thinking it was carelessly thrown into a pocket on high and that's how it happened, but nobody will admit to it.

Oh, it was loaded with Rayovac Hybrids btw.