Is my Fenix L2D faulty (high current draw)

I've been noticing really lackluster battery life on my Fenix L2D recently. Curious, I charged up some Duraloops and put them in. I then measure the current draw on Turbo and found it to be 2.1 amps! No wonder my cells are barely lasting an hour.

What is a normal Turbo current draw for and L2D. The L2D is a little old and from a Canadian dealer, whats my best option here, get a new/used head for it?

I should also include that the output seems weak as well. It is noticeably outdone by every other XR-E light I own.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/180263

I don't know which LED you have in there, but see the link. Q5 Led's pull 1.9 amps, so 2.1 amps is not that far off and your measurement difference could be from the meter you are using.

If you have rechargeable batteries in there, it might be time to change them: have you been using them for many cycles?
If you have a box of batteries you bought a few years ago, they could be expiring on you. Try newer rechargeables or brand new batteries if you haven't done that yet.

If you compare it with newer technology, it will obviously seem dimmer. My old L2D looks likes it needs a battery change when I put it next to my new PD20 and there's supposedly only a difference of 10 lumens!

I don't think it's a problem... Remember, it has a boost driver, to boost the voltage, so it would pull alot more current to get the voltage up for the LED.

These cells are only 6 months old. Also, if the light is drawing 2.1 amps and it lasts just under an hour, they are indeed putting out their full 2000mAh capacity. My crappy energizer 2500s (the old terrible ones) used to be able to run the light for over 90 minutes.

I realize it's a boost driver but even still the current seems high, could someone out there measure their own to maybe rule that out? The XR-E is probably being driven at around 1 amp and 3.6V, so it seems odd that 2 NiMH cells (2.4V) would need double the current for only 50% more voltage esp with Fenix's reputation for being efficient.

My Quark AA on turbo lasts longer and is same brightness as L2D on Turbo. I realize its an XP-G R5 light but we're talking one AA versus two here.

L2D should be a Luxeon III
... at double the power not even on par in brightness,
so the comparison with the 1AA Quark (vs. the 2AA light) is ok - in regard to "1AA vs. 2AA".

to the current,
"robust" method:
* one white led "needs" three cells to run.
* the light has two cells
* the L2D gives about 800-850 mA to the led
so:
current * cells needed / cells present * 50 % loss
850 * 3 / 2 * 1,5 = 1.912 mA

sure the 50 % loss seems high, but at this draw from such cells for a very high powered led run by a step-up driver ...



PS: there is absolutley no real sense in comparing such an old device with one featuring the latest ones and then critisizing the old one. It was simply perfect, when it was new, now it is old.

I have to agree with Yellow on this, except that I have an L2D with Q5 LED. Runtimes from older lights can not be compared with newer ones.

If you're not losing regulation, your light is most likely working like it was meant to. To reassure yourself, what you could do is find out exactly which LED is in there, find tested runtimes on a review and do your own runtime testing with the same batteries the reviewer used. I doubt your results would differ by more than 10%.

On the other hand, this is a flashaholic forum, so I have to tell you about the flashaholic option: time to upgrade...

Thanks for the input guys. The L2D is def an X-RE Q5, it says "Premium Q5" on the head. The runtime was the main issue. All old review of this light say 90-100 mins of runtime, I'm getting 50 mins or so, which is half. Not to mention this is with more modern cells (Duraloops).

Cataract: Are you able to do current measurements on your light? Or if not, at least a rough runtime time test on some NiMH cells?

I just can't imagine 2.1 amp being normal when all the reviews say about 100 minute run time. If that were the case it'd need 3500 mAh true capacity cells to support this, and these tests were done a few years ago when cells were not as capable as now.

Also, I understand the Q5 is not as bright as the newest stuff but look at the difference here, first shot is L2D in Turbo:


Then look at 2 XR-E lights right after it (Q3 5A Trustfire and R2 Lumens Factory drop-in)




I know the Fenix is a floody light but every part of the beam is beaten badly by those other two lights with comparable emitters.

Measured on my L2D with eneloop batteries:
Low: 62mA
Medium: 230mA
High: 546mA
Turbo: 1030mA

Try doing a test of you batteries with a "small" resistor parallel to the voltmeter, see example here in chapter Battery. Maybe one of your batteries is bad?

Cataract said:

On the other hand, this is a flashaholic forum, so I have to tell you about the flashaholic option: time to upgrade...

Click to expand...

Haha don't get me wrong I love getting new lights and I don't expect the L2D to keep up, but it just seems to be underperforming quite badly compared to what it used to and what reviews have said.

HKJ said:

Measured on my L2D with eneloop batteries:
Low: 62mA
Medium: 230mA
High: 546mA
Turbo: 1030mA

Try doing a test of you batteries with a "small" resistor parallel to the voltmeter, see example here in chapter Battery. Maybe one of your batteries is bad?

Click to expand...

Thanks HKJ I appreciate that. I can try that method once I get home perhaps if I can find a low resistor around. Do you happen to own any Quark lights that you could test on Turbo /w Li-Ion cell so I could see how my meter stacks up against yours on a light I know works fine?

I'm pretty sure I didn't use the same pair of Duraloops (I own 4 pairs) on my old runtime test that got 50mins but just to be sure I'll pull out my ROV Hybrids and see what kind of numbers I get on those.

Wiggle said:

Thanks HKJ I appreciate that. I can try that method once I get home perhaps if I can find a low resistor around. Do you happen to own any Quark lights that you could test on Turbo /w Li-Ion cell so I could see how my meter stacks up against yours on a light I know works fine?

Click to expand...

I have measured all 4 Quarks in their first version, these numbers are on my website in the Danish section. Here are the numbers for the AA model with LiIon:
moonlight:2.2mA
low:12.6mA
medium:58mA
high:272mA
max:791mA

These numbers will depend on actual battery voltage.

Thanks a bunch I will measure my Quark when I get home and see if my meter is close to accurate. If it is, and it measures such high current/low runtime/low output on the L2D with some other cells I am assuming it must have some kind of fault?

Wiggle said:

Thanks a bunch I will measure my Quark when I get home and see if my meter is close to accurate. If it is, and it measures such high current/low runtime/low output on the L2D with some other cells I am assuming it must have some kind of fault?

Click to expand...

Cheap meters usual show wrong values, when the battery is nearly empty!

But with your short runtime, the problem is probably not the meter.

Yeah I barely get 45-50 mins before it flickers and drops out of regulation.

Do you see at least a noticeable difference between high mode and turbo? the difference isn't much on hte L2D Q5, but you should see one.

How long have you been using your batteries for? they might be used up (too many cycles) or they could have been overcharged at some point. You should try a new set (alkalines if necessary) just to rule out battery problems.

I'll see if I can do a runtime test, but I can't make any promises... I'm a little busy these times.

Seems like the L2D is defective. You should contact your dealer.

HKJ said:

I have measured all 4 Quarks in their first version, these numbers are on my website in the Danish section. Here are the numbers for the AA model with LiIon:
moonlight:2.2mA
low:12.6mA
medium:58mA
high:272mA
max:791mA

These numbers will depend on actual battery voltage.

Click to expand...

Ok I got 950 mA in max mode, a little off but close enough for the purpose of saying that the L2D is way too high. I also thoroughly cleaned the L2D and tried a set of ROV Hybrids, that actually made it worse with the current going up to 2.35 A. Oh, I also just looked at the outputs in a dark room, even worse than I thought. My Quarks Medium (20 lm or so) is matching the L2D in high and I'd estimate the turbo is 50lm tops.

Got my RMA#, sending it into the flashlight hospital:twothumbs

Definitely sounds like the right thing to do. Let us know what was wrong