Fenix TK15 - only one internal spring?

Divine_Madcat

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Apr 26, 2012
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After reading another members post, i took a good hard look at my light, and by golly, i do not see the positive contact spring that so many mention (useful, as i understand, for mounting on a weapon). Looking down the barrel, i see a blue pcb, with a gold outer ring, surrounding a silver button. Dropping my 18650 cell in yields only a "thunk", with no bounce what so ever. Since the head does not unscrew, i cannot check it out any closer..

I bought the light at REI, and Fenix's sn page confirms everything about it... So, do i have an amazing forgery, or did they change their design? Amazon still has the description with dual springs, so i feel somewhat jipped..
 

trgrhppy

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Mar 29, 2011
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I just checked, and mine has springs at both ends. I bought it about a year ago. I don't know about a design change. trgrhppy
 

Divine_Madcat

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Apr 26, 2012
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Thanks. since this is the kind of thing that will bug me, i sent them an email:

"Hello,

A few weeks ago i purchased a TK15, serial number: F3DJD00XXXX, from REI. One of the features i read about was that this light had springs at both ends of the battery contacts, as a feature for being weapon mounted. Upon examining my light, i can see that the front contact is a solid button, with no spring at all. Dropping a battery in yields no spring action at all, further reinforcing that there is no forward spring. I have seen other users report that their lights have this feature, so I am a bit puzzled as to why mine does not. Was the design changed at some point, or is my light defective (i have to admit, that it works perfectly otherwise, but I would like to know that if i wanted to be able to mount it, i could).

Thank you,
Daniel"

Lets see what they say (but if anyone also has this light with no forward spring, please chime in!).
 

Divine_Madcat

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Apr 26, 2012
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Well, amazingly, i got a response back fairly quickly:

"Dear Daniel,
Have a nice day. I am Cathy from Fenix China. Yes, old TK15 has two springs. New version is designed with one spring on tail. You get the new TK15."

While the answer is short, i appreciate the speed at which the question was answered. So, i guess there are two versions; the question is (asked by me, though not answered by the service), how does it effect the ability to handle recoil...
 

hiuintahs

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Sep 12, 2006
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1,840
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To be honest I wish mine only had just the tail spring. I think that would make it similar to the PD32 and that one works fine with a Redilast 3100mAh battery. Though I'm not planning on weapon mounting it, I just want it to work with more variety of 18650 batteries.

The other thing I noticed with the front spring version is that it looked to me like a 18650 with wide positive terminal is close to shorting out to the sides. I enclosed a picture to show how narrow the cavity is where the spring comes out. The PCB versions at least have isolation boundary between center pad and the chassis of the flashlight.........which is essentially the ground or negative terminal of the battery. I checked on my Redilast and it wasn't touching the chassis of the light but I have no idea how close it was.

 

BlackhawkB

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Apr 17, 2012
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Same thing for my TK21. Reviews (mostly prototypes) show double springs while I only have one. I guess the version evolved.
 

Divine_Madcat

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Apr 26, 2012
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Thanks for the shot hiuintahs - i have to admit that the non spring version i have looks less.... Simple? As it is, i love the light, so i think i should stop worrying..
 
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