Photon Freedom help needed

Dont know if this is the right forum...

Changed the batteries in one of my photon freedoms and now it will not fully light up. All the functions work fine but the output is equivalent to running off a cr2032. Very weak. Swapped batteries with a known working photon and no change. To make matters worse the photon I stole the batts from wont light up at all. It flickers intermittenly while installing the batts but thats it.

Anyone have these kind of problems?

I really like these things but changing the batts is a p.i.a

Anyone?:mecry:

I replaced the batteries in a photon 2 and had to clean the led leads as they had a small amount of rust(primarily frm old batteries) as I wear this on necklace. The batteries I installed were some I purchased really cheap, .40 cents each. This light is now much dimmer than another photon 2 I have, which still has original batteries.

I dont know what gives, but feel your pain.

Did you do a visual when evrything is in place except the top housing, to make sure it aligns properly?

Jim

Sorry...just realized you have the freedom. I had 1 of these but gave it away, as I like the direct drive more than the pwm type.

OT:Is there current draw on the frredoms, even when the light is off, ie uamps being drawn by circuit?

Go here ( http://www.photonlight.com/forum/forum-2.html ) and ask your question. You're more likely to get an authoritative answer quickly.

HTH,
Nels

oooh! I didnt even know they had a forum.

Thanks!

Well I found the problem. After some thought I checked the voltage on all 4 batts: 1.8v , .7v, 3.04v, 2.9v. It looks like somewhere in the process they got shorted out. Not really sure how though. The 3.04 and .7 volt batts were the ones that came out of the known good photon. I checked right before opening it up. Still a little confused on how they got shorted and how the heck youre supposed to change the batts without using a jewelers screwdriver.

Luckily I have plenty of batts to play with

Are you sure you bought fresh batteries? I purchased twenty 2016 cells on eBay only later to discover they were old and weak. I later found an honest button cell dearler on eBay and purchased replacements.

Oh, and the jewelers screwdriver does work best. It also helps to bend the photon from both ends to assist in popping off the battery door.

LowBat said:

Are you sure you bought fresh batteries? I purchased twenty 2016 cells on eBay only later to discover they were old and weak.

Click to expand...

Those are 200 panasonics fresh off the truck from digikey this morning:naughty:
A couple of weeks ago I bought a bunch of cheapies from a vendor and every single one of them was near dead. :scowl:

bhds said:

Those are 200 panasonics fresh off the truck from digikey this morning

Click to expand...

So are you saying some of the Panasonics from Digikey arrived bad, or that they later were somehow shorted?

The batteries in the 2 photons were store bought sanyos from Frys. 1.79 a piece. 1 photon was getting dim so I took the batteries out of the second photon to use in the first. The second photon was working fine. Somehow in the batt swap the good batteries from second photon were shorted. So, now I had 2 sets of bad batts.

The shipment of panasonics from digikey were delivered today. I replaced the batts in both photons with these and they work great.

The cheapies I referred to were received, tried and tossed un-ceromoniously in the garbage last week. Every single one of them was weak. Thats why I had 1.79 sanyos in the photons. :sick2:

And no, I didnt short any of the panasonics during the install.

I've had good experience with the Digikey 2016s too, light up them coinlights jes' fine!
daloosh