*WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up! *UPDATE*!!

Yes, I'm an idiot. I tried to put my BatterySpace.com rechargeable setup in my L2 3W and blew out my light. Ouch. Had it 3 days and ruined it. At first I couln't figure out why, the head is supposed to be able to run on a 9V body. But I figured it must be a current issue.

There will be a temptation by some here to slam PentagonLight. But really, they are not designing lights to be "experimented" on. They are designing lights to run on stock battery voltage/current. This was my fault pure and simple. I always am trying to squeeze more out of everything and this time it bit me in the ***. I should've just left it alone. It was perfect before I started fooling with it....A replacement head from islandtactical.com will run me $50 before shipping. Dang.

I'm such a tool.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

What exact combination blew it up? Which cells, how many?

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

KDOG3 said:

the head is supposed to be able to run on a 9V body.

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Where did you get that information?

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

sorry to hear that.. and thanks for the warning. I thought that I'd try reachargeables also, but mine is'nt here yet.

did you use the 3.0 nominal Rcr123's? I have some from Markcm that I've been using in my T3 and XO3 and I was going to try these.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

KDOG3 said:

There will be a temptation by some here to slam PentagonLight.

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This is an extremely malicious comment as it suggests that there are CPF members out there with an agenda against Pentagonlight AND willing to back that supposed agenda up with non-scientific attacks far from the truth.
Further more, this comment is trying to de-valuate any subsequent statement critisizing Pentagonlight for whatever reason, be it justified or not.
Bad style.

bernhard

P.S.: you are absolutely correct ... you used a device in a manner it was not intended to be used, so the blame is on you. You aren't the frist to do this, and you won't be the last. Many dead lights line the roads that lead to progress in the art and knowledge of us flashaholics. That is the game.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

Spacemarine said:

Where did you get that information?

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Thier site does say "Converts 6-volt or 9-volt lights only" on this page:

http://www.pentagonlight.com/item_detail.cfm__id.285

Notice in the picture that this is the same head used on the L2. I suggest you submit it for warranty repair and see what happens. It was likely the current that killed it...rather than the voltage.

- Chris

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

I used the BatterySpace.com 3.7v setup. They come off the charger at 4.2V. The same setup I use in my 6P + P90...


QUOTE This is an extremely malicious comment as it suggests that there are CPF members out there with an agenda against Pentagonlight AND willing to back that supposed agenda up with non-scientific attacks far from the truth.
Further more, this comment is trying to de-valuate any subsequent statement critisizing Pentagonlight for whatever reason, be it justified or not.
Bad style. QUOTE

Sorry you feel that way. But if you read the other Pentagonlight thread, you'll see that some people were suggesting lesser Penty quality even though they had never even seen one....


I can't submit it for warranty repair, I called them and told them everything and they informed me its not covered under warranty... guess I just gotta bite it and make sure I don't friggin' mess with it anymore!

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

Sorry you feel that way. But if you read the other Pentagonlight thread, you'll see that some people were suggesting lesser Penty quality even though they had never even seen one....

Click to expand...

No wonder I feel this way as it was the intention of your remark, obviously.
If you are talking about the thread I participated in, too, I'd like to add that the arguments were about scientific comparisons and data instead of blind hype, as it should be on CPF.

Anyway ... I'd appreciate it if you could leave out such comments in the future.

Carry on with the thread ...

bernhard

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

KDOG3 said:

I used the BatterySpace.com 3.7v setup. They come off the charger at 4.2V. The same setup I use in my 6P + P90...

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You used two r123a cells? That would produce a voltage of 8.4V.

If the head of the L2 can be used with up to 3 cells, then it sould be able to take about 9.6V without blowing. (3.2V with a fresh cell * 3)
So if it really can tolerate 3 cells, I don't understand why your 8.4V damaged it. Of course, you r123a cells have a lower internal resistance, thus allowing higher currents, but if the head is designed properly, the internal resistance shouldn't be able to damage it.

I see only 4 possible explanations for this accident:

1. Your two r123a cells are faulty and produced a voltage which was noticeably above 9.6V. (very very unlikely)

2. The head of the L2 can't be used with 3 cells, which would mean that their website is faulty. Or perhaps their 3W-LED conversion head isn't the same that comes with a regular L2? (the most likely)

3. The electronics is designed so poorly, that it relies on the internal resistance of the cells. (unlikely, because I don't think pentagonlights engineers would be that stupid)

4. Your L2-head had an error in the electronics, which showed up when you used it with your 2*r123as. (unlikely, but possible)

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

I agree if it's made for 9v (confirm your exact head can be ran on 9v) then 2 recharables regardless of their internal resistance should be fine as a 3W will need a step down circuit for that large of a voltage difference, sagging voltage or not.

If you don't get to the bottom of this then perhaps you could or have the head modded my some modders here to something usefull again.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

In the other thread McGizmo posted a runtime chart showing pretty decent regulation on 2x123, so I guess the "crappy electronics" or "just a resistor" explanation won't work.

The most likely solutiion is just that it can't take 9V just like so many other converters ...

bernie

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

From what I read here then is not to power up and L2-3W with 8.4 volts. I tried mine with 1 cell -168s. It seems to work OK on 4 volts. For the sake of safety, I put back the primary 123's though. I don't think its recommended on a SureFire LED regulated 2 cell light to try that trick either. I always go the one cell route.

It may not actually be a SureFire, but it has the fit and finish to match.

Having done that, its OK to use a rechargeable as in 1 but NOT 2.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

Sorry man, that is unfortunate. I'd have probably done that to mine too. Did you contact Penatgonlight yet?

-David

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

I just got mine today. It is a very nice light. I've tried the 3.0v w/ ic protection rechargeable 123 cells in mine and it works fine. However inside part of the lens needs a little cleaning - a little smudgy, more like cloudy.

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

Well, this is what I've decided to do:

I just ordered the Xenon conversion head which I will put on there and give it to my dad, possibly as a Christmas present.

Payday I will order the HA-III version - and not try any more stupid experiments!

Re: *WARNING* Do NOT use rechargeables in the Penty L2 3W!! I blew mine up!

"I've tried the 3.0v w/ ic protection rechargeable 123 cells in mine and it works fine."


Hmmm, thats probably another point I didn't consider, the cells I used were UNprotected. Sigh...

Check it out. They just emailed me and said they won't charge me for the Xenon head, except for the shipping! Also, they said there was a suprise gift in there and that if they were me, they would "save my money for something other than another L2". Could it be another L2? Can't wait till it gets here. Stay tuned!!

Sounds good. Keep us updated. Smaller companies like this can really start to make a name for themselves with good customer/warranty service.

- Chris

The tracking says it won't be here till the 20th. Got about a week to wait and see what it is! Oh the agony!

KDOG3 said:

The tracking says it won't be here till the 20th. Got about a week to wait and see what it is! Oh the agony!

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A little update:

I called up pentagonlight today and asked the nice gentleman about interchangeability between the L2 3Watt head and the X3 body. He was very pleasant and proceded to explain to me that the L2 3Watt head is the same as the conversion head they offer so you can take the head off the L2 and throw it on the X3 body. I checked it out and it works perfectly. He said this was not recommended since they offer the 5watt head for the 3-cell body but if I wanted to put the 3watt on the 3-cell body I should expect increased runtime. He also told me that the LED module circuitry was shown to be able to handle up to 12 volts and should theoretically be stable up to around 20 volts. He was also aware of the candlepowerforums and recalled with great detail your problem with rechargeables, he admitted he was not on the actual engineer side of things but suspected that you had used unprotected cells and that had caused the failure. He also told me what exactly they were sending you but I'm keeping that a secret.

All in all the call was pleasant and the gentleman I spoke to was very friendly and seemed very happy when I explained to him how I have found the pentagonlights to be well made and super-reliable (I'm on my sixth pentagonlight as of today.)