# How to open Fenix head?



## gerry45 (Jul 6, 2007)

Hi, 


Just looking at new moreand more efficient leds. I have 4 short questions:

1. How to open my P2CDE without any damage?

2. What kind/size of pcb is inside, star, disc?

3. What kind of led i currently have cool white, soft white?

4. What is best choice when ordering. Emitter alone or mounted on pcb?

5. Is there a tutorial that i missed somewhere?

Thanks!


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## Gunner12 (Jul 6, 2007)

This might be better in the Modding Forum.

1. (I haven't modded so this is what I have read) They Loctited the head together so you might need to boil the head in a plastic bag to weaken the glue. Place the head in a vice(no too tight). Then insert split ring pliers in to the holes in the PCB and turn left(?) and it should come out.
2. I'm not sure of the size.
3. (Compare to sunlight, try a white sheet of paper) If the LED looks a bit blueish, then it is cool white. If it is yellowish then it is warm white. If it seems to be the same as sunlight, then it is neutral.
4. Fenix uses the emitter alone so that is what you should buy.
5. I don't think there are tutorials but there are some Fenix modding threads in the Modding section.


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## gerry45 (Jul 6, 2007)

Ok, I'll search more in modding forums

Thanks!


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## wintermute (Jul 6, 2007)

I used 7/8" tubing and 2 pairs of channel locks to get my head loose. It protects the anodizing and provides a nice grip. A vice and 1 pair of channel locks would have been easier - a vice and a 6" or 8" bionic wrench would have been easiest.


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## abvidledUK (Jul 6, 2007)

Hair dryer set on STUN works for me, everytime.


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## gerry45 (Jul 7, 2007)

Thanks a lot everybody,

i'll give the hairdryer a try with the 7/8 tubing. Great idea combo.

I really want to see what's in my P2CDE and a big 20% more light would be welcome.


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## mar3 (Jul 7, 2007)

You will see something like that 













L1/2D and P2D have same heads


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## wintermute (Jul 7, 2007)

You'll see one length of the tubing on the part of the head bezel which holds the reflector, lens, etc. (this is 3/4" tubing, which will work...but it really tight - 7/8" would have been easier to work with and still done the job effectively.






Put another small piece on the other piece, which is only 1/2" long. If you have a vice - put the larger head piece in the vice and use a large pair of channel locks (or bionic wrenches if you have them!!) to twist.

Funny thing is, I didn't even realize when I finally got it loose. The threads are so tight, you might not feel the click as the glue comes loose. When you do get it loose, it will look like this (different then the pics above because mine still has the glue on it.
















Friggin' thing was a pain in the butt...a real pain in the butt. But if you look through the end of the tubing at the smaller end, watch for the circuit board to twist - then you know one of two things are happening - either the whole thing is twisting, and you need to tighten your grip on the larger piece of the head bezel - or you have got it free.

Once loose, you need a new _emitter_ to replace the one inside. I am replacing the P4 (which is kind of a green tint) with a Q4 with WC tint (cool and slightly blue - just like I like). Lots of the Q4s were delivered yesterday, so I hope to get mine today. 

Besides Arctic Alumina Adhesive to attach the emitter, what else is everyone using to attach the emitter to the body??


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## MarNav1 (Jul 7, 2007)

Mine came apart with a mouse pad and no heat pliers or vice.


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## rantanplan (Jul 7, 2007)

wintermute said:


> [...]
> I am replacing the P4 (which is kind of a green tint) with a Q4 with WC tint (cool and slightly blue - just like I like). Lots of the Q4s were delivered yesterday, so I hope to get mine today.
> 
> Besides Arctic Alumina Adhesive to attach the emitter, what else is everyone using to attach the emitter to the body??



That´s what I´ve done yesterday. I got my Q4s and replaced the Cree in my LxD CE head later in the evening ... now its "whiter and brighter" .

I used Arctic Silver adhesive. After I had "removed" the old emitter and the white stuff, I realized that the emitter was placed on a small, round pedestal. Fenix used quite a lot of this white thermal(?) adhesive, which hid this fact. I had asked myself before, how Fenix managed the "problem" with the connector pads on the bottom ... and that´s the logic solution. Because of this raised platform, only the heat-transfering part of the emitter bottom has contact to the body. unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures . 

Soldering the leads to the emitter was the usual PITA  ... but I managed it in the first try :rock: ...

I used self-locking pliers with some rubber to hold the part with the emitter and unscrewed the head with my hand (and some gloves with good grip) ... relatively easy compared to the boiling procedure of my Nuwai Q3 some years ago  ...


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## gerry45 (Jul 7, 2007)

Really apreciate these pics.

Man, inside it looks really bad. I tought i just have to unscrew, unsolder and change a pcb. 

Definitely not a modding friendly fl.

Is that epoxy all over?

Thanks again for the pics!


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## wintermute (Jul 7, 2007)

gerry45 said:


> Really apreciate these pics.
> 
> Man, inside it looks really bad. I tought i just have to unscrew, unsolder and change a pcb.
> 
> ...


I'll take some pics through all of the steps today to illustrate how easy it can really be.


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## flyingbrass (Jul 7, 2007)

Jostling around in a lockblock on my bike while running in Turbo was enough to loosen my L2D head. When I reached down to change from Turbo to low the front part kept turning. Very little glue had been used.

I'm glad it came loose because I found the beam is much nicer for my purposes when slightly defocused. The ring is gone with more light in the spill. Of course, the cost is reduced throw. One of these days I'll put in a better emitter. Since I've never done one before I'm looking forward to instructions with pictures.


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## big beam (Jul 7, 2007)

I just got mine apart today.I tried hot water and hair dryer NG.So I thought MO heat.I used a paint stripping gun.I think you should be careful because these things make a LOT of heat.Will set cardboard on fire in 3 or 4 secs.Using the normal tact(rubber and chanel locks) it came apart pretty EZ. Sad to say I don't have another emitter to put in it but I will.
DON


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## wintermute (Jul 7, 2007)

Pics as I promised of my P4 -> Q4 LED swap in LxD head.

Start out:





Popped loose with a little metal pic:





Grungy - make sure you get rid of that old compound where the emitter sticks. I found my fingernail to work best:





All clean - used a little ethanol on a Q-tip to clean things up (being a microbiologist, I use ethanol for everything - isopropyl alcohol would work just the same)





Emitter in - Fenix really designed the top of this thing well - it would be very hard to NOT get it centered. I used a mixture of Arctic Alumina Adhesive with 25% Arctic Alumina Compound in case I wanted to go R4 next year (ya never know):





I'm not going to show the pic of my soldering of the wires to the emitter - it wasn't pretty. First one of these Cree emitters I have soldered, little buggers are a pain. I will say this though, I used a 15 watt soldering iron for this - and it was enough...I wouldn't use anything hotter for a project such as this.

Have fun.


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## qip (Jul 7, 2007)

tale of two fenix's ....my p3d head was a pain to unscrew my Lxd was easy as pie...the emitter from the p3d was easy as pie my Lxd was a nightmare as it was covered in adhesive more than the p3d it was just filled in the entire area caked in and though i removed the Lxd emitter my positive wire felt loose so i tried to unscrew the emitter module from the bottom part of its bezel and it too was locktite and in process long story short my wires are now inside module and i cant get them out + the module looks murdered argh vice grips ripping through rubber to get to aluminum


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## wintermute (Jul 7, 2007)

qip said:


> ...the module looks murdered argh vice grips ripping through rubber to get to aluminum


qip - 7/8" (perfect) or 3/4" (tight) tubing around the light, then apply vice grips, channel locks, vice, etc. The rubber tubing will protect the head so it looks like new.


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## qip (Jul 7, 2007)

ugh cant even use this lxd module , cant get the sucker loose the wires are inside the outside aluminum is all ripped up even the threading ...wanna sell me yours  ...now i gotta get another head


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## glockboy (Jul 8, 2007)

I used double side tape for grip,and open by hand.


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## wintermute (Jul 8, 2007)

yeah - that _may_ have worked for you....but not for me. And not for a lot of others either...it all depends on how much glue they put in the threads. Maybe yours had very little...well, mine had a lot.


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## ensile (Jul 24, 2007)

haha, i have become the locking clamp victim, I had the protection set, I made sure there was something between the teeth and the light, No dice... ..

It's ok, because the scar is on the PCB holder part, not the reflector tube.. 

i still can't get it open, I suppose i can try something else. I am really not all that weak either, then again, no1 has told me that I wasn't, I could be biased here.


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## wintermute (Jul 27, 2007)

ensile said:


> haha, i have become the locking clamp victim, I had the protection set, I made sure there was something between the teeth and the light, No dice... ..
> 
> It's ok, because the scar is on the PCB holder part, not the reflector tube..
> 
> i still can't get it open, I suppose i can try something else. I am really not all that weak either, then again, no1 has told me that I wasn't, I could be biased here.



Did you do some heating cycles?? I did the old head in a plastic bag in boiling water, but head on a coffee cup warmer seems to work just as well (thanks datLED).


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## shakeylegs (Jul 27, 2007)

Using two strap wrenches, I've been able to open every one of my LxD and PxD fenix heads - no heat, no boiling, just persistent twisting. My first P3D opened unexpectedly as I was twisting off the head to clean the contacts. Some were more heavily glued. None required superhuman/plier breaking force and none has any marks from opening. The strap wrenches are great. A pity they are useless on the old L1Ps. All of mine are potted with kryptonite.


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## qip (Jul 28, 2007)

Got my 2 heads, and oh yes they were both super human strength required....i knicked one head and was upset but it wasnt so bad , i thought of giving up , but last ditch effort ,i ran the tap water extremley hot and had the 2 heads in ziplock bags and let it soak in the glass of hot water for a few minutes , then i tried to unscrew and i had just enough strength left over to break her loose and bingo the rest was easy , hot water works for me :thumbsup:


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## ensile (Jul 28, 2007)

anyone thinking of opening one please just, listen to these guys, the ones who have protected the alloy... man, mine looks like it's been in the wars i tell u. 

I still couldn't get it open.. vice grips make the alloy sound like it's cracking, it's a horrible noise.


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## nanotech17 (Jul 28, 2007)

maybe you need to open it with 2 pieces of soft mouse pad that has good grip on the other side of it and you'll be surprise


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## eidolen (Dec 11, 2007)

Well add me to the list of people that only gets units that were lathered with glue. I've now opened both a P1 and a P3D and neither one went down without a fight.

The P1 only got scarred a little around the slug key-holes but it was a battle. Since it was an internal connection it wasn't so much a matter of grip, as the spanner set I used fit quite nice coupled with a strap wrench. When I realized it was heavily glued I went for high heat using flexible heaters taped right to the head. It was hard to tell if it helped much at all but it was a pain working with a piece of metal so hot. Problem was that even with a good fit in the key-holes, the metal is so thin that the force it took to budge it would mangle and round off the edges making further attempts harder. I finally managed to get the slug out far enough to file a new set of key-holes and wore them out by the time it finally came out. It wasn't like it "broke free", but a laborious effort of reheating, getting a good grip on a too hot to touch head, and trying desperately to not damage the thin metal using the required force to turn it.:scowl:

When it did come out it was painfully obvious why it was so difficult. Lathered would really be the best word to describe it. Regardless it ended up no worse for wear. No visible damage on the exterior, and interior now has some character with no ill effects otherwise.

The P3D on the other hand is pretty much toast. (Well the pill section anyway) I tried almost all the tricks I read about on it and nothing could even crack that initial seal. I even had the luxury of not worrying about the finish on the head as I had planned on polishing later. As long as I didn't get teeth marks on it it was fine. Nothing worked.

I had been trying combination of two strap wrenches and my vise to no avail. I could actually get the light end to grip in the vise covered by thick rubber bands, but the smaller strap wrench would eventually slip, disintegrating the rubber bands in the process. Well I figured if I could get the smaller end in the vise and use the larger strap wrench on the end of the head I just might get enough leverage. Even being as careful as I could be, the force I applied on the wrench torqued the head off axis a little and it bent. Not horribly, but more than I'd ever be able to live with. 

With that done I just grabbed my cobra pliers and the battle was over. This light as well was completely lathered and not a single thread was left without glue. The emitter was not spared either in this glue-fest but I've done enough damage for one night and will save that for another time. Looks like I'm in the same boat as others here and need a new pill section for my P3D.

From what I can see with a 17x loupe, there is no seam to unscrew the slug from the pill which may be the reason qip broke his pliers. My guess is you'd have to dissolve the glue holding the board up under the emitter and push through one of the tiny holes to dislodge it. There is also the positive battery contact that could be unsoldered but I can't think of anything being hidden under there that might help removing the board. If anyone has any insight to this matter to help me salvage what's left it would be most appreciated. Otherwise my curious nature will eventually get the better of me I'm sure.



With the inconsistencies in difficulty to open most Fenix lights, it makes me curious to what exactly their policy is, written or unwritten, to the use and reason for the adhesives. To me, anything more than a dab of thread locker would be to discourage disassembly. While I can understand this logic with the hopes of bigger profits, I truly believe it would serve better to offer upgrade paths vs the purchase of new lights, but I guess that's a discussion for a different forum.

I didn't get a chance to try the heater hose trick and that was going to be my backup had I not bent my light. It sounds like a great idea and you can bet I'll have it at hand if there is a next time. I'd recommend it to anyone else that seems to have a heavily glued Fenix and other easier means have failed.


Cheers,
Eidolen

In the market for old, beat up P3Ds.


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## lyyyghtmaster (Jun 10, 2008)

Back when I got my first L2D, a P4, I read about the de-focusing mod to get rid of the dark ring. With the equivalent of the mouse pad method, it came loose fairly easily for defocusing, although I never actually separated the two pieces. 

I've been dying to mod one of these, though, and now I just might do it. If so, I'll tell of the results. :naughty:


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## 1 what (Jun 10, 2008)

Just been reading this thread and thinking about putting a glo ring inside my P3D reflector...Note to the guys who tore up / marked their flashlight bodies - I did the same thing with an Inova about 12 months ago and found that heatshrink tube over the body looked fine and also gave a nice non-slip finish. I used black tube but most large outlets have multi colours...You could even do stripes (Which would give you extra grip).


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## Buck91 (Feb 10, 2010)

figured since its been a while I'd bring it back up in the search results for anybody who's looking. Boiled my L1Tv2.0 head ffor a few minutes (2-3 maybe), used some leather and some vicce grips and she came apart without too much trouble. The one recommendation I might have is to screw the head onto the body before you lock the vice grips on- didn't do this the first time and I could swear I saw the head start to collaps a little... But maybe I'm paranoid.

Did anybody use addhesive when reattaching the head? I'm planning on a drop of blue locktite and was curious how its worked out for others.


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## gunga (Feb 10, 2010)

teflon plumbers tape works well.


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## Buck91 (Feb 10, 2010)

I've always used that as an antiseize type dressing (eg: works great in bicycle bottom bracket cups). Will it resist the twisty motion of level changes well?


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## ryahp (Jul 14, 2010)

already posted in thread
Fenix L2D-Q5 damaged/issue
www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=3234538
but thought it may be of interest here, too.

I succeeded in removing the Circuit board from the L2D head. It's obviously just glued into the front cap and is composed of two boards (both at least two-sided). 

Mine probably had gotten lose already from opening up the front part where the Emitter is located. I was able to pull the whole part out after de-soldering the wires and slightly rotating the circuit board with combination pliers.





I removed the red rubber-like glue and re-soldered the SMD parts on the top circuit board (couldn't de-solder the bridge between the two boards with my current equipment).
For now the low and high power modes are working correctly again. I hope this will last for a while.


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