# Fenix HL60R Review/Teardown



## zeroping (Oct 23, 2016)

So, I bought a Fenix HL60R headlamp, and of course the first thing I did was take it apart. In all seriousness, I wanted to know how waterproof this thing would really be, and was curious to see the construction too.

These images should link to larger versions, and I'll post some overall thoughts after the pretty pictures. This is also my first post, so tell me if I have my posting wrong in some way, and I'll try to fix it.

If you want to know a little more about the light to begin with, take a look at:
New Fenix Headlamp HL60R: 950 Neutral White Lumen, USB Recharging




For starters, here's the top open. Four Torx T8 screws, and the whole cover lifts straight off. You're looking at 4 separate seals here: one large one between the two halves of the case, one for the reflector/glass/cover, and two little ones around the little clear covers on the red LEDs. You can see one of the red LED covers on the cover, and one still stuck to the top PCB.




What we have inside is two main PCBs, a reflector, and a copper-core board with the CREE LED on it (it's got a white soldermask). The main PCB's look to be fairly nice, with decent silkscreen and soldermask. These aren't too cheap. The PCB's are all tied together with little bits of wire, and the whole assembly is attached to the battery/switch/USB port with a delicate little flex cable. A clear plastic holder keeps everything in place. 

I haven't figured out what the 4x3 mm MPDP chip is, but I highly suspect that it's running a little DC/DC converter just for the red LEDs. Compliments to Fenix for powering them with a real power converter, rather than just a series resistor (higher efficiency).





Those little red LEDs are kinda interesting, as they appear to be a 3.4x2.8mm case size that I think I've seen before, and it would be interesting to be able to swap them out for some other color.





Here we are with the assembly pulled out. The ground wire for the battery (which makes contact through the case and then through the battery cap) has to be unscrewed, but it's do-able. You can see the underside of the LED board, with some remaining thermal paste. I would have liked to see more thermal paste on there, and I added more before I reassembled. Notice that this puts all of our heatsinking through the body, not through the top cover like I'd assumed.

You also get a better look at that flex cable. It would suck to break it. You can also see another 8-pin IC. Maybe it's a battery charger IC? I would love to compare to a disassembled HL55, which doesn't have USB charging.





A close-up of the LED and carrier board. It looks like a legit CREE LED to me, but what do I know? Also notice that the carrier board is shared with the HL55, based on the text.





A better view of the reflector. There's some magic going on here. An o-ring sits on top of that lip around the edge, and it seals against the cover glass and the top cover at the same time, using pressure from the reflector. The neat part is that the o-ring will just seal better as the water pressure pushes down harder on the cover glass.





Here's the backside of the top board with (what I believe to be) a little DC/DC converter that runs the red LEDs. You can see the inductor and capacitor used.

I did have to unsolder one wire to get these between-board pictures, but it wasn't too bad to put back together.





Here's the main microcontroller, a Microchip PIC16F1823, on one side of the bottom board.





On the other side, we have the gigantic inductor used for the main LED (I think), as well as a second tantalum capacitor. I have no idea what diode D1 would have been used for, but I guess it wasn't needed.





Another mystery IC, and the soldered connection of that flex cable. It goes around some black foam and into the main battery compartment.





Here's a side view of the assembly. Notice the o-ring/glass/reflector stackup, which all goes inside of a cylindrical hole in the cover.





Finally, a picture of the battery cover. I just wanted to point out how this works - the spring touches the battery, and is then pinched between the cover and the end of the battery tube, making good contact when the cover is screwed all the way down.

Ok, so now some general notes:

Overall, I like the construction. Easy to work on, and looks well built. The sealing is about the best I could ask for on a non-diving light, and the USB port is seemingly well sealed. I do worry about the USB port long-term with water, but time will tell.

The battery cavity has a big open area to the LED cavity, and seems to be connected to the airspace where the switch is as well. The USB port, on the other hand, seems to be sealed. It appears they did this with some epoxy down in the bottom of the battery cavity. There seem to be at least two little circuit boards down there. I wish I could get a good look in there, but I'm pretty sure I'd destroy the light if I tried to take it apart.

I'm not too worried about any of the seals; they all seem like they'll seal better with additional water pressure, except for the two around the red LED covers, as the boards could flex - but those are really small, and thus water pressure won't do much to them.

The downside of this is that if you were to go deep, the water pressure will press on the switch, and if you puncture the switch cover, it'll flood everything. The upside is that if water does get in there, there's at least a way to dry it out. I also did check, and there's basically zero voltage/current flow between the pins of the USB connector, so if it were to floor with water, it shouldn't do any damage. 

The battery cavity is actually a 19 mm inside diameter, and the stock battery is 68.8 mm long.

A wacky note: you can turn the main LED on, but only to 'low', while the headlamp is charging via USB. Handy.


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## Taz80 (Oct 23, 2016)

Thank you Zeroping for the write up, tear down and pretty pictures. Its interesting to see what goes into making these lights, I've never had the courage to tear one of my lights down like that.


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## sandalian (Oct 23, 2016)

Nice post, Zeroping, it's really interesting to see your detailed information on each electronic parts.


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## aginthelaw (Mar 10, 2017)

Reminds me of when I took apart my mothers '71 Buick. Thinking back, I really shouldn't have done it before she had to go to work.


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## irongate (Mar 10, 2017)

aginthelaw said:


> Reminds me of when I took apart my mothers '71 Buick. Thinking back, I really shouldn't have done it before she had to go to work.



Was she not happy with you for doing that ? LOL my guess NOT!


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## aginthelaw (Mar 10, 2017)

Taking apart the toaster...no biggie. Taking apart the vacuum...eh, it was already broken. The car...that was the last straw. She did send me to DeVry to learn how to put some of this stuff back together. But this thread is pretty impressive. However he did leave out the part about putting it back together and living happily ever after


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