# Anyone else have Zebralight PID failure?



## Archangel

I'm surprised there isn't a Zebralight forum. Anyway...

Has anyone experienced a Zebralight PID failure? I know anything can break - I'm wondering if this is a thing other peeps have had happen to them.

While I was using the light on H1 the output suddenly dropped. I'm guessing to M1. I assumed the battery needed recharged even though that seemed soon, so put in a new one. With that cell, the temperature on H1 kept climbing. I turned the light off at 130 F measured at the head. I went through the steps to lower the PID setting thinking maybe it had somehow reset from the -5C it had been at, but the temperature still climbed drastically. 

I know that Zebralight will fix it for $15 - they ignored virtually all of my email and instead of answering my question gave me an RMA number even though I told them that I'm not interested in having it fixed and will just not use H1. I'm actually going to stick to the 300lm level for high. A light this small - SC63Fw (not a typo) - can't handle much more than that anyway without a more efficient LED. ("more efficient" Ha ha - 300lm for hours from a 3.5" production light. My how times have changed.)


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## parametrek

How old is the battery? Maybe the internal resistance is starting to get high.


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## Archangel

Well, turns out that maybe I got ahead of myself. I mean, I know what happened yesterday multiple times, but it didn't happen today. Maybe the batteries and/or flashlight were too hot and that caused it to act squirrely. Something was definitely up, but until I can recreate it, I don't have anything to go on. As for the batteries, I think they're only two years old, and one of them really hasn't seen much use. The internal resistance already being high didn't seem likely, but I'm glad you posted, because I'm not sure I would have given them another try today.


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## Archangel

Okay, I guess I didn't get ahead of myself. Something is definitely up with this light. After a couple of days of behaving, it once again just ignored the fact that it has a PID controller. I really don't see how the cell's internal resistance could be all that high, and I'd expect the symptom to be more consistent if that was the issue. (sigh)


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## Archangel

Actually, it just dawned on me that most of the times it's done this, the battery hasn't been used for hours. Does the internal resistance of a battery decrease as it warms? Even if so, I'm not sure that this would explain it, since not *all* the times this happened were from a rested cell.


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## CelticCross74

If this is still happening and or happening to others Simply contact ZL about the issue. I have had great experience with their staff and they act fast.


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