Foursevens Preon P0

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jorn said:
Edit: fixed the twitchy mode switching. It uses no threadlock, so you need to tighten the pill really hard. If the pressure/twist motion on the foam pad can make the pill move ever so slightly, then it will ruin the reability on the mode switching.
Click to expand...
Use Caution, over tightening the pill will expand the oring out of the front:eek:.

The conductive path between the alluminum pill and the SS body is not an easy fix.
While I could stake it or add a burr to the pills threads, I chose the safer route and applied a very thin coat of No-Ox to the alluminum pill after carefully using a small wire brush to clean it.
I would like to see a spring wire on the edge of the pills board or better still a positive stop like stopping the threads at the correct point so that the pill can screw against it to eliminate the frustration of an intermittent connection causing unwanted mode changes.
It's a great little light and I'm keeping mine:thumbsup:
GL
 
Removed the foam pad and polished all the light today. Now it feels more like the DQG. Super smooth, and everything works perfect. It's really easy to twist now. With the foam, I was always wondering if i was torquing it too hard. IMO it feels far better witout the foam. I see no need for knurling when it's this smooth. Now the battery rattles some, but i dont mind on a keychain, everything ratles on my keychain, so i dont notice the difference. My DQG has no magnet in the tail, so the battery rattle is worse on the DQG.
Now its all shiny like the old preon ti. Polishing it was a 5 min job. Strap it in a eletric drill and use a rag with rubbing.
 
Did the "solder blob" mod to both of my Preon P0s yesterday, then filed the blob down flat to about 0.5mm higher than the IC chips surrounding the positive contact on the driver. Reinstalled the pill, put foam back in, and presto...perfectly working PO with Eneloops. Gone is the occasional mode flickering and shorting out when using Eneloops. As Got Lumens? and jorn said above though, make sure to tighten the pill very snug so that the conductive path solid. I'm keeping both of mine now too. Fantastic little lights once they are working solidly.
 
it is too bad that the fabled Preon has a design flaw. this will totally prevent wide distribution, no one
will want to carry and sell these if you have to tweak them. the IC's are just located poorly. need a blob
of epoxy on them as a cheap fix. need to redesign the circuit as a perma-fix. this could have been on
store shelves like the Fenix E11, but not in it's current state. need a Preon P0 v 1.1 to show up

I commend the effort, this is a tough job running a company. if it were easy I would design and sell lights,
but it takes committment and ability to bounce back from this stuff, -and- also everything else a business
needs including capital for making changes
 
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127.0.0.1 said:
need a blob of epoxy on them as a cheap fix.
Click to expand...
this is actually an excellent idea!!

Why not cover the circuit parts with hot glue (transparent epoxy or similar) as general protection, and then file the blob layer down and finally bore (or drill) a center hole down to the PCB's center plate/pole for the battery nub?
This measure would also counteract eventual shorts!

DQG Tiny III is in the making with improvements but if the PCB layout (location of the IC's) is again poor or unimproved, then i will consider blobbing the IC's with hot glue. It's like potting the driver!!

The main reason why the driver doesnt come potted or epoxied is: the manufacturing tolerances are too fine and thus too expensive. Maybe someone on the forum can share a photo series of the epoxying measure.
 
On a side note, the P0 fits perfectly in the top tube of my Toollogic SLPro utility knife, as the original provided light is a bit rubbish and uses 4 tiny coin cells it was a big improvement in power and practicality. I used the original magnet tail as a base with a couple of small neodynium magnets attached to it and all epoxied in the back. It all comes together perfectly, and the P0's finish even matches up very nicely with the matte finish of the knife.

To clarify, I didn't mean I stuck the tail magnet of the preon into the tube. I used the tail magnet section of the original cheapo light provided with the SLPro as a base at the back of the top tube and epoxied that in with a couple of neodynium magnets. The Preon P0 then magnetically attaches quite strongly (can't shake it out at all) to the base in the tube. So it is still removable, but easy to put back in again.
 
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For me, the only "fix" really needed was to tighten the pill. This is common with all "no threadlock" lights i own.
Most of my lights (and other stuff) are tweaked in some way. I think i only got 4 or 5 100% stock lights left, some of them are hiding from me right now :)

I think it's no threadlock because it will be messy with a short pill, and youll prob end up with a mess on the inside of the lense on a high % under production.
If you put threadlock on the pill and screw it in, it will really be no treadlock left on it when it's screwed all the way in there. And you will have to clean up the threads in the head really good on all samples. <-- not fast , not cheap.
If you put threadlock on the inside of the head, (short pill = close to the lense). The pill might push some threadlock in front of it, and mess up the lense and gitd plate. You can apply a tiny amount using a toothpick and a slo and steady hand. But it's not fast, and there will be a mess on the lense in some %, especially if you are in a hurry. This is not a problem for usual sized reflector lights.
I have drop tested the P0 on my tile floor ~15 times from the hips with no problems, and it's waterproofing is way better than the former "worlds smallest aaa" :thumbsup:
If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.

Here is a pic of the quick polish job. The logo is still there under the clip. Taken with a mobilephone, but not all that bad.
scaled.php
 
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Nice work, Jorn! It looks classier now.

I haven't needed, yet, to tighten the pill. I'll wait til it starts acting up. Sometimes the LF2XT needs some tweaking like that.

Hope some O-rings are available soon, though plumber's tape works pretty well.

Geoff
 
The lf2xt was acting up repetedly until i gave is as mutch torqe as i dared :)
Loving the new shiny look on the P0, it fittet snug in my drill. I could see the tube shine after seconds of rubbing. Used the normal household stuff used on cars and got pro results. :) It's also way more scratch resistance than the oldstyle shiny preon ti.
Hoping the pill will hold up on the p0, but it's a twisty, so it got something working against it here. If it works it's way loose again, i might carefully add a 1/4 of a drop with superglue on the threads in the head. I have been playing alot with it now, and no signs of the pill coming loose or mode switching yet.
 
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jorn said:
If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.
Click to expand...

huh ? the circuit and IC type and location is clearly poorly designed. eneloop doesn't need to be redesigned. the Preon does.

no one should have to monkey with a light to make it function. none of my aaa lights ever had an issue that the P0 does with shorting
due to the ic legs so close to the pos batt terminal. stinks because I wanna buy 5 of these Preons but I am gonna have to wait
for the next version. I cannot gift out a light that can have complications
 
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127.0.0.1 said:
... I wanna buy 5 of these Preons but I am gonna have to wait
for the next version. I cannot gift out a light that can have complications
Click to expand...

I'm in the same position. I want to buy them as gifts but they won't be going to techie people so they gotta work flawlessly right out of the box. Hopefully by next Xmas;-)
 
I was going to get a couple but i want to use Eneloops. I will hold off for a while...


cheers
 
jorn said:
Here is a pic of the quick polish job. The logo is still there under the clip. Taken with a mobilephone, but not all that bad.
scaled.php
Click to expand...

why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me
 
jorn said:
I have drop tested the P0 on my tile floor ~15 times from the hips with no problems, and it's waterproofing is way better than the former "worlds smallest aaa" :thumbsup:
If the P0 can handle a eneloop or not is not a major consern for the common marked. Sounds like eneloop needs to redesign their aaa battery.
scaled.php
Click to expand...

shelm said:
why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me
Click to expand...

I think he may have just finished testing waterproofness :shrug:
 
127.0.0.1 said:
huh ? the circuit and IC type and location is clearly poorly designed. eneloop doesn't need to be redesigned. the Preon does.
Click to expand...
Location? where would you put them if you were trying to make the wolds smallest aaa light? Add ~1.5mm on the P0's lenght, and your'e out. The maker of the DQG even skipped a o-ring in front of the optic to save length. So you really need to make compromises all the way to beat the size of it. My DQG is not waterproof around the optic, and got the exact same layout on the driverboard btw.
My sample looks good. It's no way it can short out by the nipple hitting paths on the driver.
If Eneloop makes a poor copy of a aaa shape, then it's 4sevens responsibility to fix it by making a new v2? I have tested 7 different batteries, 2 NIMH and 5 types of alkalines now, no problem.
There might be some lemons out there, but keep in mind that it was sold out really fast (many samples out there by now). And i havent seen too many complaint's about lights shorting out. But i dont doubt there are lemons that might short out. I bet most of the copmplaints is fixed with a tightened pill. A loose pill in a multimode twisty, gives all sorts of failure syndroms.

What clip did you use?
GL
Click to expand...
From the maratac aaa cu. the cu version comes with 3 clips. The clip is stripped for paint and polished with a dremel.

why have you wet the light?
doesnt make any sense to me
Click to expand...
I tried to capture how shiny it turned out. Crome like shiny stuff + macro shot and mobilephone was a hard job. When i finally (after ca 20 shots) got a semisharp picture without glare, i saw the p0 was full of dust and fingerprints:shakehead So soap and water it was. couldent toutch the light so i held it after the spilt ring and shooked off most of the water before photoshoot nr2 :)
 
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FOURSEVENS just got a new and supposedly updated batch of P0s in! The status on their website is back to "Buy now".
 
bltkmt said:
How do you know they are "updated"

Just got off phone with 4 sevens. Was told (by female) there was a new o-ring and that was all. I asked about the eneloop problem and was told " they officialy have not announced a problem."

I wouldn't order one yet.
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