A2 aviator burned out led

vicv

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
2,936
Location
Southern Ontario
Is the switch supposed to be rattly? If you take the switch off, the guts seem to be loose inside. They don't thread into anywhere I can see unlike most other tailcap switches I have. Even when on the light, when you push the button the whole assembly moves forward a bit before engaging. It's not a problem, just wondering if it's normal. Everything works well
 

kelmo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2004
Messages
3,092
Location
Sacramento
Hey vicv,

If your LED replacement goes bad, I think I have an extra LED ring in my spare parts. Not sure of the color. A past purchase came with an extra LED ring or two. PM me if you need it. I don't check this blog regularly so it may take a while to get back to you.

kelmo
 

vicv

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Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
2,936
Location
Southern Ontario
I ended up sending it away to surefire. They fixed it and sent it back. Much brighter with all leds working. Lol. Beam is better too. I am getting more "low Incan mode" though weirdly. Batteries should still be good. But sometimes Incan is very dim. I remove the tailcap and put it back and usually fixes it for a while. I'll have to see how often this happens as it's pretty unreliable right now. It was doing this before but much less often
 

vicv

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Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
2,936
Location
Southern Ontario
It's definitely something in the tailcap. I can get it to do it but pressing hard for the 2nd stage and usually get full brightness. If I slowly reduce pressure on the switch, it goes into low Incan mode. After that regardless of how hard I press, I do not get full high mode. Even twisting the cap fully. I need to unscrew the cap to lockout mode, then back in and sometimes that works until I manipulate the Tailcap again. Could it be dirty contacts in the switch? I cannot see a way to take it apart. Even a search doesn't show much without destroying some parts. Spray it inside the tailcap with electronics cleaner?

Ah ehhhhhh…… it was the batteries….
The person I got it from believed they were new. No problem I wasn't expecting any but I thought I'd have more runtime left. They were easily able to power an s2+ with
sst-20 at 1.4A on high so I figured they'd still have plenty of capacity for the regulated circuit. But no. Put in a fresh pair of cells and problem was immediately fixed. Put the old ones back in, and back to low Incan mode. Also with the new batteries, the leds were clearly brighter. Well now I know what to look for
 
Last edited:

Duster1671

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
244
Yes, low incan on worn batteries happens with my A2s as well. When it starts happening I can usually pump the switch a few times to get regulation to kick in, but it eventually gets to where there's just not enough juice.
 
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