Surefire Z49 tailcap goes bad!

sween1911

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Just a heads up, I'm on hold with SF to get it replaced, but just wanted to share...

Last night, I dropped my C2, equipped with a BOG 3W drop-in and a Z49 tailcap. It was on and I tripped. I dropped it about 4 feet onto a carpeted floor. The thing got stuck on! The clickie button was immobile. This thing had held up perfectly for years! Amazing that it suddenly went bad. IIRC, the Z49 is descended from the milspec weaponlight buttons. I originally went for that one over the smaller button because they have a reputation for being more robust. Of course, things go bad now and then, so no big shakes. Just wanted to share.

For anyone familiar with the internals, what goes bad inside the clickie to cause it get stuck on and make the button immobile? After a few tries last night after I opened the light and took out the batts (the only way I could get it to turn off!), the button would cycle, but after reassembly I realized the light stays on.
 
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Owen

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Guess something internal is broken(?). I don't know how many revisions, assuming there have been some, of the Z49 there are. The one I currently use was bought this year, and the dealer had to wait for it to come in.
If the plunger that pushes down the switch is one piece, maybe that broke from a diagonal impact...if it's two, maybe the parts got misaligned. There's some side to side movement on that part when I put pressure on it.
Don't know how the actual switch is made.
A 4 foot drop to carpet doesn't even make it light up momentarily when off(tried it a few times just now).
The good news is that they'll give you a new switch.
 

kramer5150

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The parts inside are very similar to a ball point click pen. A rotating collar with saw tooth edges rotates in and out as it is pressed. As it locks IN, it touches the electrical contact plates together. So the active mechanics inside are a sliding piston that also rotates as it moves. The plastic parts inside are hard smooth plastic, they need to be in order to resist wear and reduce friction. Unfortunately these material properties make them brittle, and fracture prone upon impact.

Its not uncommon for them to break in this fashion.... thats why I prefer the z41 on my 6P and M2. The durability and proven reliability outweighs the convenience.

Good Luck with SF-CS and the warranty RMA.

:D
 

Yoda4561

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Try using a quality lubricating oil on the clickie. The surefire clickies, at least the ones I've used have been prone to binding up, a drop of oil and a few cycles seems to free them up nicely.
 

sween1911

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I have a replacement on the way from SF. That thing has held up nicely for years, so I'm not freakin' out about it. That's why there's other lights.

I do have a spare Z41, which I put on in the meantime. I find that with the BOG 3W drop-in, the button pressure is a little stiffer than with the standard P-series SF bulbs, which is why I was using the Z49. Thanks all for the responses.
 

Cartman

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I think if you want absolute reliability, don't go with the clickie. I've had Surefire standard switches on my light for 15 years and have never had any problems with them. My clickie experience is limited to the U2 but it ain't so hot as everyone knows.

In fact, I would think the thing most prone to failure is that clickie.
 

thospress

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The parts inside are very similar to a ball point click pen. A rotating collar with saw tooth edges rotates in and out as it is pressed. As it locks IN, it touches the electrical contact plates together. So the active mechanics inside are a sliding piston that also rotates as it moves. The plastic parts inside are hard smooth plastic, they need to be in order to resist wear and reduce friction. Unfortunately these material properties make them brittle, and fracture prone upon impact.

Its not uncommon for them to break in this fashion.... thats why I prefer the z41 on my 6P and M2. The durability and proven reliability outweighs the convenience."

I agree. I find it interesting that Surfefire quietly extended the warranty exclusion for tailcaps from weapons lights only to ALL tailcaps. Just a thought.
 

Size15's

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I find it interesting that Surfefire quietly extended the warranty exclusion for tailcaps from weapons lights only to ALL tailcaps. Just a thought.
Where have SureFire published this?
Not here http://www.surefire.com/guarantee

The 'switches wearing out' refers to the rubber of the tape pressure switches and TailCap switch boots - it is designed and intended to be grippy and will therefore wear out through use. If an internal component of a switch breaks then SureFire cover this.
 

Fusion_m8

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I've had some mixed experiences with Surefire tailcaps. I've got a SW02, 2xZ48s, 2xZ41s 2xZ59s & 3xZ58s. All of the switches are the old designs with a hard press clickie and 1xZ59 & 1xZ58 are the new style softer press clickies with the white plastic spring retainer. Not all the C-tailcaps work with all the C-bodies, all the tailcaps are functional but not all of them will work with any of the bodies, I actually have to mix and match to see which tailcap works with which body, using different type of cells only adds to the headache, for example in my C2 if I run 1x17670 it will work with any of the tailcaps, but if I use smaller IMR16340s, it only works with 1/2 of the Z48s and 2/3 of the Z58s and the SW02 will not work at all unless I use magnets to bump up the overall length of the 2xIMR16340s. Same story for the M2, L6, M3 and M4s and the FM 2x18650 Mhead-Ctail body which I've sold. The twisty Z41s work across the board regardless of body or cell configurations. The Z41s are what Surefire reliability are about IMO!

To add oil to the fire, the older Z59 works with all my Solarforce L2 bodies regardless of battery configurations, but the newer softer press Z59 works only with 2/4 of the Solarforce bodies depending on the cells used if its 1x18650 or 2x18350s or 2x18650s with the extender.

:ohgeez::ohgeez::ohgeez:
 
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etc

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Thank you very much for the lubrication advice. It fixed my stuck Z49. I thought it was an internal failure. Something wore out or broke. I flooded with oil - probably too much of it - and let it drain out - and it works nicely.

I did the same thing preemptively to my Z48 TC.

It's a nice TC.
 

etc

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The Z49 tailcap worked for the last 6 months and failed again. I think I will contact surefire.

It sometimes get stuck in the on mode.
 

etc

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wow, 2008 thread. A blast from the past.

I've had that tailcap probably for 8 years, if not more and I think I wore it out. No matter how much I lubricate it, it won't reliably click off. The internal mechanism needs replacement.
 
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