THIS WILL HELP REPAIR THE SWITCH.
I was very upset to find that both my TK40's started acting up with regards tothe tail switches after about two years of heavy duty South African Police Serviceuse.
It would be as if the switch just sometimes did not want to swicth, althoughone can hear the click. This often left me dropping my flashlight on the groundand reverting to my backup OLIGHT when the situation was a bit tight!
I struggled to find a place to replace only that part, and decided to takethe repair into my own hands.
The repair ended up being pretty simple, and although I still have to testit over time, it seemed to be working much better already.
I traced the problem to the actual switch. Disassemble the back end of it using directions on the post. Then further disassembled the actual inside ofthe mechanical switch. (the thing that goes click)
The long black plastic switch button is fixed to the plastic casing on the PC board with a small square metal plate. The plastic button and metal plate can simply be pulled carefully from the switch module with pliers and plugged back afterwards.
After dissasembly,I noticed it was simply a question of the small roundcopper membrane that causes the click having some wear on the contact points(Yes, crappy switch is what it boils down to). So either replace the switch,the whole part or do some DIY.
I just added a small amount of solder to all three contact points, 2 negative points on the side always connected to the membrane and 1 possitive in the middle, connetced when the membrane is bent by pressing the switch. Not toomuch so that the middle contact is too high otherwise the switch will constantly be on. I reassembled the lot. I noticed my click sound was considerably softer after themodification.
I hope Fenix will implement some improvement here on a otherwise fantasticproduct.
