Jeez, every time I swear that I am not OCD, a challenge like this comes up and I have to drop everything to fix it. And I'm grasping at straws at this point because other than the circuit board those things are really pretty simple. When they go wrong and you have a series of problems or they aren't easy fixes, I find it a real puzzler.
I don't think that taking the switch apart would make too much difference -- the switch is pretty simple and is a big part of the waterproofing. Most everything happens on the circuit board at the other end.
You say one of them glows, even when the switch is backed off? That sounds like a short but there isn't much chance of that with the way these are designed. Hmm...
Are the battery terminals well cleaned? You don't want to see any crud on them at all. Did either of the batteries in your lights seem at all to be bulging? Pretty rare but that is a sign to toss them even if they look like that only a tiny bit. Is there any sign of one end or the other of the battery looking even slightly dented? That could happen from screwing the cap down too tightly and would account for the problem even if the batteries are fairly new. I have seen some AA and AAA that were actually shorter than other brands but never an A23 but I suppose it might happen. I use Energizers in my Glo-Toob and they have worked fine over the years.
I'd try new batteries first, ones bought new and fresh from the package. You ought to be able to find them for around $2 each or even less and that's worth the headache you already have. These are not lithiums and do not have a super, duper long shelf life. That would account for the other one glowing dimly when on and then going out in a short time. If that fails, at least you'll have spare batteries and those are often used in car starters or garage door openers as well (my spares never seem to hang around too long).
Be sure that the contacts are clean so much as to be shiny (another reason why I like DeOxIt Gold -- keeps further oxidation at bay as it cleans). Again, a quality contact cleaner should work too. Let them dry for several minutes. As I mentioned before, try a very light touch with a soft pencil eraser and see if that cleans up the contact on the cap/switch. The spring at the bottom of the tube should be bright and shiny as well (the one in mine is gold and that really shines).
If that does not work, if you have a pair of long tweezers or forceps, try to GENTLY stretch the gold spring at the bottom of the tube just a little bit. If the cap has been screwed down very tightly, it could have gotten compressed too much and that would cause intermittent or poor contact. Be careful not to use too much force. I have no idea as to how that spring contact is attached to the circuit board, so easy does it!
Is there any crud or dirt inside the tube itself? I think that the tube is metal so it should look fairly bright and shiny (well, mine does anyhow). Some alcohol and a bit of paper towel wrapped around a pencil and then worked up & down and around should take care of that if it needs it.
While you're at it, Glo-Toob recommends lubing the o-ring on the cap with pure silicone grease to keep that in good shape and to preserve the water resistance. It doesn't take much at all (a pea sized tab is enough) and the o-ring is a bit hard to see since it fits almost flush to the underside of the cap. That probably won't solve your problem but it's a good preventive maintenance task. Then again, if the o-ring is damaged or out of place that could interfere with the action of the switch or the completion of the circuit, so there's another reason to check and lube it.
If they still don't work, contact them at
[email protected] and see what they say.
I'm leaning toward it being old batteries and maybe a compressed spring as well, but if it were me, I'd do a really thorough second cleaning before anything else since that couldn't hurt.
Sorry I can't be more help but give the quick fixes a try, or even a second try, and I'm pretty sure you'll have them working again. The darned things are usually way too simple to die so if this stuff doesn't to it, it might be the circuitry but I don't recall of ever hearing of that happen before.
At any rate, good luck and keep us posted.
(Man, Im starting to feel like Click & Clack on CarTalk! Is this a "stump the chumps" or what?)
