Found out why my Mag-Lite AA LED Flickering

Hi All,

I had bought a MagLite AA LED when they first hit store shelves over the summer, and have really been liking it. It is my first "go to" light when I have tasks to do here at home. Well, last time I tried to use it, it flickered like mad- it would come on, but then go out. I would turn the bezel, and it would come back on, then go out again. It acted so much like a contact problem that I was skeptical that it was the batteries, but sure enough, when I put a new set in, the problem stopped. I put the used batteries in the tester and the funny thing was that one of them was showing up as good, while the other one was entirely depleted! Same brand, package, etc.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience, and subsequent relief, with you.

I guess that would explain the flickering since these light just go out at a certain voltage. When mine has gone out, it will turn back on after a few minutes and go out again. Thanks for sharing.

Did you ever drop it?

I have a 4D Maglite, and I dropped it once. Seemed OK, but it stopped working soon after that.

I checked all of the contacts thinking something must've gotten misaligned, but it turns out that one of the cells was slightly crushed (the positive tip was pushed in). I guess it damaged the cell internally, and it lost its charge....all of the others were OK.

My coworker's Mini MagLED started flickering after he dropped it. When I tried to fix it I found that the contacts on the end of the circuit board inside the LED module were bent. I tried bending them back out to get firmer contact with the top and bottom of the module but they went right back where they were and started flickering again. So I put a small dab of solder on the contacts on each end and the flickering stopped. I also added a small dab on the positive battery contact just in case.

Vickers said:

Did you ever drop it?

I have a 4D Maglite, and I dropped it once. Seemed OK, but it stopped working soon after that.

I checked all of the contacts thinking something must've gotten misaligned, but it turns out that one of the cells was slightly crushed (the positive tip was pushed in). I guess it damaged the cell internally, and it lost its charge....all of the others were OK.

Click to expand...

Yes! As a matter of fact I did, or it fell out of my pocket to be more specific. It was not a hard landing, just from my pocket to the gravel driveway, but I'll bet it was enough to damage one of the AA cells. Thanks for sharing your experience; it supports my observations with my light. I did not see any external damage either of the batteries, though.

Maybe we need lights with battery shock absorbtion not just light hell maybe even tailcap.