SLS2 started working properly?

I was messing with my SLS2 and couldn't get it to work properly with my 1/5A rechargeables so I put a foam ring in my SLS to help my rechargeable 1/5A batteries from sliding off the + contact since it's a bit off center and my 1/5A's don't have a raised + contact.

Well anyway I cranked it together really hard and it seemed to work fine. I tried it out in a basement and it seemed brighter than before. I also noticed it flickering a bit. I turned it on & off a few times and figured it was going into moon-mode so I measured the light output to be sure and it was almost double!

That's right, my SLS2 is now almost 2x as bright as the last 2 days. When I got it I tested it at least a dozen times in all battery configurations and this was the result:

Light output:
Opalec Newbeam: 25
SLS2: 37
SLS1: 76
LS1 rev2: 77

But that was then, now I get = 71 (edit)
At one foot the SLS2 actually reads about 5% brighter than the LS1 because of the tighter hotspot. The nicest part about the SLS2's beam is the side spill "corona" is actually larger and brighter than my LS1's. I like this light much better now. Even though it's not technically brighter, it looks brighter side by side & out-throws the LS1. It also lights a path better than the LS1. I like this beam better than my LS1's.

I don't know if it's a bad ground or the dredded flex problem but it works better now. So it was not the LED after all. (At least in my case)

Could other people be having the same problem?

Please keep me posted Sean. On Friday, we started adding a new part to the LS that is specifically design to reduce flex failure. Your unit was made before that. I am not sure this new part, we call it the annular ring, will work. Testing shows it has helped, but time will really be the final word.

You can tell if your unit has this because there is a thin wavy ring crimped between the outer nut and the PCB. The ring has a copper look to it. The way it works is it takes up any slack in the ground system.

Peter Gransee