New A2 Problem?

Well... I had a rather peculiar thing earlier this evening. I've had a new latest model A2 for about a week. It has been working perfectly (but am waiting for an Aviatrix when Bawko gets past his move). Beam pattern looks good, reminds me a lot of my P6 beam, only whiter.

Looking closely, I had noticed the incan bulb looked somewhat crooked, so just out of curiosity I decided to remove the head and look at it. I removed the batteries and the head, and sure enough the bulb is noticeably crooked in it's holder. Since the beam is ok, I'm not overly concerned about it (it's not crooked enough to hit the side of the hole in the reflector), but when I put it back together I only had a two stage LED (both with tailcap tighten and switch), no incan at all. Back apart for a look and everything looked fine, bright and shiny, so back together again... same thing. Apart again and bulb assembly rotated again, now just incan with no LED. Apart and bulb rotated again and worked fine when put back together.

It's not exactly an intricate procedure, only one moving part besides the head... the bulb assembly. That can't be normal, as I don't see any way to keep the bulb in a particular place, and it tends to rotate some when the head is tightened anyway. It can't be designed to be such a random process to work... does anyone know what the heck is happening?? :thinking:

I appreciate any information... thanks... Quinn

Have you tried a spare bulb?

As far as I know it is okay for the bulb to be crooked. The filament is centered in the reflector, and that is what's important. In fact, it may be the case that the glass envelope is crooked in order to center the filament (manufacturing processes aren't 100% perfect).

carrot, I thought you told me that they intentionally potted the glass envelope crooked and the filament straight...not some kind of manufacturing error?

mmm, that was your response on my thread of the same topic made long ago

not sure where the issue may be in your A2...I never had the issue of having certain modes not working just by swapping the lamp. this problem occurs only when your batteries are low or your tailcap is faulty

Check the filament contact wires and make sure they're attached. I removed the LA once and somehow managed to bend one of those wires so it wouldn't touch the metal plate. I bent it back in place and that fixed things.

...which reminds me, I need to get some spare LA's.

I don't have a spare bulb assmby yet to try. I didn't swap the bulb, I just took the head off to look at it, the problem started when I screwed the head back on. It seems to have something to do with the placement of the bulb assmby as it's rotated, that was the only difference to account for it that I could see. As I rotated the bulb to different positions, I got the three different effects... LED only (but it had two stages of brightness as the tailcap was tightened or using the switch), one stage incan, or normal.

I don't think it's the tailcap, as things seem to vary only by the bulb being rotated to a different position... when it's working normally, it works every time.

greenLED... I don't remember seeing the bulb wires, there was the metal skirt around the bulb with a metal dome on the bottom (I assume covering the wires). I'll remove it again and refresh my memory as to what it looks like.

I'll try another bulb at some point, need a spare anyway. May have to have one of the modders (Atomic Chicken?) hopefully explain what could be happening. Strange that rotation of the bulb should cause all three things... normal, incan only, and LED only (why 2 stage brightness on LED?). May have to send it to SF to figure it out.

Thanks everyone... any more info welcome... Quinn

Just took the head off again to look. One wire is attached to the bulb side of the metal skirt, the other is attached to the metal dome on the bottom side to the edge of one of the four little holes in the dome. Everything looked normal, I cleaned the metal skirt, the metal dome, and the contact in the light body with DeOxit. When I replaced the head, the same thing. First I got incan only, when I loosened and retightened the head (which rotated the bulb some) I got 2 stage LED only, loosened and tightened again (bulb rotated some) and got normal. As I said, each condition stays that way until bulb position is changed. Very strange, another bulb may be the answer... but it would be nice to know what the heck is happening.

Thanks again... Quinn

If this happens only when you tighten or loosen the bezel, or rotate the bulb, all I can think is the lamp has a loose wire/filament/contact somewhere which is only working part of the time, such as when it is tightened. See if the same thing happens with a different bulb. If it just happens with this bulb, SF should give you a new one.

some thing here with a newer type G2. the bulb in the P60 LA is crooked, but light is perfect. so i suppose it is indeed to center the filament in the reflector.

Just ordered a new bulb, will see what that does. Any other ideas in the meantime welcome, will post the result when the new bulb arrives.

Thanks much... Quinn

I had the same trouble when I changed the bulb. I pushed the new bulb and screw the body then I had a two stages LED like QuinnK did. So, I pulled the bulb from the head, put it again but without pushing it (the head was on the table) and then screw the body and everythings work well. I try several times w/ and w/o pushing the bulb and the results were the same. So let the head lying down on a flat surface, put the spare bulb without pushing it and just screw the body (verticaly) and it should work (I hope )

I had one that did the same thing. After using a jumper at the tail end to determine it was in the head, I sent it back to surefire. Surefire sent it back having done nothing to it. I called and asked if there was some way to get it fixed without having to pay postage again. The had FedEx pick it up from me. They sent me a brand new A2-HA-WH through FedEx. I am truely apreciative. Only problem is I sent in a red one!

cbubu... nothing seems to work reliably with this bulb, hopefully a new one will fix it.

Bravo25... I don't like the sound of that! If a new bulb doesn't fix it, I'll probably have to send it to SF, hope it goes a little better than your experience did. When I get it right it works fine, but would rather have everything work as it should. :shrug:

Thanks... Quinn