Surefire E1L (non-Cree) blinks when on...

I've got an E1L and noticed tonight when using it that was blinking / flickering with use.

Trying to narrow it down, I removed the tailcap and re-attached it, tightened it as far as it would go, and tapped the side of the tailcap with my finger.

The blinking happened again (seems to go from normal output to something lower, sometimes going off completely). Almost like there is a bad contact.

If I tap on the bezel or body of the light there is no problem. If I unscrew the tailcap, then tighten it again, it temporarily helps, but then starts again.

Does this sound like a faulty tailcap or something else?

Thanks in advance.

Hmm thats interesting.

I have two initial suggestions:

1. unscrew the bezel and tailcap and clean all contacts
2. Try a new battery


Let us know how you go

Well after playing a little more with the light last night it really seems to be a contact issue. I completely removed the bezel and tailcap multiple times and I'll try cleaning the contacts and putting in a new battery. I also called Surefire to request a replacement tailcap.

Fingers crossed, hopefully something fixes it...

Are you aware of the problems the L1 had? I don't know if they have the same circuit but if this is a new E1L it might have the same problem. Basically if you turn it on and just set it down it will be fine for a minute but in anything from a minute or two to 15 minutes or so it starts flickering. It's internal to the circuit I believe and not a contact or tail switch problem. This was with the first of the new L1 Cree versions. I believe the problem is now fixed with the more recent batches. How new is your light? Hopefully cleaning with alcohol or Deoxit and a new battery can fix this.

This E1L is actually from mid-2006. The flickering last night got pretty bad and the light would dim to the point you could hardly see any light, then it would shut off momentarily, come back on, flicker, go to normal brightness, drop down and flicker, etc...

Off to clean the contacts...

Well I took the tailcap off, took the bezel off & cleaned the contacts w/alcohol, and no joy. Still flickering, lower output, and intermittently turning off and on.

So I put in a fresh Surefire battery (exp. 2011) to replace the Surefire battery (exp. 2015) that had been in the E1L.

That seems to have done the trick for now (more testing tonight). What I find interesting is that if indeed it was just a low battery problem, why the flickering, turning off, turning on, etc? Wouldn't the light just fail to illuminate at all if the power wasn't high enough, or at least constantly illuminate at a really low level without any flickering and turning off?

Througout the stroke of the pushbutton, is there any brightening or dimming?