Novatac/HDS Battery Tube Spring Question

Recently I obtained a 2x123 HDS battery tube for use with a Novatac 120P and 17670 battery, but the spring in this new tube is giving me some trouble. In the original Novatac light, the spring slides freely through the tube, but the HDS spring is very tight and must be pulled at both ends for it to extend out of the tube and make contact.

So, I fiddled with the spring to try and make it smaller in circumference and mangled it a bit in the process. However, even with these "adjustments" I have managed to get this spring & battery installed a couple times so the light works. When it works, it works very well with the 17670 (clickie works perfectly, all programming functions work, etc.) The problem is that when I change the battery the light becomes non-functional again, requiring more extensive fiddling. Obviously I do not know what I did to make it work and what is causing it to malfunction and am in need of some advice.

It appears that the spring is making contact with both the tailcap and flashlight head, since both ends of the spring stick out about 1" when I screw everything together. If anyone could school me as to what to do with this spring, it would be much appreciated.

I did the same thing. What I think is happening is when you put the head or the tail cap on, the spring is getting caught between the cap(or head) and the body. My solution(after much frustration) was to order another tube(it's a sickness) and some extra springs. The springs do not move freely like the Novatac spring does.

10-4. That was my suspicion also and I will take another crack at rectifying matters tonight. I have another tube on order which should be here in a couple days, and will order up some more springs.