My Spark SL5-220CW will not work with a 14500 battery?

I ordered two new Trustfire 14500 batteries to use in my Spark SL5-220CW, but it will not work. I charged the battery on a 4 Sevens charger and it reads 4.14 volts off the charger, but the light will not work with this battery. It will not light up. It works fine with Eneloops and 1.5 lithium batteries.

Does anyone have any idea why it will not work? I know that there are others that are using this light with 14500 batteries.

I do notice that the 14500 is about 2mm longer, but I don't see why this would really matter??

I thought the same thing since it is longer than an Eneloop. But, the tailcap does screw in all of the way. If I hold the tailcap button in, light does appear, but it is dim and as the button is held, it starts to strobe.

I am starting to think that it might be compressing something in the circuit at the head. I notice black foam rubber around the contact. The 14500 does have a button on it.

Have you tried removing the tail cap and using a short piece of wire to complete the circuit? That often helps when troubleshooting a faulty light.

A wire works using the Eneloop AA battery, but it does not work using the 14500. The Trustfire 14500 is 52mm long. I tore off the protection circuit and it is only 49mm, but it still does not work. Now, it is starting to **** me off

Jakpro said:

I thought the same thing since it is longer than an Eneloop. But, the tailcap does screw in all of the way. If I hold the tailcap button in, light does appear, but it is dim and as the button is held, it starts to strobe.

I am starting to think that it might be compressing something in the circuit at the head. I notice black foam rubber around the contact. The 14500 does have a button on it.

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In this case, it sounds like the driver board is over-compressed and/or flexed due to the extra length. Might have to try mine later.

If this is the case, it's advisable to buy AW. The extra $ is worth it.

I just ordered an AW 14500. I probably should have gotten those in the first place! The AW is twice the price, but I guess if it works then it is actually cheaper after I throw these ones away.

seems some problems with the driven board..

I received a response from Spark. The service person replied "to push the battery forward to enable contact with the positive pole". Hmmm, I don't think that is the problem since the battery is actually 2 mm longer and has a pronounced button. They did respond quickly, though!

Rechargeable batteries are really frustrating. There seems to be no standard in sizing. 18650's that are too wide or too long, 14500's too long. It would make sense if there were standard sizes and flashlight manufacturers could then dependably state that a certain size would work. I would rather have a little movement inside the battery tube than hoping that they will fit.

The strangest thing, I tried the battery in the light today after having completely given up on the 14500 battery powering this light, it works flawlessly!!

I have no idea why it works now, but it does. The light is also quite a bit brighter on super than with the Eneloops. I had already ordered an AW 14500 to see if it worked!

edit: I removed the battery and reinserted it and it does not work again. I completely took the light apart and I think that the sleeve and the spring that connects the sleeve, tailcap, and the driver board is the problem. I messed around with it and reinserted the battery and it is working again. For some reason they are not contacting each other with the longer battery. But, it works now.

It could be that if your Trustfire has a flat or button type top as compared to an AW nipple top it will not contact properly. I have that problem in a couple lights. That's why I keep a selection of various brands handy.
Also try wiping everything down with alchahol.

Some good advice on this thread. Cleaning, AW 14500, tweaking the springs (carefully) could all help. I'm guessing the AW battery will work. In the 14500 size I prefer AW batteries. You know what you are getting, and they are all the same size (imagine that!).

I would imagine that the OP has already either fixed the problem, sold the light, or given up on it a while ago as this thread is a year old.

HighlanderNorth said:

I would imagine that the OP has already either fixed the problem, sold the light, or given up on it a while ago as this thread is a year old.

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It is still working. I believe that compressing the foam allowed the batteries to make contact.