Help with broken Thrunite Scorpion

My Scorpion has given up the ghost and it can't have come at a worst time. I'm on the road between Thailand and Burma working with the Karen army in the jungles. (Great place for HAVE a light. Bad place to GET a light.)

2 things: The button wont pop up anymore and so it is always on unless I unscrew the tail cap.

When I screw the tailcap in and use it as a single mode light it works for about 30 seconds usually but then it bounces all over the place - going from max, to firefly to strobe (Hate strobe - it wouldn't be so anoying bouncing between the other modes!)

I can't really see how to take the tail cap apart but to be honest I haven't tried. Any ideas on why it would do that, possible fixes, jurry rigs etc?


Thanks a bunch!

Rick

I always said that the tailcap of Scorpion is a huge liability, and I was right.

From what you are saying, it sounds like the spring inside the tailcap either broke or got jammed. You can check it by pulling out the switch, not the rotating ring, with a vise grip or your teeth. If it's jammed or misaligned, you can use a small tweezer to fix it up. If it's broke, then you are sierra-oscar-lima.

Is that the one with the plastic tail cap?

Yes its plastic...

enomosiki are you talking about grabbing the whole brass ring with vice grips and pulling straight back or the plastic tail cap from the other side.

Of course it just spins when you try to turn it off...

No, not the selector ring. The tailswitch cover. Here's a picture;



The switch cover is held to the tailcap using tension, and will come out with ease if you use a vise grip or your teeth. Be careful when you pull it out, because it has a tendency to pop out and fly away into the most obscure places.

After removing the switch cover, peer inside the tailcap and you will see a small spring. This is what makes the switch cover pop back out. If you see that the spring is jammed, you can probably unjam it using a small tweezer. If it's broken, then there's nothing you can do since the tailcap itself isn't meant to be opened easily without taking a risk to break it.

Thanks for the excellent picture - I'll give it a try now!

Rick;

Before you do . . . and apologies if you've already checked this but:

... are you sure you haven't just inadvertently got the tailcap into lockout mode ?

I'm sure this would be something you've already checked, but I know that the instructions are not very explicit on this point, so just thought it worth mentioning before you start pulling the tailcap apart

MS

enomosiki said:

Click to expand...

Mine looks just like that 2nd picture. It's hard to see what is going on in there but it looks to me like there is that steel rod going across the inside of the inner tube and the spring is underneath it. I'm assuming they are not the same.
I tried many things to pull that steel dowel up and just 2 days ago came across a very skinny pair of tweezers so bought them. I've got the tweezers on either side of that dowel and grabbed it but can't move it at all. At first I thought it was stuck but now I'm thinking it's supposed to be that way? I've sprayed lube in there and the switch does come up if I hold the light upside down and tap on it (kind of takes the light out of the "tactical" category and puts it more in the "Wait! Wait! Give me just a sec... really... it's a cool light when it works... hold on... I think I may have gotten it" category.

At one point with the tail cap cover off and the tweezers around the dowel I got them stuck in there and ended up using the light that with the tweezers as kind of a plunger; I could push it in and pull it out. Even in that state though, holding it steady in a mode and not moving it it randomly switches modes and switches off. I'm guessing something is weird with the magnet?

Anyone try taking the tailcap apart further? I'd love to see pictures if possible? What would happen if you put a tailcap from a TN11/12 on it? Do you think it would work like one of them?

Ok my light doesn't work at all now so I'm thinking of just trying to screw that nut in the picture off. Any thoughts/words of wisdom?