I think I may have a bad EA4!

:sigh: Just got back from testing the light in my back yard, and I think this thing has gone screwy on me! The problem seems to vary. At the moment, the light will not turn off unless I loosen the tail cap. I can cycle through brightness modes by gently hitting the switch, but pushing it down all the way once does not put the light in standby. Holding the button down all the way and holding it for a few seconds puts the light in turbo. That should turn it off and put it in lock mode. Fully clicking the switch changes modes, just like half pressing it. Twice after replacing the batteries, the light would not power on at all unless I unscrewed the tail cap, then screwed it back on. I am guessing the switch of the light is defective, but does anybody have any ideas before I contact the dealer?

clean the contacts and make sure you have four good batteries first. Low power can cause strange operation in electronic switches.

skeeterbait said:

clean the contacts and make sure you have four good batteries first. Low power can cause strange operation in electronic switches.

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I have done that and it does the same thing no matter what. I have tried 3 sets of batteries, 2 sets of NIMH, one lithium.

How about cleaning the contacts with a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on a Qtip?

Leave the batteries out for half an hour or so,sounds if the switch has gone,it happens I am afraid on certain electrical devices such as my DAB radio here has the same problem.

mcnair55 said:

Leave the batteries out for half an hour or so,sounds if the switch has gone,it happens I am afraid on certain electrical devices such as my DAB radio here has the same problem.

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Thanks. I actually left the batteries out all night and it is still doing the same thing this morning. I think this thing is hosed!!! :mecry:

mcnair55 said:

Leave the batteries out for half an hour or so,sounds if the switch has gone,it happens I am afraid on certain electrical devices such as my DAB radio here has the same problem.

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Thanks. I actually left the batteries out all night and it is still doing the same thing this morning. I think this thing is hosed!!! :mecry:

mikekoz said:

Thanks. I actually left the batteries out all night and it is still doing the same thing this morning. I think this thing is hosed!!! :mecry:

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At least you can have it exchanged under warranty,was thinking of buying one but will leave it a few months so they can sort the gremlins out.

Odd....I just took the batteries out and reinserted them again, and now it is working fine. I am going to play with it the rest of the day and see what it does. I may just contact the seller and get it exchanged. I do not need this happening months from now when I would have to send it to China to be fixed, and it becomes a $70.00 paperweight!!

Sorry to hear about your issues. I had another light (Sunwayman C20C) seemingly malfunction after using it for the first time. It wouldnt respond to mode changes or to turning on and off, but after leaving it a while with the battery inside, it suddenly started to work normally, and has done so since.

Not sure if its a coincidence, but hearing about your story reminded me about mine... could it be because it is electronically switched? Should we have just remained with mechanical switches and simple mode switching?

I discovered that if I insert the cells and screw the tail cap back on with the torch in horizontal position, one or both of the cells' positive terminals towards the head will rest on the reverse polarity protection plate instead of the contact points. So I always insert the batteries vertically and shake the torch sideways before placing the tail cap back.

mikekoz said:

Odd....I just took the batteries out and reinserted them again, and now it is working fine. I am going to play with it the rest of the day and see what it does. I may just contact the seller and get it exchanged. I do not need this happening months from now when I would have to send it to China to be fixed, and it becomes a $70.00 paperweight!!

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Ive bought over 20 better quality lights, and of them two had switch problems. The first was a Fenix TK41 whose on/off switch was faulty from the first moment I got it. I sometimes had to click it 3-4 times to get it to turn on. But then after 1.5 days, it seemed to clear itself up, so I figured it just needed to be broken in. But 3 days later it got worse and went back to needing a few clicks to get it on, so I returned it for a refund, and bought another one later.

Then I got the little 1-AA Spark SL5-210CW. It has 2 switches that do the same thing. One's on the side and the other is a rear clicky. Problem was, the side switch was VERY easy to click on, and it wasnt recessed enough beneath the surrounding metal, so you could even set a straightedge across the switch, which stuck up just enough that it would click on, but it was much worse because just the slightest touch would cause that switch to click on. But the rear switch was much more stiff, like it should be. I talked to someone who owned one od these lights, and he said both his switches were equally stiff, so I had to send mine back for warranty repair. That was 14 weeks ago, and I hadnt heard anything from Spark, so I contacted Going Gear, who I bought it from, and who had relayed the light from me to Spark, and on Saturday they told me they were just going to ship me a new one since it was taking Spark so long....

HighlanderNorth said:

Ive bought over 20 better quality lights, and of them two had switch problems. The first was a Fenix TK41 whose on/off switch was faulty from the first moment I got it. I sometimes had to click it 3-4 times to get it to turn on. But then after 1.5 days, it seemed to clear itself up, so I figured it just needed to be broken in. But 3 days later it got worse and went back to needing a few clicks to get it on, so I returned it for a refund, and bought another one later.

Then I got the little 1-AA Spark SL5-210CW. It has 2 switches that do the same thing. One's on the side and the other is a rear clicky. Problem was, the side switch was VERY easy to click on, and it wasnt recessed enough beneath the surrounding metal, so you could even set a straightedge across the switch, which stuck up just enough that it would click on, but it was much worse because just the slightest touch would cause that switch to click on. But the rear switch was much more stiff, like it should be. I talked to someone who owned one od these lights, and he said both his switches were equally stiff, so I had to send mine back for warranty repair. That was 14 weeks ago, and I hadnt heard anything from Spark, so I contacted Going Gear, who I bought it from, and who had relayed the light from me to Spark, and on Saturday they told me they were just going to ship me a new one since it was taking Spark so long....

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Have had mine for a week or more and use it every day and have had no issues with it yet but it's good to know about these things, only issue I had was the dark spot in the centre of the beam at 2"s from wall but have since been told this is normal from numerous dealers in oz.