Nitecore EA41 issue

Now that they've been out for a bit, has anyone encountered any issues? I ask because mine has developed a fault.

I went to use mine last night on a live mountain rescue job and the light refused to turn on or show any signs of life... I figured it must have been the batteries (new eneloop Pro's) and put it to one side and grabbed a Fenix. Fetched the light inside this morning and tried again - no signs of life even with brand new primaries. Left the light a while with the tailcap off (maybe an hour) and tried again with the same primaries, this time it worked. I can only assume that this particular light does not enjoy being stored in a low temperature, high humid environment? I've contacted Nitecore support so will see what they come back with.

Would be be interested to know if anyone has had any similar issues even with a different light just to give me some idea of what's going on.

Wow, that stinks. I got one for my mother to use in an emergency. Although, she's not using it in the environment you mention, there are no issues with it.

I'm curious to see what Nitecore comes back with.

Good thing you had a backup! One is none! I always have more than one light on me...


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Had you by any chance put fresh cells into it before going out for the job? - I ask for two reasons:

I have found that sometimes (in particular when using those cells with large flat positive buttons) when inserting new cells, the 'contact-mask' or 'PCB protector' used inside the battery tube can end up preventing a cell from making contact with the terminal. This means that on occasion, after replacing the tailcap, the EA41 might not turn on. The best remedy I found for this was to loosen the tailcap, hold the EA41 vertically and give it a little shake and then screw the tailcap back on. Doing this seems to allow the cell to settle down onto the contact and complete the circuit.

Have you read my note on parasitic drain in the review I posted on the EA41? (this is crucial information for all EA41 owners)

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...8-Review-NITECORE-Explorer-Series-EA41-(4xAA)

subwoofer said:

Had you by any chance put fresh cells into it before going out for the job? - I ask for two reasons:

I have found that sometimes (in particular when using those cells with large flat positive buttons) when inserting new cells, the 'contact-mask' or 'PCB protector' used inside the battery tube can end up preventing a cell from making contact with the terminal. This means that on occasion, after replacing the tailcap, the EA41 might not turn on. The best remedy I found for this was to loosen the tailcap, hold the EA41 vertically and give it a little shake and then screw the tailcap back on. Doing this seems to allow the cell to settle down onto the contact and complete the circuit.

Have you read my note on parasitic drain in the review I posted on the EA41? (this is crucial information for all EA41 owners)

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...8-Review-NITECORE-Explorer-Series-EA41-(4xAA)

Click to expand...

Hi Subwoofer and thanks for the response. The contact issue you describe might well be the problem, I remember once when I first got the light I insereted fresh cells, the light didn't come on. I unscrewed and checked everything (which was fine) screwed it back up and all was good. I tried that last night and this morning but to no avail, I didn't however give it a shake.

No, no time for fresh cells last night. The nature of some of callouts means grab your kit and run - it needs to sit and wait for me to use it, I do however periodically keep cells topped up. Upon charging these Eneloops I found them to be 50-60% full. The primaries I tried were brand new Varta's out of the pack.

Yes as I remember reading your post on the Parasitic drain issue, I'm not sure it's the case here but certainly something to keep in mind.

subwoofer is right. I've had that issue with both my EA4 and EA41. There's a contact issue. I would unscrew the while tailcap and rescrew it back on. Sometimes I'd give it a slight bump on the rear end (tailcap) and it'll complete contact. I think the contact issue is on the rotating tailcap disk.
Not a big issue in my opinion.

dj:litestick said:

subwoofer is right. I've had that issue with both my EA4 and EA41. There's a contact issue. I would unscrew the while tailcap and rescrew it back on. Sometimes I'd give it a slight bump on the rear end (tailcap) and it'll complete contact. I think the contact issue is on the rotating tailcap disk.
Not a big issue in my opinion.

Click to expand...

thanks dj- not sure how I feel about it not being a big issue to be honest. i had a dead light in an emergency situation bottom line, unscrewing it back on and off a couple of times did not cure it. Fortunately I have other lights I can use at the moment so this light has been sidelined until I get to the bottom of the problem.

Berneck1 said:

Wow, that stinks. I got one for my mother to use in an emergency. Although, she's not using it in the environment you mention, there are no issues with it.

I'm curious to see what Nitecore comes back with.

Good thing you had a backup! One is none! I always have more than one light on me...


Sent from my iPad using Candlepowerforums

Click to expand...

Nitecore came back to be pretty quickly, they've said the problem could be down to a couple of things but without examining they obviously can't really pinpoint the exact cause. In the mean time I need to go through the UK distributer and have the light checked under the warranty.

With this issue I've actually used the light more in the past couple of days than I have for a while. It really is a good light so I hope I can get it sorted.

I have had my EA41 since Xmas and it keeps getting confused with the modes when you go through them. I give you a example, tonight I wanted medium mode as it was on high mode and it took me about 3 or 4 cycles to get to medium, because it kept on skipping modes. Is this normal?

No that doesn't sound normal to me, when mine works it works flawlessly through the modes, instant high / low, lockout etc. I'm just about to ship mine off for replacement. I'd get in touch with your supplier, they should take care of it.

Phil2015 said:

I have had my EA41 since Xmas and it keeps getting confused with the modes when you go through them. I give you a example, tonight I wanted medium mode as it was on high mode and it took me about 3 or 4 cycles to get to medium, because it kept on skipping modes. Is this normal?

Click to expand...

What you say is not normal. Just to ask an obvious question, but are you pressing cleanly on just the mode part of the dual switch (I was wondering if this might happen if you got the power switch at the same time by mistake)?

I know this is an old thread, but I came across this because I'm experiencing the same issue with my EA41. It doesn't turn on but the blue indicator light in the switch will still light, and since I'm familiar with the UI, I can see that the indicator will do all the functions correctly, ie: standby flashing, battery indicator. This has happened to me before where it stopped working for a few days and then came back on after sitting on my desk. Well, it has happened again and it's currently "dead", doing the exact same thing as before. Jagged77, did you ever resolve this issue? I'm curious to know what Nitecore said was the issue.

interesting. I have had 3 EA41's and never had any issue at all.