Problems With My Surefire A2

I've had a Surefire A2 for about 14 months now, carried it nearly every day and had absolutely no problems with it until yesterday. I went to rotate the tailcap to constant on for the bulb and it wouldn't light. I went through all of the functions, locked out, LEDs on, tailcap rotated to momentary only position, etc, and everything worked perfectly except constant on for the bulb. I inspected the tailcap and there isn't anything obviously wrong that I can see but I think it's got to be a problem with the tailcap. I seem to remember there being some issues with the early tailcap on this light but I don't think I have the first generation tailcap. I'll contact Surefire later today and see if they can help me. John

Here's a test:

Remove the tailcap entirely, but leave the batteries in. Now take a piece of wire, with insulation stripped off the last 1/8" (or so) of both the ends. Or you could use a paper-clip or other suitable bendable metal material. But however you do it, the goal is to make a very low resistance electrical connection bewteen the negative contact of the rear-most battery, and the butt end of the body tube (which is where the tail-cap switch makes contact.

So, if when you do this the LED's and lamp light up, the problem is with the tail-cap.

But, if when you do this, the LED's only light up, the problem is with either the regulator or the lamp. Are you sure that the lamp isn't burnt out or broken? That is the most likely scenario, other than a faulty tail cap. Do you have a spare lamp? Have you tried installing it?

And as for the tail cap, look inside it at the floating metal pads between the outer wall and the inner plastic piece that holds the spring. Make sure there is no gunk or debris on the contacts. A nice soft cotton pipe cleaner works well to clean these, as well as the threads.

Good luck, and keep us informed!

I have had this happen when battery voltage was to low.

Bravo25,

YES! Right! So obvious it can be overlooked. Pilot4x4, I assume that you are using fresh batteries, no? If not, try new batteries before anything else.

My brother in law went through this on what he thought were fresh cells, took the light apart, called Surefire, and was about to send it in when I asked him by email, "You have tried several sets of cells, right?"

I got a one word reply, "Duh"!

He had cells that he had set aside to use up in his Inova, not fresh cells!

Happens to all of us at some point!

Bill

if the fault lies with the tailcap, the most likely reason for this is that all three of the little metal tabs in the tailcap have broken off. the only way around this is a new tailcap, i'm afraid. fortunately, surefire would be more than likely to replace the tailcap under warranty.

I tried replacing the batteries with new ones, swapped in the spare bulb and grounding the negative end of the battery direct to the tube. With a lead between the battery and the tube the leds and bulb both lit brightly. I contacted Surefire and they are sending me a new tail cap so that should take care of the problem. John

I've had a problem with my A2. It worked fine, then one day it wouldn't light up LEDs only. And when I pushed it in it would sometimes light the incan first, sometimes both at the same time, sometimes full brightness, sometimes dim yellow (yes, batteries were checked). I called Surefire and they're sending a new tailcap. Have no idea what happened to it.

Update: Recieved the new tailcap and it works perfectly.