UK D4- What am I doing wrong?

[Furnari]

I bought some miscellaneous gear, and included was a UK D4. It's got some Energizer batteries with "best use by" date of 2004. They work just fine. To make a long story short, I've swapped in 2 different sets of energizers and a set of evereadys. None of the 3 sets work. At best, I can get the light to come on with 3 of the old batteries and one of the new ones. I've cleaned off the contacts, made sure everything comes together like it should, etc. Believe me, I'm totally prepared to accept that fact that I'm doing something wrong, but jeez I've changed one or two sets of batteries in my life without this kind of drama. Any suggestions?

 

[gcbryan]

Some batteries are a little longer/shorter than others. In most cases it's the size of the "button". I would find batteries of the same brand/type as the ones that work for start with.

I would also just check the springs and pull them a bit or use a magnetic battery spacer to see if that works.

Without having the light in front of me it's tough to say since it would be corrosion or other contact issues but if the original batteries work and others don't it sounds like size (length) issues.

 

[Furnari]

I tried two sets of the same brand with no luck, but I tried a 4th set- duracells this time- and those finally worked. My $10 bargain light ended up costing me a little more than I thought...

 

[mcgowman]

I had a similar issue with my UK C8 light. Energizers don't work, but Duracells are fine.

I put a sticker on the light to remind me which brand to buy.

 

[beekeeper5]

I called UK regarding my C8 and they recommend Duracells for alkalines. They also said not to use Energizers as they apply film over their contacts that sometimes causes a leak. They also said not to use Costco Kirkland batteries (if you can still find those) and definitely not Ikea batteries (hey, they're really cheap).

UK recommends either using their own rechargeable battery pack or Duracell nihm in the long run. In the end, I use Eneloops/Duraloops. So far so good.