FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

After youā€™ve been around here for a while you learn to have some patience with the development progress of these project lights. They do take a while to get things right. Itā€™s not like the forum members or the people in China have nothing else to do and can move a project from being a glimmer in someoneā€™s imagination to a completed-available-for-purchase project in a short period. It will all come together when everybody involved in the design and production has completed their part.

Request:

- Have it accept LiFePo4 cells, somehow.

Iā€™m gonna crawl out on a limb here & just tell you that ā€œrequestā€ will be denied. :wink:

A special boost driver would be required with higher LVP than normal Li-Ion. Such driver would need to handle 30W+ and probably costs as much as the entire flashlight.

LiFePo4 18650s also have low capacity which makes it impractical for such high current draw.

I know. Just planting the seed.

With regard to capacity, sure, it would be about halfā€¦ Thatā€™s acceptable to me. ā€¦ And they do make high-drain LiFePo4 cells (~20A continuous, 70A pulse)

As for boost drivers and such, Iā€™m going to start a new thread and flesh this out some more. I have some ideasā€¦ I mean, I know itā€™s possible to do this cheaply given all the 1 x AA lights out there ā€” though probably at a much reduced throughput (far less than 30W).

put me down for one please! :smiley:

The only reason 1 x AA boost drivers are so cheap is because they are for 1 x AA. We are just now getting some aftermarket boost drivers that are powerful - about 50w. They are still expensive, though. It might be many more months or 2020 before we get a range of sizes. So I would not hold my breath for a FW3A specific boost driver.

It will accept LiFePO4 cells no problem. The driver will not mind. You do need low voltage leds to go with it though, not the XP-L or LH351D. If you can manage fit SST-20 leds or Luxeon Vā€™s, you are good to go. It will cost you output on turbo (that was insanely bright anyway) but the lower modes will work until the batterie is mostly drained.

It may also be a good idea to modify the low voltage threshold in the firmware, but otherwiseā€¦ yeah. It should work fine with LiFePO4 if it has an appropriate emitter. For example, some color XP-E2 emitters have particularly low Vf.

I am interested !

^ had not thought about the low voltage threshhold, that will be very annoying if the value is not changed.

If only there was an option to have my FW3A made with those colours :heart_eyes:
Since its no longer ā€œstraight off the latheā€ itā€™d be incredible to have a colourful option :innocent:

That rey light is a 100$ or something right? i prefer the cleaner look on the fw3a and since its under 40$ i dont complain.

Wasnt complaining just making chit chat, I think I mentioned it would be incredible to have an option and I didnā€™t say free :disguised_face:

iknow no problem, would be fun see such color options for those that want, probably advanced process coloring the light like that one.

All you need is a box of crayons :smiley:

or just leave in on the floor in a room that my misus is decorating :slight_smile:

The LH351D 90CRI actually has about the same forward voltage as the SST-20 actually.

My daughter is two so the crayons are HERS ONLY :person_facepalming:

Iā€™ve been surfing the forum for a bit. This is my first post.

I just received, and love, the recent delivery of 2x BLF A6 (black/clear) from BG. Seeing this thread and the new knowledge Iā€™ve gleaned from this forum, I have to get in on this GB! Put me down for one (XPL-HI), please. #1887

Heck, Iā€™m still waiting for the slow canoe from China (FT shipper) thatā€™s carrying my 2x Convoy S2+ (black/clear).

Happy to be here. Iā€™ll post more soon (still in learn mode).