FW3A Troubleshooting / FAQ

Here is an image of the soldering on my just arrived SST-20 version. Any thoughts?

Not super pretty on the negative side. Is it stuck solidly??

If it is, just clean it all up with alcohol & go with it. . :+1:

From what I’ve read, the parasitic drain in the FW3A is nearly negligible. Yet if you’re going to not use the FW3A for a very long time (many weeks or months), it makes sense to take out the battery. True, a slight turn of the head doesn’t provide a full lockout of the light, but it does lockout the switch… which is the intention anyway — to prevent accidental activation. While 4 rapid clicks will do an electronic lockout, that’s 8 clicks every time (4 to disengage, 4 to engage)—not only a PITA but induces faster wear to the switch. That’s why I favor a slight turn of the head.

I’m hoping some of the DIY electronic switch replacements that have been done by veteran members here is inspirational enough for Lumintop to introduce an improved switch with a later release that is backwards compatible with the FW3A v1.

From what you describe it definitely sounds like there’s some kind of electronic issue with your light. If you did all the needful steps like tightening down the head retainer ring and tail cap and it still happens, this mandates a return. It’s a bummer for the distributors, but this is the unfortunate side effect of sloppy workmanship from Lumintop. My light functions fine, but I noticed the battery spring is askew. And I’ve seen some people with seriously worse situations, like this:

Don’t muck around with the light — just send it back and get a replacement.

Teacher, I will take it apart later and make sure it’s tight. If so, I will clean it up and leave it alone. Thanks.

My pleasure…. I think you’ll be good to go. :slight_smile:

The default floor in SMOOTH RAMPING is lower than in STEPPED RAMPING.
Level 1 vs. level 20

Yes, Jason, thats the config to start the floor for stepped with moon.

And if someone wants the defaults for stepped back, it’s: 20, 21, 7

@Igor
try
1,21,8

You don’t actually send it back. Shipping would probably cost you more than the price of the light. It’s much cheaper to just keep the defective light and have Neal send a replacement head. Shipping is way way cheaper from China to US. (I don’t know where Yoav.Klein is at, but I use the US as an example)

Thanks for clarifying — I didn’t know the policy was to ship a replacement part. I guess it makes sense. China must be subsidizing shipping from China to US. I still don’t know how I can buy a $1 item with free shipping and the seller make any money. It must cost them like $0.10 to mail small items.

It’s the other way around. The first world countries are subsidizing shipping from third world countries. A long ago UN thing to help up and coming countries. China probably doesn’t need any help anymore.

I (finally) managed to make a (very amateurish) video showing the problems with my flashlight.

I “reset” the ramp configuration on both flashlights before this video (Smooth Ramp: 1 click, 21 clicks; Stepped Ramp: 20 clicks, 21 clicks, 7 clicks).
Also, I set the camera to manual exposure, so that it wouldn’t compensate automatically for the flickering. That means you’ll see me changing the exposure manually on each mode change.

Video link

It turns out that the bad light does turn on the LEDs in moonlight mode, but they’re so low I can’t tell if they’re on, even by looking directly at them, unless I’m in a completely dark room…

Any ideas on what the problem could be?

Maybe a fet issue?

Hello all,
I just wanted to give props to Neal for his handling of my problem with my FW3A. It never worked right out of the box; didn’t get the blink when new batt inserted and clicks all had random outcomes. I tried every trick in this thread and fussed with it for a month. I suspected it just had a bad driver flash. Finally I sent a PM to him here and offered to pay shipping for a new head. He offered a driver, but I explained my soldering skills and eyesight wouldn’t be able to make that work. He replied with a short, somewhat cryptic response that warranty would cover it. Guess what showed up in the mail yesterday? Complete new light in full blown factory packaging! To anyone experiencing problems, just contact him and he WILL make it right! Thank you so much, Neal!

/\ Glad to hear you got a satisfactory resolution. :slight_smile:

It looks like everything is pointing to a bad 7135 chip, specifically the single chip on the lowest channel.

So the stuff under 120 lumen is all going through that single chip. Above that level, that channel goes 100% and the next channel, 7x7135 chips are PWM so it’s still using that first 7135 chip but it’s effects become less noticable. Then on Turbo it’s the FET only.

A new driver should fix it, but if your not able to solder the 2 led wires, a new head would be the fix.

If you have hot air you could try swapping in a new 7135 chip, but it’s a bit more advanced.

OK, I guess it’s time for me to take this up with Neal.
Thanks everyone!

A work around would be to anodize the threads part way . Leave 1/8 inch or so bare . One turn probably would physically lock it out then. With all the D4V2 talk about lock out got me thinking.

I received my FW3A with XPL HI 3D yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised that the torch seemed more robust than I expected. The switch doesn’t appear to have any of the metal-scraping that others have complained about in other posts. This was my first venture into the Anduril UI but it is much more intuitive when you are actually doing it than reading about it.

One question - when using the smooth ramping to go up or down in the brightness scale there seems to be a “hitch” halfway in the run. In other words, as I go from dim to bright or bright to dim, about halfway through it blinks out then back in. Is this normal?

A couple weeks back Neal had sent me a message saying he was going to replace the shorted one i had failed, i never heard back since, and he ignored my direct message i sent to him last week. :person_facepalming:

Yes it’s normal , the blip tells you you are at the fully regulated brightness.