Astrolux FT03 SST40 problem with decreasing power after few seconds

Hello,

I have big problem with my new Astrolux. It doesnt work properly. If I turn it on TURBO mode, by doubleclick or in “momentary” mode it decreases power after 5-10 second. It does the same even from HIGH mode using ramping… I tested flashlight with 2 different good quality and fully charged batterys. Flashlight was not overheating, it was very cold even, because I tested it outside at only 5 degres Ceclcius…

I know the flashlight normally decrease power because of the heat, but it does after about 5 minutes, not 5 seconds… (regarding this https://zeroair.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/zeroair_reviews_astrolux_ft03_48.png )

And more, for just simple HIGH mode it decrease power steadily, not suddenly like mine…

And more, what says that something is wrong, after like 5 times it decreased power after few second, it started to working properly with full power for about a minute (and I just turned it off). And later, about 15 minutes, it started working badly one more time…

I recorded a video to show the problem: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rsQF4-drPZ38AZbcS3sXNNdekyK4oOW2/

What is wrong? Is this the driver problem?

I would guess the temperature isn’t calibrated right… you can re-calibrate it in the settings. Its written in the user manual how to do it, but basically goes like this:

-press and hold the button for +–16s till a double flash followed by a single blink is seen.
-wait till it double flashes again but blinks twice this time.
-wait till it double flashes again but blinks three times.
-press twice

  • the light will go in turbo, and will warm up, click once to set that temperature to the desired cut-off temperature. (use full batteries)
    -click and hold till it blinks 4 times to exit the settings

!!! ^this way only works if your light is in RAMPING UI !!!

If this doesn’t help I have no idea what the problem could be and you should probably ask for a replacement :slight_smile:

Dzien Dobry!

This is in the manual.

OR you can disable the step down and use your hand as a judge like I do.

Hold button down for 16+ Seconds This is more like 5 seconds for my light and my buddies.

-DO NOT release until the First “Double Flash” AND Single blink.

-WAIT for “Double Flash” AND 3 Blinks.

-Then Click ONE time.

-NO More clicks, WAIT until it blinks for setting #4.

-Shortly after that it will blink 4 times to indicate the END of Configuration mode.

Good luck,I hope that will resolve your issue. I have a feeling it will.

Guys, I think this is not the problem of temperature, because as I said, flashlight decreased power when it was very cold. And started working well when heated a bit…

And after 15 minutes it decreased again.

What is weird, from yesterday when I tried it at home, and it worked well, today it works well as well. I just tested it and worked on TURBO more than 6 mins before I just turned it off. Even not decreased power itself…

So. This is really weird. It tells that flashlight not work well if it’s cold. But this is literally stupid and not possible. Maybe battery is not working well when cold? But 5-10 Celcius is nothing wrong/cold for Panasonic/Samsung batterys…

Ok, I did another test …

Flashlight with battery cooled in the fridge for over an hour. It had about 5-7 degrees. Turn it on, after 8 seconds it reduced the brightness … Well, I think battery too cold. I replace it with a charged one and at room temperature. The flashlight after 8 seconds reduces the brightness again…

I put the cold battery back in and turn on the flashlight. Guess how much time it worked in turbo mode … 25 minutes! Finally, I got bored and turned it off. It warmed up just to warm the hand well, but not to burn. And here I am very surprised. Battery already had 3.1V, so I puted a new one and there was no brightness difference. During these 25 minutes flashlight reduced the brightness just a little, if any…

And now I completely understand nothing. Because this length of time contradicts everything. Like if it did not work on real TURBO mode. But it’s impossible. It has an incomparably greater range than the Convoy C8 XPL HI.

Have you tried disabling the thermal stepdown mentioned by BaronVonEissler? I suggest to set that first, just to rule out other issues…

Then also check the contact points (battery tube, the springs). See if anything is loose.

I’ve just taken delivery of an FT03 XHP50.2 torch today, & it exhibits a similar problem,
when selecting turbo (double click) it runs for 5/6 seconds, flashes 3 times & steps down, the torch is cold to the touch.
I am using a 26650 battery from my Rofis MR70 fully charged.

Being totally new to this, I don’t understand how to use the config settings yet.

Finally.

I made a video about the problem and sent it to BG as a “dispute” or smth. They told me that it shouldn’t decrease power like this after just few seconds. They sent me a new one, that has not this problem anymore. I’m happy.

ADD INFO: Both flashlights DO NOT decrease power from turbo mode at all. I mean like after 3 minutes, because of hot. No, NOTHING. I tested both for about 10 minutes. It’s ok for me.

Dzien dobry!!!

I actually just received an FT03 that experienced similar problems. I found that the head side O-Ring seemed to have a “too fat” OD and became shredded into very fine bits and globbed up in there. Upon removing the head-side O-Ring and cleaning/re-greasing the threads it has performed flawlessly! Worth a shot?

in my case it stepped down within 20 seconds, removing the thermal stepdown solved this issue.

I can’t be too sure if it might be the reason. But I understand that the 26650 battery from Rofis MR70 is a protected battery.
When the FT03 XHP50.2 is set to Turbo mode, it can consume more power than the over-current protection of the Rofis MR70 26650 battery.

I have tested a protected 26650 from a different flashlight on the FT03 XHP50.2 and when I set to Turbo mode, it will flash and then shut down (overcurrent protection).

Been in touch with Bangood & sent a video as requested, but in the meantime I have ordered another battery to try, a GOLISI S43 26650 4300mAh 35A, will give another try when it arrives.

When first inserting the Rofis battery, sometimes the moonlight can be switched on, but no ramping, but if you loosen the head the light will ramp, it’s a bit intermittent.

thanks for the tip.

Test/review of Golisi IMR26650 4300mAh (Gold) HKJ

Golisi S43 arrived, (from witcheliquid_co_uk) eBay,
bar code checked out as genuine,
charged it & inserted it into FT03,
hey presto the FT03 worked fine,
must be something about the Rofis protected battery that the FT03 didn’t like.

Happy with the light now.

yes makes sense, the xhp50.2 u dont want a protected battery really.

Just having a little more play with the FT03 today, &

I found if I loosened the head off by 1/2 a turn the light worked fine with the Rofis 26650 ??

If I loosened the tail cap off instead of the head, it made no difference, even stranger???

So the issue I have found is that batteries over 65mm seem to cause a problem by pressing hard on the driver board, but if you loose the tube at the head it releases the pressure (but maintains electrical contact through the treads).

When using a 21700 (70mm) I loosen off the head by a full turn. The protected battery will be about 70mm long and cause the same issue.

On a related note, I am having a custom 21700 sized battery tube made for the FT03 and if successful hope to offer a group buy for them, it will be longer than the standard tube and the inside reduced to fit a 21700 nicely.

none of my 26650 batteries feel too tight, light was designed to take 26650, protected might be a problem, 21700 on the other hand seem a bit too long i dont want the spring too much compressed when using those. most unprotected 26650 should fit just fine.

got SST40+ XHP50 for review

1st one work flawlessly

XHP50 works with the same problem, turned out that thermal sensor counted +20 degrees to real temperature. i tried to set thermal stepdown threshold manually, this doesnt helped.

so i turned it and things worked.

wasted so much time on test....

FT03 SST40/XHP50.2 version runs NarsilM, so there doesn’t seem to be a way to calibrate it if the temperature reading (3-clicks from Off followed by 2 clicks) is Off by a lot…
Did you mean you just used the “Temperature” setting but manually configured until the flashlight felt hot?