FW3A Troubleshooting / FAQ

That’s because the FWXX series lights are designed to work on unprotected cells.

I had to buy a large tweezers and tighten all the retaining rings on my FW3X V2s.

A few days ago, the switch started acting up on my FW3A bare. Today, I took apart the switch to find pieces of what appeared to be the flat black rubber spacer; not the nub. The pieces were not from the spacer in the light. I used canned compressed air to clean the circuit board mounted switch. The switch is now back to behaving.

Wish I would have checked the switch before I originally tightened up the associated retaining ring.

OK, for the record I will go back and take all the troubleshooting steps recommended.

Here’s why. I’ve been using the FW3A every evening walking the dog in the dark.

Tonight was different.

As usual, started from a low setting and ramped up.
Got one blink then the light went out.

Clicked once and it started again in low, ramped up, and went out

Clicked once, started in low, ramped up, flickered several times and went out

Repeated and again got ramp to flicker to out

Clicked again, started in low, got a normal ramp up and turbo bright

Clicked off, back on low, again normal ramp up and turbo bright

Clicked off, clicked on, no ramp or response to clicks, light went out.

Clicked off, back on low, ramped up and went out

Clicked off, back on low, ramped up and got the voltage report (4 blinks then 1 blink)

I think I have an intermittent, and will go looking for anything suggested (retightening, cleaning).

G’night.

The only time this has happened to me was when the tail cap was loose. I modified the switch, removing the nubbin & inserting a 5/32” o-ring, to firm up the button. It works great. But for some reason, it’s a little more prone to loosening when I partially unscrew the head for lockout. The symptom is the light going out while ramping up. Tightening the tail cap fixes it every time.

Does anyone know if the retaining ring for the tail cap can be purchased separately and if it will work in a 1st release FW3A?

Hm, tailcap on mine did not budge noticeably when I tried clamping down on it, but the intermittent problem seems to have cleared up.

I would gladly buy the revised model tailcap with retaining ring, if they made enough of them to sell them as spares. It seems a weak spot to fix.

Well not always., out of more than a dozen first and second run lights (no not all for me) I had one light that the only way I could get it to work reliably was to remove the retaining ring from the tail cap.

OK, I had crud in the threads somewhere. Screwing the head and tailcap back and forth released some grinding/sticking points, then adding a bit of Nyogel conductive lube to the threads, seems to have eliminated the intermittency problem for now.

I’d still like to get one of the new version tailcaps with retaining ring, if they come available.

Cross-reference: FW3A Turns On and Becomes Stuck When Tail and Head Tightened

FW3A Turns On and Becomes Stuck When Tail and Head Tightened

And here’s another case that sounds exactly like the problem I was having:

https://www.reddit.com/r/flashlight/comments/e3svp6/fixed_fw3a_rebootingwhileramping_issue/

and that Reddit thread pointed to this one:

[quote=BOO5TED]

The cell you tried is probably too long. As a result, the light is not firmly closing the circuit on both sides of the inner tube. Try Sony VTC5, VTC5A or VTC6, or Samsun 30q. All should work fine.

I also had a similar issue with one of my FW3As. When I disassembled the tailcap I discovered that the “nubbin” was about 1/3 longer than my other FW3Xs. I replaced it with a shorter nubbin (I cut a piece off of a spare o-ring of the correct diameter) and the problem went away. It also made the switch feel very nice and tactile.

Just received my FW3a. How water proof is it says ipx8 can it be submerged a few feet?

Yes. IPx8 usually means submerged for 30 minutes up to 2 meters (6 feet) depth. It could be better than that, but I wouldn’t count on it.

If you’re planning to submerge your light, it might not be a bad idea to disassemble it and lubricate the o-rings. It’s probably good enough as-is, but you never know.

Please let us know how it goes. Hope there are no issues.

Good point. Also, greasing the threads generously will help stop water seepage.

I wouldn’t purposely submerge any light that isn’t actually a dive light

Oh my gosh, just caught up on Dbsar’s report of the tailcap spring problems.

I hope whoever is managing production of the tailcaps is reading this. I doubt, but I hope.

I would definitely not submerge it, but I would think light rain or splashing should be fine.

Strange. Do you mean “thicker”? Or was the nubbin of a larger diameter? Mine was fine, just making for a very sensitive switch. I removed the nubbin, installed a 5/32” o-ring and switch has a nice firmness now.