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.
Cross-reference to the other Lumintop QA thread:
I generally don’t have an issue with the firmness of the FWxx switch (I always use lockout), but this light in particular had a defect. The diameter of the nubbin was fine, it was just too long. It was physically longer than the nubbins in my other FWxx lights and was pre-loading the switch when the tailcap was tightened down.
I didn’t replace the nubbin with an whole o-ring, I cut a short piece out of the cross-section of a sufficiently thick o-ring to produce a new nubbin which fits in the original location. It’s a tiny bit larger diameter than the original but the rubber stretches to accommodate.
It definitely has made the switch more stable when pressing off-axis and has improved the tactility, even over my other FWs with properly fitted nubbins from the factory. It’s not immediately apparent to me why this would be. Perhaps a combination of the more pliant material and the slightly larger diameter?
I was always using lockout because of the switch sensitivity. But now I don’t bother with the 5/32” o-ring. I lock out the light when I put it away. Yep, I got that you cut the o-ring, but didn’t quite get that “long” meant “thick”. This o-ring segment technique is interesting. You can cut a variety of thicknesses to see what works best.
My FW3T always starts super dim, moonlight-ish, at first turn on
Even if I ramp it doesn’t remember the ramped value for next turn on, single click
My FW3A is not like this, it remembers the last ramped value.
Everything else works fine.
What am I doing wrong?
Thank you
Does it start there every time? Is it in manual memory mode?