What would cause flickering not in candle mode or anything
Dirty threads or the ends not tightened enough.
Mine flickered, but only on lower settings, same thing on three different bodies, cleaning threads, tightening retaining rings, nothing helped! replaced all 7135s, same thing checked solder joints, did most everything except replacing the mcu. By that time I received a replacement driver which fixed the problem. Definitely exhaust all the possibilities, but in the end you may have similar results.
Has anyone here dropped their FW3C and suffered notable dents? Just curious about the copper alloy, as raw copper is inherently soft, prone to denting.
My FW3A was acting strange.
After turning it on, I would try to ramp to change the brightness, and the FW3A would turn off!
So I started reading the OP of this thread...
...I followed those directions, and now it works fine. 
I'm very glad this thread exists.
Thanks for the help!
^ Yep, driver retaining ring and the tail cap — both being loose will end up creating strange behavior. I think that’s pretty much it, though. Easy to correct both! Unfortunately, this light is not turning out to be very user friendly, reliability wise. A number of people I know would be stumped by such a problem and put it down in favor of another light.
How to solve an issue of the FW3A starts to step down automatically almost immediately to a very low brightness level? This happens in both stepped and ramped modes. Many thanks.
Two main reasons, it thinks it’s too hot or the voltage is too low.
If the battery is charged up, then I would calibrate the internal temp sensor.
Did the light in question used to work properly and this behavior is new? Or is it acting like this new, out of the box.?
Battery is fully charged and it doesn’t get hot as it steps down immediately.
It doesn’t have to get hot, it just needs to think it’s hot. It’s internal temperature calibration may be off, that’s why I say it may need to be calibrated. Instructions are in the first post.
Might also be a bad connection.
Check the contact ring on the backside of the driver for debris, plus each end of the battery tube and the tailcap contact ring.
I’ve never heard of this happening so it should be fine.
Yes, thermal config is stored to the EEPROM, so it is kept even when removing power.
Potential short circuit in the tailcap between the spring and the track, reported by DBSAR , continues on the FW21.
Today I received an FW21 and when doing the visual inspection prior to commissioning it can detect it.
I will correct it by rotating the spring.
Dagnabbit!My FW3A also came with only one of the three available contact points soldered.
With a cold solder joint, so the spring could easily come loose and short out.
Somebody was in a hurry to leave work that day!
And I bought a FW21 anyway. I’ll never learn to wait on reviews.
Has anyone got contact info for the manufacturer? Just TELL the guy who does the soldering how to do it right, please.
Just received my FW3A from nealsgadgets.
I’m not sure if this is a defect or if I’m misunderstanding the Andruil UI.
From OFF, if I long press the button, the light will start at moonlight, but then without me releasing the button, start to ramp up. Then releasing and long pressing again, it will ramp down.
My understanding of the Andruil UI was that I had to short press then long press to ramp up or down. As in, I would depress the button twice. I thought that a single long press from off would go to moonlight and stay in moonlight.
When you hold from OFF…it pauses at moonlight for just a moment…then ramps. Single press from off goes to last brightness level (if memory on). If you release the button during that brief moonlight pause (it is VERY brief) it will stay at moonlight.
If you quick press…it comes on. Then press-hold it will ramp up. Release press-hold it will ramp down.
Correct. It should do that. Then as long as the button is held down it ramps up.
Correct.
From OFF the long press will make the light go to moonlight. With some practice you can relatively easily learn to press long enough to force it to start in ML and stay pretty much at the lowest setting. Or let it ramp up slightly, release the button and long press again to make the light ramp down to ML. Release and it stays there.
When in stepless ramping mode and locked out, a long press and hold will put it into ML and it will stay there until the button is released.
Also when in stepless ramping mode and locked out a double click and hold will cause it to step through ML and then go to the floor setting that is set as low in the stepped ramping mode.
Is there any way I can make it stay and moonlight and not start to ramp up after that very brief moment?
If I’m in a moonlight mode situation, it’s very important that the light doesn’t come on too bright.
But it seems like if I want to consistently get to moonlight, I have to make sure I release the button after exactly 0.5 sec, as opposed to 0.1 sec to go to the last memorized mode, or >0.5 sec and it starts ramping up.