I did try again after charging the cell and then ran it on turbo. The low frequency flickering happened after 17 minutes. Pulled out the cell and the voltage was 3.8V. I’m not sure what to do now just waiting for my new cell to arrive.
I ordered some AW 16340 cells from Lighthound 
I missed such a useful action … :weary:
PS. sent pm
I think you can still get it if you contact them. They will want more sales.
… and more money :cowboy_hat_face:
[quote=harry218]
Ok, thank you!
PS. My SG5nw:
Got my SG3NW and SF3 NW today!
SG3NW is awesome and perfect except some minor cosmetic “dings”, and has already eaten its o’ring, but that’s not really a problem.
SF3 NW is ok except it looks like it will be eating o’rings quickly too, but there is a small darker spot on the led, and the lowest mode is flickering 
It will probably receive a new led very soon, I also got some XM-L2 T4 7A4 this morning 
I think the SG3 will replace my Zebralight SC31fc for now :party:
Your SF3 has the same problem like mine did except the flickering is in medium 2 and turbo only. I think this light (SF3) is picky with cells. I just returned this light to HKE and swap with SF5. Great customer service by them! I think it will be easier to just use my eneloops. I don’t mind the lower lumens and the runtime will be longer too. Well, I did lose $6 for postage (not really expensive from my country) but overall still a great deal.
I have not received my SF3 yet. But I worry about the problems I read about the flickering in some modes. I wish to not have such problems, i would be really upset.
Argh!
I’ll let it run for a while to see if it improves…
I also think the SF3 is just picky about cells. I actually get the flickering on turbo with my brand new AW cells. My theory is that the SF3 is pushing the battery so hard on turbo that it’s causing grief with the protection circuits. I think the flickering is the protection circuit partially tripping. For whatever reason my EagleTac cells just power off when they hit that point, where the AW cells seem to step down a little and flicker for a little while before the protection circuit trips all the way. The TF flame cells seem to go about 30 seconds before they trip the protection and just power the light off.
My SF5 doesn’t have this problem, but then again it doesn’t seem to be as bright on turbo. I think the SF3 is just pushing the batteries too hard. I was thinking of getting some AW IMR cells next to try.
i only usually buy the rcr123 in imr - i have kinoko and aw and both seem to work ok
The IMR cells aren’t protected are they?
No they aren’t.
I’ll try some RCR, I have AW protected and IMR, and some Nitecore/Eagletac.
For now I tried with CR123A battery, after leaving it on for a little while it seems to flicker a bit less.
they are not protected, but the chemistry has been known to be a bit safer than traditional lithium ion
but if you dont feel comfortable not using protection then i guess dont use them
My thought of the day was maybe that it’s the protection circuits causing people grief and not the batteries themselves. Either way this SF3 is a fussy beast and seems to push a 16340 about as hard as it can be pushed. I get about 1 amp even on the tail cap reading for turbo and an EagleTac 16340 hot off the charger.
All things considered the SF3 NW is already one of my favorite lights. The SF5 NW is neat too. I got mine from Wallbuys so I don’t know if it makes a difference, but the tint on my SF5 is a little warmer than my L10-219. It’s absolutely fantastic ! I wish the SF3 was this warm, but it’s still nice and neutral. Even though it’s a little quirky, it’s still so much lighter and smaller than the SF5.
One thing I noticed about the SF5 is that with a regular AA cell, turbo is the same as high. It only gets a higher high when using a 14500. I also noticed that high is about the same with an Eneloop as it is with a 14500, which is interesting. The SC52 is supposedly optimized for an AA but I don’t own one of those. And the S15 Ti is also supposed to be optimized for an AA and it has similar output as the SF5, so I wonder if the SF5 isn’t purposefully optimized for an AA as well. Either way, both of these are fantastic lights and I’m so glad I got them. I should’ve ordered the SG3 and the SG5 as well for the whole set!
I just tried some AW and Nitecore protected, and it does 9 times out of 10 trigger the protection when I tries to activate turbo from any mode except max (when in max the success rate is higher, maybe 5 out of 10).
With IMR, no problem. I noticed the double-clic has to be quite slow in order to activate the turbo mode.
Are the threads gritty on yours, or just mine? I’m starting to think I prefer my Olight S10 over the SF3 :weary:
I’m more interested in shortcuts to moonlight than to turbo…but both choices are understandable, and shortcut to turbo probably makes more sense to most people.
PS: my concern with IMR is the lack of low voltage protection with the SF3 (or am I wrong?). My Zebralight cuts around 2,7V, which is quite low for RCR and quite high for CR123A, and the Olight S10 does not cut at all.
This is the graph of SF5 taken from a review on CPF.
I’ve noticed that the turbo is only 55% of the turbo on SF3. Regulation while using Eneloop is not that bad and I’m sure it will get better with Eneloop PRO. I also ordered both unprotected Sanyo 14500 and Eneloop pro to feed the SF5. It is quite sad because I really like SF3 but IMO Spark should improve the driver in the future. My S10 L2 does not flicker even on turbo (1A tailcap reading) with the same cell but to be fair it will step down to about 60% after 4 minutes. So it is not pushing really hard like SF3.
@Lithium, you can access the moonlight /lowest mode by holding down the button from off. It will cycle back to the lowest mode.