The FW3A has been really good to me, and I have an FW3T coming. The one thing that hasn’t worked well for me is accidental activation. I’ve had a couple of hot-pocket events with it and was looking for something that would protect the button from accidental activation, without needing to turn the lockout off for quick use.
I really wanted something that would make the button harder to press when the light is in a bag or a pocket. I found these: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I17D38/ — they slide nicely over the non-knurled part of the tail, and friction fit perfectly over the knurled part of the tail. They are not flexible enough to allow for purposeful or accidental activation of the clicky switch. I’ll cut a round hole in one and see how I like using the light that way.
The ideal for me would be a replacement tail that held the clicky in a deeper recess to reduce accidental activations, but considering the light’s capabilities and price I’m still in love with it.
I felt the same way about my FW3A and its tendency for accidental activation. I recall seeing a post in this forum about using adhesive to install a washer on the tail, so I checked into it. The linked Amazon listing, which I can’t find at the moment, was for a washer that fit the tail nicely, but the inner diameter was very small, so all of the button was still exposed.
I wanted to decrease the contact area of the button via a washer with a larger inner diameter, so I found a bag of 4 washers at Lowe’s and used rubber cement to install the washer. The washer acts as a shroud by decreasing the button’s area and reducing occurrences of accidental activation, but it’s still easy to press when I position my fingers correctly. There’s now a much smaller chance of my accidentally activating the light after simply sliding it into and clipping it to my pocket.
I shimmed the whole switch package down on my 18350 FW3Ti light… it has a different switch set-up than the first FW3’s so it might not work, haven’t tried it on the first gen FW3’s yet…YMMV…
Here you go. The washer came with 3 others in a bag, located in the hardware drawers at Lowe's.
I was considering a smaller, shinier washer that had the same finish as the clip, but I prefer the size of this washer since it will better protect the tailcap after a fall.
I use the 4-clicks lockout on mine, then drop it in a pocket. The 4-clicks may take getting used to; but I have had no issue. I never have need for an instantaneous use for a light.
It is just a copper sealing ring that I pounded flat to fit the switch pcb. It ended up being 1mm thick. I packed the button/cap with NO-OX-ID because it jiggled a little, to dampen it. Works with or with out retainer ring…
