the driver looks not centered?
somehow shifted to the left shorting the switch contact to the retaining ring?
The photo is angled. The driver board is perfectly centered and keyed into its machined position. I believe that this one is defective.
Your symptoms sound very similar to mine. Iām not sure what finally got mine to work.
I see youāve already disassembled the tails switch. Two more things to try -
- Clean the threads in both the head and tail.
- Use a small tool to press the driver into the head before tightening the retaining ring.
I have done as suggested. The light will blink once to indicate contact and then ramp to full. The head needs to be removed completely to power off.
My 4 just right now got to me, used a fresh VTC6 to test them all with the same cell, ramp up ramp down and turbo 2-3 times back to back short bursts.
I had the first one out the box work exactly as it should, the second was in stepped ramp mode which I just changed, the third one tested seemed perfect but the 4th one is exhibiting the behavior you mention above, itāll work for a couple ramps up and then down then it will āfreezeā in turbo and not accept any button control from turbo till I remove the head completely, I refit the head tighten it down and itāll ramp up then down correctly but if I double tap for turbo itāll freeze there again and accept no button input at all. Strangely the one also seems to possibly have a higher turbo output? Maybe Iām imagining the output? But definitely something funky with the UI for this 4th unit I got.
Donāt want to bother Neal about this right now, unless other users here think heāll be available to assist me.
Got my FW3A today, put a VTC6 in it and nothing happened. Everything dis- and reassembled, reseated the driver 5 times, now perfectly ligned up. Sometimes works when I really tighten it at the head. But gets āstuckā and it wonāt react to any button press at all, long button press often get interpreted as a short press, and so on. Seems like the inner tube wonāt get good contact with the driver.
The whole tail assembly works fine though.
As already suggested by others what you describe sounds like the driver "think" that the switch is always pressed. I don't know the driver schematic but from what i imagine there are several things that might go wrong beside the tube position, the general direction would be to find anything shorting the switch input of the MCU to ground :
- The switch in the tail might be defective or shorted (fillings, solder splash, ...)
- There might be some metal fillings between the tube and the torch body scratching the anodization and shorting them
- There might be something on the driver board shorting the pcb track to ground (once again : fillings, solder splash, ...)
- The pull-up resistor at the mcu input (if there is one) might be missing, broken or have a bad solder
- The MCU input pin solder might be bad (i don't know if there an internal pull-up)
Removing the tube from the body would help to find on what side is the problem (if the torch is still ramping up then it's on driver side) but installing everything without the tube may be tricky.
An other test would be to remove the head and battery and test with an ohmmeter between the body and end of tube (should high res with switch still and near 0 ohm with switch pressed)
Received my light today in Manchester (UK) along with some Redmi AirDot bluetooth in-ears. I couldnāt decide which to open first.
I messed excitedly with the FW3A for an hour or so checking out the various modes. MASSIVELY impressed with the candle and lightning modes (I canāt wait for the LT1 now) and the turbo mode is insane.
Then, it stopped working. Aaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh. I was getting the initial blink but nothing more.
I tightened and un-tightened the head and the tail with no joy and then frantically fired up my laptop to get on here.
A massive sigh of relief was heard by my neighbours when, after the advice on here, I tightened the driver retaining ring with a small screwdriver and we were back in business. It had come out a long way, maybe 3 full turns. I have no idea where it was to begin with but it had clearly unscrewed itself as I was messing with it like a giddy child.
A massive thanks from me for this project, this really is a corker of a light. I try to support the forum group buys where I can.
And the AirDots are great too, much better than I was expecting for Ā£15.
Only another 6 hours before itās dark. 
Got mine this morning. Both had problems. After some swearing and deep breathing I disassembled both and cleaned. There was quite a bit of dirt on the threads and small black pieces of material in the head, body and tube of both flashlights. I reassembled and one worked and the other just sat there flickering. More cleaning followed and fortunately number two is now working as well. My advice is to really give it a good clean and examine it for any little black āthingsā and be patient. Also be very careful with the tail switch assembly and make sure it is in the correct position if you are screwing the tail cap back on
So far the FW3A holds my record as the most anticipated and now the most frustrating light straight out of the box. I will be interested to see how good the reliability is. I will hold off programming until I am happy with its basic function.
āSmall black pieces.ā I looked at the optic unit in my FW3A with a magnifying glass and I see a couple small black flecks stuck in the spaces between the 3 emitter optic lenses. Seems that the manufacturing process was not sufficiently clean, given all the various reports. So then itās hit-or-miss for those flecks interfering with operation. Really a shameā¦ never encountered this with any other lights Iāve bought.
Mine didnāt work out of the box, but with a few loosening/tightening attempts at the tail it started working fine. My driver retaining ring was loose but wasnāt disturbing operation (I tightened it anyway, to avoid future issues). Iād rather have had to wait a few more weeks and all of these issues squared away (connectivity, debris, tightening). Iām pleased with the FW3A and glad I got it. But Lumintop needs to address these issues for it to be ready for mass distribution. Otherwise, itās not going to be a success.
This is my concern. I hope they tighten up the manufacture process before they make mine.
Funny, my driver retaining ring was so tight I struggled to get it unscrewed.
This kind of inconsistency is concerning. Maybe itās one of those staffing thingsā¦ one assembly crew better than another, one doing things right, the other slipshod.
Got mine 2 days ago and the retaining ring was tight, no small pieces floating around inside of it, threads clean and lubed, etc. Fired right up after I put a battery in it and no issues other than this morning when I put in a fresh 30Q and it wouldnāt turn on afterwards. It did have the momentary flash when screwing the head down but no photons when pressing the switch (head was fully screwed in). Took the head off, checked that the battery was inserted correctly (which it was), and after tightening the head it lit up when the switch was pressed. No sure what the problem was but havenāt been able to replicate it so not concerned about it.
Other than that, and having to calibrate the temp setting (it came at 29C but easily changed of course), the light has been perfect.
question: WHY when I check my current temperature setting in the config setting, does it keep changing??? I try to set it at 17 C. After entering the 17 clicks, do you just let the program run outā¦. or must you somehow āsaveā it?
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also, when I first got my light and clicked to turbo, it got stuck and the switch would not turn it off. I had to unscrew the head quickly. Hasnāt happened since. A few other times when replacing the cell and really tightening down the body, it didnāt work. I had to crank even harder to tighten it down and then it worked. This stuff really doesnāt bode well for as nice a light as this is.
Ha. That has been my thought as well. Right now mine is working fine, but it has had itās share of hiccupsā¦
Mine came dirty which caused continuity issues. Disassembled and cleaned it and it worked fine.
I unscrewed the head just to check the retaining ring and driver alignment. The ring was loose, and the driver was slightly out of alignment, so I made those corrections. They did not seem to affect performance at all.
Itās been a great light, but I donāt think it would be a good fit for a muggle, even with muggle mode. Too finicky.
Forgot to say that because the first thing i do when receiving a new light is to verify any loose retaining ring but my FW3A did require some care on that side too
Does somebody know where I can order a Carclo 10510? Shipping should not be too expensive.
Isnāt the temp setting check based on how hot the light is? So if you check it and then run the light for a bit the setting will change but thatās only because the light is hot?