From my own experience and reading on the forums - usually when an e-switch light gets banged up and something on the driver, component/wire, brakes loose the light simply stops working. It does seem rare that a light breaks and then goes full power. I’ve heard of it only happening a couple of times. I don’t know if the FW3A is more likely to fail and go Turbo or to simply fail and not work. Hard to say.
Keep in mind that you can’t easily lock out the FW3A (physically lock out). You’d need to seperate the head and the body.
Unless it happens again, I’d say DBSAR’S “Break to Turbo” is a fluke and not worry too much about it. Toykeeper carried her prototype around over a year and had no such problems.
You hit the nail on the head… I just checked that and the ring was a bit loose. (i can move the driver from side to side a bit. there seems to be a bit excessive space between the driver outer edge and the head body. Thanks for that suggestion, as i had not thought of that being a possible issue.
My apologies if i came off as defensive, as it sounded like it was intended differently, (added to i had a rough day yesterday so i was already heated from stress and the outdoor temps)
Rdubya18 above mentioned the ring which i had not looked at, and just c checked the head and is a bit loose. (i can wiggle the driver side to side a little as it don’t seem to fit tightly in the head i managed to get another 1/4 turn on the ring before it went snug. i don;t know id that contributed to the shorting then melting the trace.
There’s a “flat side” of the driver and a “flat cutout” in the driver shelf too that help it stay in place and not spin when you tighten ring. Can check that too.
This is the bottom line, I agree. And let me quickly add that this is not any reflection on the integrity of DBSAR. I’m confident everyone believes his account of what happened to his light to be accurate, even if the cause is mysterious.
Thank you, JasonWW. This was going above and beyond in the name of science, and is really helpful. With your results, and DBSAR’s discovery of the loose retaining ring, you all are making real progress at solving the “tail-gate” mystery.
Inspired by JasonWW’s willingness to risk his light, I decided to try a test of my own last night. I threw one my FW3A’s hard against a thinly carpeted floor (so as to avoid surface dings). Still worked. So I threw it absolutely as hard as I could ten more times, trying to make sure the light struck the floor in every possible orientation. And the light still works fine. Upon inspection, there is no discernible change in springs or boards at either end of the light. The tail spring is unmoved, and still soldered just as poorly as it was before. However, the force of the impacts was significant enough to put noticeable dents in both ends of the NCR18650GA battery. So, while I’m not happy with the Lumintop’s slipshod workmanship in places, I feel a bit more confident about the ruggedness of the FW3A.
LOL, yeah, it might have. The flashlight was ricocheting around the room rather alarmingly. Note to self: next time, (a) move the furniture, (b) lock out the cat, and ( c) do all testing before cocktail hour.
Just turn the bezel with the rubber bottom of a mouse pad or something. There is nothing special to it. My hands are small enough I can grip just the bezel and still be able to pinch the knurling to keep that from loosening first
Thanks, didn’t realize I was supposed to unscrew the top part, was trying to access the internals from unscrewing the inside, LOL. Opened it but now I need someone with (de)soldering skills…
This does not lock out the light. Power is still flowing through it and you have parasitic drain. What your actually doing is disconnecting the rear switch.
So aside from removing the head almost, there is no way to lockout? Why does the light turnoff then, the switch must be normally closed and turning the tailcap breaks the circuit?
The threads are bare and current is flowing through them so as you turn the head or tail cap the contact points are constantly changing. If you magnify the threads, what looks smooth is actually pretty rough. As you turn the pieces you get lots of connections and disconnections. At some point you might loose all electrical contact and the light powers down, but power is probably connected again right away. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell if power is connected or not since the switch will not work. So it’s a gamble. Maybe power is disconnected, maybe it’s not. This is why I said the only way to know for sure is to physically separate the pieces.
Other lights may have anodized threads with only the ends bare, so a simple half turn will break contact.
Thanks for that
