Fireflies ROT66 Flashlight

When I see FL I can only think of Florida, which isn’t in Romania, so it must mean flashlight unless you moved. Out of all the words to abbreviate :stuck_out_tongue:

I didn’t receive confirmation when I ordered mine until several days after placing the order. It is shipped from China by a low cost method, so expect to take several weeks to possible even a month.

My ROT66 continues to be weird. I was using it over the weekend and so I left batteries in it. Sure enough last night while sitting untouched on a shelf it turned itself on again. Now I can’t get it to work at all. When I first put batteries in it turns on and ramps up to max, stays there for a few seconds, then blinks and turns off. It is unresponsive to any button input, including trying a four-click to lock/unlock.

Anybody know what’s going on? Should I try to return or warranty the light? I like the tint of the Nichias but I have a hard time ever trusting this light to be useful when I need it.

Mine flashes all by itself now, coming on briefly or blinking, main and auxiliary LEDs. The batteries were at 4v when this happened. Jacky is sending out a new board

Boy the e-switch sure sounds like the culprit . S%$#@ happens, and sounds like it happened right in that switch. Might be some cleaning agent or flux, or something gunked up, or maybe the wiring/PCB/etc. I think the ramping up to shutting down is by design. Sounds like something I did (and/or TK) to handle the case of a stuck switch - think I made my timeout 20 seconds, where it would go into lock-out mode if that ever occurred. This is to prevent the light from being on if the switch was jammed in the ON position, like in a bag or pocket.

This sounds like a power flicker/outage, like you see sometimes when tightening up the tailcap where intermittent power contact is occurring.

Thanks for your input. I just ran a test again and I noticed that the switch always has 2 lights on, never 4. This would seem to confirm your theory that the switch is stuck on.

I haven't looked carefully at the ROT66 but so many of these lights have very tight tolerances on the switch wiring pads. So it may look good from a visual inspection, may even work fine at the factory, then after shipping, ever so slight shifting may cause a short. Or again, some contaminating agent after time gets more conductive.. So many things can happen.

There's been issues with e-switches, but just by design really, really prefer them. Over time, mech switches are prone to more likely failures, plus a lot of amps going thru thin metal and small contact points internally in the switch is not a good thing - e-switches don't have high power. The only somewhat superior mech switch is FET based, so high amps is not going through the actual switch, but these are more pricey, probably bigger, and I just don't see these offered as replacements anywhere.

Random Dan, that definitely sounds like a problem with the e-switch. It sounds like it’s shorted to make it think it’s always being pressed. It could probably be opened up and fixed, if it’s not glued, but that’ll definitely require some soldering.

Thanks for the troubleshooting help Tom and Toykeeper.

Since moving I no longer have access to tools, so I will probably try to send the light back to Fireflies once I return from holiday travels.

Is there a way to turn off the blue aux LEDs? It doesn’t look like it’s covered in the basic UI diagram but I understand there are lots of ‘varsity’ features buried in there. Thanks!

Depends on when it was made.

Try 7 clicks from off. It might work, or it might not. Depends on how it was wired internally.

(or, in lockout mode, try 3 clicks)

I noticed the ROT66 is no longer available in 219B. Is it officially discontinued? If so, it looks like the E07 is the final 219B light from Fireflies.

…if so, lack of the famous emitter being used by FF in a compact EDC triple, or traditional single with reflector, will be lamentable.

Any tips on accessing the potentiometer for the aux LEDs? Do I unscrew the bezel or does the board come out the back? I tried to unscrew the bezel and it was TIGHT, didn’t get anywhere (including using a strap wrench). I ordered the unglued version so I was anticipating that it would be easier to take off. Thanks in advance.

Glad I got the ROT66 version with no auxiliary leds. Seems like they have just complicated things.

Well that all depends. I got the ROT 66 without, and just got the PL47 with, and I much prefer the with. Once you understand the basic control it's simple. The brightness though is a personal pref, so without access you either live with the brightness it came with, or turn it OFF (7 clicks to blink, then 7 clicks again to OFF).

Gotta take the bezel off to access that. If it’s stuck, heat might help.

Would just rather not have them. Serves no purpose for me personally. Although, I have an E07 coming, so I won’t have a choice…

You can turn them off with 7 clicks.

I don’t get why anyone buys a ROT66, PL47, E07, D4S, if not for the AUX LEDs and lit switches. Are there not better choices if you are anti-glow anything?