FW3A Troubleshooting / FAQ

hope it stays quite here ;)

Is it too early to ask for a FW3A v2 thread?
FW3A v2 could include charger and optical programming interface. More tints and also more LED choices.

(I will run and hide somewhere so I won’t get stoned)

:open_mouth:

I think the dev process was rock-solid on this one and the thread will remain largely empty. IMO, nothing went wrong at all.

Don’t worry, Astrolux will make a crappy knockoff with integrated charging in a year like they did with the D4.

If there was a single LED optic that would fit, and allow more Aux LED’S that would be perfect for this light, IMO. I’d really love to see a focus on adding more Aux LED’s and different channels for different colors. Then we’d be able to have all kinds of funky modes that my daughter and I could have fun with.

different channels still suffers on the 8 leg MCUs BLF firmwares using and firmware code not support such fancy things

Please explain.

D4 —> S42

Those lights came out at the same time, not a year apart. This means they are unrelated. No one copied anything. It’s just two somewhat similar lights coming out at about the same time.

I know this has been covered, so if you have any threads that you could suggest, that would be appreciated. Two legs are for power, and the 6 free legs are used for? Is the biggest hurdle in using some of the newer MCU’s just designing and building drivers? I understand that we don’t have firmware for them, but from what I gather it’s fairly easy to port the Attiny85 firmware.

2 legs power
1 leg unuseable reset pin
1 pin voltage divider
1 pin switch
1 pin switch LED
2 pins for FET+AMC
usually

new MCUs like the 1634 got like a dozen pins that can be used when you already have power and reset connected
just so far no BLF firmware runs on them so you can add fancy stuff like color fading aux board or stuff

Thank you Lexel, so if we gave up the ability to reflash (easily) we could gain another pin to use by getting rid of the reset fuse. But, not practical for mass production, and not much memory left on the Attiny85 with Anduril to utilize said pin.

I worked in a remote bush camp many years ago where the rule was, anyone who complained about the food immediately became the cook.

In my opinion, this flashlight is flawless! :smiley:

There isn’t currently anywhere to attach an aux LED board in the FW3A, unless it was on all the time with no ability for the user to control the aux LEDs. Here’s the MCU pin layout:

/* BLF/TLF FW3A driver layout
 *           ----
 *   Reset -|1  8|- VCC
 * eswitch -|2  7|- optic nerve
 *     FET -|3  6|- 7x7135
 *     GND -|4  5|- 1x7135
 *           ----
 */

However, if you cut pin 7, it could be used for this purpose. Basically remove the capacitor and resistor it’s attached to, put on a different resistor (optional), and attach it to an aux LED board instead. Flash new firmware with support for aux LEDs, and it should work.

1 Thank

Discovered an issue today:

Several times now after inserting the battery at the head and then screwing closed the light I’ve noted that the head sometimes stops screwing down a couple mm before it should. This appears to be caused by the inner switch contact tube being slightly off-center and hitting the edges of the narrow driver retaining ring. When this happens the inner tube does not make contact with the driver and the light does not work.

If this occurs, the light can still be screwed down by unscrewing and then rescrewing the head in several times until things line up right. But that doesn’t solve the problem and is frustrating to do. This issue occurred with both my FW3As.

Analysis and Solution:

The problem appears to be caused by the driver retaining ring not being screwed tight to the driver at the factory. If you encounter this issue, use tweezers to turn the driver retaining ring so that it is flush against the driver. Once the retaining ring is snug, this problem goes away completely.

Whew, that’s a relief. I think even my feeble modding skills can handle that.

Standard procedure for any new flashlight is to make sure all threaded parts are tight. Things tend to loosen during shipping :wink:

its not the shipping its the boss telling their worker: “assemble faster or you get fired”

Most likely…. :wink:

I also encountered the same problem.

In addition to tightening the retaining ring.
Also align the 2 notches shown in the figure below.