I just wanted to post some comparison photos that I took with the different tubes and clips and also side by side with the FW1A!
I really love these lights, did I mentioned it already?
Enjoy! BTW, all of these (except the Sony battery) was bought from www.nealsgadgets.com
Stuff I bought recently!
FW1A >>>>> FW3A
18350 tube
18500 tube
Tailcaps & Heads (FW1A has a retaining ring on the tail and the retaning ring on the driver is brass)
Tubes (FW3A > FW1A) [ yeah, they are different, but interchangeable, as far as I could test them and put them to work! Also, the clip on the FW1A is not dark, but it can be easily darkened with a blow torch, unlike the deep carry clip, that will probably take more efforts to do that! ]
Can you check if your retaining ring in the tailcap is centered and that the inner command tube fits inside of it? You can also try to put the command tube in first and then screw on the outer tube.
I tried it without the oring and it still won’t wotk. Thanks for all the help anyways
I don’t have a retaining ring on mine. I had the one without it. It’s aligned really well as far as I can tell.
The tail cap and head works fine on the 18650 tube so I’m sure the short tube is the issue
I tried to check continuity without the battery tube. There really is no beep. I think the inner tube really is just defective. Tapping at both ends of the inner tube doesn’t seem to beep either.
I wiped everything with IPA and yes they’re all bare metal.
Ok. I got frustrated and mad which was a good thing I guess and put it on a vice. It works for now but I still get some clicks that do nothing. Better than nothing I guess. Thanks for all the help! Hopefully I didn’t make it permanently an 18350.
Edit: It doesn’t work again . After fixing it I laid it on my table. Wanted to play around with it so I picked it up and it doesn’t work anymore.
Unfortunately I can’t take pictures until end of the next week. I actually remember having to tighten the whole light quite a lot to ensure it register every click.
Ill try to measure my 18350 inner tube as well.
Checked the switch on my defective FW3T. This is the one with the unreliable switch.
The switch is super-simple. Literally just a piece of spring steel on top of a PCB. The steel is held on with kapton tape. I removed the tape and cleaned underneath with deoxit. Then replaced the tape with fresh tape.
Now the switch works, but the light still does not when I use the black inner tube that came with it. For some reason the tube just isn’t long enough. Tubes from other FW3 lights work just fine, but the one that came with it is just too short to make contact.
To fix, I think I’d need to pull out the driver and/or tailcap and add a bit of extra solder along the contact ring for the inner tube.
IMO, the FW3A is a nice light (though I don’t use mine), but the manufacturing tolerances are too tight for inexpensive production. I know it was designed to be something unique, but a more simple design, perhaps with a side switch or a mechanical tail switch, would have resulted in less issues.
The FW3A is kind of like a cheap HDS light. I know the HDS is way over-priced, but perhaps the FW3A is a bit under-priced.