Mateminco/Astrolux FT02S haunted flashlights/bug (no CE, RoHS testing)

Purchased 12pcs FT02S and they all do the same thing, also 2pcs EA01 & 2pcs EA01S. Easiest way to replicate is a factory reset, tail stand in a brightly lit room. I was told it was faulty AMC7135 chips on the first 2pcs I purchased as a sample, but all the new stock behave the same.

Maybe those who have these models could have a play and see if they too can replicate it. Note the light must be in a brightly lit room and it must be vertically upright. If it’s on a slight lean it won’t do it.

Also please be aware that Mateminco refuse to carry out any CE, RoHS etc testing on their products now, yet they still have it printed on the body. As a dealer I asked for the certs and was told they no longer do that. If this is a problem in your country for insurance, I suggest you take note of this. Mateminco/Astrolux have some great models, but in New Zealand I can’t continue being a dealer which is quite annoying.

This is only regarding the Mateminco made models that Banggood have rebranded, the Astrolux range consists of other models not made by Mateminco.

It’s a little disappointing that a company would rather save a little money, rather than care about safety. The last certs they had were for the MF01S, but was told they have now expired.

That’s weird, does it has to do with emitter voltage feedback or some sort of electromagnetic sensitivity?

Wow that’s a strange bug

Guessing it’s more to doing with ambient lighting. It never does it in a dark room. It’ll light up if tilted to the side or with anything causing shade over the LEDs.

Didn’t someone else have this strange issue with another Mateminco/Astrolux light. I think it was the EA01.

Have you tried to see if it still does that if you use a nonconductive object instead of your hand?

It was my EA01 :slight_smile: had the same on the EA01S and FT02S I had also at that time, just noticed it after that thread had come to an end.

I also got a panicked email from Mateminco to delete a thread about the bug. Tried to hide everything from the public about the failing 7135 chips.

I pulled out of being a dealer, so I’ve got nothing to worry about. Not a fan of companies that have an issue with honesty. If Sofirn or Convoy have an issue, they’ll try their best to be open about it and improve

So it only does that when there’s a lot of light in the room? Have you tried it outside?

Only happens in daylight or with the room lights on and only tail standing. All 10pcs of the new FT02S batch do the same thing. Easiest to replicate immediately after a factory reset.

I saw another thread of a guy having an SP36 Pro failing to turn on after a factory reset until ramping up.

The Astrolux units start working when ramping up or down. It’s very odd

Mateminco said it was the 7135 chip, so I replaced it and no change, still behaves the same

This is crazy. I wasn’t sure what bug was being shown in the video and was going to ask what the light was supposed to do instead, i.e. I thought maybe the light had some kind of photosensor for auto-on that was acting up or whatever. Now I’m wondering, well, it’s known that LED’s are photosensitive and there are even some hacks to use them as 2-way communication devices that way:

In fact I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate that as a feature in a flashlight and wondering if I had any chance of getting it to work. Biw I wonder if it is instead happening by accident, some kind of feedback from the led triggering instability in the 7135. I had had the impression that the 7135 was a foolproof chip, but I guess not. Maybe another possibility is that some surrounding bypass caps or something of that sort are missing or bad?

They are not haunted, any LED light can do that.

If you shine a light onto an LED it will create a voltage across the terminals.

The p-n junction of the LED is a photo detector and creates a voltage that opposes the forward voltage direction of the diode.

So the amplifier would have to drive a voltage greater than this in order for current to flow thru the LED.

When the light source is blocked then this “back emf” is cut off and the diode turns ON.

i measured 2.0 V created by a 9x5mm LED array when illuminated with a little 50Lm flashlight, and 2.21 V in direct sunlight.

Tried this with my Mateminco TK04 (same light), and it powered on just fine.

That’s good, but it’s certainly not something I can replicate every time though. Couldn’t get 4 units to do it that I made my review with until a couple weeks later. Chances are higher immediately after a factory reset

Yes, but it’s strange that they won’t power on until the light is blocked or if ramped

I don’t quite understand it

After you do a reset, which mode comes up first when you click the switch such as you did in the video—what is the power or light level expected in that mode?