I’ve had a FWA3 … since 2019.
The FWA3 has been my EDC fave and has been for years. Unfortunately the spring broke off the switch, and I probably fried things trying to solder it back on.
Is there any known tail switch that works as a replacement? I’m not certain if there is circuitry of any type, and if not, maybe simple thread compatibility is all I need.
I’ve got a few [budget- wurrkos, sofirn] lights that I have begrudgingly acquired in an effort to replace the little guy… but none give me all that handy pocket rocket goodness. Everywhere I look, they are sold out (well… it IS like 7 ish years old). Any reasonable hacks are welcome!
Wow, these are stiff prices. OTOH not so unexpected: once in a while you sell a part or two, and in the same time your money is tied up in a lot of stock. Maybe it’s better to look out for a (mildly) used one.
Its probably a good thing that they don’t like my VPN… I can’t connect ; )
Or I’d be reeeealy tempted if its under $30… I’m guessing they wouldn’t cost more than half the light’s highest retail price. But hey, I dunno know- maybe they are $50.
I guess replacement lights are a way to go. If I can find one. Can’t say I have ever seen one anywhere but haven’t gone hunting. (I’ve been a member and visited occasionally since ~2017 but lost my old PW pretty recently)
I’ll check back here in case someone has another answer
Also There’s not much to the FW switch PCBs.
It’s a spring, a pcb, a small piece of metal which makes contact when pressed and some Kapton tape keeping the metal in place.
Sounds like you’ve already soldered the spring back on.
If the button feels clicky it’s most likely fine.
What issue are you having with the tailcap currently?
I’ll look into these.
(i tried and failed, badly, to re-attach the spring… once attached it came back off, etc)
I broke down and ordered a couple sofirn lights, hoping one will become a daily driver-a sc18 and a sc13A.
Is there really noting more than a simple, binary, make/break circuit kinda switch?
I ask bc if I complete the circuit, the light LEDs flash and nothing more; breaking/reconnecting the circuit seemed to have no further effect. And when I used to put the cap on, it would similarly flash once the spring and cap made physical contact. So I figured part of the logic is in the tailcap. Looks like that reasoning was wrong; I never totally disassembled it. Now I will.
This is Anduril letting you know that power to the driver has been restored.
The FW Series and any other Anduril light, use an e-Switch not a mechanical switch.
What that means is the switch doesn’t connect/disconnect power to the light/driver.
An e-Switch just momentarily pulls one of the MCU pins to GND.
On an FW the Inner Black tube is the signal tube for the e-Switch.
It just connects the Inner ring on the tailcap PCB to the inner ring on the driver PCB.
If the spring-steel popper in your FW3A broke, you could always try replacing it. No soldering needed. Just need the new popper plus some Kapton tape.
The popper is a standard off-the-shelf component. Something like this 4 legged switch from Mouser Electronics might work. Just double-check the dimensions before purchase.
