Many thanks to all for the help, unfortunately there are few sellers who are sending batteries to Argentina (shipping costs are over 100 dollars). Shocly directly does not send. I found 2 models, what do you recommend?
Thank you
The Vapcell 5900 mah
Freeme, 4 lights ordered! Thank you
Definitely get the Vapcell.
I found the specs of the XTAR on Battery Jct. MAX continuous discharge is ONLY 7A! You would not only lose Output with less Amp draw but it also has LESS CAPACITY.
XTAR 26650 5200mAh
Specifications:
Battery Size: 26650
Battery Chemistry: Li-ion
Nominal Voltage: 3.6V
Nominal Capacity: 5200mAh
Estimated Charge Cycles: 500cycles
Max Discharge Current: 7A
Energy: 18.72Wh
Dimensions:
Length - 2.68” (68.2 mm)
Diameter - 1.04” (26.5 mm)
Weight: 3.36 oz. (95.5 g)
Yesterday i took the light from the shelf and noticed a strange smell, it reminded me of the smell of burned electronics.
I switched on the light and noticed that the beam was quite low on intensity, but the sideswitch did not mention low voltage. So i put in a frehly charged cell and switched on the light and it was working well again with a nice intense beam.
All over sudden i noticed the sideswitch coloring (red !?) but after switching on and off again it was working as it should again.
It turns out my cell was completely drained after a few weeks, so i measured parasitic drain tonight, and guess what?
I measured parasitic drain of 86 mA !!!
Anyone else got problems with parasitic drain on the FT03 ?
It should drop from 5mA to 110μA (green LED still lid up) after few seconds..
Just measured again.
It starts at 90,2 mA and drops to 86,1 after a couple of seconds …
Is the light function normal when loaded with fresh set of battery?
The light seems to function normal, but it does have high parasitic drain, even on a fresh cell.
The 5mA drop is the mcu going to sleep. That’s normal, but the extra 86mA is not normal.
It sounds like you have a small short somewhere. These can be hard to find. If you want to try and fix it, you might pull out the driver and put some alcohol on it and scrub it with a brush to remove any leftover flux or a possible foreign object. Wipe down the shelf the driver sits on, clean the mcpcb also. Flux or maybe thermal compound could be touching the red wire side (always hot) and creating a small drain to the ground side. Sometimes just loosening the driver retaining ring, wiggling the driver and tightening it back up can fix a small short.
Do you see the led glowing faintly at all when off? If not, the short might be before the led. If it is glowing, the short is after the led. It’s also possible the short is after the led, but it’s not consuming enough current to make the led glow.
You might be able to use the resistance setting on your DMM to narrow down the short. On these TA style drivers (I think that’s what it is) the positive power goes from the battery top, through the driver using vias. Then the red led wire is solder to it and goes to the led. The black wire comes back from the led to the driver (still always hot) and it’s the FETs that control the flow.
If it’s not flux, thermal paste or a foreign object causing the short, it could possibly be a leaky FET. Offhand I can’t remember what the driver design looks like, but if you have hot air, you can remove the main FET and see if the drain dissappears, if not, put it back and remove the other smaller FET. The quality control on some of these Chinese made components can be a bit iffy.
I just measured my FT03 and the results correspond exactly to the ones stated by freeme .
Thanks for the detailed information Jason.
Though i only have some standard soldering tools, and a DMM i might be able to find the root cause. Replacing a FET is a no-go, since i cannot solder such small parts.
I just opened the light, tried to see if the driver is not touching anything, and was hoping that reassembling might help, or tgat the retaining ring tip might help, but no luck yet.
I will try to use your other tips and keep you posted. Thx again.
I just got mine in NW today, after almost 2 months of waiting 
Time to order a 26650 cell. Do you guys know who is the original manufacturer of the PLB-55A type? What is the reason that these cells are almost always sold “wrapped” (Shockli, Vapcell etc.) instead being sold OEM style like 30Q’s?
I waited 2 months 2 days for my NW lol!
That is their name! PLB=Power Long Battery.com
I know someone who is considering selling the OEM.And they would be cheaper than ANY of the re wraps….No confirmation yet or when.
Thanks for clarification wolfdog! Is there any reason why people seem to prefer the PLB’s instead of ones made by major manufacturers like Samsung or Panasonic? Or these dont make the 26650 format? Im curious as all my previous 18650s are OEMs or occasional rewraps.
There is a good reason,Samsung/Panasonic/Sanyo/Sony/LG do NOT make any 26650’s that I know of EXCEPT the Sony SE US26650FT 3000mah [LiFe-PO4] and the LOW capacity/High current Sony US26650VT-2600mAh. HKJ has them on his comparator.
Those major manufacturers also do not make any 10440,16340 or 18350. There may be a few scattered in their but none I know of…they do not seem to be interested in the smaller cells either.
I just communicated w/ him and he said most likely he is getting them[OEM PLB-55A]………It will be at least 2 weeks from now,I will post when they come in. He told me not to say anything until it happens………………So I left him ANONYMOUS! :sunglasses:
Well, today is a day to remember.
Light pre-ordered on: February 17
Light shipped from BG on: Marth 29
Light received on: May 06
Totall waiting time: 78 days
Other than that, light is very nice looking, I like it, feels nice in hand, anodisation quality is also nice, bezel on mine is not glued.
Something is rattling inside the head, found its the white insulating plastic covering driver (around the spring), I will have to take the retaining ring off and glue that plastic in place.
Would be nice if there was a USB-C cable with the light, so can’t check if charging works…
Pre ordered- February 14th
Shipped-April 4th
Receieved-April 16th
Total time=60 days
You waited 18 more days than me!
Mine is perfect.
-Nice NW tint-no color variation from ramp to MAX.
-AR coated
-NO rattle [plastic cover around spring]
-Clicking/popping noise disappeared after Initial max output test. Seems to have been caused by thin lens,I actually saw it pulsating!
-NOTHING is glued[bezel/body to head]
-Disabled TURBO step down,still able to run on MAX for 20 minutes until battery change. That will change during hot weather[summer] coming soon.
There may be One or Two other issues that people had,I had ZERO issues! :+1:
FT03 is in my rotation tonight w/ TN42vn90,ready to hit the trail now.
I have several of each and they are identical in both capacity measurements and output in my D4S. I recorded one of my Shockli at 5,948 mah. Two of my Vapcell 5500 measured 5,991 and 5,971 mah. I think I recall Vapcell said the Vapcell 5900 and 5500mah is the same thing just that they want to be more conservative in what they advertise so they changed the label on the newer batch to 5500mah from 5900mah.