FW3A Troubleshooting / FAQ

Today received my fw3a, but one led is darker than other two… RMA since all are in paralel?

Mike

As long as it’s only at lower levels, I believe this is pretty normal with multi emitter lights. Individual emitters can have slightly varying Vf’s, causing the minor brightness differences.

Tested till medium, one is dimmer than others. Will test on maximum when get ND filter.
I’ve built a few triples, all had the same brightness across the leds.
Mike

There certainly could be something wrong, I suppose.

My FW3A 3D has one that is a little dimmer than the other two, and here’s a recent post with example from TK:

Honestly, it would probably drive me nuts if I wasn’t planning on swapping the emitters.

Mike

hm my light is acting up, when i switch in battery and turn the head i cant shut it off and it ramps up by itself, what to do now ? is there a way to reset this ? dont get it its been running fine and tailcap is tight screwed i havent touch that really…

See here:

And here:

I apologize for asking this. Is there a how to on flashing firmware to a different firmware from toykeeper? I want to go 219b

It’s pretty complicated in my opinion. Try here.

Also, here’s some videos.

Yes, yours looks like it has more variance than usual. Most of the time, the differences are smaller… and not very visible on modes higher than a few lumens.

hi all, hoping I can get some feedback on this. I recently nodded my fw3a with toykeepers andruil firmware for 50% power reduction and a reflow of 219bs. There’s two problems I’m seeing

1) when using a vtc5a or vtc6, the emitters are on full speed ahead and the head gets hot extremely fast. I thought that the power would be cut by 50% irrespective of battery type.

2) when screwing the head, the light turns on immediately, with the vtc6 or vtc5a, I cannot turn the light off when fully screwed down. However, with lower amp batteries like the lgdbmj11865, I can toggle it off/on when fully screwed in.

Both of them turn on when screwing the head down, not sure if this is a problem I just dont remember it doing that prior to my mods.

Is there a way to do a factory reset?

I think this should also be clearly mentioned in the manual.
Mine doesn't behave like its written in the in the manual at all. I might have changed so many setting accidentally (while playing around) that I can't get into Turbo mode, I can't get into the Lock Out mode, and I cant see the Battery Level...

The manual should probably start with this: FACTORY RESET: this is how to perform a factory reset.

This is pretty important!

If I’m not mistaken: there isn’t. TK did the utmost to squeeze all possible settings into one chip.
And you want for every possible setting/variant a factory setting? That’s why old PC’s had a BIOS and a ROM.

There is no reset. On the other hand, there is not much to be changed (NarsilM has way more settings). Just check to see what’s working and what seems off.

I think TK can put the factory settings in post 1 or 2 so you can reset everything to stock if you want.

PS, you might be in Muggle Mode. Do 6 fast clicks from off and see if it’s back to normal.

Thanks guys.

I don't really need a special reset for every mode. I want a factory reset so it's back to factory settings for the whole firmare.

My UI looks now like this:

3 clicks from Off: I get 1 long blink... nothing else. And when I press the switch, the normal ramping UI activates

4 clicks from off: nothing.. when I press the switch, the normal ramping UI activates

5 clicks from off: same behaviur, if I press the switch, the normal ramping UI activates

6 clicks from off: muggle mode.. this is correct

From On:

double click: Off

Press and hold: ramping up till 50%, then blinks, goes back to about 20% output, and then continuous to 100%.

Something similar happened to me. Try using a tweezers, tighten the retaining ring clockwise along the driver board. See OP. If retaining ring is loose , the flashlight will act strange.

Mine is already tight. It doesnt move

3 clicks from off should be battery check, etc… Yeah, I don’t recognize any of yours behavior.

So from the lowest moonlight level, you press and hold and it ramps up to 50, blinks, then instantly goes to 20 then continues to ramp up?

Are you sure it’s 100? Do you mean 100=Turbo? That only lasts for about 15 seconds on my light with a 30Q. Or do you mean 100% as in the top of the ramp and it heats up maybe a minute?

Maybe the FET has gone bad? That might explain the sudden reduction in output while ramping up and why it goes off when double clicking (100% FET).

I’m just guessing because you have lots more wierd stuff going on. I don’t think a blown FET would cause it to not blink the battery check.

Maybe ToyKeeper has an idea.

It doesn’t sound like you messed up the thermal or ramping settings.

If you could make a video, it would be really helpful to see what it’s doing.

Sorry, yes, 100% means top of the ramp. Not Turbo.

Now the ramp goes smooth again. It looks like it now just stops at 100% of the first ramp.

Actually not.. the second ramp is there, I just have to wait a little longer.

This is also not true. Sometimes this happens, sometimes not. It might be the FET!

Here is a video

My fw3a is going bonkers when I screw the head on, video attached - any ideas?

fw3a haywire https://imgur.com/a/JNXO0TK