Initially Loneoceans didn’t think reverse polarity protection was necessary, so he didn’t include it in the Lume 1.
However, he did listen to our feedback on this forum. His subsequent driver, the Lume X1, does include reverse polarity protection.
Unfortunately, the FW3X uses the earlier Lume 1 driver and not the X1.
I’d argue that it’s not rocket science to connect car batteries correctly :partying_face:
I know it’s just an analogy. But the difference between the car battery and the flashlight battery is:
I have a lifetime of experience putting batteries in flashlights the wrong way and then figuring out I need to turn them around. No big deal. No damage done.
With car batteries, I have a lifetime of experience being told to be very careful in what order I put the wires on when I jumpstart.
Also, the car battery is very clearly labeled which terminal is positive.
The FW3X isn’t labeled at all.
The FW3A came with a manual and a polarity card.
The FW1A came with a manual and a polarity card.
Zeroair’s FW3X came with a manual and a polarity card: Lumintop FW3X Lume1 Flashlight Review - ZeroAir Reviews
Flashaholic’s FW3X came with a manual and a polarity card: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45IN9TeC8c&t=4s&ab_channel=FLASHAHOLIC
All these manuals have the polarity indication for the battery. They also state:
Given that manuals and polarity cards, with graphic illustration , are “standard” in these flashlights’ packages - judging by different experiences -, I will assume that yours also brought them. If not, searching online could provide some information on that, namely flashlight reviews as the ones linked above.
If the package included those 2 items, there are a least 2 ways of getting information on how to put a battery in these FWXX flashlights, even if there are no labels in the host.
Reading manuals is not a waste of time, it is a matter of understanding how a device works and how to prevent these things from happening.
I understand your frustration for getting the flashlight damaged and for the lack of RPP and lack of information on RPP on the manual. However, reading the manual in search for that, in advance, should have led you to the image of the correct insertion of the battery, and would have avoided this.
No matter how much experience we have putting batteries in reverse position into flashlights and not having problems, they don’t work all the same way, so one day one of them gets damaged.
Sorry for the damage on yours.
Randomly browsed all the Lumintop sites and NG today…noticed that this driver was listed for sale on both lumintoponline and lumintoplighting (the former being certainly official…not sure about the latter). Both were out of stock but show a $25 price, which is probably suggested list. I wonder if this says anything about recurring issues because if memory serves, this is the one and only driver that I have ever seen them list for sale as a product for sale. Generally they first expect whatever retailer you bought from to take care of issues, and then they lean toward entire light replacement rather than parts…really have to woo them hard to get specific individual repair parts, and then they may or may not follow through or send the correct ones.
https://www.lumintoponline.com/lume1-driver-and-aux-board-for-fw3x-fw3c-fw3t-lm10-p3459882.html
I think this one’s on you, unfortunately…honest mistake, though. On the other hand, I 1000% agree that RPP should be standard in all li-ion cell devices - the risk is too great to ignore that cheap and simple to implement safety feature. I’ve noticed over the past 2-3 years that more an more lights seem to ignore that, or even low voltage cutoff (along with a few other features that smell strongly of chabuduo). It’s irritating that we/they seem to be taking backward steps now in some ways, but especially irritating when it involves safety.
Also, while it’s not very smart for a manufacturer to do/omit all of that, especially when selling to the masses in addition to/instead of enthusiasts, I’d hate to see enthusiast lights and features drop off or dumb down too much, in favor of eliminating risk/RTFM situations. People gripe enough about lasering on the battery symbol to indicate insertion orientation. lol. What if all our lights and cells end up like O-Light….ugh.