Question on Fandyfire/SolarStorm Warrior thermal protection

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

I bought the Fandyfire warrior a couple of months ago and subsequently upgraded all the internal wires to thick gauge wires and copper-braided the springs. Also added in good amounts of thermal paste under the LEDs and between the pill and main body.

In one particular incident, I had to switched on the light to High for some time. I noticed that the flashlight automatically step down the light intensity after about 4 ~ 5 minutes. I thought that is a little fast and wondered if it is due to the increased current to the LEDs after I had done spring braids and changed to thick wires. The light did get pretty hot to touch but not scorching hot.

I suppose the dimming is due to thermal protection kicking in. Once the light had dimmed down, I can no longer change the modes on the light and the only way I can get my various modes back is to switch it off completely.

Does anyone of you who had the warrior experienced anything similar?

2

How are your cells? Could it be a low voltage warning?

3

Using fully-charged Pana NCR18650B….Battery indicator on flashlight also shows 4 lit LEDs

4

Can someone who had the warrior try putting their light on high for a few minutes and see if the brightness steps down (significantly)? TIA.

5

My FandyFire Warrior:
always at the highest level:
Start: 29°C - 84,2°F
1min. - 34,2°C - 93,5°F
2min. - 37,1°C - 98.7°F
3min. - 39,5°C - 103,1°F
4min. - 42,2°C - 107,9°F
5min. - 44,1°C - 111,3°F

No reduction of brightness. I used an infrared thermometer “pointing” between the head and the crown.

6

Mine does, but only with quality cells. CrapFire cells sag before it can kick in.

7

I think the time till the brightness reduces also depends on your ambient temperature. I am in the tropics where ambient temperature is around 28 deg C, so it took me around 4.5 to 5 minutes to observe the thermal protection kicking in. If I let the flashlight cool down a little and then turn it on to high, the next time thermal protection kicks in can be between 1 to 2 minutes.

8

Same here, around 5 minutes thermal protection.

9

I run the test again holding it turned on after 5 minutes.

10

Then, up to 5 minutes the test is comparable to the previous.

6min - 45,9°C - 114,6°F
6,30min - 47,1°C - 116,7°F
6,50min - 47,8°C - 118°F decreased level of light.

11

Many thanks for all the feedback! Looks like this is a common thing among the warrior lights.

Are you able to change modes once it goes into thermal protection? Mine becomes unresponsive to mode changes - i cannot make it go back to high or even strobe without first shutting down the light completely. Its kind of a pain because you can’t easily switch back to high after the light had cooled down a little.