SWM V20C Low battery flashing

[jh333233]

Hello CPF,
Im sharing my experience with my v20c
One night when im playing my lights, ive notice my V20C was flashing/ pwm-like strobe while rotating the ring
Tiny bit counterclockwise about max. level and i almost pooped my pants when i see it, the situation was like
Low --> Medium --> Almost max, a few dgree, Low frequency strobe at that brightness --> max

Then i switched another battery(full charged) and the problem is gone

I measured the voltage of the old battery and found that it was 3.6V
I tried with the 3.6v one again and the light strobes again
And ive found out that if the battery voltage is too low, the light seem to get in direct drive or sth, its my hypothesis based on the strobe cause it had no problem in low output but only when i push it to max
Feel free to share your idea

 

[rijola]

jh -- I know it's been a long time since your post but I'm wondering if you ever heard from anyone else that experienced the same "low battery" issue of the non-standard strobing close to the Max setting (but before the actual Strobe setting). My battery could well be getting low and haven't had a chance to replace it (check voltage first, check new battery voltage, see if issue is resolved, etc.). I did notice, as you stated, that the strobe effect at that setting was clearly a different frequency than the strobe the light produces while in the actual Strobe setting. I surely hope that IS the issue, because I haven't owned the light a whole year yet and I'd hate for the control ring to be failing at this point.

I will update this post when I finally get the chance to check the issue after battery replacement.

 

[rijola]

Indeed, when I removed the AW P18650-31 battery from the V20C it registered 3.3V on my Xtar WP2. I installed an AW P18650-31 that I had charged up a few months ago (reading 3.9V today), and the control ring worked correctly with no abnormal strobing at the MAX setting. I'm not an electronics specialist, but I do wonder what would cause that odd strobing at the end of the variable setting. Kind of convenient actually, but I hope it's not an indication that something's wrong in the circuitry.