Problem with a Fraz Labs 26650 Light

I am not sure how many of you own this light, and I have emailed the manufacturer about it, but would like to see if those of you who have this light have seen this problem. I bought it sometime last year through the custom light section of this forum, and when I adjust the brightness on it, the light will flicker inconsistently unless I have the head tightened all the way at full brightness. If it is at full brightness and I slowly turn the head to dim it, it will at first, get a little brighter, then start to dim. Sometimes if I leave it at one of the dimmer settings, the light will flicker and will start to flash brighter and dimmer. It will sometimes do this if I hit the side of the light with the palm of my hand. Is there a way to clean or lubricate the piston that controls the brightness? Also, the dimming control is very "coarse" and it is difficult to set it at any given level. Just barely turning the head puts it in high and barely on mode! Is there any way to adjust that? I have barely used the light since I got it. It was untouched for several months before I took it out yesterday to turn it on and noticed all of this. This may just be the way it works, but I was considering selling it and just want to be sure it is OK before I do so. Thank you to anybody that can be of any help!

Hi, mikecoz!

Has Paul offered you any assistance with your light? Maybe you could drop him a PM? Sounds like there may be problems with QTC contact. The output variability is from the QTC pill. Sounds like your light is working fine in direct drive, though. The light engine is removable. And definitely replaceable.

I've been using the light quite a bit and I find it to be a great EDC light, and have occasionally used it for photography - the variable output is quite useful. I haven't experienced any flickering issues. Hope you'll be able to sort out the issue with your light.

Thanks Jonwkng. I do apparently have a problem because now it will not come on at all for the most part. I just tightened it to put it on high, and it did not power on. After turning the head a few times, it came back on, but it still flickers. I have emailed Fraz labs and I may shoot Paul a quick PM. It looks like the pill screws out, but I may wait until I hear from him before I remove it.

It's all mechanical with no circuit. I think if you replace the qtc it should help a lot.

Hey guys. Just wanted to respond to this issue.

I've been talking to Mike about the problem with his light and I think I have it narrowed down to a simple spring contact issue. In fact, it may be an issue with a couple lights (although hopefully not). I had someone helping me put a few lights together and it seems that the wire may not have been placed correctly into the positive battery contact spring on a few.

I made this light to have as few points to fail as possible while being easy to assemble/disassemble, therefore I eliminated all the screws, solder, epoxy, plastic pieces, and any other fastening elements that I could. All the springs have press-fit contacts, but if that top spring does not have the wire in the proper hole, battery contact is made by battery pressure only (thus the flickering and the light going into direct drive but with no levels in between).

That's the good thing about this mechanical design - the problem is almost always with one of 2 things, and they are both easily fixed. And now that I know what those problems are, they are gone on all newer lights. The other good thing is that the light will still function because failure always results in direct drive (except for Mike's case ).

I'm working with Mike to fix this issue. Please if anyone else has any issues like this let me know and I can give you instructions on how to fix the problem, or fix the problem myself. I expected a couple bugs in a from-scratch-from-the-ground-up build such as this, but I want to make everyone's experience with the light is as good as possible...including the early adopters.

Thanks,
Fraz

Coolio. I figured Fraz's design was pretty "simple"
And bombproof. Now really looking forward to the cr123 version.

I am having this problem once again! Paul took care of me and swapped out my old light for a new one, and at first all was fine. The past week, however, it has been up to its old tricks! The ramping of the light from dim to bright, and vice versa, is not smooth, and the light flickers while doing so. Sometimes, if it is left on one of the dimmer settings, the light will flicker noticeably without me touching it. I have used this light very little since it was swapped out and only indoors around the house. Am I the only one unlucky enough to have this issue? Any help would be appreciated!

Mike, I just sent you an e-mail response. It is most likely a problem caused by a foreign lubricant. It sounds like the exact same issue your other light had. Some lubricants will run up the piston system and cause the QTC to break down and gum up - I've had this happen a few times in the earlier models. The small lubricant rag included will not cause this problem. It will probably require a cleaning, then it should be working fine again. I sent you an e-mail with some further detail. Please let me know if you have any further questions or issues.

Thanks,
Fraz