Also, I don't think the shelf hole is a big issue. Sure it could be a little better, but it probably represents 20% of the board area. Area is pi*(Ro^2-Ri^2) So if you have a hole half the board radius, it's still only 1/4 the total board area. And in the end the heat has to flow outward anyway. If there was a hot component over the hole that might be different, but there's not.
I wrote that and then I took a measure.. wow, I was close. I get that the hole is 18.8% (plus or minus a little) of the total area assuming the board goes to edge of the lower recess. So already about 80% of the area is covered.
Agreed and well said. If it’s a no-cost ‘fix’ then fine, but not much more can be had here. Same goes for the anodizing here.
The driver is the more important concern; I might be able to get a little help for technical Chinese-English translations as there’s a nice guy on a dashcam forum who works doing development stuff with those directly with the factories. He’s very busy though, so I’d rather we not bother him until we’re really stuck. Which hopefully won’t happen
I’m intrigued with the double springs- one for strength and one for current-carrying; that seems to be a more practical approach for manufacturers than hand-worked bypasses and has much less chance of shorting out. For the easy gains to be had I wonder why more manufacturers don’t do this? I’m still PO’ed with my A6 changing modes when bumped and this approach should eliminate that. Those wanting to bypass still can so nothing lost, only gains
It seems we’re going to wind up with a light that exceeds the design expectations- I can’t recall seeing that happen before! Now to wipe the drool off my keyboard and begin chanting my “Patience” mantra….
Better to get them to just use ours, we know it works and we know why and how it works. We don’t want to even give them the option of changing it IMO. We already see what happens when they try that.
They should be able to get the tiny85 in China without much trouble. So possibly the FET was the issue, in which case we could always swap that out with something easier for them to get. Much better to do that then have them change the driver IMHO.
*The BLF-A6 has a different FET than was proposed too, and the performance, though slightly worse, is plenty good enough.
I’m more worried about the MCU, there may be a reason that the final BLF lights had genuine Attiny chips.
*About the hole in the shelf: I agree with the others that it does not matter much.
*About putting more copper in the tailboard: the current tracing is overkill already, more is not needed and will increase costs somewhat.
*I would like to see an extra machining step to remove the anodising on the led shelf, it could even make the shelf extra flat.
*I’d rather have a 5500lm Q8 than 6000lm, looking at the current/output graph of the XP-L, that last 500 lumen is expensive: it comes with lots of waste current/heat and reduced runtime
*Further: well made and fitting led centering rings are a must, can we have AR-coating, just for show?, the more colourful indicator leds the better, I don’t mind single or double springs as long as they are not bypassed in the stock light (safety!), this light will be a killer!
Thanx! Posted this intro info in my MT07 review thread. Took pics of both groups of lights - throwers and SRK's.
Took some outdoor shots last night at a local park - Edgewood Preserve, site of an old hospital long since demolished, and rumored to still have some spirits haunting the trails (info). The park closes at dusk but can still access it, just dunno if I'd get kicked out, but last night was all quiet. Here's the old hospital from the 40's:
This is the BLF Q8 proto compared with a modified SupFire M6 (3X LED's, ~5,000 lumens), the 4X SRK clone (Securitylng), and the BLF Q8, and distance is about 100 meters to the tree:
Me like that Q8 beam!
So much thanks Tom, what a lot of work you are putting into this besides all that Narsil programming.
And speaking of Narsil, a quote from the Gt topic:
Tom, what is the strobe frequency? (sorry if i have forgotten it)
In the manual, first page, says 16 Hz . I've read that post a few times over the years. Dunno why I backed off from 18, but the 16 is really intense as-is. Bistro uses 10 Hz.
Looking at the beam shots, I prefer the old Kung beam profile. Broader spill which is very important for a general purpose light. The hot spot is more defined and intense which is a plus or minus depending on the situation.
. I've read that post a few times over the years. Dunno why I backed off from 18, but the 16 is really intense as-is. Bistro uses 10 Hz.