making a small batch of Texas Avenger "TA" Drivers fully tested running Bistro or Narsil, Clicky or E-switch, SIR800

The TAD01 was made for the D01, while I don’t know of anyone having tried it yet, it should work it in by the measurements fine.

I personally piggybacked a driver onto the stock pcb as I didn’t feel like spending the $15 just to order the PCB’s.

It is running narsil with an XP-l HI throwing right at 1000m.

Hi,

For all the narsil drivers I want to point out,
temperature threshold can be choosen as you want.

With a Triple on a small host a lower temperature is like 55°C advised, as the temperature still rises when the light dstarts to step down

With a single LED in a medium or large host its better to go to 60°C or above

if you are using DTP stars the body can be too hot too hold without damaging the light
Djozz told me he uses on all his lights 70°C

Well damnit i wasnt gonna make any changes… :person_facepalming:

Set mine to 70°C then haha

Ordered some stuff
just for parts about 340€
for Digikey i wait for some guys on german TLF to complete the order, they deliver within 3 working days

There is no need to pre-set the thermal settings. There is a calibration mode in the menu that allows the user to set the max temp they want at any time or disable it altogether. It is all listed in the Bistro manual, all the menu options are the same except for the mode groups.

Also that define for the tempreture in the code is not directly related to degrees. I think every 4 digits is 1c IIRC, better to just leave it set to something like 75-85 which is pretty safe in most lights and let people calibrate it as needed once installed.

I have updated my version of the mode groups a bit for my personal drivers, switched some things around to what I think is a bit more universal set of modes. Basically added a few mode groups with a midrange mode between the bank of 7135’s and turbo for triples/quads and new low Vf LED’s. They get too hot in small hosts if in full turbo so a midrange point is nice to manage heat. I have not uploaded this version of the firmware because I have not been able to get the files transferred to my PC for upload. I can try to do this if people want it.

Texas Ace
The Temp setup is for Narsil Triple v1.3 and higher

Tom E implemented Temperature protection in this versions, but has not an option to configure it in settings like in Bistro

The higher price for Narsil is mainly because its more work doing the temperature calibration, optional resistor for indicator LED and user requested settings that need to be set in Amtel Studio for each driver individually

I am happy to get the updated Bistro to flash on all drivers, as the parts and boards will take some time you dont need to rush it
I also thought of getting a few more modes for triples that do only 7135 bank plus 50% FET for heat control

Ah, I missed that it was for narsil. I have not really messed with it much, V1.2 is all I use since it still supports the voltage divider. It looks like the latest version might offer this again though.

I got a lot chat with Tom E discussing Narsil improovements

He is busy with Q8 Narsil, but he will update Narsil Triple with a switch to get 2S LVP or indicator LED on Pin 7 so it can be choosen between these 2 features

Atm for 2S LVP there is only a fallback to v1.2 loosing temperature and indicator LED

I updated the TA Bistro, it is in the same link as before in the OP.

Only change is the addition of a v1.2 version of the firmware, the modes are changed slightly to a bit better spacing and options IMHO. Particularly for low Vf LED’s. It gives a midrange mode that is much easier heat wise then full turbo in several mode groups.

I found myself wanting this in a few lights that were simply too hot in turbo and not as bright as they could be in the 7135 bank mode.

I might make one more change to the mode groups at some point, I wish I had made group 15 without level 4 as the first mode, just use moon and then skip to 1x 7135 as I prefer 4 modes on my lights, more just gets annoying IMO. Plus I like having all my lights the same to make it easier to know when I am in the highest mode in each one.

The “old” version still works fine, I just figured I would toss this up as I prefer these mode groups myself.

As I get distracted while I write this, I'm working on Narsil Q8 with a config UI that should work exactly like Bistro for thermal stepdown - enter it, light gets sets to max, if you click within 3-5 secs or so, you bail out, but longer than 3-5 secs, the next click will save off the temp sensor reading to use as your trigger point to step it down at. I think this will be the most practical way, but we need to make a note somewhere to use an IR thermometer or equivalent to measure the outside body temp at the hottest point, so 50C-60C is the preferable setting. If not, they most likely will set it too low, based on how hot it feels in the hand.

We will default to a timed stepdown of 2-3 minutes, so if they choose thermal stepdown, then bail out quickly, they will get the factory default for 52C,but that won't be very accurate, maybe +/- 6C or so,maybe worse.

Hoping soon after to get this all ported to NarsilTriple for 3 channels.

I read out the temp with IR thermometer directly on the MCU, this is very precise I have seen from ne to another Attiny 85 up to 11K difference, there is definately a calibration of some sort needed

The thing with body temp is you need an IR thermometer and it has to be black, metal surfaces cant be measured with IR

I assume you mean PM?

Have you responded to anyone yet? I haven’t heard back from my PM.

Edit:
Sorry, I did hear back from you. I just didn’t get a notification that I recieved a new PM. If anyone else hasn’t heard back, manually check your PM page.

I sent to all that did not contact me so far a PM with order details

Need still temperature configuration details from
Bobby MK for 2S 30mm
Jason WW 2S 30mm
electrically two 21mm Narsil 1S
lampyris 15 and 17mm Narsil
Caleb 30mm 2S

I am missing as well some shipping addresses

First boards got finished in Ospark Fab

Parts from Digikey are on the way
https://www.digikey.de/MyDigiKey/ReviewOrder/Status
Web-Kennung lautet: 166991445
Ihr Zugriffscode lautet: 48437

parts from Digikey arrived

Nobody is interested in a 46mm version?
Then I will take 2 17mm Narsil no spring.

OP updated with last orders

Caleb has not responsed yet to PMs

42 drivers payed
4 drivers not payed
1 driver for repair a light
So 43 already taked, 4 no response yet, 3 drivers free

I hope to get a response from Caleb or those drivers get availiable again

Leaves only 3 drivers availiabe right now

What size are the 3 drivers not spoken for?

50 drivers is just a rough target
I ordered more parts and also some sizes of boards are not taken yet

47 is the number that are definately taken by now

as of today 47 drivers in list parts are limited this way

2 more 15mm boards LFPAK33 FET
3 more Boards with LDO
2 Attiny 85 for Narsil
7 Attiny 25 for Bistro
8 more boards with SIR800 FET
ideally it is possible to make at most 9 more boards (56 total) if at least one 15mm is taken with the smaller FET

to see which parts are availiable I made this Excel sheet

Thank you again for offering this service to BLF members! I’m still not able to partake of this offer yet, but hopefully some day will get a few of these. Meanwhile, I had a thought. I would like to see one day somebody offering just the MCU’s pre-flashed with some of the latest firmware choices. Richard at Mountain sells pre-flashed chips, but his firmware options don’t include the newest BLF creations, like Bistro and Narsil.

2x 22mm if not to late,can use other diameter if no 22.
pm sent