Q8, PMS SEND TO THOSE WITH ISSUES BLF soda can light

I think JasonWW's post answered some of question, possibly, that the current referred to was not just the led current, which I guess wasn't directly measured.

Yes, I get how the Vf curves for led's work below spec. The thing is, you don't care how much voltage is across it, only how much current goes through it. So it depends how it's driven. For example, if you drive a 1V led with a 10V source in series with a 100k resistor, you're going to get about 100uA of current. There's no way Vf is shooting up above nominal 1V, and it can't go below 0V. Either way between 90 to 100% of the 10V drop is across the 100k resistor and 9 to 10V across 100k fixes the current in series through both the resistor and the diode to somewhere between 90 to 100uA, pretty tight, without knowing anything about how sharp that kink is.

Ok, this gets worse when the diode voltage gets closer to the source voltage. So for a nominal green diode voltage of 2.1V and a source of 3V anywhere between 0.9V and 3V can drop across the series resistor. So that's a factor of almost 3 (pesimistically, if we know NOTHING about the kink). But even still a factor of three change in current probably shouldn't take the LED from being just fine, to presenting no light.

Ok, if the battery really is at 3V then the output of the mcu pin may be more like 2.5, so that starts to be problematic, now we have voltage rage across the resistor of 0.4V to 2.5V so > 6 times variation, but again, that's very pesimistically assuming these diodes can have 100% variation in performance and that's at the lowest battery levels. What was seen happened even with fully charged batteries. I can't quite rule it out entirely with this logic, but it seems far fetched to me that Vf fluctuation should cause the observed results.

This is all much easier to think about if you consider current through the resistor, and treat the diode as an unknown.

Anyway, in the end I think we're saying the same thing, that it's the leakage, not Vf per se that is the issue, although a higher Vf could result in a higher leakage, so they're related. And yes, if they're really being driven at 20uA (155-135), wow. Yeah, maybe there's 10uA of leakage current in the diode. It seems to me that's maybe just driving them too low. If the mcu has 135uA of leakage anyway, just double it and aim for 260 total. Then there's probably no problem. A factor of 3 off in led current will still work then.

Mine was just marked as shipped.

The time from production stopping, fixing the issues, and shipping is remarkable.

I received an email from Banggood today telling me they would ship out my Q8 on 10/17/2017. My order date was 9/14/2017. So with shipping time, two + weeks, I’ll see it at end of October early November . Good things come to those who want in NOW!!! lol lol. All kidding aside, it is worth the wait. The hard one to wait for is the BLF GIGA BURN YOUR RETINAS I SEE YOU HIDING IN THE NEXT STATE GT FLASHLIGHT OR THE BLFGBYRISYHITNSGT for short :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

Shipped also. My order was 630something.

Mine is out, too, shipped this morning!
Was in the early second 500!

On we go! :+1:

Mine is on the way too :slight_smile:

The GT is a hard wait. I’ve been wanting a thrower for some time. The tn42 had some tempting sales, almost got me. That was the light I was going to get before stumbling upon BLF and The GT.

I’m also in for the ASTROLUX MF-02 groupbuy. It all comes down to timing if I end up with both.

The Q8 is worth it, even more so with production quality addressed along with the switch LEDs.

Shipped…Fingers crossed

Had a bit of a scare this morning, the indicator led of the switch didnt work ON THE PROTO!
This worried me a lot.
But then I remembered checking voltage yesterday night and seeing some flashes after that.
So click click click (batt check) clickhold (advanced config) first setting click click, second setting click, third setting click click
And it works as normal.
Lesson, it is very easy to enter indicator led config from batt check and then 1 click turns the indicator off.
click click click batt check
click and hold 1,1 second enters indicator led config, 1.1 second is not very long.
the first setting has two options, 1 click for disable the indicator led and 2 clicks for enable

Very usefull to have it handy close to change, but batt check is of course something that is checked quite often, so it is often people are very close to indicator led config, maybe even without knowing. a series of clicks when thinking one wants to turn of can result in preceived odd behavior of the indicator led, while it is actually settings.
:slight_smile:

I got mine yesterday, it’s 99% awesome lol!
Been playing with it heaps, switch LED’s still working great and are even in brightness.
Screws look fine on mine as well, not that I have any plans of taking it apart.

The only thing that’s slightly annoying is a sharp bit on the bezel, catches on things (skin, clothes, inside of pockets)
It’s a bit of a pain, a tiny tiny blemish on what is the perfect light.

That ramping UI…amazing…

Mine has shipped!!!

Depends on what the quality of the fixes is. If you will indeed find new better quality screws, no goop in the screw holes and a newly designed switchboard inside, I agree that they did a very fast job! :slight_smile:

There has been so much anticipation with this project, and so much discussion over the switch and screws issue, that I would happily throw a couple of bucks in for a “service pack” that has a full set of good quality screws, a version 2 switchboard, and maybe a couple of O-rings for good measure.

I like to have things that I know I can trust to carry on working properly, so the switch issue (although minor), will be a niggle to my mind until resolved. I very much want the lighted switch feature. No attacks please, last time I mentioned this someone said I need a psychologist.

Of course lighted switch should work
If you or anybody has an issue with theirs let it know
I think the remark about seeing somebody was because it seemed you wouldn’t be able to enjoy yours if it had working switch LEDs because you know somebody else has an issue with theirs. I don’t think it is the best of advice though :wink:
I’d say only get custom made things so you know you have the only one and nobody else can have an issue with theirs since there are no others :slight_smile:

Well so far the switch issue only occurred within the first minutes.

I have not read of anyone who had problems after days of usage.

So far there is no reason to doubt a working switch.

I expect there will be switches on sale sometimes in the future. I would expect that anyway since there a 1000+ people buying this light and most won’t want to mess with the small switch led to change the color. I would easily pay a few bucks to get a blue or orange switch,someone will cash in on that opportunity.

Yes, I think that the time that this project has taken did expectations become much higher than what we aimed to make: a quality SRK with good output.
Some people became to want a perfect light that is bomb-proof and can be trusted at all times,but it still is a budget light made by a budget manufacturer in a country far away that has a different attitude towards QC. IMO it has to be considered as a well-made budget light: all joints have to be checked, maybe tweaked a bit, some grease applied etc. After you have seen the light inside and out, if it was a good light in the first place, it can be reliable and bomb-proof, and maybe more so than expensive brand lights that you do not check.

At 7. Sept 02:15 I have 867 for you. Will try to catch 768 next time.

Can someone please make a list of all the issues and fixes for this flashlight? I’m a newbie and would hate for it to fail on me while camping. I’ll probably take it to someone and have them fix it. Thanks.

LOL LOL! I like it. :smiley: :smiley: