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

Here's the switch PCB after hot air removing the parts:

The parts - resistor is unmakred but it's 16.9K, LED on left got damaged by me, but still works fine:

Cleaned up backside:

Cleaned up front side:

It's been on all night and still working, so I assume this is a good fix.

It’s not my favorite, but after I got a few lights that did it that way, I got used to it. It does have some advantages, such as switching modes is fast & easy with a single click. But turning off the light with a long click isn’t intuitive or obvious, especially for a non-flashaholic.

If you go the other way (short click off, and long-click to change modes), then changing modes isn’t obvious for non-flashaholics.

It seems like Narsil is attempting a kind of hybrid solution for the modes interface. I’m not sure that’s very intuitive, either.

I don’t know what the “best” interface is, unless we’re talking about a single-mode light.

Because it's long? Getting back to ol' school, a click turns something on, you'd expect a click to turn it off - quite simple.

The UI/UX designers call it symmetry.

bistro-HD ready for trialing on Q8 (Update, present version works for TA SRK board, will update when I have Q8 circuit information)

Symmetry is not a reason I care about in the slightest. Personally I actually just don't like single-function eswitches, and this is why. You can long-press-off a click switch with a short action. Or you can short press a click-switch with a short action. The switch itself is just more functional, and now with OTSM caps, it's capable of about anything an e-switch is too. For me, I want to be able to bump the modes up. I almost never reverse down anyway.

Anyway, for anyone interested, I just re-worked/tested the eswitch build in bistro-HD. No lockout yet. That's next. It might take a little fiddling to coax into HD, but I have a plan to try. It should I think work on the Q8 as is now, unless there are some pins on the Q8 that do something I don't know. It's setup for a standard tripple-channel TA e-switch board. The right build to use is the bistro-eswitch-TA-HD.hex Not yet tried in a real light, so experimental, but it bench tests fine. You want the 1.5 build for now.

With moon mode that will last 40 days, who needs to turn a light off anyway?

[quote=The Miller]

I got my shipping notice on the 29th for both my lights. Anybody on the East Coast US with a shipping timeline report? Has “2 weeks” been the average like most BG stuff? All my new batteries are here and are lonely.

My Q8 (first batch) has been scheduled for delivery tomorrow . Finally :wink:

Yes there seems to be about two weeks between email it is shipped and delivery.
But with the holidays now it is not clear at all, just think “it comes when it comes” :wink:

I’ve already got my first Q8, from the first 500 batch, but I’d like to order an “improved” Q8 from the new run. How can I get one?

So you believe it is just a solder issue? You reused the same parts? Did this pcb have the brighter led on one side, or was it just the flakey led.
Just curious of your final thoughts.

Use your code again to pre order a 2nd. It’s still working.
And like for the 1st one…be patient. :smiley:

Sorry, earlier post had more details. Yes - reused same exact parts. Didn't track the LED to the side, but this board always had one brighter than the other. It's pretty well known at this point that LED to LED variations will result in uneven brightness with them wired in parallel like this. You need one resistor per LED to get more even results.

As far as root cause, I cant say for certain -- may be some issue on the PCB that was dependent on the reflow/solder work, or could have been some contaminant that was somewhat conductive under low heat or movement, etc., or might be the quality of the reflow. Dunno for sure the exact cause, but I'd say it wasn't the parts and don't think it was the wiring or driver side, so in this area of the switch PCB and solder.

Thanks Tom

I did find your other post, after I had posted. This thread moves so fast, It’s getting hard to find things.

Got a shipping notification on the 29th.

My Q8 has now “Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT”. It’s actually moving still! Maybe it will get out before the holiday?

I just touched the tip of my iron the both ends of both LEDs and behold: there was light again! 30 minutes later, no more light. Really weird. The voltage across the LEDs is also lower now than before the fix.

Edit: Took some measurements. When the LEDs work, Vf is 2.23V. 30 minutes later, it is back down to 1.5-1.6V and there is no more light. It’s like there’s a bridge which slowly rebuilds itself while the LEDs are on. I’m leaning towards “faulty” LEDs.

From my notes:

The numbering of the firmware isn’t straight and we have a name change.

Narsil NarsilM Timeline
2016-07 Narsil v1.12
2016-09 Narsil v1.1 (because only two digits blink out)
2016-09 Narsil v1.2
2016-10 fork to Narsil Triple
2017-04 Narsil v1.3
2017-05 NarsilM v1.0 (Narsil Multi, combines Narsil 1.3 and Narsil Triple) It is used in the BLF Q8.
[ yet unreleased: NarsilM v1.1 (BLF GT Buck driver support merging) ]

Yes - I had the same result, works for a bit then fails again. When they are in a failed state, check for a short from grnd to V+ coming in to the resistor - I swore the DMM indicated a short, repeatable.

@Tom E
Is the Q8 the first lamp for sale with Narsil/NarsilM on it?
(besides Emisars)

So the voltage from the MCU is a steady 2.2v, but somewhere a slight short develops around the switch area which causes the voltage to drop down to 1.6v?
That’s interesting.