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Muggle thing seems confusing. I thought it was some super advanced setting, now that I have seen some explanation, it seems to be just a protect someone who does not know how to use a flashlight mode. I don’t see a need for that myself, but maybe there is enough interest.

That’s the way I see it too Tixx. Muggle mode is for folks who shouldn’t have the light or for those who can’t understand the words “hot coffee”.

My $.02 worth. Has there been a problem with the Emisar D4? If so, then muggle mode is needed, if not then I don’t see the problem.

Heck, the Q8 with multiple cells was sold to folks with just an inkling as to the potential danger of Li-Ion cells (IMO) and this light is not that level of danger. But if it needs to be added go for it. We can ignore it as long as it’s out of the way and doesn’t restrict useful features. But if it’s added and reduces useful features it’s not worth it. It’s a light for light nerds (of which I consider myself one) and it’s not a hardware store light intended for the masses.

Muggles get the Mag-Lites.

But I want the Granger mode… you know, when Hermione casts a magic spell that makes a confined space able to be huge on the inside? Like that, a 14500 battery tube that you can stuff multiple 6000mAh 32650’s into! :smiley:

Itty bitty light, great big capacity! :wink:

Oh, and a solar panel tail cap for constant daytime trickle charge. :heart_eyes:

You can’t make that on your lathe? Give it a shot!

How on earth does that not exist yet?

That would be TARDIS mode.

Single mode lights suck .I’d muggle a 1 lumen low and a 350 lumen med two mode .
A huge jump that would make any muggle be impressed . Two useful mode light works .a one mode light just bites .

So this is how they react.

1) pick it up and turn it on
2) look at the 1 lumen output
3) shake it
4) bang it
5) return to step 2 once or twice
6) mutter “batteries are finished”
7) put it down (MAYBE turning it off first)
8) ask around for another light, and/or inform everyone within earshot that your light is useless.

Please put me on the list for 1.
Any idea on when it will be done and what output
And mode switching?
Looks great!

My ideal muggle mode would be single mode medium, with just an on/off functionality. As bright as possible while never getting more than slightly warm.

Method of accessing muggle mode - 5 rapid taps (because 5 is higher than any lockout I know of and lower than programming modes accessed this way, and also because 5 is the number of points in the letter M for Muggle :wink: ) confirmed by 5 rapid blinks

Exit from Muggle should go back to exactly where you were before, you should not have to go through the process of reselecting your preferred mode group.

Purpose - to be able at short notice to leave the light where ANYONE can find it and use it without asking questions or messing it up, and when retrieving it, get it back to your preferred settings in one easy step.

Sounds sensible to have a ramp ceiling of 3A. For those weird people like me who like discreet mode levels, a few options would be good - similar to BLF A6 7/4 modes. I’d also kindly like a single frequency strobe >10Hz with 50% on/off. If there is also a variable/two frequency strobe, then I’d also like a 50% on/off ratio. Strobes can probably be at 3A rather than 100% output. Bonus is strobe mode can be memorised like in Biscotti. I don’t ask for much do I?

And the grown-up’s?

If five clicks doesn’t interfere with other things this makes sense
(I really like a single mode that gives “max safe brightness”)

Unfortunately, growing up is a vertical achievement, not a logical, rational, or reasonable one.

A possible use for this that non-muggles would find useful is ceiling bounce lantern mode.
When you have a power failure you can with one click and a tail-stand walk away knowing it is the best safe lighting available without having to check on it minutes later.

There have been some reports of incidents with the D4, even from enthusiasts, due to its unusually high power level. It’s not really a safe thing to recommend for common use, or to hand to a child. The FW3A should be a bit less extreme, with three emitters instead of four, but it’s still on the high end of the power spectrum for its size. It’d probably be a good idea to give it a safe mode for when other people are using it, but I don’t know exactly what form that should take.

Originally I was thinking a ramping mode with a raised floor and lowered ceiling, maybe capable of doing like 10 lm to 500 lm. Bright enough to make it obviously “on” even at the bottom end, yet never high enough to overheat. But if people want it even simpler, reducing it to just on/off at a medium level is okay too. This depends entirely on what people think is best.

I’m also wondering what people think about how to exit muggle mode. There seem to be three main options:

  • Cut: Disconnect power (and probably click once to drain any remaining power from the driver).
  • Cut-and-hold: Disconnect power, then hold the button while reconnecting power.
  • Password: Some sort of click sequence which people aren’t likely to do by accident.

So far it uses the “cut” method. Loosen the tailcap, then either wait for the capacitors to drain (can take a few minutes) or click the button to drain them immediately, then tighten the tailcap again. Or loosen the tailcap while the LEDs are on, which drains power immediately.

If either of the latter two methods are used, it’ll need to remember muggle mode in eeprom, and we are basically guaranteed to get complaints that people can’t figure out how to get back to normal operation. So the question is basically how hard it should be to escape. Some high-powered lasers require entering a password in Morse code before it’ll turn on, but I think that would be excessive for this project.

The Q8 has a much safer power-to-size ratio. It doesn’t get as hot, doesn’t heat up as fast, and emits the light from a wider area so it’s not as intense point-blank. The main risk for a Q8 is if someone puts in mismatched or backward cells and causes enough amps to melt the springs. Smaller hotrods like this tend to be more dangerous, not less.

Indeed, it’s not. But I suspect Lumintop would probably like the option of being able to sell it to a wider audience, so it’ll need safety features like thermal regulation, and it’ll need reasonably safe defaults which require a conscious effort to override.

At the moment it’s:

  • 4 clicks: Soft lockout.
  • 5 clicks: Momentary mode.
  • 6 clicks: Muggle mode.

Momentary is on while the button is held, or off otherwise. It uses the last-ramped brightness.

A super-simple “on/off medium-only” muggle mode is somewhat similar to momentary mode, except it’s locked to a medium output level and does latching so it can stay on without holding the button.

In both cases, it stays in that mode until power is disconnected.

Soft lockout can be exited with 4 clicks, or by disconnecting power. It also doubles as something like a momentary moon mode, so you don’t have to unlock the light to dig through a bag in the dark.

All current firmware options include a variety of discrete mode levels, and also some strobes. The UI I’ve been using lets you set the floor level, ceiling level, and number of steps, and then spaces those steps evenly… so the “mode group” can be whatever you want — as long as you want two or more evenly-spaced levels in order.

It also lets you set the strobe to whatever speed you want, remembers which blinky you last used, and has a shortcut to access that blinky directly from off. Three clicks, but hold the third click for a moment. There is a bit of a pre-flash though, because the first click turns on regular output first. It prioritizes immediate-feedback-on-the-first-click over delaying-until-clicks-finish.

The tactical strobes presently use a 25% or 33% duty cycle, depending on which firmware and mode is used. BLF lights have been that way for years and I haven’t heard any complaints about it. It’s long enough to be very disorienting, but is trimmed back a bit to increase runtime and reduce heat.