BLF GT official support thread [FAQ updated 11 Jan 2018]

If the GT’s lighted switch is controlled by the MCU, it should be possible to change its behavior via firmware. From the way the question is written though, I get the impression that maybe that’s not how the switch light works on this model?

I thought it worked like the Q8, but now I’m not sure.

Yes it can be changed by firmware, but not the existing firmware as it has no options to make the light always stay on. I think Tom E said he was going to possibly add the option to make the light always stay on in a future version of NarsilM.

For me this would be great. I just came in after using the GT and with the temperature around –10F and I was wearing gloves which made locating the switch by feel was impossible. I had to take my glove off to find the switch, kinda cold on bare fingers holding an aluminum light.

You could wait a while and see if it gets done then reflash the driver. Personally I would just pop the driver out and move a wire. You could do that now. I haven’t looked to see if a resistor will be needed or not. I plan to swap the leds and switch cover so I’ll write up all that info for anyone else.

The switch control code is already written. I mostly just need to adjust the ramp values to work on the GT’s driver, and check the calibration in general. I doubt it’ll take long. I could probably even do it without hardware, but I make no guarantees that it’ll actually work.

The method I’ve been using to control the switch light is:

  • When the light is in any operating mode, the switch light copies the main emitter. The button light stays on steady in regular modes, blinks in blinky modes, etc. Button brightness also imitates the main emitter, though it only has three states — off, low, high.
  • While in the “off” state, the button goes to the user’s configured brightness — off, low, or high.
  • While in the “lockout” state, the button goes to the user’s configured lockout brightness — off, low, or high.

It seems to work well on the Q8, but I hear the GT’s boot is a lot darker so I’m not sure the “low” brightness will be of any use.

This sounds great! The thought of me “going in” with a solder iron and changing things feels like a recipe for disaster to me. What is involved in “re-flashing” the driver? I know my way around the numbers concerning lights, led’s and batteries, but I am a total noob when it comes to drivers and all of the other internal electronics you guys talk about that make my eyes glass over.

If Wisconsin was a little closer to Houston I would stop buy and have you show me hows it’s done. I need to buy a couple of cheaper lights to take apart and experiment with.

I think that I would really like this on the Q8. The switch light is too bright at night when they are sitting on my bookshelf at night. I wake up at night and see these glowing eyes looking at me. I would love mine to be dim when turned off and when in use on low level and high when in use at >20%.

You will have to let me (all of us) know how to make this happen. An instructional video would work great for me. :wink:

An easy way to dim the Q8 light is to remove the switch cover and put a dot from a black marker on the leds. Or swap to a different switch cover.

Reflashing the GT driver requires pulling out the driver far enough to get a clip on its mcu. I don’t know if the led wires are long enough to do that. If not, then you might have to unsolder the leds wires from the mcpcb, reflash the driver, then reattach them. I’m sure someone here can tell us if the stock GT led wires are long enough or not.

Edit: the wires are long enough. No soldering needed. :+1:


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I can’t seem to get into Mode set 7: 100%

I can get into Mode set 6: 1 5 15 32 60 100

I can get into Mode set 8: 25 100

Any tips?

Going to keep trying in the mean time.

EDIT:

I figured it out, all my fault :person_facepalming:

Disable moonlight, if want Mode set 7: 100%

With Mode Set 7 you have moonlight first then 100% if you don’t disable moonlight.

Which I think is kind of not well thought out. If i select a mode set with only ONE mode, It should only be ONE mode. No?

Moon light is always an extra add on. If you choose mode 4, you actually get 5 levels due to moon light being turned on. Mode sets in general are not that fleshed out. It’s mainly meant to be used in ramping mode.

Another user, WaylonJennings, has mentioned that when set to mode set 7, if he removes battery power then reconnects, the light jumps back to the default ramping mode.

I don’t have my light with me to check, but can someone see if this is a bug in v1.2 or just a one off fluke?

Definitely not a 1.2 bug. Just tried it again now to be sure (several iterations, each with different timing).

There is a (very) small chance that the MCU browns out during power-up or power-down, messing up the settings memory in the process. But that should be a once-shot deal and the light is more likely to temporarily lock up than change settings.

Hopefully Tom or TK can chime in.

Yes, MOON doesn’t count to the numbers of modes. Nice, that you found it out by yourself.
(The same user questions like with the Q8. :slight_smile: )

The Notes section on the cheat sheet is derived from user feedback with the Q8.
If you have a problem with the UI of NarsilM, there is a good chance that it’s mentioned there.

Hi,
does anyone know, if Sanyo NCR20700B does fit into battery carrier and GT Tube?
Thanks a lot.

No, they are too big.

LOVE this thread! Very very well laid out. Thank you guys so much for all your work on this!

Is anyone able to tell a difference in light output between normal high and turbo? I can’t but I figure it would be more apparent at long distance vs the small room I am checking in.

The output difference is very minor and hard to notice unless you go directly from the top of the ramp to turbo.

If your batteries are low, then the driver will have dropped out of regulation and there will in fact be no difference in output.

I can tell a difference when it’s sitting on the end of my lumen tube :slight_smile:

I just noticed something. In the modes group if I set moon mode to the lowest setting it doesn’t work. It basically makes the light be a double click to turn on. Was this on purpose?