I read on another thread that the lantern project is going for about 500 lumens on max. Is this true? I would imagine that this might be about the highest output that I would need much of time, but it sure would be nice to have access to a higher turbo level for those times where more light is needed.
The driver is using true current regulation, not a FET+7135 design, and all MCU pins are already being usedā¦ so increasing maximum output is not very feasible without significant design changes.
Itās designed by someone who uses lanterns frequently for long periods, to be practical rather than flashy. Ideally, charge-able each day with a small solar panel, with enough runtime to last the entire evening, for long-term off-grid use.
I sure hope itās a lot more than 500 lumens, that isnāt much for times where youāre trying to light up a decent sized camp. That said, when itās pitch black out, your eyes adjust pretty well to lower light levels.
I have not measured it for lumens accurately, but it is the second brightest LED lantern i have (out of dozens of modded ones i built & modded) the problem is it can not be pushed to bright because of its compact size, ( there is not enough heat-sinking metal to prevent it from over heating. Lanterns differ from flashlights in that lanterns run continuously for hours at a time. Even with just two 7135 chips, on high, (at .700 amps) after a hour running the solid aluminum heatsink top gets hot. When i ran it with three 7135s at 1.05 amps, it got to hot to hold ot touch after a hour. it produces more light output thana 40 watt Incandescent light bulb, to push it brighter woudl require a much larger finned top heatsink. (thus it wonāt be pocket-sized anymore.
I am actually not sure what 500 lumens from this lantern will look like. I am sure that it will be more than enough for campfires and cat fishing on the riverbank. If I need more light I will use more than one lantern.
The demonstration photos in the OP shows how bright it is to an extent. ( the first photos shows its brighter than a Coleman Fuel pressure camp lantern.
Iām extremely excited for this lantern. Please take your time and do it right. I think most of us are plenty patient and just want a polished end product. Thank you for tackling this project!
I am changing jobs in 3 weeks, so I have to concentrate on that for the next few weeks,. but after the change over I will have much more free time to focus on the lantern project finally. ( considering over the last year my life has been chaos with nearly no free time to work on projects.