The bugs are mostly just a side effect of complexity. Narsilās code has a lot of parts which interact, and itās not always obvious which parts can affect which other parts. That makes changes difficult and risky.
About the 3-channel tables, itās mostly the PWM values which havenāt been fine-tuned. The actual code is no more or less buggy, as far as Iām aware.
With NarsilM v1.0 mode set order #8, 10/25/50 the memory acts flaky. Sometimes it remembers the last mode, sometimes it doesnāt. Maybe it works fine in 2 channel drivers like the Q8?
Itās no big deal to me as I prefer ramping, anyway.
Toykeeper,
No. In fact, you're right. I love to tinker too much, and you may have made a monster out of me (like you said)
Thank you.
I just got my BLF Q8 and got this issueā¦
The light switches on automatically when I screw the battery part into the led part.
Is it in some kind of lock modeā¦.?
How to reset to factory settings?
Thank you,
Tomi
4 fast clicks is lock/unlock.
Factory reset is here.
Thank you 
Still got the issue Blf q8 - YouTube
Cant even turn the light off with clicks, only if removing battery part
Are all four of the emitters lighting up?
Does it look like itās on Turbo?
If so, the negative lead from the mcpcb might be touching ground.
Maybe the solder on the negative lead on the mcpcb is too tall and touching the reflector or maybe the edge of the driver is shorting out.
I would take it apart and look at the pieces. If there is nothing that looks wrong, reassemble it and it might start to work normally.
If the light turns on when the battery tube is screwed on, and the button does nothing, itās probably a physical issue inside the lightā¦ shorted power or a shorted switch.
Fortunately, the Q8 is easy to open up to take a look.
Yes all four emitters light up, and it goes on turbo mode when screw the parts together.I tested with 3 different batteries none worked.
All parts look fine, did not do more if there is a guarantee I bought it from banggood.
Br,
Tomi
Tomi
That certainly does not look like it should!
All 4 ledās should blink twice and it should start in moonlight mode.
Did you accidently set it in another mode?
I donāt think but is there a way to check that too? The light itself is great.
That may be the first Q8 that does not function out of the box? (apart from past indicator led issues)
The easiest check is unscrewing the driver board and see if the big black led-wire was caught between ledboard and body while the board was assembled.
But if you are not the investigating type just go the BG customer service route and hope for a good solution.
Mode sets is pretty difficult to use on the Q8. Iāve tried it a few times, but just canāt get used to it. I really donāt like the timing constraints to change modes, and itās unlike any other light I have. Luckily, the light is great with ramping, and it works very well. They definitely made the right choice to make ramping the default UI.
I donāt know why they didnāt make mode groups function in a more standard way.
To beat a dead horse:
Could I suggest once again - a simple version of Narsil for people who just want a simple flashlight? A great flashlight; but a flashlight! Some features (you might run a survey for functions of a simple Narsil), but not the āI will use this function when the sun goes nova, if I can remember the button press sequence to get itā features. Ramping is incredibly good. The pilot light; pretty good (although it is actually a bit too bright for the table in the bedroom). After that, it gets less clear. Over simplification is not (maybe) needed, but it needs to be intuitive for a user that just does not want to ( or understand) screwing around with irrelevant (to them) functions and count seconds for button pressing to operate the light. Really!
Removing some Narsil nuances and replacing them with a small default (settable) Joe six-pack interface, would, in my opinion, be a major improvement.
I would buy a firmware writer to get a light operable by the ignorant unwashed masses (ah, like me).
I bought these as an emergency light. In multiple uses. If the people huddling in the wreckage canāt use it; what is the point. In an emergency, multiple training sessions on operating a flashlight in an emergency seems unlikely.
No one (Me, my wife, a friend) have been able to simply use the flashlight. Or the neighbors run over wanting a light because they see me as a flashlight freak and did not plan ahead. Really, really not able to be reliably used by civilians.
Flashlight persons who hang on complicated or obscure functions can be happy with raw Narsil. That is fine.
But second (or sub-second) button press timing, remembering what a sequence does out of a large set, to use a flashlight - nah. No way. Wonāt happen.
For me it has been the exact opposite of what you describe. I have yet to hand a Q8 to anyone who has failed to grasp the simple ramping function of Narsil almost immediately. I have a lot of lights with very different UIās. without exception this is the one that non flashlight people think is easy to understand.
Yes - that can happen. But a small mischance with the thumb gets them into never never land. Trying desperately to get back to the nice simple ramping function.
I have experienced that on my deck while trying to show my wife some meteors. Her reaction to a suddenly very bright flashing light that I could not stop was not pleasant. There are tooth marks on my butt. I could not get it to stop. That must never ever happen.
Why must responses to this sort of post always be aggressive and end in a āwell it worked for me and every randomly selected passerbyā I gave it too. Fine. You are an excellent flashlight user. Your friends and neighbors are princes or princesses of intuitiveness. So the people you know can intuitively operate this flashlight. So what!
More people can not be this perceptive. Including me.
It is sort of like inventing shoelaces that require a several page instruction manual.
My post was in no way meant to be aggressive but your response obviously is intended to be. If you truly have this much trouble with this UI there are lots of lights which have one function on or off.
Never had to desire to change the stock UI. That said, my second release Q8 has been performing flawlessly for several months now. More than happy with mine.
Iām curious if most Q8 users stay with the default timed stepdown (3 minutes) or change to the thermal 55-degree Celsius option. Iāve left mine as it came so far. In 3 minutes, the light gets quite warm but not uncomfortably so. But then again, its pretty chilly in my area this time of year. Would 3 minutes on turbo in the heat of summer be pushing it?