I am in my mid 60ās and I have 3 of these for emergency lights. My wife is not far behind me in age and she is on oxygen 24/7 so when the power goes out you can imagine there is a since of panic when your not getting enough air suddenly. She has successfully used one of these to light a room enough to attach a regulator to an oxygen bottle.
You see the green lighted button - press and hold the button -the light comes on in moonlight and increases in brightness until you let go at the light level you need. Press the button once more and the light turns off. If you press and hold the button from off it will always come on in moonlight and you will not blind yourself. If you somehow trigger some unexpected mode, donāt panic, you can always turn off the light by turning the battery tube 1/4 turn counter clockwise then figure out what you did wrong.
I donāt find the above process complicated. If you try it I donāt think you will either.
The mode set UI was originally the only UI in Narsil. It was based on STAR and Wernerās UI, modified to allow for single-click off, with bistro-like config options added. Ramping was added later by popular request.
There are already several other interfaces available, in case one appeals to you. If not, perhaps you could describe in detail exactly how you want it to work?
I love to write my own firmwares and I specially love to squeeze as many features as possible in a single firmware (for instance different strobes, ramping and discrete modes, momentary or not momentary, colors, diagnostic output and much more). But even I - as the creator of the firmware - have to carry an instruction sheet with me since I canāt remember everything after some days of not accessing the configuration mode.
And from time to time I build lights for some narrow friends and - even if they admire the multiple capabilities - they mostly prefer a much simpler interface. So Iām probably going to add a lock mode to my full featured firmware: after configuring the UI to what the user wants a lock can be applied (and released ) by using a 3 (or more) digit password (typed in with multiple switch clicks). Iām using a password already to lock some security related configuration aspects (for instance temperature limits) so I know itās doable.
Just out of curiosity - whatās the simple interface you have in your mind?
You definitely have a short in the black emitter wire or that same circuit on the driver.
Itās not the battery or the programming in the light. The side switch is functionin normally and doesnāt know there is a problem. So there is a short before the driver circuit.
You clearly have not met my wife.
She can take any flashlight, and immediately put it into some program state where it becomes unusable. The Q8 is no exception. Iāve even accidentally put it into some obscure mode a couple of times myself.
I can look up the Narsil cheat-sheet and do a factory reset easy enough. My wife would probably just throw the flashlight away.
The Q8 is a very flexible light, and I like it for that. But, I wouldnāt give one to someone that just wants a basic flashlight.
The Q8 was not designed with a āmuggle modeā set, like the BLF X5 and X6. In those lights it works simple and well and it is pretty hard to exit it. Fhe FW3A will probably again have a muggle mode set.
Off the top of my head; I believe I would be happy with just ramp on and off. Being able to stop and resume during ramping.
Maybe a direct on at last used intensity and a direct off.
A flashlight.
Maybe blink the green button if battery is running low.
Anything else left in there needs to be thoroughly protected from accidental activation.
All three uses resulted in the user getting a strobe going, and no idea how to stop it. The light is too bright to allow this to happen by accident when someone is handling the light. It can be harmful if someone is looking at it, or is pointed at a moving vehicle, or even just someone in a precarious position being strobed by accident. It hurts. The strobe has some utility for personal defense.
It depends if it was strobe.
If you are in RAMPING it is relatively hard to get there. A double click to turbo and then a double click to strobe.
If youāre in strobe wait a second, then you can turn it off.
If you are in MODES you can easily get in STROBES by holding the button. Again wait a second to turn off.
Or the blinks from the settings are mistaken as strobes.
You land in in the settings blink if you ramp for longer than 8 seconds.
If you then try to shut the lamp by one click, you land in MODES setting, Further clicks change the settings.
When the lamp calmed down and you try to ramp by a hold you are in MODES and you start STROBES.
So the beginner has a fucked up lamp which does alwasy STROBES instead of RAMPING
Solution:
do a factory reset from MODES
Precaution:
Tell the newbie donāt hold the button for 8 seconds. If it starts blinking donāt touch the button!
@Tom E
One thing to prevent this fail path in a future version could be to change the setting for MODES to two click and for RAMPING to one click.
But if the user clicks double it is the same.
Itās very easy to accidentally activate, and I did it several times before disabling it.
The way to get instant max is to double-click to turbo. My assumption to get out of turbo is another double-click. Bad assumption! After making that mistake a couple of times around my wife, I had to go to the doctor to get the Q8 removed from my posterior. It made me wish I made the mistake on a smaller light.
Itās important that people buy a light to fit their needs.
Iāve passed on buying many lights simply because they had a quirky UI.
Alternety, if you like the size, power, beam pattern, etcā¦ of the Q8, but want a custom UI that is simpler to operate, you might consider talking to ToyKeeper about flashing a different UI to it. You could probably just send her the head of the light and itās relatively easy for her to reflash it.
Iām sure ToyKeeper has some type of muggle mode UI that will fit your needs and can remove all the excess stuff you donāt need.
Possible choices are:
Anduril
RampingIOS (Emisar D4)
QLite Momentary
Moppydrv
Yes, it only took a few accidental activations before I followed the procedure to program out the strobes for good. Well, I think I had to do it a couple of times, because I had to factory-reset the light because I messed around with other settings.
Has anyone made step by step instructions how to disable strobe in ramping mode?, that would be great for newbie who just want that option disabled
Hold the button for 8 secondsā¦.after that IĀ“m confused
UPDATE
I think after many times I tried it works like this
Hold the button for 8 secondsā¦.wait until it blinks first 2 and then 4 times then itĀ“s on the blinky mode setting number 4 and then click one time to disable then wait many seconds and it should work or I just got lucky.
Same here shirnaskā¦ā¦ :+1:
Young person to old, no one so far has had a problem. They were NOT seasoned āflashlight peopleā either. My nephewās, son of age 7; got it right away. And my neighbor of 79 had no problem either. I am an āolder fartā myself and it is a no brainer to me in ramping mode. ONā¦. RAMP UP & DOWN AT WILLā¦. OFF
Same here Glennā¦ Personally, I also am completely happy with the default factory stock RAMPING UI.
It is so simple in fact, I think Lumpy Rutherford could have understood it easily enough to have taught Theodore.
And like you, to this point; my Q8ās have worked flawlessly also. :+1:
They were/are well done lights at a fantastic price!!!
Yes, that is correct. The first 2 fast blinks are to just get your attention. Itās the slower blinks after those 2 that tell you what menu setting you are at. The 4th setting (in ramping mode) is for strobes/blinkies.