FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

As bmengineer and joechina said, the user can configure it to do turbo from off by setting the ceiling to turbo. In that case, the sequence is:
Off -> double click: Go to turbo.
Turbo -> double click: Go back to memorized level.

The floor, ceiling, and anything above the ceiling aren’t remembered unless ramped to. So if you take a shortcut to the floor, ceiling, or turbo, it does not replace the memorized level. It’s safe to turn the light off from those levels, or take another shortcut from those levels, without erasing memory.

Momentary uses the memorized level, which is the last-ramped level. If the user ramped up to turbo, momentary uses turbo. If they took a shortcut to turbo, the memorized level is lower so momentary is lower too. Same story with beacon.

What is not yet determined is what the light should do if it’s on, at a low or medium level, and the user double clicks. Should this go to the ceiling, or should it go directly to turbo?

There probably isn’t enough material to remove for that. Cutting slots for tritium vials would probably expose internal parts of the light or interfere with threads. Some other lights have enough extra bulk for vials to fit, but this one is thinner and avoids extra material to reduce weight.

However, trits could still be installed in or under the optic.

Since holding the button already ramps you to the ceiling quickly enough, it makes sense to use the double-click to get to turbo.

Okay, so WE can adjust our ramp ceiling?

I was thinking along the lines of NarsilM v1.2 were the ceiling is set before flashing the driver. It’s not user setable.

But if the user can set the ceiling, it’s all good.

Please put me on the list. I kept looking at those first 2 pictures in the thread and kept asking myself: do I really want to have a BLF light that I dont like the shape off. Now I finally saw the proto type pics and actually like it.. Much better than the original design, that looked like a $5 ebay light to me. Glad it came out nicer than expected and thats the reason im so late to the game :$

Please sign me up for 1.

You can set the bottom (Moon level) and ceiling in both, smooth ramp and stepped ramp. They can be different in smooth and stepped!

Yes.

While on, the user can switch between smooth and stepped ramp by clicking three times.

In either mode, the user can enter a config menu for that mode by clicking four times. This menu has the following entries:

  1. Floor level.
  2. Ceiling level.
  3. Number of steps (stepped ramp only).

For each option, it’ll blink N times, then “buzz”. During the buzz, click one or more times to enter a number, or simply wait to go to the next setting with no changes. The “buzz” keeps going as long as you keep clicking, so there is no hurry if you want to enter a big number.

Modes which have a config menu are:

  • Ramp modes (smooth, stepped).
  • Beacon. (lets user set number of seconds between flashes)
  • Tempcheck. (lets user calibrate room temperature and thermal ceiling)

The longest menu is three items (for the stepped ramp settings).

There are also settings which are configured without entering a menu:

  • Ramp brightness. Is also used for momentary and beacon modes.
  • Ramp style.
  • Remembers which mode was last used in the “strobes” group.
  • Strobe speed, for both strobes.
  • Bike flasher brightness.
  • Candle mode brightness. (not saved in eeprom)
  • Whether muggle mode is active. (not implemented yet)
  • On lights with a lighted switch (Q8, not FW3A): Button brightness while off, for both regular “off” mode and lockout mode.

Lockout mode functions as a momentary moon mode, for quickly checking things without the need to unlock the light. The brightness of this momentary mode is determined by the floor of the current ramp.

For the regular modes, it basically has two profiles which you can switch between with a triple click while on. One profile is smooth, the other has steps. They can have completely different limits, like one with moon and one without, one with full turbo in the ramp and one with a lower limit, one for inside and one for outside, or whatever. There are no predefined mode groups though, because the user can create their own with a few clicks.

That’s what it does now, but I wasn’t sure if it’s the right choice. It would be more consistent if it went to the ceiling first, like it does when off. But for quickly checking out a sound while walking the dog, it’s more convenient if it goes from 10 lm directly to 3000 lm on the first double-click, then back again on the second double-click.

TK, isn’t it fun explaining the same thing over and over again? A simple look at the diagram explains the answers to all the questions.

The step-down from heat can also be adjusted through thermal regulation, so it’s not NECESSARILY 15 seconds of blast time. You’ll want to let go of it soon after that, probably, but if it’s a cold night and you have gloves on then it’s potentially a run-it-til-the-cell-dies scenario.

Edit: From post number 3… the UI diagram… set it up virtually however you wish. :wink:

Wow what a lousy (dick) comment about the original design, $5.00 E-Bay light? I’m so glad it now meets your approval your highness :person_facepalming:

There was nothing wrong with the original design, alot of us signed up for it just the way it was, and still like it that way!

a/ I signed up for the original version but
b/ I think the current version is even better but
c/ not everybody thinks that way but
d/ everybody is entitled to have his/her own opinion because
e/ there is no accounting over taste (which has helped evolution a lot) but
f/ the correct way to communicate that is to say that you see it different and not that the other person is a !@#$% blind sod.

DB Custom,
no, it doesn’t. Even with the text

e.g. I don’t know if the FW3A resets the memorized level to max7135 when you repower it.

And the blinks in the smooth ramp? I think there was a poll they should be in.

And some things are better explained in #2963 than in #3.

@Toykeeper

To enter ramp config it is 4 clicks
(from OFF you lock out with 4 clicks)
other configs are 3 clicks
What about: click, click, click, hold for all configs?
So it would be uniform and no problems when sb. wants the lamp to lock out while it is ON.
(So 4 clicks from ON would have no function)
And config would be a bit more hidden.

To late to join in? Man I want one!!

Interest list updated.


- TK

Please add 1 more for me (total of 4)

Thanks

Please add me for 1 of these, thanks :+1:

Well Joe, I reckon having the light in hand and running through the UI makes the chart make a lot more sense. I’ve been using Anduril in several different lights for a while now and it all works beautifully. A lot of us here have been flashing Anduril in our builds, so too much change now is sort of bad to the greater good. Not that we can’t re-flash the drivers we’ve built, but at some point it has to be good where it is and let TK rest.

Think about that.

What happened to MattAus when we used him too harshly, designing our drivers? He disappeared. What happened to Wright, also designing our drivers? Gone. Comfychair? Mr. Hawk? ChicagoX? We mean well I know, but when we have someone that knows how doesn’t mean we have to use them til they burn out. Change this, change that, re-design this, can you do that? Hell if we were paying her she’d quit!

Well it was a suggestion, adressing that people in NarsilM end up too easy in config.
And the command would be the same.
If she thinks it’s worthy she may implement it, if it is a brain fart then not.