I took some time today to add the “votive candle” mode (candle mode timer). It’s off by default, meaning candle mode will go until it’s manually shut off or LVP activates… but the user can click 3 times to turn on the timer and add ~30 minutes. Click 3 times again to add another 30 minutes, and so on. The maximum time it can handle is about 4.5 hours.
For most of that time, it’ll run normally. However, for the final minute or so, it’ll gradually dim, sputter, and then shut off.
What are the tolerances on the inner tube? If it touches the outer tube, the switch will not work I think? I was wondering how durable this solution is.
If both the inside of the outer tube and the outside of the inner tube are anodised it will be pretty hard to wear it out to the extend that it shorts, and if it does a bit of tape (i.e. Kapton tape is durable and pretty thin) around the inner tube should fix it.
I don’t expect the tubes to ever move much in relation to each other in normal use. So, even with a piece of grit finding its way in, I don’t see how it could be a problem within the normal life expectancy of a flashlight. Or am I remembering something wrong about the design?
TK reported that she was getting odd behavior from her prototype sample until she inserted a piece of paper between the inner and outer tube.
Sounds to me like just anodizing between the two layers might not be enough. Maybe it would be better to redesign the tube to be 1mm thicker and then add a thin plastic tube between the 2 metal tubes. That’s how Liteflux did it in their LF2XT years ago, and it worked perfectly.
I’m not worried about the inner and outer tube connecting, in general, a bit of Kapton tape would fix that if the anodising was weak, and maybe keep the inner tube aligned so it didn’t drift off towards the head and perhaps hit the wrong contact area.
It’s the little bit at the tail end, where the inner tube has a ridge to keep it in place, which in the cross-section, suggests rather fine tolerances, possibly less amenable to a simple fix, if the anodising fails there.
Edit2: The inner tube needs to float, so my speculative comments about wrapping with Kapton etc. are unlikely to work for everyone. Strong anodising and designed spacers are the way to go, if this is to be reliable for everyone.
Thicker anodizing should be enough, but I wouldn’t be opposed to adding an actual spacer to keep the tubes apart. I think half the issues I’ve seen were caused by the inner tube getting knocked sideways during use. Or perhaps just caused by the weak spring. In any case, I want it to respond better to acceleration.
Hopefully there will be new prototypes soon… I’m getting impatient.