*BLF LT1 Lantern Project) (updated Nov,17,2020)

:+1:
Looking forward to the report and pics!

Ok, the first field-run for the V2 Prototype was a great success! even with only three of the 351D 4000K Hi-CRI emitters working, it was brighter, smoother beam, and better tint than the V1 prototype that uses a single XP-L on the same number of 7135 chips.
We had 4 campers on this trip, and all of them never knew of the lantern being a prototype to be developed into a production lantern. They were all impressed at its small size, its design, the modes, (Q8 modes) the ability to run the entire weekend trip (2 nights) on high mode, on a single set of cells without needing charging, and definitely liked the color of the light tin far better than any of the other cool-white stock store bought lanterns they seen & own. The new Samsung LH351 4000K Hi-CRI LEDs were impressive. The color rendering was really good, along the levels of Nichia’s 219C LEDs, but much brighter & more efficient. I did notice a slight tint shift down closer to the 90 degree viewing angle of the LED surface, but not nearly as bad as Crees XP-L LEDs.
Either way, the new LH351D LEDs are the new preference for use in a lantern of this level & output. The light just made colors so much more natural and visible. The initial 4000K LH351s were from Member azhu. I was unfortunate to get one that was defective, (reason why i had only three in the lantern at the weekend test) But with the generosity of fellow member BlueSwordM who sent me four 3000K LH351Bs to test he sent a replacement 351D 4000K to do the Lux & output tests with four LEDs. He also send some other goodies including a 4056 charger module to add to the lantern like the V1 has to add charging capability.

Below is a photo of the lantern hanging on a string line at the camp, ( on Low Mode #2) just after sunset:

Seen here is the V2 Prototype hanging on a tree, showing the illumination of the old camp table. ( note the yellow water bowl which has a god representation of the High-CRI nature of the 351s. The DSLR camera was set to Auto Iris for these photos & no flash, the time was roughly 9pm just with twilight in the sky after the sun went down.

Below the Lantern is resting on a log-seat. The light seems a little warmer in the photos, but the tint is actually very close to that of 4000K to the eye.

Now this photo below really shows the V2 lantern shining its ability. Here it is hanging form the white tarp edge, illuminating the campsite very well on High mode. Take note of the colors, including the orange Pine-needles covering the ground below, the green of the stove, etc. they all are very close to what we see with the eyes during the day. The lantern gave a good, smooth wide lit area on High to that equivalent of a 11-watt LED household light bulb. ( again the camera settings were set to automatic, time was roughly 9:20 PM, was a little twilight left in the sky. Already the other fellow campers on this trip plan to buy several of these once they go into production. They really like the idea that the lantern is small enough to pit into a hoodie pocket or backpack pouch, and give out more light output than every other lantern we had at camp.

Great report! I know I am looking forward to getting this lantern. Kudos to azhu and BlueSwordM for their physical contributions, and of course to you DBSAR for all your time. :+1:

Nice report with great pics.

On a white wall some people will like the rosiness of high CRI Nichia’s better than the more yellow LH351D, but once in the open the CRI matters much more than subtle tint differences. And this Samsung led has great output and efficiency!

Also thank you for helping with the interest list updates! I hope we can get this rolling by this summer or sooner into production, but like the Q8 & BLF GT it takes a team effort and lots of working with the manufacturer (Thorfire) to make this a reality. :slight_smile:

Agreed, these new LEDs can stand shoulder to shoulder with Cree’s XP-L for floody applications & output like in the lantern from the tests i done in comparison so far, but have an advantage of the Hi-CRI color rendering over the XP-L, and higher output & better efficiency than the 219C.

I’m interested. Please add me for 1. Thanks.

I also want to thank AEDe.

Without him, we could have never gotten the LH351Ds and Bs.

High CRI for the win!

I hope Thorfire will pick 3500-4000k LH351Ds. Then we will have a winner, and the best lantern to have ever existed.

added at 796 on the interest list

interest list sorted by entry number

interest list sorted by user names

It looks nice so far. I hope we can do the two-tint idea though, with ~3000K and ~5000K emitters and 4x7135 or 5x7135 per channel. It’d be cool to be able to change the temperature.

Thanks to DBSAR for the updates and BlueSwordM for the LEDs!

Since about two years, warm white (2700-3300K) color temperature is the goal of this project. Which in my opinion suits the use.
Maybe there will be two versions? Neutral white (3300-5300K) in addition to warm white. It’s also specified in DIN EN 12665:
https://gossen-photo.de/wp-content/uploads/DL/LMT/Kompendium_der_Lichtmesstechnik_GB.pdf#page=25

Having a winner means also that there are some left behind.

I’m sharing what DBSAR wrote.

I would prefer 3000k emitters, but I haven’t found a supplier for them to actually test a 3000k LH351D 90CRI.

The only lead we have are the 3000k LH351B 90CRI, but they aren’t nearly as efficient as 351Ds.

In my opinion 85CRI isn’t bad. But 90CRI would be more nice.

Hot damn, two more please! ~3000K would be awesome. Two-tint would be even better. But the way this is shaping up, it’s gonna be unbelievable no matter what. I can’t wait to use them and to gift them. A thousand thanks!

Your next two lights are interest numbers 797 and 798 for 6 total.

Sign me up for it! Thanks for another wonderful BLF product

Same thought too. Would be a great option to have changeable tint, (from 2700K up to 4000K maybe) Though right now its out of my abilities to design a driver & modes to work with that set up, will need your expertise to help develop that :slight_smile:

We are looking to see if Thorfire can offer the lantern in at least two tint ranges, ( 3000K & 4000K) or develop the dual tint set up as Toykeeper as mentioned above.

done, you are number 799 on the interest list

interest list sorted by entry number

interest list sorted by user names

It’s pretty easy, really a trivial change compared to the Q8 driver. Instead of 3+1 chips, it’s 4+4. And I think I can add support to the firmware relatively easily too.

It’d be fine to use 2700K on the warm end, or maybe even 2200K if you can get it… but I’d suggest making the cool end 5000K instead of 4000K, because even 4000K is warmer than some of us want. With the ability to blend to whatever temperature the user wants, I doubt there’s much reason to make the range narrow. They can set their light to 2700K, or 3000K, or 3500/4000/4500/5000K, as desired.