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

Yeah… probably the main blending question is whether the light can get an even distribution of light with two of each emitter, or if it needs three.

In general, I’d agree. I rarely use anything bigger than 1x18650. But the soda-can form factor may actually make sense for a lantern.

added as #818 on the interest list

I am going to design an eight LED star based on the Q8 four-LED single channel one, but will have eight 3535 pads arranged to offer the best blending of the light tints, and have two channels to control them. ( I have a rough drawing in mind already for that purpose.

As for the other comment I agree that for some cases a tiny single 18650 lantern can work, but the advantage of this Lantern design is much longer run times & output form a lantern that is still small enough to backpack. pushing a lantern past 800+ lumens continuous on a single cell will give barely a night’s worth of run time before it has to be charged. I have many modded lanterns that use a single 18650, but they are somewhat limited to 300 lumens or less to get a night’s worth of run time form a single cell. Thew past test at the camp, the V2 prototype ran on maximum mode for roughly 5 hours per night, and lasted the entire trip without the need for recharging, and when i got home the four 3400mah cells still had 3.83 volts in them.

DBSAR, it might be a good idea to look at the various iterations of the Q8 dual footprint LED boards in various threads here so you can see what others came up with and how they dealt with fitment issues and such. I know yours will be different, but it still won’t hurt to see those while you consider how to bring yours to completion.

I don’t think we should be doing an 8 LED MCPCB.

It would raise costs by quite a bit.

I think 2 Samsung LH351Ds 3000k and 2 Samsung LH351Ds 5000k would be just perfect.

Please add me to the interest list for one please.

added at #819, Welcome to BLF!! :beer:

In my opinion just one color per order and 4 tints to choose from would be an good solution/compromise. Everyone could get the CCT he wants.
With only two LEDs per CCT you can’t archive an evenly beam. It needs 4 LEDs per CCT to be perfect.

I’m intrested

The Samsung lh351d is not very expensive, at Digikey when ordering a reel it is 1.22 per led (cool white 70 cri, the high cri versions may be a bit more expensive). So 8 leds add up to about $10 worth of leds, I bet Thorfire gets them even cheaper. It is a significant part of production costs so 2warm/2cool may be more economical, but it is not impossible either.

Another option is doing what the whole lighting industry is doing for a good reason: skip the high power leds (which are developed for directed lighting which we are not doing here) and go with a whole bunch of midpower 3030 leds or 5730 leds. Cheaper per lumen, blending is even easier, ledboard is cheap (DTP not needed) and there’s plenty options for tint and high CRI.

Heck, you could use 3000K and 5000K Nichia Optisolis leds and beat everything existing in CRI.

Another reason for only using 4 LEDs is the intercompatiblity with the BLF Q8 MCPCB.

I would love easy MCPCB swaps.

got ya at #820 on the interest list

How about we let DBSAR continue down the road he has decided to travel with this light? Opinions are fine, (after all, this is one), but he has time, effort, and tangible results to show for his work. Impressive results at that.

Throwing suggestions out for lower power LED’s, or different numbers of them to make it easier for you to mod are kind of a slap in the face to the work he has done already. If you want a particular style of lantern, grab yourself a Q8 and have at it.

I’m quite happy with his intent to use 8 emitters, and having the ability to adjust the temp. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be on the list for four of them, (and possibly more before it’s in production).

I do not agree. The suggestions that I give are unrelated to the work that Den has done, his design ideas and field test have been very important for making a great BLF-lantern. But I think I can add genuine good ideas and think it is a chance missed if they have not at least been discussed in this thread.

I think BLF is all about freely and perhaps recklessly posting new ideas and then discuss them. It is how our present modding techniques have been invented and refined, and how the BLF designs take form.

Cost is definitely a factor we want to keep down.

I take everyone’s suggestions & ideas as important as it helps make the project better and more of what everyone want to have in a lantern when possible :slight_smile: I have started the cross-section drawing to send to Thorfire and the specification perimeters for them to have a plan start to work on what they can do to make it into production.

Will this light need pointed batteries?

If you mean “button top” batteries, the answer is this is prefered. The positive contact is a trace on a circuit board, so the button top would make a sure connection here. I am hoping I can use old laptop pull batteries with the attached connection tabs foormed such that it will simulate a button top, we will see if that works or not.

That all sounds pretty reasonable. I’m glad I don’t really have to care what exactly the LEDs are, as long as they perform well enough. :slight_smile:

I just made some things a few days ago which used a bunch of cheap LEDs, and it all turned out pretty okay. Granted, soldering on each pixel individually was a bit of a pain, but the overall effect is nice.

Anyway, when we’re farther in the process, send me a prototype and I’ll make it work.

Put me on the list for 1 at this time!