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

ToyKeeper just said this a couple posts above.

So yes, it will increase brightness if the light is cooled down. I assume that’s what your are asking.

Didn’t realize that post, mostly because i only took a quick glance of most posts here. :person_facepalming:
Anyway thank you.

Please add me to the list for one (1).

Body color is not very important to me, but I think the silvery color of the prototype looks nice, even if not quite like bare aluminum.

You probably don’t need to read every post, but ToyKeeper is one of the main FW3A team members who actually posts updares on this project. It’s always good to read her posts, even if the techno stuff goes over your head. Lol

FW3A Team
Fritz15: Design
Tommy TLF: General TLF communication
DEL: Driver
Tom E: Firmware (originally), driver
ToyKeeper: Firmware / UI, BLF gardening
The Miller: General BLF communication
pepinfaxera: Interest list management
MRsDNF: Early prototyping
Neal: Facilitating tasks in China
Lumintop: Manufacturing

Who will be seller ? I am asking because i have payment issues with GB.

Updated list : … . . . . C L O S E D
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Primary Interest List, (main): See Post # 4, Page 1 .
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pepinfaxera: Interest List: See #Post , Page 111

pepinfaxera: Interest List, duplicate: See # Post , Page 71 ,
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1233 - # Post . bansuri
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New requests:
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Correcting: …
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1125 - # Post . Bob_McBob

Apologies, I’m sorry.
I need to edit list.
Greetings.

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–18 Off : # Post . DB Custom , See # Post . … “Delete, Remove”
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–1174 Off : # Post . CM2010 , See #Post . … “Delete, Remove”
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–931 Off : # Post . darrylo 3nd … “Delete, Remove”
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–1344 Off : See # Post Coscar, delete , “Remove”

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Totally agree. This summer, I replaced my BLF A6 cycling light with a Zebralight SC600w MkIV Plus. The BLF A6 uses a FET+1 driver with a XP-L, and the Zebralight a boost driver with an XHP50.2. I like to use about 700 lumens when cycling, and the BLF A6 would give me about 1 hour of output before it dims too much to be useful to me. The Zebralight gives me a constant 700 lumens for almost 3 hours, until the battery is drained to 2.8v. (Both using a Sanyo GA cell.)

While I like the BLF A6 as a casual light, there are some circumstances where FET will not do, and even a 8x7135 like a Convoy won’t do either. When run-time and constant output is required, you gotta go boost or buck/boost.

I wonder if there’s a way in firmware to increase the PWM duty cycle of a FET driver as the battery voltage drops? It wouldn’t help with efficiency, but it would help to regulate output much better (on levels below max).

This is one of the differences between a $20 light and a $100 light. Some folks might prefer the A6 along with extra batteries for well less than half the cost. Good arguments can be made for both lights.

Luckily things get better as time goes on. We are close to getting high powered (40+ watt) aftermarket boost drivers with sweet UI’s like NarsilM and Anduril. Maybe in a few more months?

At the present time we only have medium powered drivers (20W) with a set - low, med, high, turbo and dbl clk for strobe - user interface. :confounded:

Maybe the next BLF light can use a boost driver. :+1:

That would probably be costly for BLF standards…but I’d like to see that happen.

How much more is a boost driver, compared to the usual FET+1 drivers that budget lights use?

I could be wrong, but I’ve got a feeling it could be a significant price difference for a good boost driver compared to a FET +1 driver, in terms of Chinese production cost.

Lexel said it would cost over $20 for him to make a high powered 17 mm boost driver.
In a BLF project it could be cheaper:

  • increasing driver size would enable use of cheaper components
  • labour in China is cheaper
  • larger scale saves a lot

So…I don’t know, but maybe up to $10 premium?
Then there’s a question of what LED would be involved.

  • XHP35 is quite expensive considering its output. The work-in-progress drivers can drive it to the full potential
  • XHP50.2 is a bit more expensive per unit, but cheaper per-lumen. The work-in-progress drivers can drive it reasonably hard, but not to the limit
  • XHP70.2 is actually quite cheap per-lumen, but the work-in-progress drivers wouldn’t be able to drive it hard
  • Some Nichia? Luxeon?
  • Multiple 3V LEDs?

Here is what Lexel just told me:

So driver parts alone cost over double a good FET driver like in the FW3A.

Up to 25W?…That’s XHP35 driven to 1.8A. Could wish for more. :wink:

Sounds like a 25W boost driver is good enough for a single-emitter light. Only 6€ more than a good FET+AMC driver doesn’t sound like much more expensive. So, it would be a $30 or $40 light, rather than a $20 or $30 light? Still a bargain compared to most boost-driven lights you can buy. Even if the price was $50 for a boost driver + a XHP50.2, that’s only half of what a similar Zebralight costs. Maybe the features or quality wouldn’t be as high, but BLF designs tend to be pretty good.

Area under the curve says H17F wins, but they both seem to end up at the same place, steady-state. (Physics).

Perhaps down to the slightly higher thermal mass of the Cu torch, but thermal mass is not the same as mass (though I do like a heavy Cu torch).

For an identically dimensioned torch, made of either Al or Cu, the Cu torch will weigh 8940/2712 = 3.3 times as much.

Whereas the Al has more than double the specific heat capacity of Cu (0.22 vs. 0.1) by mass, or 2.2/3.3 = 0.67 by volume, but half the thermal conductivity.

Which is why copper torches make little sense in engineering terms, over three times as heavy for marginal gains. They are shiney though and patinate nicely.

If you want thermal mass, with low actual mass, go Al, not Cu.

Get it right, and you’ll have better thermal conductivity too, with less mass.

Edit: small bits of copper used in the right place for thermal conductivity are excellent, MCPCBs and pills. But making a whole torch out of it is a bit silly. And kidding yourself that it adds “thermal mass” without a downside (actual mass) doesn’t fit the facts.

Brass of course is one of the worst possible things to use for removable pills, Convoy etc. please note. A proper integral Al shelf is far better.

Please , put me in for two

Tom Tom: Not everyone is a ultralight enthusiast; sometimes volume is all that matters. Higher conductivity and heat capacity for the same size light is great. Were it not for the price and how much more usable aluminum is as a material, copper would be great.

spaceminions copper just makes flashlight non-EDC

Oh good, that means I’m not going crazy. I wrote EDN, then looked at your link and it was just Electronic Design. I edited my previous post lest anyone think I subscribed to Erectile Dysfunction magazine.