TK's Emisar D4 review

The black D4 has been sold out for some time on intl-outdoor, if Hank would have been in time making new ones his sales would be better (I do not see the black D4 ceasing to be popular any time soon, even with new models, the D4 is simply the best Emisar light). Does that maybe indicate that an upgrade D4 is in the make?

I don’t really know Hank’s plans. I fixed a stepped ramping bug though, and am going to send him an updated copy of RampingIOS V3 for each Emisar light.

The bug isn’t a serious one; it just acted weird when two ramp steps were exactly 128 levels apart and the step size happened to land exactly on the guess from imprecise integer math.

Anyway, I’ll send it but I can’t guarantee he’ll use it.

Can anyone tell me the screw size for the two screws that hold down the LED PCB? My aluminum D4 has flat head screws which allows for my 3D printed glow gasket to fit just fine. My D4 TI I just got has round head screws. Much too large to allow the 3D gasket to fit under the optic. I would like to get two flathead screws for my D4 TI.

My aluminum D4 has the round screws too, but the threads will be the same.

I could take one out and measure it tomorrow when I have my tools, but any fastener store worth its salt should be able to help you if you bring it in. They will be able to measure the length, diameter, and thread pitch, and if they don’t have it they should be able to tell you where to get them.

How come he decided not to sell the green and blue anymore, would u know TK ? i think the colors now are really boring even tho its a nice light we need more color options like before, even if price goes up let it be so…

Question:

Is the D4/D4S circuit diagram available anywhere?

I can probably figure it out myself (trained in college) once I open it to flash it, waiting for my soic clip, but before taking it apart I was wondering if there are any spare outputs on the AVR microcontroller.

You don’t need a circuit diagram to flash the part. You just need to be able to identify pin 1 on the IC, and how to wire up the flashing interface of your choice. I can’t answer the question definitively about spare pins, other than I know pin 1 is not used in circuit, in order to make it easier to flash. I suspect there is another unused pin, but my bare board is at work right now, otherwise I would inspect it to see. Based on the picture in this post, I believe pin 7 in unused. The picture should help you find pin 1 also.

Pin 7 is available.

On the D4, pin 3 is also available, and even has a solder pad connected to it. This was set aside to control aux LEDs or a button LED, but it wasn’t used. It is used on the D4S though.

I don’t know why Hank changed the colors available. I think he said the green was very difficult to get right though.

Does the fully-configurable beacon allow you to independently set on-time as well as repetition rate? The biggest complaint I have with my D4 beacon is that it is really just a “blinker”. A true beacon should have a very short on-time so that it can be full brightness yet still preserve battery life.

Nope, it’s 0.5s on, (N - 0.5)s off. But if you want to change the duty cycle, it should be very easy to do by changing one or two lines of code. It’s open-source.

It’s tempting, especially after reading through the 5K or so posts in this thread and seeing that many users are successfully modifying their code. But it would be a first effort for me, and I’m reluctant to risk one of my favorite toys in a learning exercise. And I remember someone (was it you?) may have mentioned that certain missteps result in an inoperable and unrecoverable (without special hardware) brick.

The D4S seems to be slightly more mod-friendly, and I’m already tempted to buy one of those. And I seem to remember reading someone’s (you again?) notion that maybe a beginner’s hardware/software programming kit could be offered as a turnkey “get started” package. I’m more likely to get my feet wet that way, then look at the D4 after gaining some confidence.

I haven’t managed to get any stores to carry a starter kit yet, but I still hope that can happen sometime. One of the main steps right now is finding a way to manufacture Lexel’s flashing key, and getting more brands to use it on their drivers.

However, it’d also be nice to have a kit based on a more common chip clip. (SOIC8 clip)

Here is close to a “kit”:

I’ve read hundreds of posts and finally successfully flashed. Here is a condensed version of the hardware and software you would need if running a Windows computer (I use Windows 10)…enjoy!
I had some trouble figuring out exactly what to buy, but I figured it out after reading all the posts for months. Just get those three things I linked below for hardware.
I bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AX4WQ00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s…
and these:

and this from ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Programmer-Testing-Clip-SOP8-Pin-SOP-SOIC-8-SOIC8-DIP8-DIP-8-IC-Test-Clamp-NEW/172420293749?hash=item28250ce475:g:sjYAAOSwK~RaTaoE
you have to bend the clip pins a bit, but works fine and it’s not 20$!

ya…cheaper from china…but not by much, and I prefer Amazon reliable quick ship. Not worth saving 3 or 4$ ordering from china and waiting a month.
Windows programs:

uspasp driver:
here is the driver and manual for the chip programmer…read page 7 for install
scroll down for the driver download and manual pdf

avrdude flashing program:

hit the green download button…installs an “install” program…
TK’s hex files library:
http://toykeeper.net/torches/fsm/

If you plan to do this for the first time, I would recommend adding a board like this to your purchase list. It allowed me to program a dummy part without tearing apart my light and risking damage the first time. The one I bought was local and cost less than $4. In the total cost of things it was worth it for sure.

Also DEFINITELY use a wooden tool to try to remove the board. I forgot this on my second attempt, broke a chip resistor using a metal object, and still have not recovered, even after replacing the broken part. I think my clip is just not connecting, but I have put this project down for a bit.

sbslider, that’s why he’s interested in learning on the D4S, it has programming vias on the driver board so you don’t even have to remove the driver. :wink:

:blush:

Hey, it’s a good tip though, what you said… for sure I’ve busted up some driver components trying to bust glue before just like you said. I’ve learned to eyeball down in the hole and maybe feel around a bit with the tip of a small jewelers screwdriver in an effort to get on the pcb before hitting it. :wink:

I remember one that was a true PITA, couldn’t get it to budge. Finally got it all apart and it was the strangest set-up, they had a small driver board up top of the contact driver board and I had knocked the screwdriver all the way through that first board! Totally annihilated it, what a mess! lol (a solarforce light, if I recall correctly. Had a top board soldered into a brass holder and the bottom board also soldered in then the assembly is press fit, sure a trick to get out)

I notice that the Ti version is out of stock on Hank’s store, so maybe it is nearing the time for a new model/revision?

I would very much like another D4 but not until it gets the newer RampingOS V3

I think black (alu) body with the copper head would look amazing and hopefully not as expensive as the Ti model.

I don’t know if that will happen, but I sent Hank updated firmware today.

http://toykeeper.net/torches/emisar/?C=M;O=D

Changes compared to the previous version of RampingIOS V3:

  • Added a moon timing hint. When doing a hold from off, this blinks when passing the threshold between “click” and “hold”, to indicate when to let go for moon.
  • Better timing consistency on hold-from-off. (before, the stepped ramp took an extra 0.4s to start ramping up)
  • Fixed a bug where changing ramp style could go to the wrong brightness level. (go to a med mode, turn off, hold for moon, click 3X to change ramp styles, and it’d go to the med mode instead of staying at moon)
  • Added a D4-219C build target. (FET ramp power reduced to 80%)

Very interesting, thanks for the new info.