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

Will those driver boards be sold separately in your driver sales thread too, for some who might want to mod their existing Q8 lights or other SRK-style lights?

EDIT: I just noticed your (re)programming pads are there, which is cool. But, looking closer, they are interfering with the ATtiny footprint, or rather the ATtiny footprint is interfering with the (re)programming pads.

There is a picture with 8 extension tubes. That makes 32 cells :wink:

They should.
You are reprogramming the ATTiny with them.

Looks good!
i agree that this first lantern version don’t need the power bank, just the ramping design & built in charging. The AMC design is perfect for this first production lantern model.

as long as its all in parallel & not any series its doable with up to 32 with extension tubes, to create a taller model that can run for days non stop. (the lantern will be a 4P design)

I need clean underpants!!! (scuttles away to change them) Thats better…… WHAT 40 hours by removing a chip or three!? Why has this not been done?

That’s why were going with the simple, easy to modify AMC 7135 driver design. The factory lantern will come with either 4 or 5 chips per channel for a given output on high, but if you want to increase run times in all the modes, (but at a reduced light output) you can remove one or two of the AMC regulator chips. (of if looking to mod it for more output can add chips to the empty 7135 chip pads.

wow that is cool :slight_smile: if Sofirn does use the same battery body as the Q8, then yes the lantern can be modded to a pole-lamp that can run for weeks of nightly use before charging the cells.

No, look at the photos of the driver renderings. At the bottom edge of the driver board, there are several vias for the programming key that he designed. But some of the pads for the MCU cross more than one via and some of the pads for the MCU don’t contact any of the vias. I don’t know if it’s “right” or not but it doesn’t look right to me.

But do you have that many cells that you would trust to put together like that? Would it be worth the high cost of buying that many cells just to not have to charge for a few days?

The MCU outline maybe confusing there. I checked and every Via connects where it should. I don’t think Lexel overlook that noticable problem. It is fine. :wink:

Aah, had to zoom way in to see that there’s a little space between the top vias and the pads for the bottom legs of the MCU. Ok. Sorry for the false alarm. :person_facepalming:

It should work fine. The only real risk there is if solder spilled over the edge of a pad and into a nearby via, bridging two MCU pins. It’s underneath so it’d be hard to see if it happened. But that’s probably pretty unlikely to happen.

It has been done before. Cut the power level in half, and it doubles the runtime. For example, a Convoy light with 4x7135 driver runs twice as long as one with a 8x7135 driver. But it puts out half as much light.

On the lantern, there isn’t much need to remove chips to increase the runtime… just turn it down a level or two and it’ll run longer. Go down all the way, and it can run nonstop for about three months. You don’t have to run it at full power at all times.

Agreed

updated

added one for two total. Price estimate $40 or so (less?) has been discussed, but is not firm.

Here is another :slight_smile:
1079 T18
1080 agent80
1081 efi5phd
1082 Coyotehawk
1083 Terrys8
1084 Rdubya18
1085 wheremydonky
1086 wheremydonky
1087 lohtse
1088 zeroflow
1089 gottawearshades

I am also interested. Add me to the list.

New here, can you clarify? Does this mean the first run for people here that said they were interested won’t have power bank function, but it will be added for later production runs? Or does this mean something else? Thanks.

We decided to drop the power bank option to reduce cost per unit, and get it into production sooner. (it will still have the charging function however. Originally the lantern was to be designed to be a simple, low-cost better quality lantern as a better option to all the low-quality plastic lanterns commercially available in stores & on the market, and adding to many bells & whistles will defeat that purpose of the low-cost part.

added!