2*AA side-by-side aluminum flashlight - DCF01 by Sofirn (Formerly: Resurrection of Duracell Durabeam)

One “maybe”, press’n’hold both buttons for battery-check or some not-critical function, for those who can handle it.

Do waterproof slider-switch designs exist? I think they are used in diving lights, right? Slide for off-low-high would be cool. (and it will make this light more attractive than my MT22A)

At least I agree on a very basic UI, 3 or 4 brightness modes and nothing else. And it helps if the flashlight is really budget. And if it runs on 2 AA cells, I think that USB charging is overkill, everyone has a NiNh charger and is used to charge these batteries. You can give this to muggles no problem.

Oh, and batt-check could be a plain indicator led somewhere, if it lights: charge soon, if it blinks: almost dead.

I love slider switch. Actually this was my initial idea and reason I tried to resurrect Durabeam.

Here are my initial sketches from April: 1 & 2

and thanks to huge help from i_me_andrew we had first rough drawing



Example:

Yep, I liked the 2D Eveready flashlights that had the old 2-way slide switches with the button in the middle to lock them

Sofirn is already familiar with magnetic slide switch

(above: Sofirn MS11)

Magswitches usually have about 10mA parasitic current, though. And probably need a fairly higher voltage (closer to 5V than 3V, let alone 2.whatever when under load).

You can probably put 2 pb switches under 1 boot to make it look/feel like a rocker switch, but a (nonmagnetic) waterproof slider might be hard to come by (read: I haven’t ever seen any).

OK, so a simple light with high quality components and high build quality.
No USB and no LCD, but a plain led indicators as batt-check, like this one:

This is the most simple UI that I could think of:

https://i.imgur.com/6zPTNsN.jpg

Immediate thought, may or may not be sensible :slight_smile:

Put the two e-switches under a single flat rubber cover, with a space between them. Put a roller on the bottom of a captive slider. Two detents on the slider.

Off is the centre position, with the slider on one of the two detents and the roller on the gap between the switches so nothing happens.

Push forward is momentary-on. No detent there, the roller engages the front e-switch, with a spring pushing the slider back to the centre-off position when the user releases it.

Push backward is constant-on, the roller engages the rear e-switch, with the slider on the other detent. Push forward to the centre-off position to turn the light off again.

Extra constant-on modes are possible by having extra rear e-switches in line, each with its own slider detent.

BREAK

Alternatively, you could do it magnetically with a magnet in the slider and using reed switches (no parasitic power requirement) instead of the constantly-powered Hall Effect sensor that continuously-variable controls have to have.

Too complicated, too many movables. Rubber boot with a stiff top. Pressing down on the front activates the front switch, and v/v for the rear switch.

Doesn’t need to quite literally be a slider, ’though if you want to “contour” the boot to be somewhat concave (press the edges) or convex (somewhat of a slider, but nah).

Now, you wanna take that rocker switch and put a sort of lever sticking up-top like a paddle switch, that’d work, too.

Eg:

to show the (rather bulky) actuator.

Yeah, too complicated for the low-price brief, that’s for sure.

Your way is better, especially since I’ve remembered that rocker switch mechanisms are available in on-off-momentary arrangements too :slight_smile:

Yeh, anyone who has power windows (or locks) in a car has seen a switch that’s center-off, momentary-up, momentary-down.

I concur.

I think we will stay with solution from post #89

Remember, you’re talking about something intended to be assembled chabuduo by Chinese workers from cheapest-source part suppliers.

KISS. You need this to be far simpler and more robust than you want to imagine, to take up the slack.

Just ask VOB about his new motorcycle:laughing:

No bearing spacer? Rear wheel locks up? No problem!

Good thing flashlights aren’t life safety critical.

Oh, wait ….

I have a feeling that my flashlight UI designs aren’t very well aligned with the popular opinion, but Artur asked me to weigh in so here’s my input. This interface setup is what MELD uses in lights with dual switches:

The only difference between the two switches should be that one is for UP and one is for DOWN. Any user input that could have directionality will follow the UP/DOWN designation of the switch that is being used. For any other user input, both buttons should function exactly the same.

For example, here’s a simple ramping UI with dual switches that follows this philosophy:
Click either button to turn on. Click either button to turn off. Press and hold either button from off for momentary usage. While on, hold down either button to ramp; UP button goes up, DOWN button goes down. Double click UP switch shortcuts to max; double click DOWN switch shortcuts to min.
This can be extended to further functions with extended commands (triple click, click-click-press, press both simultaneously, etc.). In any case, a command that doesn’t have any up/down association (on/off, battery check, options menu, etc.) doesn’t matter which switch is used, they both act the same. Any command that does have an up/down association (ramping, shortcuts to high or low, advance through menu options, etc.) will choose the direction based on which button is pressed.

:crown: :+1:

Interesting light but from my point of view:

- UI is too complicated

- I fear that too much features might compromise the reliability

- it will not be a budget light

- it might end up bulky

  • we might not see this light before a long time

Just my 2 cents. I know I will still buy it if it’s not too expensive.