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

I had already read it.

Ok. No problem. I just wanted to help in case you hadn’t.

I appreciate the help, thanks!

I think the moonlight on the FW3A is fine. And actually the one on my D4 is fine too, I can use them at night without scarring my retinas or waking my wife, and I have blackout curtains. What does surprise me is those two lights have lower moonlight than many of my other lights, even my Moonlight Specials (1+7 AMC7135, which use 1x7135 for the moonlight). Does anyone know why that is? Just a curiosity.

Anyway, my ZL, my D4, FW3A, and my L6 all do moonlights low enough to stare directly at the emitter. My Jetbeam will do moonlights so low that I have to overexpose the ZL moonlight just to capture the RRT-01's output in the same image.

FWIW I measured 0.15 lumens with the XP-L HI 3D, and 0.1 lumens with 219B sw45k.

How to I get it this low? Since you said configure I believe there is something I can change about it to get it lower.

My understanding is that the single 7135 350mA chip output gets PWM’d. Meaning its output is sliced on/off/on/off… in a way the led(s) only emits lights 50% or 30% or 1% - or whatever, of the time at a very fast rate so your eye does not see the blinking.

PWM - Pulse Width Modulation, is widely used to modulate things like light output, but on some lights/drivers the frequency is low enough it can be detected by the eye - and become annoying for some people.


Copper FW3A XPL HI ordered! :smiley:

Level / lm table FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public - #2294 by ToyKeeper

Level 1 -> 0.3 lm

The output of level 1/150 is almost entirely dependent on the hardware itself. It changes with emitter type, battery voltage, and a fair amount of per-light randomness. The range is generally about 0.05 to 0.30 lm though.

Gotta love that per-light randomness. :slight_smile:

The D4 and FW3A also both only use 1x7135 for the moonlight.

However, the per light randomness is not entirely random. One known factor is that some 7135 chips do not work well if both the PWM frequency is high and the duty cycle is low.

The FW3A was requested specifically to use a known good 7135. As far as I understand it (a lot of this information is scattered across numerous threads that predate my time here, so I may be partially mistaken), Richard has not been able to consistently source those chips, so he tweaks the firmware on drivers he sells like the Moonlight special to match what the chips he gets can manage as their lowest stable output.

Sooooooooooooo, where can I order a programming clip for my precious? I’m not opposed to making one, but I’m getting lazy in my advanced age. I did try searching and found people mentioning ‘just order one’, but I couldn’t find where.

Also, should we start a list for TK’s special edition? I know I want a couple of purples. Someone tossed out 100 as a number to be made. I highly doubt that will be enough. My worry is that I’m on a trip where I only have internet every few days at best for another 3 weeks. If they come up and sell out before I can order one, I’m going to be seriously bummed.

I got my standard SOIC8 clip off Aliexpress, was only 2 or 3 bucks. There are different clips out there- mine is black. Have seen blue ones as well. Also check what cables you would like or need.
Easiest way of hooking up are Dupont cables F-F.

This clip should work for any standard ATTINY mcu

You want a USBASP adapter, and a SOIC/SOIC8 clip - I bought mine all from AliExpress, but you can get them all over the place:

Happy to help with how it wires up; there’s threads on it but I’m on mobile atm; slow to find.

https://imgur.com/a/4u0eRV0

Quick photos of my clip and USBASP.

Must be something wrong with my eyes.

?

I know it’s poorly lit and not on a good camera; was just trying to get a quick image done :slight_smile:

More pics of the blue and orange hands free device!

that is a great picture, especially the PIN1 sticker. I should also do something like that.

If you have a Raspberry Pi, avrdude is really convenient to use on raspbian (not that other OSs would be difficult).

eBay/AliExpress for something like “6 arm helping hands” - got it a looong time ago now. I think it’s more for RC drones/copters, but having 6 arms is brilliant for holding everything down when working on it.