Sofirn SP10 Pro (AA/14500/Andúril 2) - now available!

Interested

+1

Heh! First post.
Count me in, for a 14500. I would like to have one with clear or no anodisation.

I’m in.

Welcome to BLF!

AFAIK, the project is still alive. kikkoman, Tom E, Toykeeper, gchart and Lexel are figuring out the optimal design and components to invent a driver that can handle both Li-Ion (3.7V) and NiMH (1.2V). Currently, some of these people may be on summer vacation or busy with real life™. ;-) Once the design is set Sofirn needs to check if they can source the appropriate components to build the driver.

Don’t know if it has been sugested: machine a poocket-clip/slot so the clip can be reversed.
I’ll take two either way!

Very interested Thank You.

Interested! :D

:BEER:

- SAM -

I am sorry if these are dumba$$ questions - and please note that I really thank appreciate the work being done by all the involved - but…will this light (with the Anduril FW) give it’s “full power” if running an Ni-MH/Alkaline battery and also being able to take 14500s Li-Ion?

I mean…I know that most of us seek to have the possibility to run the light with both types of batteries, and many of us don’t use 14500s, but will it be worthy the effort to make a “double battery type” driver?
Wouldn’t it be better to try to have 1 running only 14500s Li-Ion and another AAs?

Sorry if this question is dumb or if it “ruins” all the original idea for this light! I just feel that it may took a real “while” to get to a conclusion on this, and maybe meanwhile we could have, at least, a SP10S running only 14500s with Anduril.

Sorry and thanks in advance! And good work to all :wink:

Interested :+1:

There is no such thing as dumb questions MascaratumB. There are only dumb answers. ;)

While I fully understand your questions and the intention about it to get things done faster, I need you to wait for some of the "driver experts" to answer. AFAIK, building AA 1.2V NiMH or 14500 Li-Ion support is quite easy. The real challenge is to get the best of both worlds in one flashlight. And that's were the details begin that Lexel, kikkoman and the others are working on. It requires a quite sophisticated boost driver with a stable regulation and little standby drain to make this one a story of success. Personally, I expect the flashlight to run less bright with 1.2V NiMH cells but that's just a lay opinion based upon my experiences with other boostdriven flashlights like SP10B or SF14 V2.0.

So, why do most people look for a dual-use flashlight that can run both with NiMH and Li-Ion? I must admit I don't have any answer here. For children and for the sake of a better feeling about safety people like to use NiMH or alkaleaks. Some people might look for a flashlight with a great and complex UI while still being able to feel carefree using harmless NiMH/AA cells. I don't think it would pay for Sofirn to make two versions. I presume this project will either end with a 14500 only version or - hopefully - with a dual-use version that can handle both battery types.

Seems cool. Interested

The problem with dual-chemistry drivers is that quite often the mode-spacing is fine for one but garbage for the other.

One will be visually linear, whereas the other will either have horrendously wide spacing between 2 modes, or will be compressed between 2 modes as to almost look like the same brightness for both.

Worse when the cell’s voltage (either chemistry) starts dropping.

Oh yeah. When using alkaleaks, quite often the light completely craps out when the cell’s still got like half its juice left inside. I’ve even got 2×AA lights that start blinking then just turning off when there’s plenty of oomf left in the cells.

That’s the good thing with a sophisticated, open firmware: The used battery type can be detected (necessary for voltage monitoring for LVP) and the levels adjusted accordingly. But I think this doesn’t even matter for a ramping UI. :slight_smile:

Unno, depends what’s considered maximum (“high”, “turbo”, whatever) when cranked to 100. Regulated, or not? Then, even with ramping but set to, say, 20, that’d drop in current/brightness as cell voltage would drop.

At some point, it just boils down to, “eh, whatever…”.

Much appreciated for the answer and the time you took for it :wink:

Please don’t see my questions as a rush to make things faster, despite I’d like to have “this” flashlight in my pocket “the sooner, the better”! :smiley:

I was just questioning if - in the end - “will it worth it”! Of course, in the name of flashlight science, it will, and if the “crew” involved on this is successful, it will be a breakthrough in this field (BLF is a micro cosmos for that, as we’ve seen, and we must be proud and acknowledge it right away)!

As you mentioned “The real challenge is to get the best of both worlds in one flashlight”, so the question is will it be possible to get those worlds into one. We will deal with different types of batteries that have different working voltage, different cut-off, different drain, different power to the Led… and a “special” UI that needs to be carefully tuned for both with much prejudice for one type or other type of cell!
Not saying it will be impossible, but it will take a lot of time, effort, resources and so on to get to that eventual driver! And in the end, this will probably not work 100% as if it was used with only 1 type of cells.

I’m not being defeatist, never, but it will be something… I do trust the involved people, though, and if someone is able to make it real, it’s them! :+1:

About this question: “So, why do most people look for a dual-use flashlight that can run both with NiMH and Li-Ion?”
Not a general answer, only mine. The reasom why I like the SP10A/B is because I can use it with both types of cells, if I’m at home/city I can use it with 14500s and I will charge when I arrive home, when I travel I will take it because I will always get AA alkalines to put inside of it, without issues. Versatility is something useful and convenient and I love it!
But Anduril is more than “convenience”, it is versatility and something so specific that needs to be admired and played with beyond the boundaries of simple EDC use!

Again, sorry for this questioning, and don’t see it as “doubting” :wink: I will still be in! Even if this takes more than 2 years as the FW3A :smiley:
Thank you all for your efforts and work!

Muito obrigado for your answer and for sharing your opinion MascaratumB! :THUMBS-UP: :BEER:

Gratitude might better be addressed to kikkoman, Toykeeper, Tom E, gchart and Lexel for they are the real magicians. ;-)

As far as I am concerned my role is about coordination, organization and communication only. :-)

As you just said, a dual-chemistry boost driver with Andúril would be a breakthrough in driver development. Maybe this project - if successful - can be considered as a milestone for more multi-chemistry boost drivers. Actually, I'm thinking of LiFePO₄ (3.2V) support for future flashlights. Especially, with more and more LEDs coming that have a considerably low Vf, this chemistry could become more popular. On the plus side LiFePO₄ is considered to be much safer in handling.

Interested

Interested

Interested