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

Ok, after a few dozen designs, shapes & ideas i tested for the “down shade” or lamp shade as a part of the LT1 Accessory kit, i finally hit the perfect one.

- This is something i been trying to perfect for some time, to get the correct shape, color, angles, and configuration to add to the LT1 design, so the lantern can be hung from a ceiling or a tree and direct all its light downwards as smoothly and evenly as possible, with as little light lumens loss as possible, and achieving a good balance of directional light for the times when a above-light source is needed, ( as in hanging above a camp site, hanging on a ceiling over a table to light up that table perfectly, or just as a perfect warm lamp style lighting in a case where regular electric lamps are not a thing.

- I found this perfect bowl shape that was a great color of warm yellow, and painted the inside with a flat white paint. (as mentioned before, i tested every type & color of reflector from shiny chrome, silver, aluminum, gloss white, etc. and out of all of them a very flat/matte white reflects the most smooth light of them all. (I will take photos soon of how that works, and how well this upper-shade-reflector really works for down-lighting.

- Take note of how smooth & even the light is illuminating the entire area down to the base of the LT1 test unit, there is no artifacts, no hard-lighting, and no tint shift. :sunglasses: ( here its running on the #2 mode above the lowest, ( the mode that will allow the lantern to run for days or weeks non stop on four 3000 mAh cells with less than 0.14 amps draw, (0.035 amps draw on each cell. ( this test LT1 has 5-AMC chips per channel enabled. (Lantern set at average 4000K mid-range of the tint ramp) The CRI is beautiful & natural, and at this setting its still far brighter than a 7-watt incandescent night light, more around a 15-watt incan range.

- I am also working on the same for a side directional shade reflector for the lantern.

No problem….I removed you from the list but I can easily add in back again if you want.

I was under the impression that the V2 was a done deal, 100% confirmed.

If there’s a chance it won’t even happen of course leave me on the list for V1!

Sorry for the confusion

Stupid, tired or drunk lionheart_2281 didn’t realise that this post was in jest because some of those features seem very much feasible.

I don’t get the current hype about a potential LT2 or better LT1 premium which isn’t more than a collection of features that are to unessesary or expensive for a mass production model at this point. It will probably take one or two more years to design it after the LT1 is finished and then we still have to find a manufacturer that is willing to invest into a product that costs $100+ and is only interesting for a very small target group.

Meanwhile we have the almost finished LT1 which is good for over 99% percent of usecases and better that every other lantern on the marked, so what are you waiting for?
There will always be something better if you wait long enough.

In all honesty, this looks pretty darn amazing DBSAR!! . :beer:
.

The ability of the lamp to run by USB only is a HUGE advantage and opens it up for precisely this.

I’d like to see a V1A created (“A” for ABS plastic). Tough ABS plastic body instead of anodized aluminum. This cheaper version could be priced more like $19. And then with subsidies, it could be made available at half that (or less) to impoverished nations. This was done previously with a solar cell project, to provide a cheap renewable power source for people in impoverished nations. So the whole product cycle for a cost-effective version was probably already done. It could be repeated with any product, I imagine. Including the BLF LT1.

I wish I could speak more authoritatively about this, but I’m going off of an article I’d read a couple years ago and don’t have any practical experience in this area. But it might be worth tracking down the agency that was the conduit for that solar cell project and see if there might be interest.
_

V2 feature request: Either a dedicated switch or some UI control that will govern how the light is charged. This is to address the possible batteries overcharging when the light is on plugged into USB. So you could optionally “shut off” battery charging when not desired.

The main intention is to prevent overcharging of batteries. Now there might be several ways to address this without any manual control. I’m presuming that the battery charging stops once the software detects that the batteries are fully charged. If this is the case, then… maybe reroute the circuitry such that when plugged into USB, the driver pulls power directly from the USB source rather than the batteries. I’m guessing this would be too complicated. So… maybe something more simple? For instance, the logic test: if USB plugged in —> if light is ON —> if current power cycle has detected 100% battery charge, delay battery charging again until 90%.

The other thing I’m thinking of is a manual lockout to the battery. So it requires some user intervention. The idea being that when the user sees that the batteries are fully charged, twist the body to break the battery connection. Now the LT1 running off USB will not affect battery drain.

My apologies if any of these ideas have already been discussed. I was AFB for a good number of days and now there’s too much to catch up on.

Don’t worry Xevious.

We’ve been talking about doing a 4xAA model for a while now.

Would be dope.

Let’s wait for the BLF Lantern to be made and then make other stuff.

Hey BSM, that’s absolutely something I’d not managed to address but you’re totally right — for such a project you’d definitely want 4xAA. Because 18650 are probably scarce and costly in impoverished nations. I’m sure some people have gotten into harvesting 18650’s from dead laptop battery packs, but commercially the cells would be significantly more expensive than brand new rechargeable AA cells.

Yeah, it’s easy to get ahead on this when LT1 hasn’t even gone to retail mode. But it’s hard not to, because it’s such a wonderful tool — well thought out and opening up so many possibilities. :slight_smile:

Ok…I added you back on the list.

Fantasy. It has been mentioned as a possibility for later, but no concrete plans have been made that I’m aware of, and the focus is on getting V1 released.

Nice work, Den! :+1:

I love it! Especially the warm color of the outer surface.

The shade looks like the perfect accessory for using the LT1 at or below eye level.

I’m really looking forward to more accessories. Keep up the excellent work!

I like that bowl lamp shade. Nice color.

Lionheart said

[/quote]

Unlike most on this site I’m happy to wait for the better product and not have 2 of them with one being inferior.

Lucky I’m the minority but yes I see your point.
[/quote]

I know exactly what you mean, that’s what I’ve started to do with torches especially now that anduril is now common ,there are a few versions of it , IMO it peavs me when stuff is released before it’s ready with bugs or things not working like they should ,then a newer version is released , we all rush out to buy it then discover there’s a better version ,BUT hundreds of people have already paid good money out & not everyone has the tools or knowledge to update it themselves ,so to get the better version they have to spend the same money again for the newer one , I’m speaking for myself here when I say I would rather wait for the bugs & unreliability to to ironed out before I spend money on a device eg Fw3a ,D4 etc , but I’m confident the Lantern will be up to par because I’ve seen the way DBSAR has been thourally testing it & making sure all is perfect before it goes to production.
Oh & reguarding the charging of cells whilst using the lantern & the possibilitie of cells not terminating , I have a Philips Bluetooth speaker that I can charge while using it & I can confirm that the battery will stop charging even though it’s still connected to the charger & being used at the same time , I’m not sure if it’s the circuitry in the speaker charging circuit that is responsible for it terminating charge whilst it’s still connected & being used or if it’s the apple wall charger , either way ,it can be done.

So I see from the final rendering that the integrated bottle opener didn’t make the cut? :frowning:

Not to worry, you can rig one to screw into the side tri-pod mount & you’ll be good to go…. :beer:

Sofirn have posted the BLF LT1 pics on their facebook:

So… the waiting is almost over, right?

:person_with_crown: :partying_face: :student:

Woah, so awesome. I can’t wait.

I like the concept of a less expensive version (e.g., plastic) for countries with no light or money. There could be a BLF project.

I do not think that AA batteries are suitable. In the target users, the AAs in-country probably cost some days of food. Decision points: have light for their children to do home work and reading, eat. Rechargeable only.

To be useful, it must be dead cheap.

If you want to pursue this, I would suggest including reasonable quality bare bones Li rechargeable and a low cost solar panel. Not garbage: but durable. Don’t leave it in the rain. This people can use without having to scrounge for batteries.

A target operation. Minimum - day of solar charging for 8 hours of night light. Possibly an external port for charging ultra cheap flashlights and maybe radios and very simple phones. These could be NiMh or Li for cost reasons. An absolutely lowest power LED portable/pocket light and area lighting would be huge.

If you can present a viable price package, you might be able to sell high volumes to the groups helping people with pretty much nothing, to help educating their children and making a more comfortable and productive night environment. Much better than fumes for various combustion generated light sources. And probably cheaper. I think there are those sorts of devices around. But a beautifully engineered BLF lantern - priceless.

I just registered but I’m interested in one… Is it ok?

It looks amazing, good work!