Plenty of room, just have to have your wires set-up with the right length and in the correct position (s) to reach the pads.
If you can reflow 4 emitters at once you can solder 4 extra wires.
Is it harder than a basic light with one single emitter on a nice, open 20mm star? Sure.
Impossible? Absolutely not. My statement above stands, don’t let a few extra wires stop you if you’re otherwise confident in your reflow abilities man, this is BLF, we mod things to out liking around here!
principally hardware, like the tail-end nub size, and switch ‘feel’ have recently been mentioned - and yes the optic… also, firmware can always change… minor stuff… mfg’d stuff has a life progression, usually for the better…
I’ve heard that the hardware has had a revision in the most recent batch. Specifically it seems to have a retaining ring in the tail, and the nub has been replaced with a wider one. And a batch or two ago, they also switched to brass for the head retaining ring. These things should make it a bit more reliable.
Firmware also has been getting updated periodically. I think they have a version with factory reset now, but I’m not sure how long it’ll be before it’s actually shipped to anyone.
hey- thx for the heads up on that, tk… I’m just a noob trying to pay attention here… does/will that firmware origin with you? - and reside (someday) in your reposit?… oh boy - another collectable micro-stabbing com device for my box-o-jtag junk collection… btw, (off topic) the funniest thing I read in the last ten years was on your pat site - re: expensive flatulence creation thru the magic of control voltage devices - hilarious… thx for that too… later…
Good news on these updates. It’s always good to see improvement. Hopefully the latest firmware will make it into the purple one I just ordered . Can’t wait to get it and check it out.
Did you limit the FET on your FW3A 219B? I have the same LED’s on the way for my current FW3A running 219C’s from Kaidomain. It draws 9.1A on turbo with a fresh Samsung 35E cells. It should be safe for the odd turbo blast with the higher Vf 219B’s, right?
I am running TK’s firmware version for the 219’s. That should be the version you have installed already. It is great for those leds, I have not had problems with short bursts of turbo, no blueness after 20 seconds, but she does get hot! If you are using a glow gasket, I would suggest seating it as high up into the optic as possible and then a drop of glue to hold it off of the mcpcb. My worry was cooking the leds with the glow gasket. I have not taken the time to figure out how to get a current reading from all the contact points yet. I am going to put it on a bench supply and see what the head alone draws, but I can’t get much more than 10 amps out of my supply.
So, I have 3 of these now. Once change that I have noticed thru the various manufacturing times is a change in the tail switch, and I do not like it! My very early one has a very tactile feel, activation takes a good click. The next one purchased has a softer switch and the latest is even softer. I have requested a replacement board for the last one, I think it has a problem in the little switch as it activated setting on the file cabinet without being touched. Yes, I did switch nubs and covers and it still happens. With the board in hand the switch is way to soft. I do not have any of the new ones with the retaining ring in the tail. And my oldest does not have the brass ring in the head, the existing ring is tough to remove and reinstall without it trying to cross thread.
All in all, the best BLF/TLF light to come along, IMHO.
I doubt it’s that version that limits the FET. It’s one of the 1st models that I ordered with XP-L HI 7A’s and they are in my FW3C now. I had Kaidomain 4000K 219C’s from a previous triple build that I’m running in my FW3A now. On a 30Q it gladly draws 14A on turbo. After continuous testing I couldn’t get the light to draw more than 9.1A with the 35E cells. That’s just over 3A per emitter, and that’s about as hard as I would push the 219B’s. Maybe I should just attempt to flash it if I burn one of the LED’s.
For me, it was a no brainer to flash it. The bins and tints of the 219b’s that I am using are not in production and are limited in numbers. I would hate to burn one up at this point.
From the tests that have been done, SST-20 emitters seem to be putting out only slightly more than half of the lumens that the XP-L HI emitters can in this light. I’m assuming this is because they are also on a limited power version of the firmware. How much is it limited again, 70% FET? Theoretically, could I squeeze a bit more light out of it with a modified version of Andúril (still less than 100% FET) without frying the emitters?
I bought the XP-LHI 7A version, 1st batch, and swapped in SST-20 3000K LED’s from BlueSwordM a shirt while after. They lasted lots of turbo runs then I went over to Nichia 219C’s. I’m waiting for a SST-20 version from the factory, then I can test the turbo current on both.
I don’t know for sure what firmware the SST-20 version uses, but I don’t think it’s limiting the FET. At least, I never sent Lumintop any firmware with a limit. The difference may be more related to the SST-20 high-CRI emitters simply being less efficient.
Yes. The last firmware I sent to Lumintop was this build:
http://toykeeper.net/torches/fsm/anduril.2019-08-05.fw3a.hex
It really has earned its reputation though, as a very expensive way to not make music. People dump in enough money to buy a new car, and then end up just using it to make self-generating ambient patches which either control themselves or are triggered by measuring the brain activity of house plants.
I get the appeal, since it really is enjoyable to make noise. It’s a rather zen meditative sort of experience. But a lot of people seem to be under the illusion that it’s something more than that, or that another piece of gear (rather than hard work and skill) will grant the power to make good music that other people will want to listen to.
Here’s one of the memes I see going around in synth communities:
I put J5 (highest high CRI) bin FD2 SST-20s in my XP-L HI FW3A (No FET limit) and got 1900 lumens otf
I would not think the SST-20’s would require any kind of restriction. I think that the difference in output is just the nature of the hi cri beast and just the limits of the particular led. My SST-20’s get the full on version and I have not cooked any yet, but I do get out of turbo when it is to hot to hold with my wimpy fingers! 
I also think the difference comes down to just the emitters. The SST-20s are a great tint, but the lumen difference is definitely significant.
I see. Thanks for all the answers, folks.
ok, that answers that - glad I asked… a digikey order next… thx…
(off topic) and that meme - stop it, you’re killin’ me… tears in my eyes from laughing so hard (again) for reasons I won’t go into here… but yes, more blinking shiny furniture, please…
I enjoy it, but I don’t expect anyone else to care about the noises I make. I have a Digitakt and a Blofeld and a keyboard… and I figure if I can’t make good music with that, no amount of gear would help. The main limiting factor isn’t my gear, but my skill. And that largely depends on how much time I put into it.