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

Good Afternoon,

Please add me to the list for one lantern.

Thanks

So you are saying the first 500 customers will have the LT1 limited-edition collectors-item manual.

Yes, “limited-edition” in that your ability to read and understand it will be quite limited. Or, limited in that the behavior and features of the LT1 will align with the descriptions in the manual. :student:

That’s unlikely to deter anyone from ordering as soon as they can!

Many thanks to everyone who worked on the manual in marathon mode over the past week. While it was unfortunate that the matter did not come up sooner, we can be grateful that the issue arose before more copies were printed :slight_smile: . Another week and buyers would have been stuck with the old manual.

The grammatical corrections by nicois are worth including in the reference manual, but they are not critical to using the lantern. Though many will deem these corrections irrelevant, it is actually quite impressive to receive a manual for a Chinese product that contains accurate grammar in your local language; such details are extremely rare today and they are surprisingly effective at conveying quality and value, even if non-critical.

Thanks again!

Yup. :money_mouth_face: It’ll be worth a fortune someday.

Do we have any confirmation on the colors yet? Or how long of a gap there will be between the first 500pcs and the second batch?

I just did a quick search. If you can prove me wrong, please do. The first post I found that tried to figure a price point was one by djozz, where he speculated it could be done by $30. But that was quickly followed up by The Miller, who was actively involved on the team at that time, where he said a reasonable price should be around $50. Back then, it was still expected to have only one LED and a Qlite driver with a TP4056 chip added for charging. A newer, advanced driver design didn’t come along until a month after The Miller predicted that price point. I think Den and the team have done well to keep it as low priced as it is, considering how much more has been added to the design since then. :money_mouth_face:

HERE is the post from The Miller.

Like I said a few posts back, it was never “reasonable” to assume the LT1 would be cheaper than the Q8.

Your words imply that anyone has ever been able to successfully use a Chinese fine-print “manual” without external assistance, either in the form of a magnifying glass, zoomed in picture, or internet search. :smiling_imp:

Cissy told me today that production of batch no. 2 (lot size significantly larger than 500pcs) is about to commence beginning of October with a runtime of about 20 days. So, suppose that the first 500 pcs will be sold out immediately I expect a „supply gap“ or bottleneck of about 3-4 weeks until stock is replenished and goods ready for sale. Now, we‘ll have to wait and see how supply & demand work together.

I know Sofirn is aware of the colors, but has not confirmed with us of the colors that will be available when the orders begin.

I’d suggest using the larger version instead, for higher quality.

Anyway, if any updates are made to the diagram, it’ll be at the same URL.

I agree with DavidEF.

There are so many features that have been added over the years it’s not even funny.

1. The TP4056 was replaced with a TP5100. Being a 5-18V buck converter, the price difference between both is negligible.

2. We went from probably using 4x XP-Ls of each CCT, to 4x LH351Ds of each CCT, to 8x LH351Ds of each CCT.

3. The driver used uses a more advanced design, and a much more advanced software design, which costs money to implement and test.

4. It includes a USB-C cable.

5. It uses an injection molded custom plastic shade. High quality high efficiency custom shades cost a lot of money to make, especially in smaller quantities.

So, a 10$US bump over the BLF Q8 doesn’t seem unreasonable at all.

I think making lights inexpensively is good without too many compromises, but trying to make it too cheap is extremely dangerous in terms of cost-cutting.

TLDR: Not going to talk about this anymore.

It started out as a single XP-L LED, with a modified 105C Q-Lite driver, in a butchered & modified SkyRay King body :smiley: then evolved to what we have now, which is still a great price (even at the full non-GB price after) compared to everything else i tested, built, used, etc.

Getting anxious, got in on this and the charger build. Probably will get the wrapped batteries ordered soon. Even ordered a 60w solar panel with discount codes from here lol. Thanks to the build team.

Thank you :+1:

I normally estimate to the low end, to minimise the risk of disappointing anyone. Your numbers would be fine by me :slight_smile:

Thanks, that’s good to know. 600lm ± 6% between three of us inspires confidence.

So why are the max and min called the floor and ceiling? And why is a click and hold just called a “hold”?

It’s possible to go below a floor and above a ceiling? And somewhere, there will be a printing error and “chold” will be dramatically misunderstood.

A real answer - “click” usually implies press & release, where “hold” implies press & wait. Space in a manual or instruction set is a finite resource. Sometings you have to make the best compromise between an ELI5 answer and the space available.

The min and max levels are determined by the hardware capabilities, while the floor and ceiling are configurable by the user.

About the click / hold terminology, it’s there to eliminate ambiguity. There are four or five different notations floating around, and their phrasing overlaps, which can make things confusing. So I used one with a non-ambiguous starting point.

  • 1H = hold = press button and keep holding
  • 1C = click = press and release
  • 2H = click, hold = press, release, press, hold
  • 2C = click, click = press, release, press, release
  • 3H = click, click, hold
  • 3C = click, click, click

… and so on. The diagram intentionally gives enough information to unambiguously establish the pattern.

If the notation is shifted by one so it starts at “click & hold”, it’s unclear whether this means “press, hold” or “press, release, press, hold”.

Please put me down for two.

Thank You

That is close now to what i can estimate in comparison tests to average household LED bulbs, and using my light sphere with a lux meter comparing the lanterns output to brand name bulbs, is roughly 600 lumens with the tint mix at roughly 4000K for the 5-7135 config on maximum, and around 800 lumens on the same tint setting (4000K average with all eight LEDs running close to equal brightness) on the 7-7135 config. I want to do full run time tests using the best 3500 mAh HC cell sets i have, (using the stepped-output modes but every mode 80% of Max or lower seems to run for days regardless.