Thanks for the warning, Den! :+1:
Iāve been worried about this ever since I first saw at the driver PCB photos. Especially, because I plan to use NCR18650GA (semi-)flat-top cells.
What is your opinion about simply removing the pot? IIRC, it was mentioned earlier, that currently it does not have any real use (it could act as a current limiter for an optional locator LED, which is not mounted by default).
It could be desoldered as a DIY āmodā by the users who want to use flat-tops, OR it could be omitted to begin with (i.e. not mounted in the factory) in future batches.
Iāve had feedback that the Sanyo NCR18650GA gets close to, but does not touch the trimmer.
As I get more feedback or direct information I will share.
The trim-pot resistor at this time is dormant, and it could be possible to remove it if you wish. as it was a feature added for modders, it has been discussed by the team and its likely it will be relocated in the future lots.
I removed the trim pot on my LT1 with a small flat blade screw driver. Warning: Do not attempt this at home.
First just the screw part of the trim pot, but a post was still sticking up.
So I used the screw driver to remove the pot completely, a bit of clean up with some side cutters.
No concern now with my laptop pull batteries somehow shorting on the trim pot.
Note amishbillās rolled up cheat sheet between the cells.
I guess they were salvaged from a battery pack (laptop battery, etc). What you see on top of the cells seem to be the remainders of the metal tabs that used to connect the cells in the pack together. They are now cut and folded to act as makeshift ābutton topsā. Neat trick.
I tested a number of different flat top 18650ās to see if the trim pot was an issue but none of them made contact with the trim pot. So perhaps itās a matter of manufacturing tolerance thatās causing contact with some of the LTās?
Man, just got a big āah haā moment. Iāve been pulling off the soldered tabs on my laptop pulls, then scraping pliers over them to flatten down the sharp bits. Doing what you did, simply clipping and leaving the main tab, makes perfect sense. I feel soā¦ stupid. :disappointed:
I wasnāt worried until I took a small straight edge and noticed that the trim pot on my unit did stick up above the battery ring. You can see the cells Iām using are not exactly clean on top, so I just opted to remove the non-value added for me trim pot. Now I have no concerns.
A note on these ābutton topā laptop pulls, one can do a much cleaner job than I did with the left over tabs, but these are functional and safe as best I can tell, so I left them as is. Like others, I used to completely remove the tabs, but when I was preparing for the LT1, it made sense to leave on the short tab and fold it over for a equivalent to a button top cell. Iāve got 50 of them, so Iām hoping the extension tubes will come to fruition.
-New video upload: November,9,2019, -Basic operation-101 of the Sofirm BLF LT1 lantern Andruil firmware: (have patience with my fast accent talking, i need to practice to talk slower and get a better camera mic set up.)
Thanks DBSAR for generating these videos. A great job of explaining ways around the LT1 Anduril.
Iāll comment on the momentary mode. As you mentioned, the only way out of momentary is a hard lock out. In this post, mentions that,
So it seems intentional that a hard lockout is required to leave momentary mode. Iām not sure if she was saving 5 clicks from that mode for something else, or the nature of the FW and chip required it, or ? But for now it is what it is.
On final minor comment, you mentioned that for ramped mode the lowest low is lower than for stepped mode. Definitely true. However, the ends of the ramp for both modes, as well as the number of steps are programmable. 4 clicks in stepped mode, and you can program (or not change) the settings for bottom of ramp, top of ramp, and number of steps. To get the bottom of the ramp in stepped mode down to level 1 (and as low as it is in the default ramp), do the following:
Put LT1 in stepped mode if not there already
click 4 times
while output is flickering (after one flash), just click 1 time. If you wanted level 20 instead of level 10 for the bottom of the ramp, click 20 times.
If you donāt want to change anything else about stepped mode, just watch the LT1 eventually flash twice, then buzz for a bit, then flash 3 times, then buzz for a bit, and eventually return to the setting where it was before you entered programming by clicking 4 times.
Iāll skip talking about how to change the top of ramp setting, other than to say to you are counting down from level 151 to where you want to establish the setting.
To change the number of steps, during the flickering after 3 flashes, click for the number of steps you want. I changes mine to 8 levels instead of the default 5. So 8 clicks, they donāt have to be super fast, as long as you continue to press the switch the LT1 will continue to listen for additional clicks for about 5 seconds.
A video would be better I suppose, but my internet prohibits me from uploading something of a the length required to explain this via video.
Hope this helps, and again great job on all the features of the LT1 that you covered, it will help a lot of folks not familiar with Anduril. :+1: