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

One thing I noticed while studying the latest AndĂșril chart ToyKeeper provided for the lantern is the absence of an SOS mode in either the strobe or blinkies section. Some of us will be using this light in areas with poor or no cellular service. Even with cellular service, redundancy is not a bad thing in an emergency. Might not be a bad idea to add one after the beacon, or swap out the bike strobe.

good point, i never really thought of the SOS mode, but it could have replaced the bike-flasher mode. As its a 360 degree light source, i can see how the SOS mode could be very useful in a marine situation, (on a sail boat or cabin cruiser,) and a breakdown or emergency arises. Same can apply to wilderness campers, general boating, winter emergencies, highway breakdowns, etc.

While it’s not a traditional SOS mode, the Beacon and BatCheck modes should be attention grabbing too.

Why has the temperature blink-out been removed?
I know, the lantern needs no temp control, but especially outside a temperature info would be nice.
Even more so, since the LEDs are far away from the Sensor in the LT1 and the readouts would be more accurate
.

I think an argument could be made to swap an SOS mode for either the bike strobe or tactical/police strobe. I almost put Party Strobe in that list, but lets face it, this is the perfect platform to have a party strobe. :+1:

Edit — Long Live the Bike Strobe! With a half-reflector add-on and a bike mount, this would make a rather wide angle bike light.

My vote is to replace the tactical strobe with SOS. I don’t think the two people who might use an LT1 in tac-strobe as a paintball light grenade will complain too much. :sunglasses:

I think both the party and tactical strobe have their uses. Situations may arise where a blinding/confusing bright light would make a good distraction. The bike strobe however
 Guess it’s up to ToyKeeper to see what can be done.

If the decision is made to go ahead with it, hopefully we can get it from the factory in later batches, and just flash the earlier ones if we want.

LOL, sounds like we need another BLF LT1 poll. I’m one of those people. :wink:

With the driver held in by two easily accessed screws, AND there being a pogo-pin contact pad, the LT1 should be one of the most reflash-friendly lights around.

Surely, no one needs a tactical strobe on a lantern and extremely few people even need one on a flashlight; it’s just a marketing feature. I’m not attempting to start an argument, as I’m sure some people think a tactical mode might save your life, but even they might admit that such modes have been over-used to hype even terrible products to a crime-fearing public. It’s even possible that a tactical strobe simply makes your attacker angrier and more vicious.

I would argue that extremely few people need an SOS mode, either, but as much as I hate SOS being a primary mode on most flashlights, I will admit that a hidden SOS, as would be the case with Anduril, could be a useful feature on a lantern. It pains me to say that considering the idiotic marketing of tactical modes :person_facepalming: .

Oh, and sorry for calling you Shirley
 unless that’s your name.

Those look to be the exact same batteries I just recently pulled from a laptop battery pack. Red shroud with light blue surround at positive contact. Sanyo R1122. Took a very long time to charge up, but reached 4.2v.

By the way, I noticed you completely pulled off the tabs. What I saw someone else do is to trim off part of the tab, leaving the rest in place. In this application, that would be an advantage, to avoid snagging.

I second both ideas.

All temperature-related bits are omitted from the lantern build. This was mostly because it can’t regulate anyway, since the sensor is too far from the LEDs
 but also because it provides room for extra features like tint ramping.

Since the lantern has temperature stuff removed, it has some extra room. It should be possible to add SOS if people want it. I’m thinking it should go just after beacon mode, in the blinkies group.

As a side note, there probably isn’t room to include SOS on any other attiny85 versions of Anduril. If it’s added, it’ll probably just be on the lantern.

Yeap those are the batteries that I have. I got those batteries years ago before the LT project was started so leaving the tabs on wasn’t something that came to mind. If I had known then I definitely would have left them on :slight_smile:

Yeah, well, that’s just your opinion, Shirley
 :wink:

Besides, like many other things in life, different strokes for different folks. Don’t like it, don’t use it.

If you can fit it in there, fantastic! Six of the eight lanterns I signed up for are intended as gifts for boating, hunting, and camping friends. Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters are very unforgiving mistresses. Having SOS in a platform like this would be much more visible for a longer time than say, something like a Convoy C8.

Around here, the most common usage of SOS during tourist season is “Help! I need more beer!”.

Does anyone know the lifespan of the provided batteries. Will they last for 200-300 cycles?

I would expect at least 500 if you treat them nicely. My laptop battery has 500+ cycles and still holding 80% of it’s rated capacity.

Mine has arrived! So far so good, I really like it. Mine did come with some solder bridge issues, 6 & 7 had been bridged and then unsoldered but one of the extra 5000k bridges was still intact. So, I just went ahead and bridged them all. The only issue is candle mode is now a little overactive but I doubt I will use that mode much outside of the novelty factor.