Yes, the lines that are open are the control lines for the 7135s. I was surprised it worked also.
I soldered mine as well. Makes quite a noticeable difference. Went from bright to almost to bright to look directly at.
This source seems half the price of one on AliExpress, so thanks. I’m going to order one or two.
I’m not trying to speak for Sofirn, but I think we need to let people know that the group buy is for Black LT1’s only and was never truly intended to be for colored versions. Sofirn can do whatever it wants and it doesn’t hurt to ask (once), but there seem to be many people who joined the group buy, but who now want to save their code for the colored versions.
At present, Sofirn has NO IDEA when it will be able to get colored production LT1’s, so please consider your GB codes limited to the Black version.
There will undoubtedly be tons of discount codes on future colored LT1’s when they become available. You don’t have to use your discount codes now, but you might not be able to save them for a future product that has no timeline. Even though Sofirn intended to offer colored lanterns to the Group Buy list, they announced that their anodizing company was unable to fulfil these requests for now.
DBSAR had asked Sofirn about offering a bare metal option instead, but we’ve heard nothing further about that option in this thread.
I suspect that most that were on the list for just one LT1 have conceded the fact that Sofrin will not offer the ‘color option’ anytime soon and have gone ahead and ordered a black one, however I think many that are on the list for more than one, after ordering one will hold off ordering additional multiple black ones thinking the color option will be available eventually. I understood from what I was told in a message from Sofrin………. if we are willing to wait, that our place on the list would be honored and new codes will be sent out WHEN the colors are available, which I feel is inevitable because of the demand …….
whether they keep their ‘word’ and stick to this game plan is another matter. It is also possible that Sofrin might simply want to sell all the black ones before moving to selling ‘only colors’…… its hard to say for sure when money is involved.
I have some magnetic trays from Harbor Freight that might be useful as a shade or a base.
The magnet is a doughnut shape in the center so a >1/4” hole could be drilled to allow a thumbscrew to hold it to the tray.
Something sneaky could be worked out to make it stay on the top as a shade.
Alternatively, you could pull the driver and use an SOIC8 clip directly on the MCU. I haven’t tried to put my programming keys together yet, but I’m anticipating some frustration when the time comes.
Have several codes just over 2 weeks old that are already expired.
Mine is due to be delivered today, so for people in the UK that means delivery should take roughly 3 weeks. In my case it’s been 20 days since I ordered the LT1 on 26/11.
Its a useful reference but its pretty random still depending on when/where you ordered - was that eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress?
I ordered 11/11 from Ali because at the time I don’t think I had my code yet on PM and it was the same as the group buy price with offers and codes, mine is still floating out there somewhere, the tracking did not work for over 2 weeks (not recognized) so there may have been just a problem or it may have been a “bit slow”™ to ship despite being assigned a tracking number.
Suspect be another week or two yet because usually its 3 weeks once the tracking shows signs of anything on 17track etc.
DBSar you totally earnt the 10K post… 
Mine arrived in Denmark today. Ordered from amazon.de 27/11, shipped from China 30/11.
A big thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to making the LT1 a reality.
Received my first lantern yesterday. It is very nice. I had to superglue the O-Ring, as even a tighter O-Ring slips off due to the shallow groove.
Apart from that it’s pretty much perfect, even the wife likes it 
Received it! Shipped 11/29 and arrived 12/16 in California. Using the BLF wrapped batteries from Amishbill and we are ready for the next power outage. This light is well built, very nice looking, and fun to use. Thanks to everyone who made it possible
I have some feedback.
I really like the light. It’s good and I can’t wait for the next year’s camping season to use it.
I use only warm LEDs though. I played some with other CCTs as well as with ramping and warm is just my preference for the lantern.
Though I have a future project idea - do some CCT changes in the candle mode to make it even more real.
My first use is surprisingly as a bedside / mood lamp.
It’s connected to USB and has no cells inside (why would I use them?).
There are 2 caveats with that:
- the already mentioned coil whine. It’s especially annoying in the candle mode because it changes frequency with output
- the switch LEDs are always on. Needless but harmless red while working and green when not. Green is annoyingly bright and it sometimes prevents me from getting to sleep, so I have to pull the plug…
I wish a programming key was available for sale somewhere so I could try to improve it to my liking as well as plain update it.
The auto-tint mode already does that. However, the tint changes are small in candle mode because the brightness changes are small.
If you modify the code a bit though, it should be possible to normalize the tint range in candle mode, to make the effect more dramatic.
Here are a couple reasons to have cells inside for that purpose:
I thought it would be possible to use tint ramping for that. 
I suppose by auto-tint you mean that my tint changes as I ramp the output, regardless if I’m in the candle or regular on mode?
As I said - I don’t want tint ramping in the regular mode…but I’ll look into that.
Once I am able to flash the LT1 I’ll try to figure out how to make it behave more to my liking.
Actually I may be able to do it with my existing hardware, I’m not sure if my previous issues were caused by programmer / clip or the operator. I just don’t the have time to check that out yet.
You’re right. But I don’t want to wear down cells by having them in permanent 4.2V.
Though it may be worthwhile to sacrifice some laptop pull…
You don’t have to. Just leave the lantern unplugged, and recharge it once in a while. I use mine daily, but only need to recharge it two or three times per year…
You’re right again. It still wears cells down more than running with empty carrier but it seems to be the best option for now.
Thank you.
You could always just run it with one cell inserted.
Just imagine how stupid you will feel if you ever have a poweroutage and you go grab your latern/flashlight that you have handy and use everyday just to remember “oh sh%t, no batteries”.
Yes, you wear them down, but time kills them anyway, so I dont really see a valid point in saving them.
Might even be cheaper to run on batteries than to have the powersupply powered all day and night.