BLF 15 & 17dd_PIC : final version update 10/14

I don’t really understand it, but I like the end result.

will be trying to wrap my mind around this in the near future…

Thanks guys, gotta get caught up on customer orders but this week I will be doing an 8x 7135 driver as well as a 10mm dd version

Oooooooo! The 10mm version piques my interest for certain! The BLFTiny10 is working in my Texas Poker, but it’s a pita with components on the battery side of the board, it being a twisty. This would solve the issue and allow me to fine tune a brass post so the light contacted perfectly at the closed or tight position!

Will definitely be wanting to know about that one, might just want you to build me one as it’s the only light I have that would require that size and MCU combination.

Nice!!!

One more thing I noticed in the first video that I wanted to clarify:

The shortcut to max is a click-press from on, but it’s just a double-click from off. The reason for this is so that you can also use max from off in momentary mode: click-press and hold for as long as needed, then release and it will go back off and the previous level is still remembered. I think this is why you had some issues doing max from off in the first video. If you want to latch on, just double click, don’t try to hold down on the second press. Does that make sense? It’s tough to describe click commands in text

Ok guys I’m feeling pretty down not one person has ordered any of these yet…

I put a lot of time/work into designing, building and testing these things. As you can probably guess these are not the original versions, there were several previous attempts (these are actually my 3rd set of boards). Someone please start using them! The FW is much much more advanced that any modded version of STAR (but still extremely simple to operate), I mean totally different level of stuff here, everything people complained about with STAR / Werner’s UI has been fixed in the UFLC (its called “Ultimate flashlight code” for a reason!)
Things like direct access to off from any level, shortcut’s to max and the user set primary level (shortcut’s direct from off and from any other mode). HIDDEN strobe (and not just 1 but three strobes including one with a completely adjustable strobe speed and duty cycle allowing you to freeze objects in place. Truly momentary operation. Not to mention the multiple different config options that are done in-light (no coding required) so you can customize each light to how you need it to operate!

Now I understand not many of you are setup for PIC, thats why I’ve made multiple offers to flash the MCU’s for you for no charge, all the rest of the parts are the exact same parts as the AVR drivers, the same AOD510 FET’s and the cap’s are the input / smoothing cap from a 105c.

Is there something I can do to get someone to order some of these? What if I build them for you (for free of course, open source after all). I’ll give you another option, for the exact cost of the parts plus $.50 for my to ship it (not a single cent markup for my time) I will ship the first 5 people to take me up on this one of these drivers, I have all parts on hand and can ship out first of the week. The price would be $5.25 each ($4.75 in parts plus a postage stamp)

I should mention-I’m not pushing for anyone to buy anything from me, this is a dedicated open source project. In fact the MCU and the boards are the only new parts you need to buy (about $6 total for 3 MCU’s and a set of 3 boards) everything else is standard 105c parts and the same FET’s used on the old AVR 15 and 17DD’s), just please someone install one in something and make me feel like this wasnt a total waste of my time

Not that I wouldnt have done these for myself, of course I would, thats why I started them in the first place but I certainly wouldnt have done them to the level of refinement I did had it only been for myself nor would I have made a whole write up and set of videos about it just for myself… Just saying, know what keeps us oshpark board designing guys happy and keeps us wanting to design more stuff? Its definitely not people totally ignoring the projects we put out. Its one thing if I made a driver for one specific light that isnt very popular but these are very wide application…

I also have a redesign (using a 10F322) that is power cycle controlled but I’m not sure its worth my time if it seems like no one is going to use it anyway and just stick with the same old AVR / STAR stuff…

/rant

I will just start sending my lights to for the next month or until life settles down with the new baby, hehe

@Cereal_killer
I am in!
You have a PM.
I want a driver for my Roche F6.

Will this work with a twisty? I saw where you might try a 10mm version and my premier light is that size, but a twisty.

I’m thinking this would work very nicely in my new Fenix TK22 with dual switches. I had about decided to leave this one stock but had occasion to use it to guide a car in a parking lot Sunday night and it was rather anemic. So I’ll be looking at this driver as the light itself is actually a pretty dang nice light.

PM sent, hope I made sense! lol

Just watched all 3 vids and see that this probably wouldn’t work well with the small twisty.

The Fenix TK22 would be an ideal choice, with tail clicky and side e-switch. I also have a Convoy L4 that is a likely candidate. Would a TK61 work well with this? Using the driver as a master and running an HX1175b1 as the slave? Wondering if the 2 e-switches might be utilized to work as power on and mode selection as it was from the factory. Right now I’m using both switches in parallel to do the same thing.

Wondering too if the UI is written down, my memory is horrible and I’d need to work on the options a lot to be able to remember how to use it. :slight_smile:

What you just posted in actually something I’m working on now, I’m not sure when (if) it’s going to work out, it’s not exactly at the top of the list but it is something physically on my bench (that’s more than some of my other projects lol). I’m also not sure about the possibility if a second e-switch input, I can tell you that while it may be possible it would mean the MCU could no longer be flashed ICSP (if/when MCLR has a physical connection it doesn’t allow on board flashing since the pickit3 senses it as a short).

Also I’ve switched over to running a different PIC (a 12F617, a direct drop in replacement for the more expensive 1822). The UI is nearly identical (only the strobes are changed) but battery monitoring is added as well as the ability for the driver to reconfigure the locator beacon from the main emitter to a SMD emitter placed under the switch boot [requires code changes, not in the config menu].

I’ve also updated the board to allow a 22AWG sw+ wire to fit the via (stupid mistake originally).

V2 of the 17 released! (15 in progress, will be done in the next few days)

-The MCU has been switched over to the slightly cheaper 12F617
-The code has a few new features, this includes battery monitor and a flashing indicator LED that can be placed under the switch (and replaces the main LED locator beacon) there is also some changes to the way strobe operates (however its still entered via a triple tap).
-The secondary emitter (switch indicator) runs from pin 6 and uses those 2 tented via’s you see, they’re tinted to help prevent shorts in applications you dont run one, scrape the mask to solder to them. You should even be able to solder an 0603 LED direct to the via’s like a pad if your light has a switch at the top of the driver level.

I will make anice little flow chart of the UI (and a new video showing this final version) later today / tonight.

Note the code linked above DOES NOT run on a 1822, I will be hosting the new 617 code in soon as everett has a chance to check it over (tonight), it runs but I want him to make sure he’s cool with the credit I put and the comments and stuff I added. Everett had already added lots more comments to this new version and I took it ever farther, hopefully its easy for you to mod. You guys can download MPLAB and check the code out now even without having a picKIT to flash it yourself. If you want to do this I will flash code you modify and send me. Again please do not re-host code you modify but you may make any changes you wish and use it in any personal applications.

I think this will be a very popular driver once folks start using it and giving feed back. It probably taking off slow for 2 reasons:

  • Past new boards were purchased by many of us as soon as they released and then new revsions had to be made to fix issues. I think that made many of us gun shy.
  • This is a new MCU for BLF'ers (Well, they may have drivers with this MCU, but they don't know how to program them yet.

I just ordered 3 17mm boards. Once I get them working, I'm sure I will be ordering many more. I'm off to find the PIC MCU's and will order some. Do you have a recommended source? The rest of the parts I already have. I'll report back on progress soon.

A side note. I don't think you should feel you have to provide these drivers as cost. I think most folks here feel your time is valuable and have no issue with you including something for you time in the price. It might even make folks feel better about taking the plunge into this new driver.

Thank you very much for your efforts on this project. It's an exciting new development for your hobby. Hang in there bro :)

There are several different SMD 12F617's listed on Mouser. They have the following suffixes: E/SN, E/MS, I/SN. Do you know which one is best for this driver?

An AliExpress vendor is selling 50 pieces for $33.06. They are I/SN's. Will they work on this driver?

So compared to the Attiny13a, the 12F617 has twice the program memory and twice the data memory. Program memory can be flashed 100.000 times (10,000 for Attiny) and will be retained for more than 40 years (20 years for the Attiny). Standby power usage is super low (50nA vs 24uA for the Attiny). All that means its much bette long term for our hobby.

The 12F617 doesn't appear to have EEPROM memory. Do we use the EEPROM memory in the Attiny's?

The 1822 has even better specs. Was the only think you needed to change was the FW? It appears that the pinout is the same for both the 617 and 1822.

EDIT: Made some changes to clarify wording.

Why the ones that are sold out of course (@ DK)!

12F617-I/SN is what I use, tho the letters dont mean much in our application, I believe any of the soic8 package ’617’s would work. They’re temp rating and stuff like that.

As for the ones @ AE, they list as SOP8 but when I google SOP8 vs SOIC8 they seem to be classified as the same thing (so maybe just slightly different size / width / something)I’m not sure.

The FW for the 617 was further developed and the 1822’s are about $.30 more per piece. Also running these on the 617 all my drivers use the same MCU

I ordered them from Ali. I won't need 50 as I don't plan on selling drivers or chips. They should be fine if they are really 12F617-I-SN's. I'll keep you posted.

In addition to Cereal_killer, I wanted to thank tterev3 for making this driver possible. Getting excited to start playing with them and with programming these PIC's

By the way folks, the PIC programming kit is now only $19.80 at Banggood. Mine arrived very fast. I haven't used mine yet, but it looks good.

> I don’t think you should feel you have to provide these drivers as cost. …
> your time is valuable and have no issue with you including something for you time in the price.
> It might even make folks feel better about taking the plunge into this new driver.

+11

I received the 12F617 I SN's Saturday. They look just like in the picture here. Also have the 17mm boards from OSH Park. Not sure when I will get much time to work on FW though. Got a car project underway right now. Hope to wrap it up fast though.