Flashlight Firmware Repository

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
542

I tried it with this one: https://www.diffchecker.com/zxnq3xvg

Still the same behavior. In the first mode group it steps down at 33 seconds, in the second mode group it doesn’t step down at all.
……………………….
Edit: For a sanity check I flashed the unmodified blf-a6 file and it behaves similarly. It steps down at 33 seconds in both mode groups. This leads me to believe I have a hardware problem. I’m going to try swapping the mcu.

Edit 2: Swapped the MCU and the turbo timer still behaves the same. However one thing has changed, I now have the dreaded Turbo-to-moon flash (Which I have never had with these parts before and was not there before the MCU swap.) Anybody have any ideas? I’m planning on starting from scratch with a whole new driver next.

543

BTW, you can modify the timing if you want. Change the value of DELAY_TWEAK and it should alter the timing of almost everything the driver does. In general, it should be clock-speed-in-MHz times 250. However, on common attiny13a drivers the actual clock speed seems far less than its spec’d 4.8 MHz. So, it defaults to 950 (3.8 MHz) instead of 1200 (4.8 MHz).

In your case, it sounds like 1300 (5.2 MHz) might be about right… which is odd. (45 / 33 * 950 = 1295)

About not stepping down in the second mode group, I don’t have an answer. It worked when you tried the stock firmware but not a modified one… but all the modifications looked fine.

I wonder if setting the 7135 channel to 0 on turbo might help. This should reduce the heat level of the driver and increase lumen output, and I wonder if maybe the MCU could be overheating. I’d also suggest making it blink on step-down, for debugging purposes, and set the step-down to be much shorter (again, just for debugging).

544

In the most recent attempts I did have channel 2 at 0 for turbo. Heat shouldn’t be an issue at all, I am doing these tests outside of the light on my desk, amp draw capped at 1.2amps.

545

Started from scratch and built a new driver. The FW in question does not work correctly on this driver either. I flashed a stock version of blf-a6 I had saved from back in May, and it appears to be working normally. The delay tweak of 1300 seems to have gotten the timing close to normal too. I know I am using a new spec C1 than I have before, could that be causing the issues?

546

I just saw something really obvious that I missed earlier. (It helps to be awake while reading code. :slight_smile: )

Turbo steps down to the second-highest mode. And by second-highest, I mean second-to-last. Your second mode group has turbo in the second-to-last position, so it steps down to itself.

If you have no hidden modes, there is no need to step down from the “hidden” turbo, so it should work better to simply reduce the index by one. Instead of this:

mode_idx = solid_modes - 2;

Try this:

mode_idx —;

547

I feel like I should’ve caught that myself…. I’ve had to change that a few times before.

548

Could you share your build.sh shell script? I assume from the output that’s it simple and straightforward but still.

549

Yes, it’s at the link in my signature.

550

FWIW, I added another published branch called “sandbox”, which holds stuff that has been checked in but isn’t quite ready for merging into the stable trunk yet.

https://code.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/sandbox

For example, one extra in there right now is a s7.c firmware with its battery check mode changed to use a volts+tenths style readout. This style does work on attiny13a chips; it just takes enough room that I haven’t been able to fit it into blf-a6.c.

I’m debating whether to freeze blf-a6.c or keep allowing changes to it now that we’re post-production. I’ve refactored quite a bit of code shared between projects, including blf-a6, and am not sure whether to put the refactored one into the main branch or leave it in its production state. It’s both simpler and more complicated now, since some common functions moved into shared headers.

551

Hey all,

Are there any of the OS firmwares available that have an oscillating strobe? Not one that changes each time you turn it on, but one that changes frequently while its on?

552

I was going to ask about implementing this. I’ve read that a random strobe is much better at disorienting. Averaging around 12hz (?) but without always the same length flashes or pauses between flashes. This keeps the brain from being able to anticipate the next flash.
Does random require much resources from a tiny13?

553

I'm not aware of a strobe that does that, but certainly it can be done, just need to know a little about the randomness, constraints, etc. Any references for this? Great amount of detail and research explained here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?356772-Police-Study-of-tactical-use-of-Strobe

Best reference I've found.

554

I would think the released A6 code should be findable, should there be a branch that has that version in it?

555

I’ve played with a pseudo random strobe, I used Alex van Heuvelen’s no cap off time firmware and put in an array of randomish numbers in the same way he had the ramp coded. There is plenty of room an a atiny 13 for it.

556



As to the randomness I would say probly a rotation in a randomish order between about 4 frequencies would be enough. I have an idea of what the guy is looking for because I made him a light with a similar strobe a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyw4tVGq2o


This was made with 4 of the random strobe drivers and 4 color LEDs. I cant get the drivers I used for that anymore so I was hoping to dig something up here.

557

Thanks, I’ll do that. :slight_smile:

It’s pretty trivial to branch and publish the released code separately. I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t think of it.

558

Let’s see… I put a police-like strobe into ‘bistro’ in the tiny25 repository branch, but it only switches between 8Hz and 16Hz at slightly faster than once per second.

The ‘s7’ firmware has two self-ramping variable strobes, but they change smoothly and relatively slowly. It’s more for stopping and reversing fans and such, not for disorienting people.

I did a nice random disorientation strobe as a test at one point, but the rand function takes a lot of space. I also used it to make something like a lightning storm simulator at one point.

To save space I also made one which reads the ROM and uses it to make a pseudo-random strobe, which is probably the most feasible to put into an existing project. I don’t remember where it went, but might be able to find it again.

…

…

I think I found it. It needs to be put into other code in order to work, but the algorithm is really simple. It looks random but will repeat every 256 flashes. The speed is about 7.5 to 15 Hz. Something like this…

uint8_t myrandom() {
    static uint8_t *offset = 0;
    return pgm_read_byte(offset++);
}
...
void main() {
    ...
    while (1) {
        ...
        else if (mode_idx == STROBE) {
            uint8_t ms = 34 + (myrandom() & 0x1f);
            PWM_LVL = 255;
            _delay_ms(ms);
            PWM_LVL = 0;
            _delay_ms(ms);
        }
        ...
    }
}
559

It turns if you remove the code pertaining to switching to the 2nd mode group, you can get the code down to 830 bytes, a 174 byte reduction! Finally, I can squeeze in some extra blinky modes to BLF-A6 for an egg timer and SOS mode.

I was wondering how I could share this modified code in the repository. Do I post the code on the forum somewhere or upload straight on Launchpad (made a Launchpad account, but still not sure how to upload)?

560

TK - pretty cool technique for random # generator, and sure does make it compact, as long as those 256 bytes contains code, which it does.

561

It’s funny you mention that. In the blf-a6 directory, there’s a file called tk-otc.c which is specifically created for people who want to exchange the runtime config options for extra space. :slight_smile: I think I may have forgotten to apply some recent blf-a6 changes to tk-otc though, so its code may be a little behind.

If you’d like to upload to Launchpad, that’s easiest for me. But you can also just post the code somewhere and I can add it. The Launchpad method is done using bzr’s “push” command. For example: bzr push lp:~myaccount/flashlight-firmware/my-branch

After that, either create a merge proposal or tell me that there’s a branch waiting. :slight_smile:

…

Update: I merged the pending blf-a6 updates into tk-otc. The resulting build sizes are 1002 bytes versus 706 bytes. So, almost 300 bytes saved for others to fill with custom code. :slight_smile: I also made a stable maintenance branch for blf-a6, so it can get bugfixes without having to pull in the entire refactoring project I started:
https://code.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/blf-a6-final