You make a good point about parasitic drain. Less sure about your run-time argument against ramping, as it’s likely to be used over a few nights and many wouldn’t remember how long it had previously been used for, so run times will be somewhat unknown anyway.
I guess my point was that having a lot of flexibility at the low end is critical for this sort of application, whereas at the high output end, there’s less need for such a range of options. Very low is critical, very high less so. Simple to use is also important, as it’s likely to be a ‘family’ lantern….
Have you considered adding some deep cooling fins in the top piece? This would have two benefits. It would remove weight from the top making it more stable when its set down, and it would increase the passive cooling when left on high for long periods.
In a good momentary button driver the standby current can be a few uA, way below self discharge. 10 uA would theoretically take 100 years to deplete 4*2200 mAh.
Also you could try applying d-c-fix diffuser film.
Also some kind of battery indicator would be nice.
Maybe consider XM-L2 for its lower voltage, it’ll stay in regulation longer.
Very true, 10uA is almost nearly an open circuit compared to some momentary-on factory flashlights. You would be the good candidate to program or design a driver design for this that incorporates a battery-level function, which would be a great feature.
Right now it has a XP-L 7A3, but do have a XM-L 7A2 3200K that will go in the lantern soon for more tests & photos.
I will be giving this prototype a good field test on our big back country Canoe camping trip coming up next month we do every year in May. I will have beam photos, comparison photos, etc. also LED tint comparisons & feedback from the other campers in our group on the SRK/BLF lantern’s performance compared to others we will have. Once the tests are done i will post up a rough Blueprint drawing of the lantern design with specs that we can discuss to possible improve or alter before a possible production model can be discussed with Kronos