Q8, PMS SEND TO THOSE WITH ISSUES BLF soda can light

Two months ago I have asked for a quote for the Q8 board at a manufacturer based on my hand drawing, and even that was no problem, their engineers just re-did the drawing properly.
So I have confidence that a drawing like yours above should be way sufficient for Thorfire to make a design with all dimensions correct.

Yeah, that was my thinking. Thats why I was not real worried about getting things super exact, just good enough to show them the key details.

Thanks for the additions. Great work everyone on the rework driver. You nailed it!!

TA, it has been said somewhere before, but your contributions to this forum have been great, in a very short time. We all say thanks!

I would like to be added to the list for one light……?

Don’t know about the group, but I give it the big thumbs up :+1:

Cheers David

Received PM from k-wong
Welcome to BLF!
Added to the list, this should be updated now.

Title changed with a pointer to the start of the second run for EDboard discussion. Indeed thanks TA for this elegant and rapid design!

Please add me to the interest list, in for one, thanks!

Regarding the clearance of parts and + traces around the screw holes - do you think it’s enough for bigger screw heads which Thorfire might use? Don’t want the problems which Astrolux S41 had.

Screw heads are on the bottonside of the board.
The E14/41 had the board screwed in from above to the housing, this screws from below to the reflector.

Ah, I see …

I didn’t see this anywhere, so I’ll be the one to bring it up, I guess (unless someone else did and I missed it).

Texas_Ace, you said you turned the LED pads so that they had a larger trace size to the ground plane? Do you mean for the LED- trace or the Thermal pad or something else? I can’t see where the copper to the LED- is any bigger in your drawing than it was in djozz’s sketch. And, of course, the Thermal pads are DTP, so no traces are needed there. So, I’m not understanding what you mean by bigger traces to the ground plane.

New V5.1 board populated and tested. I got lucky - all the parts numbering and traces can be made out pretty clear in this photo:

I’m against low voltage cut-off

Imagine you’re in an emergency situation (I once lost my way in a cramped wild cave and without a spare light I wouldn’t have gotten out (hope my grammar is correct :laughing:
Or you’re lost in the forest in darkness, with a super-cool flashlight which goes off for the sake of 4 cells.

I suggest making it switch to “forced low” when voltage drops below 2.5 volts, or lowest low when voltage drops even more - you still have decent light and batteries will last for hours.

Btw, I once discharged 18650b’s to 0.0 volts (put them into a stereo which turned out to have parasitic current, and left them there for a month).
I charged the batteries again and still can’t see any loss in capacity or any malfunctioning.

We'll have to discuss this issue - can be easily done of course. I know others prefer it always ON as well.

Is there any room in firmware to make it a toggle?

You guys sure are efficient! DTP went from 0 to 60 in less than a day.
As far as LVP goes, I believe it’s not safe to charge cell from 0V. It sure works for some people, but there was thread here about forcing 18650s to vent and reviving dead cells was one way to do it. Compromise could be some complicated keypress combo that will turn on the light after LVP kicks in. Something that can only be done on purpose and for those who understand the risks (they exist?) of killing cells.

I tried my EC2 off 2 near-dead Ni-MH cells (2,5v unloaded), it works on low without switching modes.

Thanks Tom E :+1:

Yes this sounds logical

When protection kicks in you read 0V but the li ion cell still is in safe condition to charge
An unprotected cell is not safe to use after being depleted too low

A moon from 2,5v toggled on/off (so extra setting “low voltage cut off / low voltage moon 0/1 default 0) for those using protected cells or are going to cave and prefer some light NOW rather then protect cells seems versatile
But of course it is up to Tom :wink:

No it kind of got lost but the DTP ledboard with options was discussed with the addition of two sets of solder pads for two footprints. But in a thread like this long things can get lost too easy. Your pushing for thermisistors brought it back and TA stepped in to make it visually clear in record speed! Thanks for you both!