Yea, I do agree - better bang out of using the internal 1.1V ref, plus reducing parasitic drain even further. It's been briefly discussed. I know DrJones uses it, so it's possible for sure, and don't think he said much about it being a PIA or anything... I just don't know where to start to try to implement it. I'll have to do some research on it.
I also tested the 7 mode grouping and confirmed PWM's are working on the bank of 7135's. So the firmware is 100% functioning, just not using the bank of 7135's in ramping yet.
Defining modes though in percentage of output is highly dependent on the light mod/configuration. Some lights have a max FET amps of 3.5A, others will have 20A, and everything in-between. So 2.8A may be 80% or may be 20%. Mode sets should really be tailored accordingly, if you want consistency from light to light. Ramping has a little more tolerance, but should still be tweaked for exaggerated cases. I'm using Narsil in a MtnE SRK 7135 driver, and it uses 380 mA 7135's, so the standard Narsil ramping table has a couple OFF levels in the transition from single 7135 to the bank of 7135's because 380's can't be run at the lower PWM settings, like 350's can be. If you like a low moon, should always use a 350 mA 7135 - I've been seeing even a PWM value of 1 works with the new design drivers, but suspect it will go OFF when the cell gets low.
O-L showed a way to convert the Mag-Lite switch to an e-switch. It could probably be done with any side-switch light. Basically just bypass the switch for power, connect it instead to the e-switch pads on the new driver you install, and disable the latching part of the clicky mechanism. In case you don’t have access to an e-switch light you’re ready to mod, maybe you have a side-clicky you’re less fond of. :innocent:
Yeah, I figured it would not be hard to use any side switch but I don’t really own any. I have nothing against them, just never seem to find one that peaks my interest enough to cause me to buy one over a clicky version of the same thing.
I have some maglights but lack of heat sinks for them means they still use the stock incan bulbs and sit at the bottom of the box of “to be modded” lights.
The only side switch lights I have at the moment are SRK style lights, L6, S70, NE01, DO1 and thats it that I can remember unless something is hiding in my box of spare lights.
Another reason for my lack of side switch lights is they are generally pricier then clicky and harder to mod. I actually won a U21 for $35 on ebay a few days ago but from the little I saw of the driver it doesn’t appear to be at all mod friendly, plus it needs a boost driver, so most likely I will leave it stock unless I can get a resistor mod to work.
There has also been little in the way of good options for hardware and firmware for e-switches till recently as well.
I am sure I will correct my lack of e-switch lights before long, just a matter of finding one that is cheap, interesting and worth buying. Or I might make up a driver for the DO1 and try it on that.
A JM35 is something I was considering while they are $22 at banggood but it once again needs a boost driver and with that shallow reflector I don’t think it would take well to a 3v emitter.
Yeah, the U21 was the first side switch to catch my eye in awhile which is why I nabbed that one, I figured for that price I could hardly go wrong. That said I like the idea of the XHP35 in it and if I can resistor mod the driver I think that would be the best option for that light.
The JM35 is a host I would get if it didn’t need a boost driver, it looks kinda silly but the price is right. With an XP-L I just don’t think it would have a worthwhile beam pattern for the size.
There are just not that many worthwhile side clicky hosts out there that I have seen.
Ohhh, I got a ton of e-switch lights, turned hosts. Can't buy any hosts per say, but mostly you don't want to anyway - on most you need the stock driver as a contact board and switch mount. My favorite budget host is hard to find now - the ZY-T11 clones, I paid like $9-$11 for: nice compact size, throwy wide head/reflector - perfect 18650 EDC for some throw.
The SkilHunt H15 turned out real nice - like that the switch is on top, w/LED using as a locator LED, etc. The H15 and the U21 are the two lights I either have on me, or are close by.
Bunch of ones that worked out great w/mods:
Yezl Y3 - dual switch, SS bezel, GearBest quality problems, but outstanding HD2010 type light, built/sold a bunch of these
ZY-T11 clones - classic 18650 EDC
SupFire L5 (new one MtnE carries - an F13, but better, quality e-switch)
I've modded the Convoy L4 - nice C8 size/quality, but wayyy too long.
The easiest to mod hosts are the SupFire M2-Z and L6L5 (ooops!), because they got driver retainer rings, nice SRK style mounted switch in the side - easy to wire up. No need to piggyback a driver in. Might be more like that, if you have the right size driver. My favorite easiest is the L6 right now.
Got the 17mm drivers today - they took longer, different panel. Wow, sure looks packed in there. Will take a closer look - should work well for the piggyback e-switch setups. Need to work on the ramping table...
Discussed the issue of dropping R1/R2 to my EE buddy at work, and using the ref voltage. He's not familiar much with the Atmels, uses the PIC's mostly, but said that is entirely possible to do, couple different ways in fact, depending on what the Atmel has.
He's still adamant that we pursue optical programming/dnld of the drivers. He believes the LED can be used to read light as well as transmit it, and we could use it to both set config settings, and do a full download from a cell phone. Other lights on the market do this, but not sure they are using the primary LED for this.
Code space is one sure concern, but there's the small detail of the R&D and getting it to work without a ton of parts, etc., plus the app development to support it. Not for the faint of heart...
I ordered the 17's in 2 oz and the thin size, figuring it's better for piggybacking.
I got triple channel ramping working pretty well, least it looks ok. I installed the 22mm driver installed in a SupFire M2-Z for testing, XPL/copper. I used this levelcalc command:
This generates 3 150 entry PWM tables. It takes about 2.4 secs to ramp thru the table. 1st 65 entries are for the one 7135, then next 62 are for the 7135 bank, then last 23 are for the FET.
I'd like to see more entries in the lower range, less in the high range though. Gotta do more testing. Would also be good to see it in a multi-LED light. For Narsil double channel, one ramping table seemed to work well across single and multi-LED lights. Might be one glitch about in the middle - slight pause, maybe, hard to tell... I've found lowering the last # (1500) gets more entries in the low range, so may try 1200 or so.
Wish Halo... was still around - not seen online for 2 weeks, but this looks like pretty good stuff. He's a treendous source of knowledge on the ATMEL parts, an area I'm particularly weak in.
Want to try some more tweaking on ramping, then I could post NarsilTriple as-is, but Want to mod it to what I described before - have ramping and mode sets all integrated together in in UI state. Still feel this is the best way to go. Think it will save code space, which I will probably need if I can get non R1/R2 VCC reading working, then I'll have another I/O pin available for the indicator LED.
Nice work, I also noticed that bistro tripledown works well in both single and multiemitter lights as a whole with only minor changes needed to the FET portion of the ramping table from what I have seen. Although frankly I am not picky enough to care and just use it as is, it is hardly noticeable anyways and since it doesn’t use ramping actively like narsil it is not an issue.
Having the ramping and modes combined would be sweet. I want to try the ramping, it sounds very interesting but I know that I will most likely just revert to 3-5 set modes as I find this the most useful overall.
If you can get the LVP with the internal reference worked out, it is possible that TK could copy this and add it to the Tripledown firmware. If so I could redesign the drivers without the R1/R2 and instead have pads for future options. Such as the indicator LED, or use the space for an LDO.
Yea, that's what I was thinking. She can borrow code from me for a change - I'm always borrowing her code, so I owe her . I could also make the mods to bistro-tripledown, doesn't matter much. I use her same header structure as well, but I keep them local with the source code/project instead of in one common shared place.
May need some time though - gonna lose evening/morn access soon to be office/shop with my mother-n-law and aunt coming this weekend for a couple weeks.
This is some really cool stuff going on in here guys! Keep up the good work and thanks sharing.
I'm wondering if there's any way that the programming could be altered to where the first mode could be full 7135 power with access to turbo/full FET by a quick double tap?
In bistro I like reverse mode order hi-low, 4 normal modes, moonlight enabled with no memory. Tactically it's great but for normal work I'd rather it come on in a regulated 3amp mode. With quick access to turbo. I'm mainly talking about use in triples and quads.
