I would like to build my own flashlight and looking for suggestions on where to start. A little bit of my background. I have decent soldering skills. I am a software engineer. So I would be willing to program the controllers.
I’d like recommendations for sites to purchase the components from and also any tutorials or good reads online. Tips or tricks etc. Thanks ks in advance!
Descent soldering skills as in you can solder an Atiny13A chip to a 17mm pcb? A satisfying driver to build would be a 17mm FET+ 7135 driver from mtnelectronics. Let me find the parts kit…
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Kit
PCB
I was looking for the FET driver without the 7135 chip but can’t seem to be able to find the PCB. grrr. (The mtn max driver is pretty cool but is MORE advanced. ) The driver when complete can be used to power a single XML2, XPL or a tripple XPL, XPG2 or tripple Nichia 219B/C depending on which host you choose. (Convoy S2 can be used for the tripple with an additional spacer)
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WRT programming, others who can, will jump in but, you can order a blank atiny from RMM if you want and program it yourself with firmware available here or something you come up with 
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Programming: How To Build a Flashlight With Perfect Modes (picture heavy)
STAR Firmware by JonnyC - Source Code and Explanation
I have some experience actually etching pcbs…soldering things onto them etc…
Welcome, I think you’re in the right place. There are threads on eagle pcb design. Oshpark pcb fab, attiny coding, as well as the nuts and bolts of building up a host.
What are you curious about? Let that drive your initial inquiries.
Welcome to the community Northwoods!
First I want to just learn about everything and go from there.
I would eventually like to put together a compact, super bright flash light
Thanks!
Where to get components? RMM’s store is a good start: http://mtnelectronics.com/
Compact and super-bright? You might need to be more specific, there are a lot of ways to meet that description. To start with — throwy, floody, or zoomie? What have you tried already, and what would you like to change or improve about it?
Tips and tricks, tutorials and good reads, want to learn about everything? You’re in the right place; that’s most of BLF.
You’re a software engineer, willing to program the controllers? Check the firmware links in my signature.
I know absolutely nothing about flashlights. I’m looking to learn about their designs, functionality etc…
For my first project, I’d be open to throw or zoom perhaps.
First place to start, what components will I need?
Host, driver,led…what else?
My understanding is the driver controls the functionality of the flashlight…models etc? Is this accurate?
Thanks in advance!
Howdy and welcome aboard.
I would really suggest that you hop over to the modding section and then read some of the threads that show a flashlight build from top to bottom. This way you can see some examples of how it’s done. Here is a link to literally hundreds of builds that people have done and all in one thread to, so it’s easy to look around.
After you get all the basic ideas down, then you should just go ahead and pick a project for yourself. Then ask away and you will find tons of people here who are willing to help talk you through it. It’s pretty hard to help you right now though. You need to get at the basics first. There is no way to simply learn everything right away, it’s too big of a topic and to be honest none of us know Everything. All of of us have a piece of it and pool that knowledge to help out.
In general… find a host you like, an emitter which suits your needs, and a driver which fits the emitter. For example, a decent throwy light can be made by combining a C8 host with an XP-L HI (or XP-G2) and a FET-based (or FET+7135) driver. It should be able to get 60 kcd of throw (490 m) easily.
Of course, you’ll need to make sure everything fits… like that the MCPCB diameter is the same as the host’s pill expects, and the driver diameter matches the other end of the pill. And if you don’t have general-purpose parts yet you might also need some wire, flux, solder, tweezers, thermal paste, etc.
If you want to mess with the firmware to control the light’s behavior, add in a usbasp device, a SOIC8 clip, and some ribbon cable. You can get code to start from (and a lot more details such as links to buy those parts) at the firmware repository.
Really not sure what you already have or what you already know, but a really easy and popular build to start with is:
This is a general-purpose 18650 “tube light” with a neutral white beam and a wide range of modes. It’s basically the BLF A6 group buy light but in a nicer host. The same internals can work in lots of other hosts too, to get more throw (but get a XP-L HI if you want more throw, not the regular XP-L).
What usbasp device do you recommend? What ide do you all use? Eclipse?
Go to the firmware discussion thread linked in my signature, then check the README in the first post. It answers all those questions.