Very nice! Good choice on the input controller vs sticking with regular USB charging standards because otherwise 4.18V wouldn’t be enough to provide a charge.
It was definetly the right choice to choose that charging controller, so that the lantern can handel instable power sources like solar panels, but can also directly accept 12V power from e.g. a car battery with an easy adapter (which should come with the lantern).
This may have been covered already, but what does the lantern do if it’s plugged into a USB C to C cable?
I don’t have one of those USB-C to C type cables to test. I’m guessing Lexel or Toykeeper can answer that based on the driver design.
it will charge with 5V 1.5A if the PSU can deliver that current
the TPS5100 chip has no communication protocol like QC which has to be licensed by qualcom
Its just a dump charge chip which takes 4.5-15V to charge the battery internally with 4.2V
This is a tricky question…
-If the adapter has Power Delivery only output then nothing happens.
-If the adapter supports power delivery and puts out 5V by default, it will most probably charge.
-If the adapter has 5V default output with or without support for QC and no PD support, it will definitely charge.
Now, there are many types of C to C cables. Most of USB 2.0/3.0/3.1 sold right now should support both standard 5V3A and PD charging, but there are some C to C cables specifically designed to handle PD and Thunderbolt3, those cable often won’t take a charge even at 5V unless communication and protocol exchange has been stablished on both ends. I have a few thunderbolt3 cables and they refuse to charge “dumb” devices, but my 2.0/3.0 cables even the cheap ones supports PD (almost all of them).
Solution: stick to USB-A to C cable, it will always charge.
The prototypes look good. I will say that my preference would be longer run times rather than brighter for this type of application given that it is already quite bright. And, to go against that point slightly, I’d prefer the slightly less frosted globe to let more light through. Or perhaps that actually supports my first point….ha ha.
Just weighing in and offering my opinion here. Not being critical or anything.
Just thought that if you are weighing people’s feedback before passing it back to the manufacturer, I’d chime in.
I would be interested in this. May I ask is this a whole new light or can it be just a different head for the Q8 which I already have?
Fortunate for you, the lantern can be run at any output intensity you wish. Up to a point. It can ramp down to next to nothing, or if fully enabled ramp up to near 1000 lumens. If the lowest low is 10mA (likely much lower), and you have 4 3000mA Hr cells installed, you can get 1200 hours. YMMV, enjoy the flexibility!
It has been so long I forgot, is there a feature to check voltage of the cells?
It’s a whole new light, based on the Q8. Basically a Q8 with the reflector/lens chopped off to put on the lantern part and another driver.
Yes
^^three quick clicks from off
Yep, the Andruil LT1 firmware has the Batt-Check mode.
Ok, I think I am in for two.
This looks to be well thought out, and tons of room for modding.
I made some updates to candle mode today. I still need to give it a proper test in the bath, but so far I’m pretty happy with it at my desk.
The lantern prototype originally looked a bit flat on candle mode… changing brightness only in a narrow range, and within that range it was almost constantly active. So I increased its dynamic range and decreased how often it wobbles. This makes it a bit calmer overall, but also allows it to have higher peaks once in a while when it gets the urge to burn bright.
Also, the amplitude is a compile-time option now, which can be fine-tuned per build target. So this change should make other lights a bit nicer too.
What does the lantern do when plugged in with no batteries, or “dead” batteries? Can it run off of just the USB?
no the TP5100 does not allow power through with no battery installed
but if you do not run above 1.5A output the lantern will slowly charge while it is on, above 1.5A it will slowly discharge
got it, thank you. out of curiosity are there any lantern attachments or good diffusers for the Q8 that can approximate this performance?
I wonder how many mWh must be connected to keep it happy? A decently sized electrolytic capacitor across the charger output might be enough. It isn’t a perfect workaround since (from what I can tell in the datasheet) unplugging it from the USB would discharge the capacitor and trip the UVLO. However the TP5100 does have a “pre charge trickle” mode that should bring the capacitor back up to a usable voltage.
They already specify a 10uF cap but I mean more like a 100,000 uF cap. That would provide 1 mWh of “backup” to fake a connected battery. A cap of that size costs around $4 and is 52mm tall and 35mm in diameter. I doubt there is that much space available so it wouldn’t be possible anyway.
If only the trickle mode could be enabled without a battery! It is 120mA and that is plenty of power for normal use.