Code now public! BLF A6 FET+7135 Light. Short 18350 tubes and Unanodized Lights Available

[compression]

This has to be one of the most exciting custom products that I’ve been fortunate enough to be there for. Thanks for all the effort!

@DBCstm

In group 1 with 7 levels, moon is so low as to be virtually useless (IMO) I have used it in a dark house late night, and outside. Even trying to see the camera settings up close and personal moon is so ultra low as to not be much help. I know there are those that will rejoice in this, and those that will groan. But really, it’s that kind of low…. easy to forget the light is still on because you can’t see the result.

I have a Thrunite Ti3 which is specced for firefly mode at 0.04 lumens by the manufacturer and 0.02 lumens by selfbuilt. With my Ti3 it’s very low, but very much usable and useful in a very dark environment when only a minimum amount of light is desired. I can easily use it to walk around a pitch black house for example without waking anyone else up.

Samples of this A6 have been estimated at 0.3lm-0.7lm on moon. Do you think this is a case of difference in perception/preference or estimated lumens? Does anyone with a sample also have a Ti3 by chance?

Is the turbo stepdown something that could be toggled via software/hardware? In any case I’m confident that you good people spearheading this creation will make the right call.

[chuckhov]

It’s very difficult to get lumen levels all the same at this low of a level.

Please see the ‘other forum’ for what selfbuilt has to say on this:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?376058

Thanks,

-Chuck

[bugsy36]

@chouster

A penny for your thoughts! Don’t know what you were thinking about, but I’d really like to know. If someone could talk Eagle Eyes into making some short middle parts to use the A6 and X6 with 1x18350…

Not going to happen with EE. As much as I like EE we have to remember that they do NOT make anything...like many/most of the budget manufacturers.

That does not mean it is out of the question to get something from somewhere but someone needs to start a separate thread to see how many people would actually commit to a short tube option. A quantity of 50 or 100 is not going to be worth anybody's time on the manufacturing side.

[filedog]

@compression

This has to be one of the most exciting custom products that I’ve been fortunate enough to be there for. Thanks for all the effort!

@DBCstm

In group 1 with 7 levels, moon is so low as to be virtually useless (IMO) I have used it in a dark house late night, and outside. Even trying to see the camera settings up close and personal moon is so ultra low as to not be much help. I know there are those that will rejoice in this, and those that will groan. But really, it’s that kind of low… easy to forget the light is still on because you can’t see the result.

I have a Thrunite Ti3 which is specced for firefly mode at 0.04 lumens by the manufacturer and 0.02 lumens by selfbuilt. With my Ti3 it’s very low, but very much usable and useful in a very dark environment when only a minimum amount of light is desired. I can easily use it to walk around a pitch black house for example without waking anyone else up. Samples of this A6 have been estimated at 0.3lm-0.7lm on moon. Do you think this is a case of difference in perception/preference or estimated lumens? Does anyone with a sample also have a Ti3 by chance? Is the turbo stepdown something that could be toggled via software/hardware? In any case I’m confident that you good people spearheading this creation will make the right call.

I have a Thrunite Archer 1A V2 which specs firefly @ .06 lumens. So, similar to the custom A6. Very useful IMHO. It's only for dark-adjusted eyes of course, but when they're adjusted this is plenty of light to navigate around, without turning on a brighter light that hurts one's eyes, and causes loss of night vision. No problem telling if it's on - it IS necessary to look at the LED if not in a darkened area. YMMV.

[chouster]

@bugsy36

@chouster

A penny for your thoughts! Don’t know what you were thinking about, but I’d really like to know. If someone could talk Eagle Eyes into making some short middle parts to use the A6 and X6 with 1x18350…

Not going to happen with EE. As much as I like EE we have to remember that thy do NOT make anything…like many/most of the budget manufacturers.

That does not mean it is out of the question to get something from somewhere but someone needs to start a separate thread to see how many people would actually commit to a short tube option. A quantity of 50 or 100 is not going to be worth anybody’s time on the manufacturing side.

Thanks for your clarification.

I’d still be interested if the A6 and X6 tailcaps and tubes are interchangeable…

[chuckhov]

Bugsy,

What budget manufacturers do roll their own lights? - Does Convoy?

I strongly suspect that Thrunite does not make their own lights. - Some of them look like they came straight from the hand of O’light, whoever They may be.

Thank you,

-Chuck

[pilotdog68]

I have a Thrunite Ti3 which is specced for firefly mode at 0.04 lumens by the manufacturer and 0.02 lumens by selfbuilt. With my Ti3 it’s very low, but very much usable and useful in a very dark environment when only a minimum amount of light is desired. I can easily use it to walk around a pitch black house for example without waking anyone else up.

Samples of this A6 have been estimated at 0.3lm-0.7lm on moon. Do you think this is a case of difference in perception/preference or estimated lumens? Does anyone with a sample also have a Ti3 by chance?

Is the turbo stepdown something that could be toggled via software/hardware? In any case I’m confident that you good people spearheading this creation will make the right call.

I think usability of moon level is a very subjective decision, both dependent on preference and eyesight (or lack there of )

I have an S6 with a DD XP-L, and I think when TK does her tests that she will find 60sec turbo timer is very doable, maybe even 90sec before the light gets way too hot.

[bugsy36]

@chuckhov

Bugsy, What budget manufacturers do roll their own lights? - Does Convoy? I strongly suspect that Thrunite does not make their own lights. - Some of them look like they came straight from the hand of O’light, whoever They may be. Thank you, -Chuck

Can't say about Thrunite but Simon does not make his own host. He gets the host and adds a driver and a LED.

[chuckhov]

Thank you Bugsy,

-Chuck

[Rolz]

@Tom E

I’m just glad to see “our” custom firmware make it into a nice production run. Everybody is doin what they are good at - from firmware to making drivers/lights. Of course TK doesn’t make any $$$ on it - can’t say Eagle Eye or BangGood are making much either, but if this gets pulled off where the majority is happy, we all owe TK something. I know she’s leveraged some things from BLF or BLF’ers, but the majority is on her.

Rolz - thank TK, not me…

Thanks to ToyKeeper for the details of what is a great little driver board.

[Ievel]

There is only one bad thing about this; when we have our lights this threads great discussions and updates will decrease.

Thanks to all participants.

How is testing going? Are we close to get runtimes on the different modes? And which battery is recommended for this flashlight? Keeppower, Panasonics, UF flames?

/Ievel

[bladesmith3]

I like 60 seconds

@ToyKeeper

The light has a turbo step-down at 30 seconds. Using DBCstm’s numbers, that means it steps down from ~5.7A to ~3.0A, after which it will stay steady. Most lights this size run at only 2.8A or 3A on turbo and then step down to half that, but the copper DTP board makes it so we can double the power.

The step-down level is slightly different in the 4-mode group because of the way the levels are spaced. The 7-mode group starts at moon, while the 4-mode group starts at low. Both use evenly-spaced levels. It goes something like this:

 Lumens: 0.3 ................................. 1500
Group 1: moon, low, med1, med2, high1, high2, turbo
Group 2:       low,      med,       high,     turbo

If people want it, we could make the turbo timer longer. RMM sells similar-sized lights at the same power level with a 90-second timer, but that’s a triple where each emitter is running at a much lower level, so it’s a little safer. 90 is probably too long for this light, but 60 seems do-able.

Should we increase turbo to 60 seconds?

[bugsy36]

@Ievel

How is testing going? Are we close to get runtimes on the different modes? And which battery is recommended for this flashlight? Keeppower, Panasonics, UF flames?

Runtimes will vary with battery used AND the amount of draw that battery allows. It would be easier to look at Dale's charts and calculate from there.

[Halo]

@compression

Is the turbo stepdown something that could be toggled via software/hardware? In any case I’m confident that you good people spearheading this creation will make the right call.

I’m afraid it won’t fit, the program room is full and tightly packed in. TK said there is only a couple bytes left.

[viperbart]

@Halo…

@compression

Is the turbo stepdown something that could be toggled via software/hardware? In any case I’m confident that you good people spearheading this creation will make the right call.

I’m afraid it won’t fit, the program room is full and tightly packed in. TK said there is only a couple bytes left.

… and that was before she somehow pulled a rabbit out of her hat and added the memory/no memory toggle.

[bugsy36]

@viperbart

… and that was before she somehow pulled a rabbit out of her hat and added the memory/no memory toggle.

That was one big rabbit. I would not ask her to do that again :)

[ToyKeeper]

Samples just showed up. I don’t have results yet, but I can at least say already that the moon mode is too low.

With a 25R cell at 3.86V, moon mode was below my light box’s ability to measure, so 0.02lm or lower. It made my L3 Illumination L10 (0.09 lm) and Zebralight SC52 (0.11 lm) look bright. But I’ll find out more soon when I hook it up to an adjustable power supply and DMM for some better measurements and experiments.

After I have everything re-calibrated I’ll send EE new firmware tailored to their version of the driver.

[bugsy36]

Did you hear that Dale????? even TK said the moon was too low. LOL (just teasing ya kiddo :))

[Joat]

@chouster

The tailcap of the A6 looks similar to the one of the X6, are those interchangable? If so, are the middle parts interchangable?

Yes they are.

[Alexey602]

and where can I buy this clip?