D.I.Y. Illuminated tailcap

I think what was said is that the Attiny itself draws 5x as much power as just running the LEDs. TK was working on some stuff that would actively give low voltage feedback, but nobody really tested it.

Is here any version of 2-board design where upper (with leds) board is one-side?

Do either of these two fit what you are looking for?

The original Rev5 top
or
Rev5.1x, explained here.

Note: 5.1x hasn’t been tested that I know of. The only thing I’m worried about is the switch boot smooshing the LEDs if they aren’t inward enough.

I cannot understand how does it works, how does leds negative pads are connected to the “-”? Bridge from other side?

5.1

On the 5.1x, it jumps a trace on the back of the board, yes

My Thorfire TG06 AA/14500

dual white led with 2k pot (from memory) the tail light pulse blink every 0.5 second like a heart beat :stuck_out_tongue: . No bleeder needed :smiley:

Hmmm I kind of like the white look in there. I might have to try that.

I have actually been considering some white LED’s but didn’t order any and I have not even built one yet. With 90+ degrees in the house lately due to the AC being busted I just haven’t seemed to get as much done as sometimes lol.

Is that tailcap blue? What gives it the blue tint?

Also what causes the pulse? That is actually not a bad idea in some cases.

I would love a slow pulsing. I’ve seen it built into some 5mm LEDs. but never in a small SMD size.

The second pic show slight blue tint because my iPhone camera is sux at white balance colour.

I used clear tail boot and the light white.

:+1:
I like this idea :slight_smile:

I do too but to get the drain low enough to not be worse then leaving the LED’s on by themselves would take someone that knows how to program ATtiny’s way better then me. I could most likely cobble something together that would do it (pretty simple to check voltage and activate a pin based on the voltage) the issue is reducing the parasitic drain enough to not be worse then the LED’s

If possible it would be best if the tiny could sleep entirely except for the single pin activation for ~30 minutes between voltage checks. It would not need to do anything at all during this time. If it lost power (aka, you turn on the light) it would reset the cycle and update the voltage check.

During a discussion I had recently the possibility of a lighted tailcap compatible with NiMH batteries came up. I have very little experience with this sort of thing, but I did a bit of poking around. It would seem a very simple circuit using something like this might work. That converter, a suitable inductor, and a couple of other basic components would be all we need. I think there would be enough room on the bottom side of the 5.1 boards.

Would that converter work for this application or am I missing something?

It has been discussed before I think. Basically, you’d need an entire boost circuit tail-cap ‘driver’, just like you would in the head for the main LED. I don’t think it would be very efficient to drive it (considering the flashlight is supposed to be ‘off’), and the two drivers might interfere with each other.

Is there actually a need for a full driver w/ MCU etc.? The converter I linked doesn’t appear to need a separate controller.

The schematic on page one shows that converter, an inductor, 2 caps, and 2 resistors. That’s all that is required.

When you convert to watt/hours a standard eneloop actually has more capacity than an efest 14500. I just did a lighted tailcap that was pulling .25mA, and it was excessively bright. At that current I expect that cell to be good for weeks. It seems a runtime of weeks on a NiMH could be obtained at a reasonable brightness.

I’ve yet to put one of these together, but wanted to for my next triple build using a 32mm Noctigon. What about utilizing the center led mount for one of these tailcap leds which would shine up through the optics when the light isn’t turned on? I think mounting it and running wires from a bleeder would be easy, but not sure how to disable it once the light is turned on since it wouldn’t be directly linked to the tailcap.

Using central led on xp32 is my old dream. There are lots of color leds in XP size.
It will be great if smb could combine teo ideas from this thread (blinking led+powering one of leds mounted on main pcb). I think there will be no need in turning this extra led off, it wont be visible when main leds are running.

Finally made it, stock driver/switchboard/washer, 750 ohm bleeder and 1Ks on switchboard.

Still waiting for the translucent rubber boot for more fun.

Man, that’s quite bright, Be careful of your vampire draw on the little 18350