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.
Yes, I haven’t tweak it to get my ideal brightness.
Soldering SMD into driver board took a lot of patiences because I don’t have any proper soldering iron yet :person_facepalming:
Well I just pulled out the oshpark boards and parts to put together some of these finally but realized I made a mistake in ordering.
It seems I ordered 6x 5.1 19mm led ring and 6x of the pryo 16mm? switch board.
I could make it work in an S2 tailcap but I wanted to use it in an S2+ to start out with.
So to make sure I don’t make another mistake, what boards should I order to be able to build both S2+ and S2 tailcaps with the ones I have now included?
Any different parts for the astrolux tailcaps? What about the C8, 501b & solarforce L2?
No, apparently this is the one that had been linked to in the OP before you updated it: OSH Park ~
The 5.1 you linked to says it works with 14mm boots like the astrolux, does the 5.3 as well? I think 2 channels is enough, I don’t see me using more then 2 colors at a time.
What about switch boards for the S2’s larger cavity?
I was actually gonna ask if there was a header pin version as that would be much simpler. Do you think you would get around to that anytime soon?
Although I am debating between the switch and pot under the spring. I suppose you could just turn the pot all the way one direction and it should turn the LED off thus netting the same result? The pot under the spring saves the cost of the switch which is nice.
Ok, so the 5.3 ring sounds like the best option for the LED’s.
I will wait till you get a switch board made up with header pins to order that, no rush. I am in not hurry for this particular mod. Still trying to figure out how what I am going to do with all the lights I have as it is before I start making them glow lol.
I’m just running out of ways to name all these versions. I already have Rev5.3 Bottom. What would I call this, Rev5.3 Bottompot? Do I jump to Rev5.4? It doesn’t seem like a evolutionary change, just a step to the side.
I’m trying to keep the names as easy as possible, but I know it isn’t exactly working.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The names are very confusing for sure but I could not think of a better way so I kept my mouth shut. Same issue I am running into with the TA drivers.
I am trying to label each driver with a name that describes what it exists for instead of just more numbers, for example the LDO series are the same as the normal version names except with LDO added. Thus they have an LDO. It is still getting a little confusing though.
I think the best option is a clear explanation system for the different boards. Either on OSHpark or the OP.
Something that details exactly why each board was created and what it does that others do not. Also examples of what lights it fits and what dimensions are important to see if it will fit.
Thats a lot of work though.
If the 5.3 is more of less universal for the smaller tailcaps then you might consider standardizing things a bit and moving most of them to another post/end of the OP and focusing instead on just a handful of boards that cover the vast majority of mods. The more universal the parts the better for first timers, once they have done a few they will see whats important and whats not.
