FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

Which is obviously not a bad thing.

theres a purple one?

Yes, in addition to the regular red, blue and green. This is Convoy, though. I don’t know if Lumintop has access to the same silver and grays as they do.

The prototype gray was fine to me except for the “seams” in the finish. I never noticed them on the earlier pics.


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Same here. The “seams” would have been dismissed even if noticed though because one is used to seeing reflections and lighting artefacts in photographs that look like that, and ignoring them as not likely part of the object.

Purple ?

Well, bring it on, as long as it’s true Tyrian purple made of sea snails. That would be a first. Not some cheap Azo dye.

Don’t do a cheapie by dying it indigo, like blue jeans, I’d rather cover myself in woad and dance around naked (it’s my heritage).

:wink:

A question about thermal regulation:

At the moment, Anduril uses a thermal regulation method which knows nothing about the actual host characteristics or driver. It simply senses “overheating” or “underheating” like a user-adjustable thermostat, with some information about magnitude, like the degrees of excess multiplied by how long it has been in that condition. From this, it attempts to find a happy medium, with the adjustment speed determined by the magnitude. It’s fairly universal and typically works well with no need to hardcode anything about the host itself. Also, the adjustments are so smooth they’re basically invisible without a lux meter.

But.

On such a small and overpowered light, like the FW3A, overheating can happen so fast that it barely even has time to react. By the time it senses that things are trending too high, the light could already by too hot to touch. It works fine on a larger host like a Q8, or at a more reasonable power level like 3 Amps, because sensor lag is much less of a factor there.

So I’m wondering if I should change it. It currently regulates fine from the default ceiling level of ~1100 lm, but it doesn’t drop fast enough from full turbo.

Instead, I could make it drop immediately (or at least very very quickly) to the highest regulated level of ~1100 lm whenever it senses any overheating condition while the FET is active. Even if it’s over by just 1 degree for just a few seconds, it’d trigger a full turbo step-down and shut off the direct drive circuit. Maybe it’d still do the smooth ramp-down, but it would no longer be invisible — it’d be fast enough to see, like 4 seconds. And since there’s thermal lag, it might continue to regulate downward for bit afterward, overshooting its ideal target level, but at least the host wouldn’t get anywhere near as hot as a slower method.

Although dropping from 100% power to ~25% power is a huge change in the amount of heat generated, to the eye it looks more like it’s going from 100% to 80%. Effectively, it looks like dropping only one level.

So.

What do people prefer?

  • Smooth but slow universal method which allows full turbo to run longer but may require the user to exercise common sense and turn the brightness down manually sometimes.
  • Fast drop to a hardcoded level which is safer but may potentially be a little oversensitive and uses code instead of common sense to enforce “turbo is for brief use only”.

There is also still a muggle mode, which probably couldn’t start a fire even if someone wrapped it in dark-colored insulation with a low ignition temperature. So, use that for the kids. The question is how it should behave in non-muggle mode.

TK, I know nothing about these aspects but:

- as flashaholic and as a person that knows that these are not toys, I would prefer option A, meaning that I would be responsible to take care of the light and turn it OFF or cool it down if needed (except, maybe, in unattended conditions).

- as a person that knows that [besides the thousands of enthusiast members that are in the GB lists to get 1 or more of these lights] there will be a sale of the FW3A beyond our lists, for “muggles” or not so “aware” people, I would carefully ponder option B.

I am inclined to say more A, however :smiling_imp:

Of the two options, I prefer the first: "Smooth but slow universal method...". I like the idea of more direct control of the light's output.

Thanks again TK for doing so much for this project, and continuing your efforts! This project would not be nearly so cool without your coding skills making a super cool UI :)

I can see points for both options, but I do know that I use my D4 less often than I intended to when I bought it because of the potential for burned fingers and lighting pants on fire (even if I’m not lying!). I carry a variety of flashlights, use them most days, know how to be safe and understand the dangers and I still can see the value in the second option.

Turbo in a light this size is not a feature that I’d use often. I’d show off to friends and family with it or use it if I need a lot of light quickly. Neither of those situations require minutes (or even a single minute) of turbo so I’m not so worried about a stepdown at the first sign of overheating.

I can guess that there are a bunch of folks who hate the thought of throttling down a light with this much potential, but I think that the second option is wisest.

What about an additional “expert mode”?
That might not be optimal from the manufacturers’s point of view, though. :laughing:

Btw: Btw: With this lamp you could - if not yet available - make a master degree in control engineering. A self-optimizing deadbeat algorithm would be fine.:smiley:

TK, I think you need to map it. Even when running off just the 7135s this is a hot torch, but not something to be feared by the experienced who understand what turning on the FET can do.

Thermal feedback isn’t going to work on this one, I think you know that now.

So, map it, build a profile that works safely, subtly, and keeps the thing within limits (whatever they might be).

Or just go for it and to hell with the consequences. Lumintop might not like that though …

Expert mode is when you set the thermal ceiling to the maximum it’ll allow, and intentionally skew the sensor calibration so it thinks it’s cold all the time. That’ll effectively turn off thermal regulation entirely.

But, like… don’t do that. :slight_smile:

Turbo ramp-down always seems better for me in real-world applications.

I have not been a participant in the creation of this light. I sure plan on buying one though. For whatever it’s worth, I’m with Wilson. Go with the safer option.

@ TK…… I say do whatever you think is best in the big scheme of things. :+1:

Exactly.

The FW3A implements a few things to reduce the heat issues compared to a D4…

  • Three emitters instead of four.
  • Regulated output up to ~1100 lm instead of ~150 lm.
  • Button on tail instead of side, so it’s harder to hit by accident.
  • Much faster access to lockout, and less need to exit lockout for quick tasks.
  • User-adjustable ramp ends, so the ceiling can be lowered.
  • Default ceiling is ~1100 lm instead of full turbo (though turbo is still accessible).
  • Smoother regulation which is less prone to overshooting and oscillating.
  • Temperature sensor calibration, for more consistent and predictable behavior.
  • Muggle mode, for use while lending the light to others.

… but it has less thermal mass and is still rather overpowered on turbo. The highest mode is like 500% of its sustainable power level, and the potential change would make it drop down faster to ~150% or ~200% where the regular algorithm works better.

I think you should err towards B as well. Whether it's the full-on "drop straight to regulated" or altering the ramp-down to be a lot more aggressive, it seems clear the "invisible" stepdown just doesn't work. It wouldn't on the D4 either. About how long will it run on turbo before stepdown?

I definitely think the quicker step down should be standard. If there is enough memory, maybe an option can be added to turn it off in programming.

If not too late, please put me in the list for one (1).
Thanks

Option A.