I have a 10 AH battery bank with integral solar panel for charging. It uses an ACT IC and works very well. Keeps my smartphone charged on backpacking trips (left in flight mode except for two 1 hour windows per day for friends and family to call me, or to collect texts and e-mail). Main use of the phone is for GPS navigation and mapping, which is still a significant power draw even in flight mode.
As well as having a puny LED torch built in, which is sufficient for campsite chores, once eyes are dark-adapted. The ’phone torch is much better, and of course I carry a proper one too (Olight S15 powered by AA alkaline if on a long walk)
It can also recharge my DSLR battery, though that flattens it and it then takes a couple of days to re-charge on solar.
My Type-C phone has got quite a bit of abuse with me fumbling and pulling the wire often at odd angles. After a year it’s still perfect. Micro-USB port would have serious issues after surviving that.
I’ve never had port issues, and I’m rough on things. However, the cables are another thing. My bedside cables use to last 3-9 months tops (normally closer to 3) with good quality cables (OEM, Anker, etc.). I’ve had my first USB C for 2 years now. I drop my phone while half asleep and that causes them not to make contact, or bend. The Type C just seem to be much stonger.
Considering how cheap adapters are for C/Micro and that I have cables of both types, I couldn’t care less about the integrated charging. I prefer to use an external charger anyway. The bigger issue for me would be cost.
Being realistic, this is going to have to cost at least as much as a Q8. More complicated mechanical construction, new parts to be engineered, injection moulding tools for the globe, and a new, more complicated driver/charger/powerbank circuit
Edit: to be designed, prototyped, tested, debugged, laid out, re-tested, signed off, then left to the manufacturer to re-implement with their choice of components, according to their buyers whim.
with extra connectors, extra machining of the head to fit them, potentially complex assembly and test. Then firmware integration. And it will be heavy.
There is the risk that this will be overtaken by smaller, lighter, cheaper models that are equally per-formant. At least one is already on the market.
I don’t recall this being so complicated from the beginning.
When I joined the list, I just wanted a reliable, good runtime, and no glare lantern. Along the way, it became a charger, campfire mode, dimming mode, program this, program that… what happened to KISS??
I also don’t need a powerbank or charger built in for my purposes but there are several legitimate reasons to want those features. After all, this is meant for camping… away from civilization.
Wanted to give it a try: Spent an hour making a new logo for the BLF L1 lantern. Tried to post the image here...never could make it work. So frustrating. I have read to tutorial...it looks so easy. My forum name is haunting me.
I have tried Flickr and google drive...both failed.
So to take 400+g lamp it is good thing for mountain treks?But 22g ml-102 it is bad one?)
It is camping lamp. When weight is crusial , one takes only small headlamp.
This is true. The lantern will not likely be in a backpack. It will be in a tent, or in a camper, or in a car boot, or in a cabin, or used at home for outside and emergency lighting. Only a very small percentage of users will ever carry it in a backpack.
The power bank makes it a one stop solution for power outage or camping use, especially when combined with a folding solar panel.
It is well worth it in my book, adds far more than it takes away. Grab 2 items (lamp and panel) and you are good to go for sustainable power and light, or leave the panel at home if it is just a weekend. Store USB cables in the solar panel pockets and/or in a carry case for the lantern.
this is the exact reason behind having a built in USB bank feature with the charging in feature. with a 10 or 15 watt solar panel it can keep your phone going and the darkness away.
I forgot to mention that the Active-Semi EA2813QY development module using the reference design is available from Mouser, if you wanted to evaluate it or build into a prototype. It costs about £50. It would also give a good start for PCB layout.
I would still like to have the power bank feature, even if I’m not likely to use it.
It’s not like it’s going to hurt anyone having it, realistically it’s also not going to drive up the price noticably compared to just a charging cicuit. Granted, it may complicate the driver firmware in case it needs to be configured from the MCU, but that’s a small price to pay for something useful that adds value to the light.
