TK's Emisar D4 review

Yes. Just don’t rely on its thermal features, because they’re designed for hosts with a much lower power-to-mass ratio. NarsilM should work fine on the D4 as long as you regulate heat manually.

The Q8 config should work without any changes. I think its voltage readout might be off by 0.1V though, due to a difference in diodes used on the two models. I see in my configs that the Q8 has a fudge factor of 0.35V, while the D4 uses 0.25V.

Can anyone tell me what the mid way flash signifies in the upward ramp?

(highest fully-regulated level)
66: 159.46 lm (FET turns on here)

should see it on the way down too

Thanks. About how long will it run at that level?

Runtimes:

Runtimes will be approximate because the ramp is too smooth to be able to stop reliably at any particular level.

With a 3000mAh cell:

Standby: 0.02mA / 17 years
Lowest mode: 1.7 lm / 9.6mA / 13 days
Medium mode (lvl 65): ~150 lm / 350mA / 8.5 hours
Highest mode: 2000 to 4000 lm / TBD / maybe 15 minutes
The output on the low levels (from moon to ~150 lm) should be fairly stable as the battery drains. The lowest mode might sag over time though, due to the brand of 7135 chip used. I’ve informed Hank about this, and I hope future batches will use one with better moon-mode performance.

The output on turbo will drop quite a bit over time due to heat, voltage sag, and thermal regulation.

On the medium and high modes, from ~150 lm to maximum, output will drop over time proportionate to how bright it is. For levels like 200 lm, the graph should still be pretty flat, but for 2000 lm it will sag quite a bit. Performance in these modes is a hybrid between current-controlled and direct-drive, so the typical direct-drive sag becomes more prominent as the light goes into higher and higher levels.

Thanks again. I’m trying to figure out where to set it for sustained use like taking walks etc. Helpful info.

Thanks for the feedback. I just got a Second D4 and I may change the firmware to NarsilM to compare it to Anduril.

Go for it, it sounds like fun. :slight_smile:

But I may be biased; I think everyone should get a soldering iron and firmware flashing tools, and dive into modding. Nothing will ever be exactly how you want it unless you create it yourself.

For someone just starting out though, the BLF Q8 or Emisar D4S are probably the easiest. In both cases, the processor is accessible without unsoldering anything. The Q8’s driver comes out with just a couple of loosened screws, or the D4S has flashing pads where they can be reached without removing the driver at all.

Just be careful to get the fuse values right in avrdude, because bad fuses can kind of “brick” the processor. It’s still recoverable with a high-voltage programmer, but those have a much higher barrier to entry. Known working values are in the bin/flash-85.sh script.

FWIW, TK is pretty demanding on her code. I have randomly flashed Anduril to quite a varity of lights with no adjustments to the firmware and have yet to see any discrepency. YMMV

After reviewing NarsilM I realized everything I am interested in can be done with Anduril. I wish my D4 had flashing pads, but even that light is pretty straight forward to do, now that I have flashed one D4 already.

what about this flashlight and panasonic flat top the green ones? are this 18650 ok for this flashlight?
thanks a lot

@vresto, in this light, you want flat top 18650s that can handle a lot of power.

That means green Panasonics, like the NCR18650B, are not suitable for the light, since they are low drain.

You want something like a Samsung 25R, LG HE4, Samsung 30Q, LG HG2, Sony VTC5/VTC5A/VTC6 to get good performance out of the light.

but this green ones are unprotected…its matter? is it a big difference between them in lumens??

@vresto, yes it does matter. Unprotected is always better, but what matters the most is the power the 18650 can output.

A Panasonic NCR18650B is rated 4.875A of continuous discharge current, while a Sony VTC6 can sustain 20A of continuous discharge current.

That means that the NCR18650B is rated at a max of about 15W, while the VTC6 can sustain 70W of power.

That means that not only will the Emisar D4 lose a lot of lumens if ran on an NCR18650B, it will also make the 18650 degrade much faster.

oh okok.thanks a lott:)))))))))))))ň

BLF member ‘moderator007’ posted about Arrow.com offering free overnight shipping with no minimum order in the US, and a low price for Samsung LH351D 5000K 90CRI emitters.

I saw that Arrow.com also carries Carclo’s 24mm quad optics that the D4 uses. Its stock optic is the 10622 narrow spot.

10623 medium spot frosted

10624 wide spot frosted

This is an inexpensive (and fast!) option for Emisar owners in the US who’d like to try a floodier D4. I’m getting one of each. :partying_face:

Wow, I just put TK’s preconfigured Anduril on a D4. Awesome!
Love being able to configure the ceiling and still have turbo if needed. Will really help with battery life.
Of course all of the special modes are super-cool, will be going to bed with the Sunset or Candle mode every night!
Fully configurable beacon is the best beacon yet.
Thanks TK for all of your hard work!!

what he said

iam sorry…i was not following this…its new driver for emisar d4?…

Same driver flashed with different firmware.
Check the links in TK’s sig for more info.