Emisar D4S review

[ToyKeeper]

@Man Without Shadow

a succinct step by step foolproof process for a particular light … D4S … Anduril

This is about as short as possible, for someone who hasn’t done it before. I wouldn’t call it foolproof though:

1. Get a usbasp device, a ribbon cable, and some solid-core wire or jumper pins which fit into the D4S flashing holes. Hardware links are available at the Link in my signature.
2. Install avrdude.
3. Download a pre-compiled .hex file for the D4S. Whatever is most recent here.
4. Connect the usbasp to the D4S driver using the ribbon cable and pins, according to the pinouts listed in the wiki.
5. Run “bin/flash-85.sh anduril.DATE.EMISAR_D4S.hex” or, in Windows, copy the command inside of flash-85.sh, replace the filename, and run it.

If avrdude reports success, you’re done! Pull the pins out and use the light.

For other lights, the instructions are similar except they involve a SOIC8 clip instead of jumper pins, and they often involve un-soldering things in order to make the driver accessible.

With Lexel’s flashing key, it replaces the jumper pins and eliminates the need to look up pinouts. Acquiring a key might be tricky, but it makes flashing very quick and easy.

[ToyKeeper]

@DB Custom

somewhere along the way the code started looking like an instruction manual for flying Alien spacecraft

Sorry about that.

I noticed things were getting pretty messy too, so I tried to clean it up by locking the spaghetti in a box. Here’s an example of how it looks afterward… an implementation of the UI from Olight’s Baton series:

http://toykeeper.net/torches/fsm/baton.c

Of course, Anduril is more complicated… but even with that, I’ve tried to make it relatively easy to customize by commenting out lines at the top which enable or disable features.

[Man_Without_Shadow]

Wow…thanks!

I get the mechanics…putting pins in things, plugging in cables…good at running windows programs…
Hardware ordered…links to what I bought (no clip for now…will scrounge up some solid-core wire):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077X7MKHN/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AX4WQ00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(assuming the usbisp will not need new firmware or any jumper changes)

I must admit: Run “bin/flash-85.sh anduril.DATE.EMISAR_D4S.hex“ or, in Windows, copy the command inside of flash-85.sh, replace the filename, and run it.

confuses me.

I know to replace the file name with “anduril.2018-08-22.EMISAR_D4S.hex”

But the “run” command (in a command prompt window?) and the “flash-85.sh” (thats in a avrdude windows program)?
Perhaps it will make more sense when I actually have the items in hand and can play around with the hardware/avrdude.

Appreciate all the specific help!

Thanks!

[ToyKeeper]

@Man Without Shadow

I must admit: Run “bin/flash-85.sh anduril.DATE.EMISAR_D4S.hex“ or, in Windows, copy the command inside of flash-85.sh, replace the filename, and run it.

confuses me.

I know to replace the file name with “anduril.2018-08-22.EMISAR_D4S.hex”

But the “run” command (in a command prompt window?) and the “flash-85.sh” (thats in a avrdude windows program)?
Perhaps it will make more sense when I actually have the items in hand and can play around with the hardware/avrdude.

That part is different depending on which OS you use. I’m using a Linux-based OS, so I’ve been using shell scripts for a lot of things. I run “flash-85.sh anduril.hex” and it works. The current contents of “flash-85.sh” are:

#/bin/sh
FIRMWARE=$1
avrdude -c usbasp -p t85 -u -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m -U hfuse:w:0xdf:m -U efuse:w:0xff:m -Uflash:w:$FIRMWARE

So on Windows, instead of “flash85.sh anduril.hex”, it would be more like this: avrdude -c usbasp -p t85 -u -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m -U hfuse:w:0xdf:m -U efuse:w:0xff:m -Uflash:w:anduril.hex

This happens at a command prompt. Alternately, you could find a GUI wrapper for avrdude, and use the mouse. Or convert the shell script into a Windows .BAT batch file.

[Man_Without_Shadow]

Great info!

I’m gonna try eXtreme Burner- AVR (GUI)

[d_t_a]

@ToyKeeper

In terms of max lumens on XP-sized emitters, the scale is generally (from most to least):

• XP-L2 HD
• LH351D
• XP-L HD
• XP-L HI
• XP-G3
• 219c
• XP-G2
• 219b
• XP-E2

If I recall correctly, at least. Assuming other things are equal, like color temperature and CRI. Warmer tints and lower CRI generally produce fewer lumens per watt.

So it’s not at all surprising that a LH351D would beat XP-G2 on lumens. It’s enough steps above that it can still put out more light even with somewhat higher CRI.

Thanks for that information. I wonder where would the XM-L2 (or XM-L) fit in terms of lumens/power (though they’re not XP-sized…)?

@SKV89

I’m also very impressed with how nice the auxiliary lights look. Just an idea, would it be possible to make the auxiliary leds glimmer individually by a future driver update? If that’s too hard, maybe having the LEDs “breathe” simultaneously.

Not really. The breathing effect costs a lot of power. Instead of just powering the LEDs (0.03 to 0.90 mA), it requires keeping the MCU awake to pulse the emitters on and off fast enough that it looks like it’s dimming. The MCU by itself requires several times as much power as the LEDs (2 to 6 mA). So “breathing” mode would be less bright and have only a fraction as much runtime.

You could make it “breathe” by changing the firmware, but I don’t think it would be worthwhile.

The side indicator LED of the BLF Q8, when installed with Anduril, can be configured to have breathing effect (On-Off-On-Off) = is that also costly in terms of power consumption?

[eas]

@d_t_a

Thanks for that information. I wonder where would the XM-L2 (or XM-L) fit in terms of lumens/power (though they’re not XP-sized…)?

XM-L2 would be a little lower than the XP-L HD. Same/similar forward voltage, and therefore same current, but the XPL HD is, I believe, available in high flux bins than the XM-L2

[ToyKeeper]

@d_t_a

The side indicator LED of the BLF Q8, when installed with Anduril, can be configured to have breathing effect (On-Off-On-Off) = is that also costly in terms of power consumption?

The breathing effect is costly in terms of power regardless of whether it’s on a button or front-facing LEDs. However, Anduril does not have a breathing mode. The closest it has is a blinking mode, and that doesn’t really cost any extra power.

[Eraursls1984]

@ToyKeeper

@d_t_a

The side indicator LED of the BLF Q8, when installed with Anduril, can be configured to have breathing effect (On-Off-On-Off) = is that also costly in terms of power consumption?

The breathing effect…

What is the breathing effect?

[maukka]

[zeroflow]

@Gavka

ToyKeeper
As I said above, I’m new to programming flashlights.
While I’m waiting for the hardware, I would like to clarify something.
This command:
avrdude.exe -p attiny85 -c usbasp -Uflash:w:anduril.YYYY-MM-DD.EMISAR_D4S.hex:a
in command line in the Windows (10x64 LTSB) is enough for purpose of reflashing firmware or I must first delete old firmware from MCU with any additional commands?

Could you give me ONE command for successful flashing Anduril.

Thank you!

Not toykeeper, but this command is enough to flash the D4S. You still need to have avrdude installed

[ToyKeeper]

@maukka

Exactly. That is the breathing effect.

In terms of implementation, it is done by enabling PWM on the indicator LED pin, and then cycling a slow triangle wave (linear zig-zag) on the PWM level. It’s really easy to do, but it requires keeping the MCU awake in order to generate a PWM signal. So in that mode, about 95% to 99% of the total power goes toward running the MCU, and only 1% to 5% for powering the LED. It’s very inefficient.

In contrast, simply turning the LED on and then putting the MCU to sleep makes the button brighter while also greatly reducing the amount of power used.

On the light I measured, breathing mode used about 4 mA on average. Meanwhile, I’ve got moon mode running at about 1.7 mA in Anduril. And the BLF Q8’s button LED uses about 0.1 mA at full brightness. Or running the Q8 button LED in blinking mode, it’s about 0.1 mA while on and 0.01 mA while off, with a ratio of 1 to 8. So overall it’s about 0.03 mA average while blinking.

So on a 3000 mAh cell, I get roughly the following runtimes:

• Breathing mode (Astrolux et al): 1 month
• Moon mode (Anduril): 2.5 months
• Button LED (Q8, high): 3.4 years
• Button LED (Q8, low or blinking): 11 years

This huge difference in runtime is why I haven’t added breathing mode.

[The_Flashaholic]

I wondered why my MF01/02 went flat so quick!

I’m gonna sell.

The lack of Instant Turbo is making the D4S a bugger to review, I’ve had to re-shoot several times noticing the beamshots aren’t bright enough. I’m too used to my many D4’s.

[joechina]

[quote=ToyKeeper]

@DB Custom

I found the D4S was pretty easy to reflash with a usbasp…

It looks like FSM get its noodly appendage

[ToyKeeper]

@KG_Tuning

The lack of Instant Turbo …

If you want instant turbo from off, all you have to do is set the ceiling level to 150 (1 click during the ceiling config).

[KawiBoy1428]

The one I ordered from Hank came today….my back up D4S lasted about 2 minutes…….

Now it’s my wife’s D4S……

[djmcconn]

KawiBoy 1428 That’s why I went ahead and ordered another!

[deleted-200707]

one more thing for me to worry about

The green is from Hank, the grey from MTN

[DB_Custom (Dale)]

My green one from MTN Electronics got here Saturday and has the programming via’s like the green one shown above right. Richard was positive that the optics are glued to the MCPCB but mine wasn’t, so there seems to be a couple of variables in these, maybe some first runs got through done one way before they figured out a better way?

[Farmer_Harv]

I picked up a couple of flat top batteries for the D4S (it’s finally at Canada customs! Hooray!) and was wondering of one would be significantly better/worse? My TA lumen tube is stuck in customs (9 days now) so I thought I’d ask the collective wisdom here instead of just guessing.

I’m hoping this hasn’t come up already and I missed it. Apologies if it has.