It’s probably not worth reflashing unless there are specific changes you care about. The event system rewrite has virtually no user-visible changes. Mostly, it just … doesn’t hang any more, and the lockout mode’s momentary moon now lights up on every press instead of just the first three.
Other recent changes include:
Fancier “blinking” mode for aux LEDs. Instead of being on high for 0.5s every 4s, it makes more of a clock tick or slow heartbeat pattern. (…oOo……o……oOo……o……oOo……o…… repeating)
Moved off mode’s aux LED config to “7 clicks from off” instead of hiding it inside lockout mode.
Added a moon timing hint, to help people time the button release correctly to stay at moon from off.
Added support for some new lights.
Fixed a stepped ramping corner case when two steps were exactly 128 levels apart.
Fixed a small thermal behavior corner case.
Broke and fixed sunset mode.
Added more documentation.
Source code and build system improvements which don’t affect functionality.
Most of this makes little or no difference to the user interface.
Looking forward, most of the stuff which needs to happen is just hardware support… but more visible changes could happen too:
Tint ramping (on the lantern, and any other dual-tint lights).
Factory reset function.
Make the ramp auto-reverse in more modes, not just the main ramps.
Rewrite the thermal regulation… again.
Improve interaction between LVP and aux LEDs.
Configurable timer for sunset mode.
Possibly make strobe duty cycle configurable, or add a randomized strobe.
Maybe other new stuff, depending on what new features appear in new hardware.
More progress on grey anodizing… I think this was the second attempt to get a nice dark grey color:
About the parts not being together, Neal tells me: “not the production item, they will cut some screws before assemble”.
So the theory seems to be correct. It looks weird because the threads aren’t there. If I understand correctly, the ano factory took these pictures. And since the threads are cut after anodizing (so they can carry current), it wouldn’t be possible to put things completely together at this stage.
I think it may be caused by a small resistor in the circuit which is specifically designed to take the edge off each FET pulse. This was done to prevent excess voltage spikes and electrical noise within the driver, but it also seems to have the effect of increasing FET efficiency slightly.
Hopefully there is a cold blue steel tone to the original, similar to what is seen on my old Nokia 830 dumb phone.
If so, would some call it ‘gun metal’ ?
IMO other than the electronic switch I honestly don’t see watt all the hoopla is about this flash vs watts already out there.
Outwardly IMO it’s an average design with essentially a TI patina. Ok. Woo hoo.
Now if it had a rotary mechanical sideswitch dimmer that was hidden behind a sliding cover that could give me some “hardness”. Or if heads with different led configurations were swappable by just unscrewing then yeah definely woo hoo. Basically a glorified P60. Or magnetic charging, woo hoo.
For this amount of effort and angst I almost expect Bluetooth, a wireless remote, and a camera. Oh, and of course a talking free battery.