My experiences have been what TK mentioned - they fail for me wide open. I've killed several this way on my modded 35K lumens XHP50 based light, and in a couple triple XHP70's I modded, all with FET+1 drivers. Ohh yes, same thing CK is saying - all in high powered 2S builds.
Well no, not exactly. Firmware has no control over a FET based driver accept for PWM'ing to lower the effective amps, but not to any exact amperage level - it can't read back amps, can't adjust accordingly. You could add resistance (thinner, longer LED wires for example), but that depends on the cell also.
Hi everyone, my first post here, my first flashlight which was recommended to me.
I just got it in the mail, but have the following issues:
I press the button (click), and nothing happens (this is where moonlight should be). A half-click gets me to a low setting, the next half-click to the exact same setting (definitely identical), and then it gets all the way up to turbo. So basically I’m missing 2 out of the 7 modes (moonlight and low or med1).
In the second group (supposed to be 4 different modes), the first two modes are identical (so it’s 3 instead of 4).
Switching between the groups is possible, but there are no two blinks as there should be, it’s just dark, I can still get it done just by guessing.
Battery check also does not work.
Is this a known problem/easily fixable by a noob, or do I have to send the lamp back?
It sounds like a hardware problem, like the driver has a bad amc7135 chip. It’s not easily fixed unless you have some of those hanging around and know how to resolder it.
Thank you so much for your reply! :+1: Too bad that the first flashlight I order from China has this, but I’ll see what the vendor will say!
I really have no experience in the field whatsoever, naively thinking there might be something like a “factory reset” to fix this! I guess I’ll just have to wait for a few more weeks then.
Hi all, new here and still a relative noobie with the A6.
Seems I’m also experiencing the same issue with being unable to access the configuration menu with 15+ taps. The light simply keeps on cycling through the levels until it settles on moonlight after repeated taps but no blinking into configuration.
So far I’m liking it much, except I’d really like to enter the configuration mode to tur on memory mode like I have on my others like my Thorfire C8s.
This is a stock BLF Special Edition A6 from Banggood, no tweaks, no mods. Any ideas? Defective?
After 15+ half-presses (flashlight must be in the ON state first), the flashlight should enter into Configuration Mode, which is signified by Blink-Blink, pause, Blink-Blink. I think the Blink-Blink is not that bright, so you may have to shine it on a wall to identify the Blink-Blink.
To change the setting, you need to Turn OFF the flashlight (fully-click the button) in between the “Blink-Blink”, ie. don’t wait for the second Blink in each pair of Blink.
It sounds more complicated than it is. Here’s a video showing how to do it. Go to the 9 minute and 40 second mark to see the programming function. (Yes, it’s for the Astrolux C8, but it has the exact same driver as the BLF A6.)
Having the exact same problem with an A6 I bought on Banggood just last week. It just got here and I can’t for the life of me get it into config. Mind you, I already have an A6 which I can get into config just fine. There are a few things amiss apparently. The light seems to be stuck in Group 2, but with a slight variation. Instead of low-mid-high-turbo it appears to do low-low (or mid - mid) - high - turbo. The first two brightness levels are identical.
Trying to get into config results in the constant mid or low (whichever it is), it will not blink twice.
Same thing happens when I go backwards from the lowest brightness to turbo, then flasher and then battery check. There is no battery check, instead it just stays on in low / mid mode, similar to config. I’ve looked at the controller pcb and I can’t see any clear signs of solder blobs where they shouldn’t be, it looks to be neatly soldered.
Any hints as to what this could mean? I’m leaning towards dud to be honest…
Reading the previous page, that seems to be the general consensus indeed. This particular A6 comes from the EU warehouse so I’m wondering if that means that the entire batch of A6’s they have there are compromised since I’m apparently not the only one with this issue.
So I got in touch with Banggood’s aftersales and they are treating it as a manufacturing defect and are refunding the light. I’ve asked them if their entire batch of A6’s is likely to have this issue, but I’m still waiting to hear back from them. That leaves me with an A6 that needs some TLC. Anyone know where I can pick up a 7135? I’ve looked at Arrow, Farnell, TME and LCSC but haven’t found any yet.
It’s an amc7135 chip, 350mA. Specifically, it should be a raptor-claw brand. I don’t know the name, but that’s the logo it has on the chip. Not a sailboat logo. Stores which sell flashlight drivers might have some, but you might have to buy an entire driver to get the parts. I’m not sure where to get them individually in the EU.
I’m currently working on putting an order together (unrelated to flashlights) for LCSC / JLCPCB so I’ll pick up 5 or 10 from them. I did search eBay for a bit and there are some 7135s to be found in europe (supposedly) but none of them with the raptor claw, some even use generic SOT89 3d models as the product image. I have good experiences with LCSC so that’ll be the way to go I think.
I thought about that too. However I currently have another order I’m waiting on from BG and it’s taking forever to even ship the thing out. Plus, right now I’m not too confident in BG’s A6 drivers.