Fireflies E07 preview

Lol, I did. No flicker, but that’s the floor on both. One click on both setting up floor.

My previous post will show the XPL moonlight lower than the nichia before the swap. I think it’s got to be something with the driver

It’s those small variances in componentry that cause it to be difficult to pre-set moon… they just aren’t all the same.

That's why I made moon mode level configurable - I got lights with a "glow" for moon light PWM level 3, some work decently, others don't light up at all on PWM level 3. Also some work at level 2, and I think at level 1, some don't.

I managed to reduce the hardware sensitivity of moon level, but didn’t eliminate the issue entirely. The method for doing this is to underclock the MCU at the lowest few levels, which makes each pulse longer but farther apart. The overall brightness is similar, but it’s less volatile, less variable from one chip to the next.

Comparing the two methods…

Adjustable moon at full speed:

  • + Moon level can be lower.
  • + Moon level can be somewhat more consistent from one light to the next, if each one is calibrated individually.
  • + Virtually impossible to detect any PWM.
  • - Moon may be fine on a full battery, but may not illuminate at all on a low battery.
  • - Generally requires calibration for each individual light.
  • - Uses about 5 to 6 mA of power, even at the lowest moon level.

Dynamic underclocking:

  • + Less sensitive to subtle hardware changes, so moon level is more consistent from one light to the next.
  • + Less sensitive to battery voltage, so moon level is more consistent as the battery gets low.
  • + Uses about 1.2 to 2.2 mA of power, so moon runtime is typically about 3X longer. The next few low modes also have increased runtime.
  • - Not adjustable for each individual light.
  • - Moon level may be higher than desired.
  • - PWM might be visible for a few people… though it’s still invisible to most.

Six of one, half a dozen of another. Different people choose different tradeoffs. Perhaps in the future we’ll use MCUs with more pins and we can have a dedicated power channel for moon… like how the lighted button works. Or the button channel could be used for moon instead. This would provide even higher efficiency, with no PWM.

Still waiting for word on copper and/or titanium version!

Just a few xpl hi 5000k and nichia 219b comparisons.
White door plus shadows from chandelier
Xpl light
Nichia light
Room chandelier light on wood dressers
Xpl on dresser
Nichia on dresser
Love the throw/lumen power of the xpl, but the nichia really makes the browns and reds look deep and vibrant. On turbo the xpl looks “to the eye” double the lumen output of the nichias. You can see the xpl has tighter hot spot also. I’m glad I have both. If they start matching the button leds with the aux lights, other than purple, I may be getting the sst model. It’s just hard to beat the the amazing output of the XPL HI emitters they offer.

If you adjust your aux lights make sure you don’t use any precision screwdrivers. One of mine broke off when trying to adjust with a micro screwdriver. Be gentle and use your finger or maybe a pencil eraser for grip. I thought I saw a slit for a micro screwdriver in the center but it isn’t. So be careful. I ended up dripping a solder blob to obtain max brightness back on and now the only way to dim is remove that blob……

+1

Thanks for the tip Firemedic, I totally would have done the same thing!!!

Edited below to add measurements with Lishen LR2170SF and Samsung 50E. I believe the LR2170SF is the best cell for the 219B version eventhough it outputs the same as the 50E at full charge, but as the battery depletes, the LR2170SF will be able to output higher than the 50E.

Fantastic work, Firemedic. :+1:

does samsung 50e really fit this light ? 40t seems like a tight fit.

Yes, I’m using mine with the 50E and 48G with perfect fit and electrical connection.

okay good to know.

This was posted by TwistedRaven on CPF

Luscious! :heart_eyes:

And I found it from xamsiem on Reddit.

I may be tempted to mix and match.

Maybe put this head on my clear coat body. And the copper body on my clear coat head. I don’t know….

I’ll taker an all copper one.

I did find out about this light about 2 weeks ago, I thought that this was the ultimate EDC light. Was little bit surprised never heard about the manufacture before.

I have spent the whole saturday to read this thread. In general its way too much off topic in this thread especially of people who dont own the flashlight.

Here is Some observations and questions to summarize this thread

1. It seem Fireflies first of all have done a bad job giving back feedback, about all manufacture and quality problems, I only have seen one post, about the thermal paste. From that point forward we know they are aware of the problem, but we still see no confirmation that all flashlight from a certain date should not have this problem, all I see is people from left and right have this problem, right now I cant make purcahse cause it feels like russian roulette and its a big pain to send back stuff and get it fixed even if they pay for everything, I rather wait until beta period over.

2. Its a lot of of battery discussion in thread, some battery discussion are valid, especially those regarding size of battery, It must be under 70.8mm in length. The other discussion of the danger to use to powerful batteries might make some emitters blue or stop working is also very important disucssion,

The other dicussion regarding fake batteries from fireflies, well, first of all fireflies should not bundle with battires, its a risky business its easy to get fake batteries, especially since they most likely want to make as good profit as possible so they buy the batch that has best price. Fireflies will earn money of bundle fake batteries. Its better to buy batteries from shops that only sell battires where their whole reputation is on the line if they sell fake battries, here in EU I recommend NKON.

3. There is very little comparison between emitters in this thread, I think there is a lot of “Nichia” fanboyism in general on this forum, sometimes its well deserved but that does not mean we should give other emitters a chance. I am in the market for the 4000k range myself, but the CREE XPL HI V2 5A 4000k emitter have 2400 more in lumen output, then both Nichia and SST20 4000k, so yeah thats a really big difference in output, so there should be a very good reason to choose the Nichia over the SST20, sure I dont see the CRI rating on the Cree XPL, but I would prefer to see actual photos to see the difference in color/tint/beam/battery efficiency.

4.

Now it has gone almost 2 months, have we seen any “official” proof that it will be released ? and when ?
I rather way for the premium edition with Copper and that have hopefully fixed all the glitches in the manufacturing. Black body and copper head would look sexy (just like Manker E14 II).