FW3A mod thread. Post yours!

I may be wrong, I’m not a open source license expert but I don’t believe that’s correct. I’m under the impression the moment he uses open source code for commercial reasons he must publicly release the code. It’s a share alike license.

In short, don’t do business with him.

I believe this would work with MCPCB 2- wired to the optic nerve pin (see Lexel’s instructions for removing the resistor and using the pad). Some caveats: high/low won’t work, and the aux LEDs will come on with the light until you modify the firmware. Ensure the MCPCB aux LED resistor is populated before trying this.

Someone please check my work:

In anduril/cfg-fw3a.h, add:

#define USE_INDICATOR_LED
#define INDICATOR_LED_SKIP_LOW

(and maybe some other stuff depending on desired behavior)

Then in fsm-misc.c, look for the indicator_led function. Change the “case 0:” to “case 2:”

That will invert the aux LED control, so Anduril will drive the output low to turn on the LEDs and high to turn them off.

What am I missing?

I do not know, I am good at hardware modding and following instructions but I have no idea what should be changed in the hardware and software. If anyone figures it out, I will be obliged.

I re-read your post and I don’t think this will do what you want anyway. It will just turn the aux LEDs on the way Anduril usually does, when the primaries are off.

I have seen what you mean, on the Fireflies F07. Is this what JC is doing with the colored LEDs? In the pictures I thought they were secondaries like on Dragons…

Maybe I should just scrap the project of using a Dragon MCPCB with secondaries in an FW3A and look for a host that will take a dragon driver.

Reading the description of the JC FW3A it looks like the secondaries work like on the Dragon: it will ramp up the secondaries, then switch to the primaries. I think that’s possible with a different hardware modification (it will involve cutting the trace to the Nx7135s, jumpering them to ground to disable them, then attaching the aux LEDs to pin 6), and some Anduril modifications (new brightness ramps). The aux LED brightness would not be regulated, so they would dim as the battery drains. Likewise, you’ll need to sacrifice the Nx7135 channel, which means mid-to-high modes will be less efficient, and drain as the battery drains. If you’re OK with that, I think what you want is possible with the FW3A driver and Anduril. I can help but I don’t have the time to try it myself to verify it before you jump in.

treellama, it looks like you know your way around the driver board and thank you very much for taking an interest. I do not pretend to understand everything you have written, but it looks to me that getting the FW3A driver to work with secondaries will come at a significant cost against the normal functionality of the light. Since that seems to be the choice, I believe I will choose to leave the light as is.

If another option arises in the future, such as a different mod, an updated driver, a spacer-pill device that will allow the use of a dragon driver in the FW3A host, I will definitely be interested. But crippling the light (by lowering its efficiency and having no regulation) to add fancy secondaries is not something I would prefer.

Google’s Android is a good example.
Android was, is and will be open source.
But Google built many ‘hooks’ in Android that link to propetary software.

But my guess is that’s not the case with the driver software. Making a change to open source software doesn’t make it yours or give you some sort of control over it. It may become a fork, but stays public.

TK would be one of the best ones to ask about this subject. I think it depends on which license was used.

In this case GPL v3.

Here is a summary:

To me, it seems that this JC guy isn’t following the license.

The Dragon driver doesn’t have a Nx7135 channel either; I’m not aware of a light with secondaries or aux LEDs that does. The D4v2 doesn’t, for instance. So, you may be holding out for a unicorn!

Dragon driver is for mechanical switch too right?

It’s GPLv3, not share-alike. Here are a couple relevant FAQs:

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#CanIDemandACopy

Now, it gets more complicated if he’s complying by providing source through a written offer. You can read the other FAQs there, but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s providing source code along with his lights.

That’s a good point, he might be providing the source code with his lights. Something something “innocent until proven guilty” comes to mind.

Well, all this talk about forcing the FW3A to take on aux LED’s… and I just got my GITD insert. Standard Green. VERY bright! I couldn’t get over how strong it is for the first 5 mins. Can even use as a moonlight mode. The GITD insert hangs on for a very long time as it wanes. Great step up from GITD tape on the inside wall. Still thinking I may give tritium vials a try. Drill in some grooves across the GITD insert. The way it fits under the optic, there’s quite a bit of clearance so you wouldn’t need to drill deep enough to submerge the entire vial thickness.

Lexel board with green and pink led's, LDO and voltage monitor removed, 2kohm resistor.

High is still a bit bright but low is perfect and an added bonus is how it flashes one time low then the next high and so on (Idk if this is by design or not but it's cool as hell!)

Finally fixed my FW3A driver and added my Lexel Aux Board. I needed to replace the ATtiny85 chip after an unsuccessful flash. Thanks contactcr for the assistance! I was able to flash the chip by itself and then re-flow it onto the driver.

The Blue/Green one is on all the time
The “Fire” one can be on, off, or blinking.

Shrunk the FW3A battery tube (FW3A18350)

and I need to make it even shorter… :cry:

Wow. I dreamed about 18350 FW3A…

Much like the Astrolux S43 has 18350 and 18650 tubes, I would also like to have an 18350 tube for the FW3A. Sometimes that little extra savings in length can make a nice difference. It’s a HUGE difference on the S43.

Can you get 18350s with decent capacity?