Stereodude, if you donât like it donât buy it or better yet go design your own usb-c compliant lantern if you want one so badly. Just stop complaining. Did you rant to the Raspberry Pi Foundation about how the rpi4 wasnât 100% usb-c protocol compliant too?
Usb-a will never go away, usb-c is just another standard now alongside it like how the xkcd comic points out.
People made assumptions. People designing the light, people manufacturing the light, and people playing along at home all had different levels of knowledge of USB C and most did not understand how complicated it is. Everybody is learning more and thatâs a good thing. Apple still hasnât committed and the lantern doesnât have a lightning port. And that is a good thing.
Sorry, but youâre wrong. Using the USB-C connector does NOT imply adherence to any of the protocol or charging standards on the backend. Thatâs even the official stance of the USB standards organization. The connector is just that, a way of connecting a cable to a device, nothing more.
I followed the Lantern thread from the first post. They delivered more than was promised originally with ONE exception: The out the door cost was desired (note I didnât say promised) to be $40. That target was missed. Iâm happy with the lantern and want to thank all of you folks that did the heavy lifting (and Sofirn as well). The budget part of the project was how much money you non-paid volunteers made on your hard work:-) (Iâm joking⌠joking!!!)
Thank you all so much! Love the lantern, and the BLF wrapped batteries AmishBill did too are a fantastic addition. Great stuff!
Agreed that the target was missed, however in their defence, that target was set before a significant number of features were finalized. If Iâm not mistaken, that target was set while the LED count was only 2 (maybe 4) and of a single color temperature. It was set before a charging circuit was decided upon. It was set before Toykeeper even developed the awesome features like candle, sunset and lightningâŚ
Iâm 100% fine with the slight bump in price considering all the awesome features I recieved. Given the choice I would have paid WAY more than what I did for the extra features that this lantern included.
correct. :+1: The 40-dollar original target was for a more basic design similar to the original V1 and V2 prototypes, (no tint ramping, only 2 or 4 LEDs, (the LT1 has 8) no configuration for charging rates and amp-draw rates, and a more basic firmware & driver, no button LED, and a standard 5-volt only USB micro charging.
Ok, enough whining, more doing. My LT1 arrived this morning, and before even switching it on for the first time, I modded it to solve the USB issue.
High-res gallery:
Here are the locations of the respecive contact pins:
Source:
Hereâ what I did:
First, remove the driver board by unscrewing the retaining bolts and untwisting the twisted wires:
I carefully soldered 0.05mm² wires to CC1 and CC2. Not my proudest joints, but a firm tug confirmed a connection, and a DMM said the adjacent contacts did not get connected by accident. I used a Quicko T12 station with KF tip. Highly recommended.
To connect to ground, I did not use those tiny USB contacts, but a contact from a driver which happens to be connected to ground as well:
Next, I built a resistor. I carefully matched 3.3k and 1.8k resistors to get exactly 5.1kohm with about 1% tolerance. I took a slice of prototype strip board to mount the resistors on:
After tinning the boadd, I âgluedâ the resistors on top using what I assume to be AMTEC-NC-599 flux, If I was not defrauded:
I heated up the assembly with my 858D rework station:
I soldered on the wires:
I put it in clear shrink tube to avoid shorts, and glued it to a free place on the driver PCB using RTV silicone. The black wire could use some more slack though:
The wires get twisted and the driver bolted back on afterwards.
The only problem is that I cannot test it, as I do not have any USB C output device right now. Maybe I will check with the IT hardware guy in the new year.