Does this mean five chips are connected?

Th558 wrote:

Does this mean five chips are connected?

!{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/k8Vlilg.jpg!

Yes !

amishbill wrote:

saturnine_07 wrote:

SIGShooter wrote:

3&4 should have come bridged from Sofirn. 6/7 are the optional ones that you can either solder or use a pencil to bridge them.

Can you post a picture of your driver to see what the unbridged 3&4 look like?

Yeah, thats what I thought too. I’m no electronics engineer, but I expected the WW 3-4 to have a blob of solder.

Check out the image below. Does this mean my LT1 has a (albeit easily rectified) problem?

Note – The pads on this board revision are in series. AKA – if 3/4 is open, no power goes to 5 or 6 or 7. If 5 is open, no power goes to 6 or 7, etc.

IMHO, I’d make sure t least your 3/4 and 5 are soldered.

Thats good to know.

My initial impressions were that the LT1 was down on output and a little warm for my liking. This explains it.

Concerning quality control! I wonder how many other lights have been shipped with this issue?

If I attempt a fix, what will this do to my warranty?

Got my lantern a day early (estimated Monday). It was undamaged and the box undented, so it fared better than some . The bail handle is aligned well, but still has enough friction to stay down if you place it there. Everything seem okay so far, though I’ve only operated the lantern with the USB cable as I don’t have my cells ready yet. I plan to do that tonight.

[Edit] I put solder blobs on 9 Samsung laptop pulls and the light works great. However, I desoldered the tiny potentiometer from the driver to avoid any issues with having an imperfect solder blob accidentally touch the pot.

The button cover is indeed the Thorfire version. I found that the infamous orange o-ring actually stays on mine better than expected. Admittedly, I expected the worst, but I won’t have an issue with it coming off unless I hand it to a nephew or take it camping, neither of which I’m likely to do anytime soon. I’ll eventually glue or replace it.

In the following photo, it seems that the solder blobs are correct. [Edit] I have now removed (desoldered) the tiny potentiometer shown in the photo:

[Edit] Hopefully fixed ridiculous Google Photos links. These are constantly a problem. Thanks to raccoon city for letting me know, as these photos often appear to work correctly when you post them .

pc_light wrote:

My understanding was that AMC bridges 3+4+5 were supposed to come bridged standard from the factory. In my case only the pads under “NW were bridged. Under the “WW” section none of the pads were bridged.

I cannot see the images in post #10298.

I received my first LT1 on 12/24. The 3-4 and 5 pads are soldered on both WW and NW, while 6 and 7 remain unsoldered. I believe that is the correct factory configuration.

CLB wrote:

… For the record, I received my first LT1 on 12/27, and, in my case, only the WW pads were bridged. None of the NW pads were bridged, which is the opposite of what pc_light discovered. This suggests to me that there was no intention, in batch 2, to change the driver in either of these ways. Can anyone confirm that the 3+4+5 pads are still supposed to be bridged on both NW and WW? Thanks, and Happy New Year to all.

Yes – 3/4 and 5 should be closed for both NW and WW.
No – Batch 2 was already in production while driver updates were being worked on.

korpzgrinda wrote:

I received my first LT1 on 12/24. The 3-4 and 5 pads are soldered on both WW and NW, while 6 and 7 remain unsoldered. I believe that is the correct factory configuration.

Yes – that is the intended default configuration.

For those who have lanterns with missing solder on the pads labeled as 3, 4 or 5, my recommendation is to connect the pads with graphite from a number 2 pencil. This won’t void the warranty. It also works if you want to add the additional driver chips at 6 or 7.

sbslider wrote:

For those who have lanterns with missing solder on the pads labeled as 3, 4 or 5, my recommendation is to connect the pads with graphite from a number 2 pencil. This won’t void the warranty. It also works if you want to add the additional driver chips at 6 or 7.

amishbill wrote:

sbslider wrote:

For those who have lanterns with missing solder on the pads labeled as 3, 4 or 5, my recommendation is to connect the pads with graphite from a number 2 pencil. This won’t void the warranty. It also works if you want to add the additional driver chips at 6 or 7.

How much current can a graphite bridge carry? (can it handle closing 3/4 or 5 if 6 and 7 are also pulling current through the graphite?)
What hardness of pencil works best?
Does a graphite bridge have enough resistance to impact the amount of power getting to the driver chips?

Wazaloob wrote:

Anyone know what size is the outside orange o-ring and where is best place to get different colours? Thanks.

I also would like to know this as my orange ring keeps popping off so I would like to use a smaller o-ring but not sure what size to get.

A tighter Oring won’t help as the groove is too shallow.

I added a bit of superglue in the groove and this does the trick

cm64 wrote:

Wazaloob wrote:

Anyone know what size is the outside orange o-ring and where is best place to get different colours? Thanks.

I also would like to know this as my orange ring keeps popping off so I would like to use a smaller o-ring but not sure what size to get.

see if this link works / helps:
http://budgetlightforum.com/comment/1604456#comment-1604456

Save 10% on LT1

discounted code “ SAVE10% “

Price will be $53.99 for LT1 without batteries; $65.69 for LT1 with batteries after code.

Happy New Year!

Received mine yesterday, Dec. 28.  Ordered from amazon.com on Nov. 25 from list position in the very low 2,000's.

 Amazon tracking still shows "Out For Delivery" as of Dec. 29 @ 08:35.

USPS tracking was much more accurate in the days leading up to delivery.

Minor dent in box, light undamaged.

Light itself is fully correct and in fine cosmetic & operational condition; pads are bridged correctly, bail is symmetrical & stays put when folded down.  UI will seem smarter than me until I learn it better.  ( I hate being out-thunk by a piece of rock...)

The set of BLF LT1 custom re-wrapped cells I purchased from amishbill fit perfectly, showing no interference with the pot on the driver.

My Lovely Wife, a competent motorcyclist & mechanic's helper in her own right (but hopeless muggle when it comes to tech) even said "Wow!"

LT1 will (mostly) take the place of our ancient Coleman liquid fuel lantern for camping, although it, too, will always have it's place due to sentimental value (Lots of courtin' & sparkin' occurred under it's illumination).

Thanks to Sofrin for making it a quality device, and for making it at all!

Our heartfelt Thanks to our dedicated and very patient LT1 development team.  Well Done!

slmjim

Found my LT1 in my mailbox a few days ago …although tracking still says it’s in NY. My soldering is correct and I have no desire to make it brighter. It lights up my living room equally as well as a ~800 lumen ceiling bounced flashlight. Camping with this will be a joy.

Thanks DBSAR, LT1 team, and Sofirn for making such a great lantern!

Can some experts put a sticky around the bridging on why/hows or least point me one single post explaining it..yep.. a muggle but goes by -have it and not need it than need it and not have it

Rexlion wrote:

Doggone it! I ordered 11/23, tracking shows shipped Dec. 4 and some minor movement Dec. 5, then…. nothing.

Is anyone else’s stuck in a Chicago Limbo? Mines been “in transit” for the past week from Chicago to my states processing facility. Probably customs checked, even though it was already processed through. Post Master is doing an investigation on Monday, as they’re also confused.

bulbed wrote:

Can some experts put a sticky around the bridging on why/hows or least point me one single post explaining it..yep.. a muggle but goes by -have it and not need it than need it and not have it

The LEDs produce light when current is passed through them. The LT1 has two sets of LEDs, Warm White (WW) and Neutral White (NW).

The LT1 has seven current regulator chips in parallel with each set of LEDs, 7 for the NW LEDs, and 7 for the WW LEDs. In the design of the LT1, 3 of these driver chips are always connected. The other 4 have the driver control signal brought out to a set of pads, one set for WW and one set for NW. These pads have numbers next to them, 7, 6, 5, and the last set has both 4 and 3 next to it. I don’t know why the 3 is there, as there is no option to connect or disconnect driver 3. For the remainder of this I will refer to the pads with 4 and 3 near it simply as 4.

The LT1 should come from the factory with the pads 4 and 5 soldered together. This configuration produces roughly 600 lumens maximum if I recall correctly. The way the board is designed, the pads at 4 must be connected for the remaining pad connections to be effective. The connections are all in series. I don’t understand why it was designed this way, that may change of future. If your LT1 came with pads 4 and 5 connected, you are all set. If not, then connecting both is recommended. Methods of connection will be discussed below.

If you want more light from your LT1, you can connect pads 6 (one for NW, one for WW). If you want even more light, then connect pads 7. If you connect the pads 7 without 6, you will not get any more light, pads 6 must be connected for the connection at pads 7 to be effective. This is because the connections were made in series for reasons I don’t understand.

There are two methods I know that are effective at making these connections. One is solder, presumably with a soldering iron. The other is to use a pencil and fill in the space between the pads with graphite. As mentioned above, the connection being made is the control line for the driver. Very little current flows through this connection, and the graphite provides enough of a connection for the signal to get all the way to the driver. I have experimented with making the connection at pads 6 and verified by measuring the current drawn from the batteries that making this connection with a #2 pencil is effective. Someone asked what hardness of pencil. I just used one in a drawer at home. Just fill in the space between the pads with graphite. The advantages of using a pencil to make this connection include being able to remove the connection with an eraser (verified in testing), as well as not requiring special tools.

I hope this helps, if DBSAR chooses he can add this to the first post, that’s the only “sticky” that will happen with this explanation.

Thanks sb. This should be stickied or referenced to in the first post.

Yea thanks sbslider, The front page is very busy. Maybe this sort of information should compiled in new topic that’s easier to parse through.

My button/switch backlight on “low” setting is barely distinguishable. Does this mean my unit is faulty, or does it happen across all units? It’s rather hard to find the button in the dark when the light is on at lower levels. It does come on full brightness after a certain level and you can easily see it.

bindi wrote:

My button/switch backlight on “low” setting is barely distinguishable. Does this mean my unit is faulty, or does it happen across all units? It’s rather hard to find the button in the dark when the light is on at lower levels. It does come on full brightness after a certain level and you can easily see it.

The light comes on to full brightness when the LT1 output is higher than about half full range.

Yeah but the problem is the lower level isn’t really (read: at all) visible to the naked eye (while the light is on at <50% brightness). Can’t find the button in the dark (while the light is on <50%), have to shine another light at it, or spin it around a few times..

Hmmm.. I seem to have a fourth mode, lightning flash.

chinooker wrote:

Hmmm.. I seem to have a fourth mode, lightning flash.

bindi wrote:

Yeah but the problem is the lower level isn’t really (read: at all) visible to the naked eye (while the light is on at < 50% brightness ). Can’t find the button in the dark (while the light is on < 50%), have to shine another light at it, or spin it around a few times..

Ahh, I get it now. I agree, the low button light when the LT1 is on is sort of worthless. Nothing wrong with your unit, just an opportunity for improvement in the firmware. It would be nice to be able to chose button illumination level while on, this could be 7 clicks from on. But I think the current build uses almost all the memory, so I don’t know if there is room for this.

@ sbslider…That was very helpful and plan to connect/bridge with pencil across all options.