I know we each have different goals and uses for the aux LEDs. Personally, I like the lows being super low. It can be an alternative to trit vials that isn’t too bright on my nightstand. It would be cool if the brightness was adjustable, though.
Does the titanium version step down faster than the aluminium version when using Turbo?
Yes, heat can’t escape the emitter/driver area as fast.
TK,
Are the pre-complied .hex files dated 12/17 & 12/3 ok to use or are those the revisions that needed some thermal code changes? I want to update my Emisar’s and FW’s, but I’ll wait if there are improvements coming.
Thanks.
Aux LED brightness is determined by the resistors soldered onto the aux LED board. The firmware does not control that.
What the firmware controls is two things — whether the LEDs have power, and whether the MCU’s internal resistor is active. This allows for 4 states:
|
Power On |
Power Off |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Resistor On |
aux low |
aux off |
|
Resistor Off |
aux high |
aux off |
That is the full extent of the aux LED brightness levels available while the MCU is asleep.
Those should be fine if you’re careful to avoid letting it overheat, but the thermal regulation in those versions tends to react too slowly.
I’ve been making some pretty good progress with a thermal rewrite, but it’s not done yet. The most recent unpublished code regulates to a stable level very quickly on an Emisar D4, but it’s pretty bumpy on lights with a lower power-to-mass ratio.
Thank you for explaining. The aux lights are already very useful as indicators (locked/non locked, voltage) and quite pretty. It would be fantastic if in a future hardware revision or hardware version they could be powerful enough to be used for illumination : red for preserving dark adaptation, blue/green for use in strobes?, UV would be nice too ;-)
One can only hope!
I have a flashlight with R/G/B/UV in addition to white, all bright enough to use for illumination. It’s pretty neat. However, I’ve found that it isn’t particularly useful.
OTOH, I also made a R/Y/G/B lightsaber with custom firmware, and the colors work a lot better there. Since there are so many ways to use a full spectrum of colors, I made it so the user can design their own patterns in a manner similar to designing sounds on a synthesizer. I should probably get back to that project sometime…
Hm… I got mine finally… My ramping is changed into step ramping. Not smooth like it was… Its ramping with modes… Steps. Is it possible? How to change it to thr classical ramping please?
While the light is on, click the button three times.
Too bad the green color is being discontinued. Anyone knows where to get an old stock D4 in green?
can you please make the AUX LEDS “USABLE”. like we can turn it on to use as reading light or whatnot… right now the aux leds are only for “decoration” purpose for a lack of a better term…
pls make it usable with its own mode… click and hold from off maybe. just an example… just make it usable
In its current form, the aux LEDs are not very useful for reading. The reasons why are:
- On low mode, they are far too dim to read with.
- On high, it may be bright enough to read with, but the beam pattern is very uneven.
- On high, the aux LEDs produce less light than moon mode, and use more power.
- There is no dedicated mode for aux LEDs. The closest it gets is if you set up lockout mode with the aux LED configuration you want.
But in an ideal world, how would you want it to work, in detail?
thanks… that changed my mind… haha… i was just thinking about the idea to use the red leds to “preserve” night vision like in the nitecore ec11. but then again the ec11 does not have a moon mode like the d4, which makes the red leds somewhat useful… but your point is spot on… no need for the aux leds as illumination anymore as there is a moon mode… 
I've had my D4V2 since last summer and have EDCed it since then. I've put on various different firmwares since I got it and noticed a newer one 2020_03_18. I put it on this morning and verified that's the version installed via 15 clicks. After reading about setting the aux LEDs to show voltage the last few posts, I've decided that's what I want when my light is off. Previously, I had red set for off and blue set for lockout to distinguish between the two.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I never get just blue even with the voltage of my battery showing 4.1 via 3 clicks. The aux just show blue and red on at the same time with the light off. I stopped holding on 7 clicks when it seems rainbow is done and that is the result (tried it numerous times). I get red/blue aux on at the same time. I thought there were just 3 colors for the voltage- blue, then green, then red as voltage drops over time.
Oh, right. When I merged the Noctigon K1 code, it also merged in the higher-resolution voltage colors. From high to low voltage, it goes: white, purple, blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, off. But “white” is unlikely to happen since it’s only for an over-charged cell. So really, it follows the colors of a rainbow as voltage drops.
Excellent and thank you for the explanation! Will this info make it into the text user manual and graphical cheat sheet at some point? I have to refer to those every time I flash new firmware because I have CRS. ;)
Lovely! I’ll have to upgrade all my other lights.
Thank you!
Ah, that’s a good point. I completely forgot to update those. Anyway, it’s on the todo list now.
thank you…its working:))
Hey, TK and everyone else! I am new to the world of enthusiast flashlights and to this forum, and my research on a flashlight that would be pocketable, versatile, and fun lead here after a month or so. I am excited about this flashlight, and I have been enjoying skimming this thread (I’m only up to page 30 so far). I have loved flashlights since I was a child, but never bothered to do much about it until now.
The reason I am posting is that I have a safety question about the flashlight for anyone who is educated in this: what happens if a standard, low-discharge cell (4.4A, for example) from a laptop is used in this flashlight? Would the flashlight over-stress the cell and possibly cause it to fail, overheat, or explode? Or would it merely limit the ramping and turbo based on the cell’s limits? Would the max ramp and turbo merely be limited to around 700-800 lumins? If so, by what mechanism is this achieved? I have read that vapes can cause low-discharge cells to burst due to trying to pull more amps than the cells can safely deliver. That is why I am concerned about the flashlight.
The cells I intend to use are Samsung ICR18650-22F from an aftermarket laptop battery. They are unprotected and have a max discharge of 4.4A from what I have read.
I do not care about ultra-brightness right now (I may later, just to show off). I just want a fun and functional flashlight for tasks that will rarely require more than a few hundred lumins. I do, however, want to find a use for the nine 18650 cells I harvested that still hold 88% of their capacity. That was actually what motivated me to start shopping for a new flashlight. I have an old single-AA Fenix LD12 that mostly serves my needs, but I would like a brighter flashlight. On a partly depleted alkaline cell (I know I’m supposed to use NiMH) it can only achieve 27 lumins (mode 2 of 4, 4 being 115 lumins). These cells gave me the motivation to finally get a better flashlight, and one based on a Li-Ion cell.
I would assume that the Fenix fails to achieve its max brightness due to the low voltage of a partly depleted AA cell. All modes the cell cannot power simply output the same brightness. So eventually the upper three modes are equal to the first mode in output. There must be something in the circuitry that causes the flashlight to output a brightness equal to the previous mode rather than a partial step up. I do not know enough about Li-Ion technology or electrical engineering to know if what is happening in the Fenix and its alkaline cell would also happen with a hot rod flashlight and an 18650 cell, especially since the limitation here is not primarily voltage, but amperage. And alkaline cells are not known to burst when stressed. Li-Ion cells are. EDIT: I just went for a walk and found that the Fenix actually does do partial step ups. I never noticed that before. I put a fresh cell in and the step from 2 to 3 is much greater than with the depleted cell.
By the way, I’m planning to get the Nichia 219C 5000K 83CRI emitter. I want to experience this high CRI, neutral white the enthusiasts rave about, and avoid the green tint that reportedly plagues the SST20. I would try the 4000K 219C if it were available. But maybe that would seem too warm for daytime use. I will be using this flashlight for all purposes, night and day.