Sofirn SP10 Pro (AA/14500/Andúril 2) - now available!

Interested really depends on what cells it accepts.
Love my Anduril lights

That’s great news gchart and thank you for helping carry on the project. Do you know if the boost ic has been picked?
Is it the PAM2803 or something different?

There’s been a bit of talk back and forth on the overall design. As it currently stands, I think the plan is to keep most of the driver the same, just replacing the PIC with an AVR and a little rewiring to make the new connections. A couple minor tweaks are being looked at. Things like the boost IC don’t have any planned changes to my knowledge.

:+1:
If it isn’t broken why fix it, compatiblity though is a good thing.

I am curious if the design will retain Andúril's (three clicks from off) "battery voltage blink-out" or Andúril's (built-in) "low voltage protection for Li-ion batteries".

All the "AA/14500" compatible lights I am aware of do not have built-in low voltage protection in order to allow operation with the lower voltage AA batteries and recommend only using protected 14500 Li-ion batteries because of this.

I do not mind using protected Li-ion batteries, but would sure miss being able to check the Li-ion battery's voltage while the battery is still in the light in order to determine the approximate remaining capacity.

Thanks to all those advancing this project towards a successful reality.

early design process putting it together, still not final design or prototype stage now

Interested!

Interested.

Haven't checked it myself yet, but just went thru the Sofirn listings and written reviews and can't find anything on LVP. I think I've seen LVP for 14500's but not for AA's in other AA/14500 boost driver lights.

Also the clasp seems to have problems as pointed out by "Lick" here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/60844. We should address this with Sofirn.

Don’t most boost drivers stop working at a safe voltage for NiMH cells even without any LVP programmed in? Something like .7 to .9 volts? Or is that only for AA only boost drivers?

I dunno - thought I saw a driver that said it had LVP for the 14500, but not for the AA/NiMH -- not sure where.

Simon said that about the new drivers for the Convoy T2. But I think at least most boost drivers need a certain threshold voltage to work that would serve as a de facto lvp for AA cells. I could be wrong though, and it might depend on the particular components. -edit My kids have an SP10S with a Ladda in it that they use until it stops working. I’ll check the voltage next time before I charge the battery.

This is true, most boost controllers only work down to 0.9V or sometimes 0.7V.

So while LVP may technically not be needed to protect a NiMH, it’s still nice to have a warning before things shut down.

As it is currently designed, I don’t see any reason why LVP and battery check can’t work for AA / NiMH. There’s a 300k / 100k voltage divider hooked up to a 1.1V VREF. That means the theatrical effective reading range is 0 - 4.4 volts.

Thanks for sharing the driver layout progress! Glad to see there is serious work happening with this concept.

There’s a new version of the Convoy T2 that adds 14500 support. Either the controller can run on AA voltage, or the boost circuit is active all the time, because Simon said its low voltage protection prevents operation from 2-2.8V.

The Armytek Pro UI for their AA lights is a little different. You can choose to turn lithium-ion LVP on or off. If it is on, it will give you approximate lithium ion battery state indications by colored lights in the button (green, orange, red), and low voltage protection. If it is off, I think it gives those indications for AA batteries, but will only show green for 14500.

There is a slight oversight in the fact that you can turn on the Armytek LVP while an AA battery is loaded, and be stuck there until you have a way to give it 3V and turn LVP off again.

I would also very much like a magnetic tailcap (at least as an option, like how they now have the deep carry clip available). The sp10s with the LH351D (dedomed/sliced for me), with Anduril, deep carry clip, and a magnetic tailcap, using the Shockli 1000mah 14500s, but with the ability to use AAs if needed, in a Non-Ano (or clear ano), would be my ideal AA size edc light.

Thanks for the heads up on those deep carry clips. I hadn’t seen those and added a couple to my order for the C01R.

I personally don’t like a magnet on my EDC, but a removable magnet or optional magnetic tail cap like they do for the SC31b would be nice.

I understand why people appreciate magnets in lights but would also rather have a choice.

I do not carry magnets on my person or in any bag that my wallet may end up being in after one erased some of the magnetic strips on my credit cards (it took a second occurrence before I figured out what was causing the issue) and they also alter the reading and accuracy of your compass even from quite a distance away (but this is only a problem for people who use maps and compasses).

Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t demand a magnet be the default, I am 100% fine with that being a separate extra cost when ordering. I just want the option to be there, basically. The deep carry clip I would really just like a choice when ordering since they have them available, instead of having to pay extra for that separately.

Yeh, most magnets are a simple Nd-magnet disc that sprays magnetism all over the place.

What you need is a shield or guide, like stick-on grounding magnets for welding. Got one face of the magnet that sticks to the piece directly, and a cup that goes around it stuck to the other face, so the field only “jumps the gap”.

The magnet in the Lumintop "Tool AA 2.0" optional twist tail cap is mounted under a removable tail cap battery spring and replacing the magnet with a spacer is easy (I used a button from an old shirt for the spacer).

The "removable spring design" while not ideal for high current lights would most likely function adequately in the proposed AA/14500 compatible "Sofirn SP10S BLF edition with Andúril". I do not have access to a Sofirn SP10S and do not know how the tail cap is currently constructed.