Anduril ... 2?

Bring back the “old days” with a solderable star that locks in the current settings?

What about something like a DIP switch to enable/ lock the config?

Pretty much my last real issue with Anduril right there. I’ve messed up my own settings, and sometimes switched to stepped ramping…

The new Simple UI does that. In that mode, all configuration is locked. Nothing can be changed without switching to the advanced UI with a 10H action (click 10 times, but hold the final press).

Even in the advanced mode though, the config menus are harder to reach by accident. It requires more clicks, and there are no other actions nearby so it doesn’t happen if the user’s count isn’t quite right.

This is from another thread

Allowing full power and the ability to change the Simple UI sounds wonderful

BTW, I forgot to say it earlier, but welcome to BLF!

Usually it’s a thing people mention in response to someone’s first post, sometimes with silly pictures, but I don’t always remember to do it.

Toy Keeper, is there any config being included to switch off thermal regulation?

It would stop issues arising on different models that behave strangely or they simply don’t need it.

For myself I sell some models mounted to a gun and would love to disable it, if using normally again have the ability to switch it on with the previously saved temp config

NarsilM had this and it was really useful for certain situations

I think everyone will have something which they don’t like or would like added, but it can’t do everything. If you want max power momentary you’d normally be aiming for a tactical model with dual switches. Anduril is usually used on a single side switch.

My customers have said that NarsilM Ramping is the best and simplest UI they’ve ever used.

As a seller I’m happy to just have the Simple UI that’s been mentioned.

Turbo in momentary could be difficult when turbo is only accessible via a shortcut if you don’t want to config max ramp. Could require messing around a lot with a code that had a lot already written.

I’ve mentioned thermal step down to be disabled since in the past it hasn’t worked properly causing many issues. As a flashlight seller it becomes super frustrating to bring in 30pcs of a model that has thermal issues and then have to try sell them.

I was told by Tom E that disabling it wouldn’t require much?

If it’s a big issue then I’m not going to worry but it’s nice when I’m buying to sell, not like others who only have to deal with a single bad purchase

I would talk it over with your legal team. A full FET flashlight without thermal throttling could injure someone or cause property damage. As retailer you will surely be the main target of any lawsuit, particularly if the manufacture has no legal presence in your country.

It would be in the Advanced UI and only knowing what you’re doing will deactivate it. It was an option in NarsilM

Not all models are high lumen though and heaps of models of all types are starting to use Anduril

There isn’t, but it wouldn’t be difficult to add something. It could, perhaps, use a value of “1” as “off”… and instead of saving a limit of 70 C or less, it would set the limit to 255 to effectively disable the thermal regulation code.

In the thermal_config_save() function, add a line just before the end…

if (therm_ceil < 32) { therm_ceil = 255; } else

That should make it so, if the customer clicks exactly 1 time in thermal config mode, it’ll set the limit to 255 C and prevent thermal regulation from ever activating.

Or you could set MAX_THERM_CEIL to 255 instead of the default of 70. That works too, and would be harder for users to put it into a dangerous configuration… since they’d have to click a couple hundred times.

OTOH, I don’t really want people blaming me when their light destroys itself… and I don’t think any of the manufacturers want headlines about their lights exploding. So it’s not an option I plan to include in default builds, but it would be relatively simple for a person or a vendor to add that.

Fair enough :slight_smile: I completely understand

Yeah, I never actually thought of just adjusting the thermal limit and setting a lower temp of the light.

If the premature step down has been fixed already then I don’t mind it. The previous builds on like the Fireflies E07 was a real fail imo, first step down was almost immediate even at top of ramp, activate a second time and it would behave as it should. This is what really put me off since I imported quite a few units.

There is a problem with that. A lot of times, momentary is used for short bursts, and if a combination of clicks turns momentary off, it defeats its purpose.
That’s why Surefires and Elzettas and other tactical flashlights have models with only momentary switches and no modes, because on emergency use, if you have to do 2 (or 3,4…) short turn ons then you would go out of momentary.

One solution would be to implement a kind of pseudo-momentary, like HDS. If you press the button from off, it turns on momentary. If you relase in half a second or less (for example), it registers a click, and it turns on as usual. If you extend the press, it keeps on shining on that same level until the button is relased.

That function should be enabled/disabled, as it prevents direct access to moonlight from off.

Edit: And it would not replace the true momentary, which is still very useful IMHO.

I didn’t read the whole thread, so sorry if someone already posted this, but i want ability to set stepped ramping in classic mode order. Low-medium-high-low-medium-high. No bullshitting with click and hold when i want change direction.

I see no problem with reverse -click and hold, it can stay, but carousel is interesting option. And programmable ON mode option would be nice too.

Can always hold from off which by default cycles in that direction. Pretty certain it cycles in that direction when holding from memory too?.

Like TK has said, she’s making it fit into what most prefer, can’t do everything to suit every single individual as that would be a huge job to code.

Ah, makes sense. What was your old account? The admin would probably help you get access to it if you asked.

Fortunately, BLF isn’t the only place where people talk about flashlights. Anduril v1 was made for BLF… but I started on Anduril 2 because of what people said elsewhere — Reddit, Facebook, Amazon, Banggood, personal blogs, etc — places where people didn’t think I’d see it, where they pulled no punches. People outside of BLF had a number of complaints, some of which were worded with a lot of anger, but the underlying points were solid.

So I took those critiques / rants / reviews and looked for ways to solve as many as possible. Some of the main themes were:

  • It was too complex for new users out of the box.
  • The full UI had too much, but Muggle Mode had too little. People wanted something in-between, something more Goldilocks with all the basic flashlight functions, safe limits, and no disco modes or config menus. No weird modes to get stuck in.
  • All the core functions needed to be as few clicks as possible, because a surprising amount of people have difficulty counting clicks or reliably executing click sequences longer than 3. It may seem strange, but more than one said they literally can’t count to four while clicking a button.
  • Muggle mode was too easy to enter/exit by accident.
  • Muggle mode was way too limited and felt like an afterthought (because it was).
  • The term “muggle” is insulting.
  • Config menus were too easy to access by accident.
  • Multi-click functions were too close together.
  • Lockout mode was good, but too slow to enter/exit.
  • Some fairly specific extra features would be nice.

So I removed muggle mode entirely, and replaced it with something in-between, with the core essential flashlight functions and nothing more. It’s pretty similar to a “normal” UI from other companies, designed for people who just want to get stuff done and don’t want any weird extras getting in the way.

Tried to address the other main complaints people had, too.


However, I also encountered an entire category of complaints which I can’t really do anything about without turning Anduril into a completely different UI. The ideas people had in those critiques aren’t bad… they just require a different solution. And to address that, I’ve been working on something else:

People should be able to choose a UI at time of purchase, or change it fairly easily at home.

Because no single UI can be and do everything for every person. One size doesn’t fit all. It may be possible to cover 70% of what people want, or maybe even 80, in one program… but it’ll never be 100. But there’s a very simple way to get closer to 100%: Offer several different UIs so people can choose whatever they like most.

To help accomplish that, I’ve been pushing toward a few goals:

  • Make reflashing easier. For example, with easily-accessed reflashing pads and commercially-available pogo pin adapters. This allows reflashing in under a minute with no soldering.
  • Make firmware available to everyone. In other words, free software. Publishing everything, chasing down license compliance issues, teaching companies how to participate, etc.
  • Make firmware easier to create or modify. For this, I created a microkernel and UI toolkit which handles the hardware details and allows people to write user interfaces in an easier, portable language which works on many different lights.

There’s still a big piece missing though:

  • People need to actually make the other UIs they want.

I made the UI I like, and a few other examples for reference, and some documentation about how people can make their own… but people still need to actually do it.

Indeed, it can’t.

This is the most common criticism I’ve encountered in the second category — things I can’t do without sacrificing core functions. It’s not a bad idea, it’s just … a fundamentally different type of interface. It deserves to be its own UI, not just some obscure option in Anduril.

The closest I can potentially work in is the “Off -> 2H” button action. It’s currently mapped to something nobody really seems to care about, so it’s prime real estate for something else. It could be mapped to full turbo, or momentary turbo, or momentary mem, or … whatever.

But if double clicking is too slow, 2H doesn’t help. It isn’t any faster.

That only leaves the 1H action, ideally responding as soon as the button is pressed, for a true momentary… but activating turbo as soon as the button is pressed would create a ton of problems on most non-thrower lights. Like, literally every time the light is activated, it would immediately go to full power. Want to take a bathroom trip in the middle of the night? BAM! Now the user is wide awake and temporarily blinded.

So I’m not going to remap “Off -> Press button” to turbo.

However, that could easily be the starting point for designing a completely different UI…

That sounds like the beginning of a brand new UI. So… make it. Don’t use my silly toy interface; it’s designed for purposes which are completely different than your needs. It’s not what you want… so make what you want. The whole point of free software is to empower people to scratch their own itches instead of depending on someone else to do it.

As they should. Diversity is a beautiful thing.

On that note, in case it matters, there’s also another option: Add a clicky switch. Anduril already supports the use of a second switch, a clicky switch, for momentary purposes. It simply turns on at the memorized level as soon as power is connected, like most tactical-style lights. But it requires a physical button, which isn’t something I can provide with a firmware update.

That how I configured my HDS long time ago and never changed because I still find it convenient. Momentary activated, 1H is the lowest level, 2H is the burst level. There is a slight delay with 2H though.
But my HDS is 100 lumens max and I don’t know if I would do the same with a “pocket rocket” EDCed. I’m pretty fine with the 2 (low) levels momentary of Anduril.

Preach it, sister! One UI can’t be everything to everyone. What you’ve done with the FSM toolkit is a great way to address that.

Also, you handled that very well :wink:

I like the improved ability of putting a strobe mode into momentary. This will be another improvement for light painting photographers, a market in which the FW21 and FW1A are fairly popular. I would like to see adjustable strobe brightness too, but that might be asking too much, especially if you are trying to simplify the UI! I have heard many complaints for light painters that it is too easy to press the wrong buttons and completely messing up the settings.

BTW - The newish Light Painting Paradise Lightpainter flashlight currently has the best UI for light painting.