Received my Orange LT1, ordered from the Sofirn Aliexpress store. Amazing super quick 10 days delivery to Australia (never had an Aliexpress shipment that quick!).
Unit is certainly nice and solid, feels very well built in the hand.
A small blotch of one-two diamonds of the knurling are missing the orange anodizing, but otherwise the finish is really nice.
Ordered the kit version so it included the Sofirn batteries, and unfortunately one of the batteries had a very sharp edge on the top nipple. The result of this was every time you unscrew the batteries, you would get a pile of metal shavings from the battery cutting a groove in the contact ring on the board. Thankfully I noticed that quite quickly and a minute with a jewelers file solved that issue, as having metal filings shaking around near the driver board may not have ended well.
What glue have people used to attach the top o-ring, as I see that pops off really easily?
The UI certainly is very “comprehensive”, but seems easy enough to just use the simple on/off, brightness up/down without using Muggle mode.
Congrats to DBSAR and others for all the work in producing this lantern. Certainly glad I bought this instead of the CL30R I was originally looking at to compliment by CL25R.
I moved the orange O-ring down on the light to the slot just above the lighted switch for decoration (where it cannot pop off anymore) and purchased some Youth/7" sized Silicone Rubber Wrist Bands (which are 1/2" wide and do not pop off unexpectedly like the orange O-ring) from AmazonUS to use at the top of my LT1 lanterns as a bumper for some limited extra protection in case the light trips over on it's side, but you may be able to find something similar in Australia.
I purchased the "Black" color which looks elegant on the light, but they have many colors to choose from including "Green Glow in Dark". I'm not sure which size fits best (Youth/7" or Adult/8") but the Youth/7" size seems to fit perfectly with just the right amount of stretch.
I just used a couple drops of superglue and the orings haven’t moved on my two lanterns. Hot glue might be cleaner in the event that you want to remove it.
This thread on Reddit describes the process using the Emisar flashing kit.
I’m really keen to try it myself but given the shipping cost I’m waiting to buy a Hank light before buying the flashing kit. If anyone can suggest an alternative flashing kit that’s a bit cheaper I would appreciate it.
I asked Barry a year ago about this. He thought it was a great idea, then, crickets. I even asked if I could buy a blank board to install my own emitters. He said sure, but never responded after that. I camp a lot in the summer, and red doesn’t attract bugs.
Does anyone know if usb charging does balancing of the 18650 cells?
And why does the power button stay lit all the time? Doesn’t that consume battery when off?
The way the batteries are connected in parallel, there is no way to do any balancing, so definitely no.
Any configuration with an electronic switch will consume battery when off. An indicator or auxiliary LED will add to this. You can turn the LED off in the Anduril configuration if you want and it will reduce the parasitic drain, but not remove it completely. The only way to have absolutely no drain is to unscrew the battery tube a few revolutions. Not just until the button LED goes off, but more, to completely sever the connection of the batteries to the light.
The cells are in parallel so they will naturally self balance. No special considerations are required for balancing while charging.
The switch LED uses very little current (don’t remember exact numbers; it’s been mentioned before). It would take years to drain fully charged cells. If it’s a concern, it can be turned off.
When I first got my LT1 I unboxed it, tested it playing around for a night then put it away & didn’t use it for a few months. Now I use it every night. Run it without cells off a 30,000nAh Romoss power bank and attach lantern to a light weight collapsible stand.
Excuse me….with all cells in parallel, there is no way for them to not be balanced. 4 cells put into a carrier where all 4 positives touch the same conductor, and also terminate to the same ground will immediately start balancing. The higher potential cells will start charging those of lower potential until all 4 have equal potential.