*BLF LT1 Lantern Project) (updated Nov,17,2020)

An orange switch is more soothing and in line with the LT1’s warm emitters imo. The LEDs turning green to indicate the completion of charging is normal and desired.

This was the format wars of our flashlights. The 3+3 is the doing of Lexel, the original designer of this driver and many others at blf. It just so happened that hank had a different one, and so the pogo key you can get made at oshpark can be made to work for either.

I bought my new LT1 a few days ago from sofirnlight.com directly, using this link:

https://sofirnlight.com/products/new-version-blf-lt1-lantern-with-anduril-20-power-bank-function

I am not sure if this will stir things more up but this is how it looks like:

I know, I am getting OCD / nitpicky again ... can't help making suggestions ... but ... maybe Sofirn can have a closer look at the CNC burring of the top panel and the anodizing finish. It has a very rough/sharp line if you slide with your finger over it. The orange on the top plate looks somehow stained/imperfect. The picture does not show it as good as I can see it with bare eyes, though.

As much as I agree with you...

I doubt that will happen anytime soon. Redesigning the driver schematics once again will probably cost a lot. Retrofitting all produced units of the new LT1 batch is not an option, either. I can only guess but I assume they made a big lot of 1,000 pcs in black and orange. Offering us a pogo pin adapter would be a more feasible option but how many units would be need to be sold to meet break-even? How difficult would it be for Sofirn to make, let's say a thousand pogo pin adapters including sourcing raw materials, train their staff for assembly etc.? How big of a problem is it that we now need to have two different adapters as there are two layouts available?

Thanks for the feedback, this is so interesting!!!

It looks as if they chose a different powerbank controller IC for this version. The inductors do not mach either between the two boards, yours is 2.2uH, mine is 1.0uH. I guess the controller in yours uses a lower switching frequency.
Unfortunately, in the photo, the PB IC (seated between the USB socket and inductor with the “2R2” marking) is mostly covered by the red wire, so I cannot make out its make and model.
If you are feeling adventurous, you could check it again and write down the markings on it :wink:

A am a bit confused by the LED “user interface” of your variant.
Do I understand correctly that the indication on the new LT1 was different when it powered the old “tubeless” LT1 VS when it powered the old LT1 with its tube and batteries installed??

Can you summarize what LED behavior you observed?

Mine looks like this:
table(table#posts).
|LED color|What it indicates|
|Green|Aux light (configurable via Andúril: off/lo/hi/blink)|
|Blue blinking|Lantern being charged|
|Blue steady|Lantern fully charged|
|Amber steady|Type-C power output active|
|Amber blinking (*)|Battery low|

(*) I have not yet seen the low battery warning in action, but according to the IP5310 datasheet, it exists, and should kick in at 2.95V. (I have not yet exhausted my cells below that level.)

A assume your aux light is orange and the green & blue ones are the charging and output indicators (most probably tied to the PB IC directly). Am I correct about the aux led? Do the other two never blink, just show steady blue/green?

I cannot agree with you more… The green aux LED of the BLF-LT1-A2 drives me nuts. I’ll definitely replace the switch LEDs next time I have some free time.
Speaking of… Has anyone had a look at what size they are? 0603?

Re: pogo pins and adapters….

I have several motor vehicles. None of the wheels are interchagable. I need different size socket wrenches to fit the nuts. Two of the vehicles that have the same bolt pattern use different offsets.

Why would I expect two different makers of anything to make their units interchange with another maker? That only happens when there are long drawn out negotiations and maybe a trade group involved. Like USB-C…. and even then somebody, or many somebodies, mess up.

I‘m sorry, did I get this right? The new (orange) LT1 uses a GREEN, not amber for standby mode? :open_mouth: I did not power up mine yet but this would definitely be a bad surprise to me.

Unfortunately, yes :frowning: And it seems it is not a one-off production issue in my case: I asked the guy on reddit who posted the first photos of the same driver variant you and I have. And he confirmed his unit has the same LED color scheme. It’s annoying, I know…

I try to persuade Barry to revise the indicator scheme as follows:

Green: Lantern fully charged

Green blinking: Lantern being charged

Blue steady: Lantern in reverse charge mode (powerbank mode)

Blue blinking: Low voltage

Amber: Standby switch illumination (off/low/high/beacon) as usual in older revisions of LT1

Any better ideas? I guess red is not available since they now have blue included?

IMHO, green works great for flashlights but lanterns are something your eyes are often looking at. So, a warm and less distracting color like yellow/red works best.

:+1:

Coincidentally, this is exactly how I want to rewire mine at the moment :slight_smile:
At some point I planned to throw out the blue LEDs altogether and go with a Green-Red-Amber(as standby) scheme, but now I’ve grown a bit fond of them.
Do you know by any chance what series resistor (designated “R_ind” in the silk screen) value was used for the amber LED in the original drivers?
Unfortunately I don’t own an old LT1 to check…

Sorry, I wish I could help but I am not that skilled. :( Lexel as the original driver designer seems unavailable for months now. Maybe DBSAR or someone else can chime in to check for the right resistor.

My mods so far: LT1 mods - Imgur gallery

Maybe someone finds them useful for inspiration…

Yeah it showed different colors when it was tubeless vs. tubed.

Here is the old LT1 (left) being charged by the new LT1 (right)

Here is the old headless LT1 (left) being powered by the new LT1 (right)

And here are the LED states i’ve seen so far:
orange steady= standby
orange steady + small red light= charging
green steady=connected to power source + fully charged
blue+orange=charging another device

I haven’t yet seen any blinking so far.

I’ll try to get it back open again later and find that IC # for you. Worried about having to resolder those wires!

That inconsistency in the power output indication in the photos must be related to the built-in load detection feature of the PD controller. The only significant difference in the two scenarios from the controller’s POV is the required current. Which is relatively high in the “tubed+standby” case and very low in the “tubeless+standby” case. The latter was probably not high enough to trigger the load detection, which usually has a threshold around 50mA. Basically, in the tubeless case, the new LT1 did not notice it was connected to something.

Thanks. If you do, try to take multiple pictures from multiple angles for a better success rate. And be careful with those wires :wink:

You’re totally right. Just quickly checked and it doesn’t trigger that charging/blue LED state until I set the old LT1 to it’s highest setting.

Ok here is the IC in my “Sofirn 1.0” Powerbank LT1

It’s an ETA9742

I’m really confused now…
So many variations.
Is the original LT1 version 1 capable of being programmed to Anduril 2.0? If so, I may go that route. I’m not needing my LT1 to double as a power bank. I would NOT want the active power/standby switch light to be green, as showing in the newer release. That would annoy me to no end…

Yes, it is. I’m using mine with Anduril 2 for months. :slight_smile:

Yeah if you can upgrade it to 2.0 that seems to make the most sense for you. But just to be clear, the powerbank version I got maintains the orange standby light.