better low modes with dynamic PWM

AFAIK the SOS mode is only enabled for the LT1 build.

If the lights are really making noise I’d worry about the parts shaking themselves loose, particularly the inductor. Sometimes people glop elastomer over those to damp the vibrations, I think.

Anyway, this is great work, using these clever software methods to get the best from the limited hardware. I hope that the hardware can also keep improving.

It’s a capacitor (no inductor in the KR4 driver), and no it isn’t going to pop off.

The kr4-219 build uses 60% FET, while the kr4-219b version is 50% FET. Hank was experimenting with different levels when he started carrying 219B as an emitter option. I’m not sure which one he uses, or if it’s both. If it’s just one though, I’ll probably remove the other one.

This is a normal property of lights which use high-amplitude PWM to adjust brightness. It’s nothing to worry about; just an aesthetic inconvenience. On some lights, sound comes from a tail spring, on some it comes from other parts, and on some it’s not even coming from the torch itself. Rapid thermal expansion and contraction can be heard, even from nearby objects, thanks to the photoacoustic effect. Someone around here actually made a pillow play a song from Star Wars, using only high-intensity light pulses. The same could be done with an infrared laser, to turn arbitrary objects into makeshift speakers from a distance.

Thank you for the explanation. That is very useful to know.

I have modded a couple of Hank’s lights to Nichia 219b a long time ago and they have worked perfectly for a long time. I am sure I am not the only one. I would appreciate it if you kept the 60% FET version available regardless of whether Hank prefers the 50% or 60% FET.

I can't see the OP pics - not sure if you changed something already or not.

Thanks for these tweaks! This probably has usages in many of the newer CC drivers being developed.

I am thinking if this new configuration will work to provide a lower moonlight level for the Lume1 driver.

I can still see them. Strange that some can and others can’t. BTW, I’m using Safari on a MacBook.

I'm on Win 10 running chrome, but also verified they don't wrk for me in Edge. If I "view source" the links in the html source works fine. She hosts them on her http://toykeeper.net/ website.

It’s because of the mixed content policy of Chrome. The images don’t use TLS, but BLF does. In Firefox I just get a warning. Not sure if this is due to a setting or extension.

Just flashed from Anduril 1 to 2 (8-13-21). The low ramp is usable now! The PFM explanation is appreciated as well!

Yeah, sorry about that. It’s complicated, and I haven’t had a lot of time or energy lately since I’m dealing with some health issues. So I don’t end up with a lot of productive time I can use for flashlights or server maintenance. Have mostly had to use that time for seeing doctors, learning medical stuff, and basic life tasks which are now a lot harder than they should be.

But if I get a day or two to work on it, I really need to add https to my site(s).

Don’t worry about the images, take care of your self—your health is the most important thing so spend your energy with that.

One option might be using a free proxy that provides HTTPS termination like Cloudflare. It’s normally simple to set up (if you’re willing to hand over your DNS to them). As with anything like this it has pros and cons and may not fit your needs. If it does then it can be a 10 minute job.

As others have said, health is more important though.

On a KR4-nofet 5a driver (E21A), dynamic PWM seems to work quite well! It’s a much better approach than simply slowing down the ramp as I had tried.

Small heads up - in lockout-mode.c, the JUMP_START_MOON code doesn’t seem to apply to the “click and hold” moon there, which confused me at first as I use that most often (due to autolock).

In normal “off” mode, the jump start does give a noticeable boost to the speed of moon level waking up. Most of the time there’s still a ramp up, but it’s faster. Other times I see a subtle flicker to higher brightness, but nothing eye-searing - if anything, it feels like a nice “yes the flashlight is on” confirmation.

Given this, if anyone wants to compare with/without the moon jump start, try it in “off” (active) versus “lockout” (no jump start).

Yeah, it should probably jump-start in more places… not just hold-from-off. It also should be runtime-configurable, because it seems the optimal value is different depending on the hardware. Not sure where to fit another option into the UI though. Or, more generally, where to fit some awkwardly global settings into the UI, like double-click style, mid-ramp blinks, jump-start level, and maybe other things which don’t fit anywhere else. Maybe 9H or 11H from off? Extend the Ramp 10H menu? The button mappings are already pretty cluttered…

I also need to apply the dynamic PWM thing to some other t1634 lights, and possibly even to some single-channel t85 lights.

Perhaps on a day when I’m more awake. *yawn*

This is a wonderful upgrade to so many lights! Thank you.

If you end up adding a bunch of runtime configurable items, it would be nice to include the double click to turbo (Anduril 1 style) in there, which is now, if I understand correctly, only configurable during compiling.

EDIT: Maybe you meant the same by double click style :slight_smile:
EDIT2: 9H seems reasonable to me.

Flashed the new version to my KR4 and it’s a night-and-day improvement, no pun intended.

Level 1 starts up faster from off, and the low-end is much smoother and more gradual when ramping.

Also enjoying the change where 2C from on goes to full turbo (in full/advanced mode at least), this is a very sensible change IMHO. Don’t know if that’s recent or not, but thought I’d give my positive feedback regardless.

Thanks for making these changes! I’ve flashed a few of my lights and the low modes are much more usable now. It would be great to see these changes for the K9.3 as well.

I absolutely would like to see an advanced configuration menu. I wouldn’t worry too much about cluttering the UI as a menu like that would probably only matter to the most advanced users.

I prefer the original Anduril 2 double click style of 2C to top of ramp, so I’d definitely like to see a runtime configuration option for that.

Great work ToyKeeper!

I just flashed the 2021-08-16 builds on my D4v2’s (both 9A CC driver, one with 219B’s, the other with SST20’s). I used KR4-219B and KR4, which hopefully was correct.

With the KR4 build, moonlight at level 1 now starts almost immediately. Sometimes it flashes, s0metimes it still fades in as usual.
With the KR4-219B build, it still fades in in the same speed as before. I have no issue with that (in contrary, I even prefer that somehow), just reporting. Sometimes is flashes before fading in.

Ramping is much smoother, more controllable and in short just better than before. Thank you for fixing that!

Would it be possible to get firmwares without the moonlight jump-start? My moonlights worked quite well before and I sometimes find that flash really disturbing when I want to enable moonlight for using its low brightness specifically.