** BLF LT1M-Mini Project - The little Lantern! ( PM's sent today June 21, 2022)**

Looks good! Will there be springs at both ends for flat top cells? What about low Voltage cut off and reverse polarity protection?

Thanks for all of your efforts on these lanterns!

Yes, make a poll. I’d vote for a 21700 body. I have a number of aa lights that I have bought for emergency purposes, but I just don’t use them after all. To be honest I always have extra 18650 cells and a suoer compact charger with me wherever I go, so the idea of being able to find aa batteries anywhere is a moot point. I’ll gladly buy some 21700 cells to go with this light, and possibly a 21700 pocket flashlight too.

Even though i have a few 26650 cells too, i wouldnt neccesarily want my mini lantern to use those. Too heavy and large in diameter.

I think the idea of the base that screws off of the head to be able to reinstall on the base is a GREAT idea. I also thought of 3 thin legs that fold down from the handle to form a tripod of sorts.

The 26650 is not a problem for me, in fact I like it. But if it is skinnied up, that is fine too. Either way I want this lantern!

One of the things that I really like about the IF25 is the symmetry of the design, The wide, flared tailcap balances the wide head on the narrower tube.
Making the battery tube wider does not enhance a light’s tail standing stability. Making the tailcap wider is what enhances the tail standing stability. Just flare the tailcap out wider and make it a bit thicker so you can install a magnet strong enough to really hold the light against ferrous surfaces so it doesn’t slide down, or fall off.

Sounds very sensible. Having that 3xAAA battery carrier option is a terrific fall-back, so you can have at least some light if somehow your primary lithium cell became damaged or lost. AAA is so ubiquitous! Will a good 21700 to 18650 adapter tube be available for purchase with it? It’s a real pain having to track down ones from other companies and most are junk. Fireflies came up with a good one with a removable contact button for protected cell support.

I expected the tube to be a 18650 so that it’s easy to carry. More like the sofirn Pro. The LT1 uses 18650 batteries. I thought the mini would use the same battery type. I find it easier to maintain 18650 batteries. Plus it’s easier to gift. The idea of a mini is that its smaller. An adapter is wasting space.

Any chance we can see the mini prototype next to the LT1?

For me the width of the prototype looks OK. What surprises me is more the length. It looks very long and having a smaller diameter with cells smaller than 26650 should make it more unstable. An alternative short tube for a 26350 cell would make it looks more like the little brother of LT1.

Just make 2 bodies increase the price by $5.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. It will never meet absolutely everyone’s requirements and will just draw out an already 2 year old project.

I agree. Amazing all the nitpicking. An 18650 tube would be way too narrow. Heck if someone wants a single 18650 lantern, just get a frigging diffuser to put over the head of a tail standing 18650 flashlight with the head diameter of choice.

This is a mini. LT1 compared to the LT1M shows a huge drop in diameter. Camping means out in the rough, with limited options. So having a light that can take 21700, 18650, 26650 or a 3x AAA carrier… is terrific.

Question is, if 3xAAA cell presence is detected by the charging firmware will it know not to charge?

Interested in 2.
Thanks!

[QUOTE]Heck if someone wants a single 18650 lantern, just get a frigging diffuser to put over the head of a tail standing 18650 flashlight with the head diameter of choice.[/QUOTE] Pretty much the same could be said for any lantern if you want to take that stance. Why even *have a lantern with that philosophy?

The core reason for wanting this was that we were all thinking this was going to be a pocket sized ‘lantern’ based on the IF25. I dont need a 26650 lantern. Going 26650 size in the tube means the head also needs to be increased appropriatley so that it’s bigger than the body. That means a MUCH bigger lantern than we originally thought.

[Quote]This is a mini. LT1 compared to the LT1M shows a huge drop in diameter. Camping means out in the rough, with limited options. So having a light that can take 21700, 18650, 26650 or a 3x AAA carrier… is terrific.
[/quote]

This is why cars, and everything else, keep getting bigger and bigger until manufacurers completley completely abandon whole size classes, only to alienate those who liked the minimalist approach to things.

I had a ‘95 nissan pickup that got 28 to 30 mpg in the city. 6’ bed, ok tow capacity for what it was. Used it for everything. Good luck getting 30 mpg with any pickup made today. Even new toyotas barly get 18.

Just my modest opinion that theres nothing wrong with minimalist simple goods that do one job very well.

It look too tall for a lantern make it shorter and use 26650/18650/3xAAA not 21700 should help

Camping and backpacking are totally different use cases. For camping, the LT1 is already amazing. For backpacking, the LT1 Mini looks like it just got a lot less appealing. For backpacking, nobody is going to need the additional battery options, they aren’t going to carry multiple battery types for one light and space is at a premium. Mini is what we were looking forward to, this last minute switch away from the original concept to 26650 is a step in the wrong direction. I’m sure it will be a decent light and there may be design pressure to move to 26650 because they think it will sell better, but it sure wasn’t what I envisioned when I first saw the project and I think with this change it misses it’s originally stated purpose.

Camping, Backpacking… there’s many shades of gray. Some people do both.

The LT1M is mini relative to the original. If someone needs something smaller, just for a short while when taking a break during a backpacking trip on the evening leg back, then I don’t think an elaborate multi-tint emitter lantern is necessary. Again, any flashlight can be made into a temporary lantern, with a tall diffuser for it. The LT1M is beefy enough to take higher capacity cells for a more extensive backpacking/camping trip, where space is enough of a premium to make the big LT1 too much to carry.

The IF25, on the right, is the light that this project started with. The other two are some of my shortest 26650 lights. I don’t see any advantage to starting over with a larger cell.

  • Certainly any unilateral battery change should free anyone on the preorder list of any commitment they may have made. They can decide again whether they want the new version.
  • I don’t think I’d take either version of this light backpacking. I’d just use a flashlight or headlamp with a diffuser. When backpacking I don’t go ultralight-berserk, but I do try to keep weight down.
  • Re tail standing: how about a tripod hole on the tailcap? That would allow screwing in an anti-tipover disc, that could be included on top of the light. It could be made of plastic or PCB material for light weight.
  • A magnet for the above would be useless, I think, unless you’re also going to bring along a chunk of iron (perhaps an anvil) to stick it to.
  • If you want to run on commodity batteries in an emergency, why mess with 3aaa and a bigger tube? Include a boost converter on the driver, that can use 1aa at lower brightness. 50 lumens maximum is fine, it’s an emergency after all. Actually it could be based on the in-progress SP10 Pro driver which already supports dual fuel.
  • In fact if there is talk of separate battery tubes, how about an 18500 tube? That would allow use of 18500, 14500, and maybe AA with no length extenders. There would have to be some kind of widening thing for 14500/AA, like a simple and light plastic cylinder or just a friction fit spacer ring.
  • I also find 26650 to be a weird choice of size. It has some attractions for very high current but that doesn’t apply to this light. 21700 at least has higher capacity compared to 18650.

If this project were starting from scratch and holding a vote on battery size, I’d probably pick 21700 and then 18650 in that order, but I can understand preferring 18650 over 21700 for those prioritizing small size. I wouldn’t pick 26650 either way. I’d support making the 18650 tube long enough for “18700”, i.e. those protected 18650s with built in USB charging. As it is, I would say just stick with whatever was originally agreed on, and perhaps offer alternate versions for other audiences if they seem to want them.

Thanks for all the work on this light, by the way.

I DIY this with a Oomomo flashlight.
I do not think a 22650 design will hinder anything when comparing it with the WK30.



thanks for all the ideas. But how to make a poll?

There should be 3 options

1. keep the current design, thicker tube that eats 21700(unprotected), 18650, 26650 battery. Because there are springs on both sides.

2. thinner and shorter tube, it accepts 18650 only, keep the wide base. (some say use diffuser on 18650 flashlight is a better choice)

3. long tube, accepts 21700, keep the wide base, but with adaptor for 18650. (engineer told it won’t be thinner)

I will talk with engineers, he told 21700 can be used in LT1-mini without adaptor, because the dual springs keep it stable.

I will send more pictures later