I think it does turn off the switch LED's in LVP - it wakes up periodically when the MCU is asleep. I believe in the wakeup period, it draws about 3-4 mA, but again it's only for a short duration at a periodic scheduled time slice. I don't know all the specifics though, but of course it can't do anything about the charging circuits - those are independent.
I think at the final moment of reaching the bottom level, it shuts everything down.
Are you planning a teardown review Tom?
Of the TS21? Hhmm, probably not a full tear down but if I open it up to fix the high drain, I'll probably take and post pics. I'm not sure I can get low mode to be viewable though because of the design - type of switch, position of LED, etc. Funny, I've found the low mode hold it's own when upping the resistor value, but the amp draw in Hi mode really drops.
I’ll be watching for it. Maybe I’ll get brave enough to try it myself. Low doesn’t even show in the dark?
Well, I did pull the glued driver and do see low is super low, barely lit looking straight at it. Also noticed there's 2 double LED's and one was just about fully covered with that red liquid electrical tape stuff, so pulled it all off the LED. tracked the resistor from pin #3 of the MCU - it's a 0402 100 ohm :FACEPALM: , figures. Should probably be 6 - 10K or so. The pin #3 output does go through aa 3 legged part as if the LED is being shared - not sure if it is or not, maybe the USB-C controlle,r and maybe it puts out lower voltage or something, dunno.
The LED wires are tight, so to remove the driver, first thing you need to do is un-solder the LED wires, then I used a solder pick through the center hole and gave it a few taps, being sure to keep the pick over to one side at the edge - important so no IC's are damaged. Came out easy them. The driver glue is a wet glue, weird, usually it's dried hard but this was still soft/sticky.
I don’t think Sofirn ever intended their metal switch hardware with the small portal to serve as anything but a brief indicator like it has been employed in the past.
It’s certainly not as well suited to the more sophisticated ways it can be employed with more complex firmware like Anduril.
There have been two basic choices in their parts bin, the metal switches with the small portal, and the larger rubber switches with multiple LEDs.
Puzzling why the TS21 is the black sheep in the family, when the rest of the clan all have the other type. Subjectively, I think the other is superior not only in function, but aesthetically. The metal switch is a weak point of the SP35 as well, loose and mushy. But at least that light was clearly a design clone, inspired by a “F”-branded light, and the lighting only serves spot duty.
The TS21 isn’t trying to mimic some other design, and had more design freedom.
Yeah, TS21 v2 with the blue LED bug is a bit annoying. I really like this light and luckily I don’t care too much because the blue light will go away rather quickly, but still - what a mistake!
The big difference between v1 and v2 outside of Anduril 2 is the USB powerbank function they added, so that’s most likely the culprit. The v1 version did not have that bug.
How hard was TS21 to open? Any way to flash custom firmware? It would be great if you could post some pictures/teardown.
Posting a new thread on it now, will provide the link. It's a quickie tear down.
Ok, simple tear down on the TS21 posted here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/68750
Is the switch LED functional enough for voltage check and thermal control purposes?
Not sure what you mean by this - the blinking?. If so, I just tested it - didn't realize A2 uses the low mode to flash for voltage and temp readings -- that's bad with this light, so no, not very practical, least not in room light.
I did swap the 100 ohm 0402 for a 8.2K resistor and now I'd say the amber switch LED on hi is somewhat less bright than I'd like. The parasitic drain did go down from 13.5 mA to 1.3 mA, so knocked it down, but still not in what I would consider an acceptable range. Weird, not what I was expecting... Was hoping to get the drain down further, but bright enough to be useful. Also the low setting is maybe slightly lower than it was before, and that's not noticeable in room light, but can be seen in the dark.
So at 1.3 mA, it will completely drain a 4000 mAh cell in 128 days - better but again, not acceptable.
Sounds like Wurkos should address this. Fix the drain problem and send new heads out.
They sent me a 5000k when I ordered a 4000k. I also have the random charge light issue. Despite the flaws I quite like the light, but I do hope they’ll respond to my support email.
What’s your parasitic drain measure?
I’ve never actually measured this before. I’ll dig out the multimeter this evening.
Thanks. Just wondering if they all are high. Might want to turn off the switch light if it is.
I think it’s happening at least on all Sofirn made Anduril 2 flashlights, my new Sofirn Q8 pro has the amble light comes on and off during the usage too.
It’s supposed to indicate the power bank function only.
Turns out I don’t seem to have anything that measures milliamps let alone microamps
Same issue others are facing.
The blue indicator led on my TS21 doesn’t turn off.
The only way to turn it off is to unscrew the cap and cap it back on… But then there’s a faint amber light that’s always on.
I can also hear a very high pitched squealing/whining from poor circuitry. Sounds like an old CRT TV or coil whine.
Honestly regret this purchase. Not at all the quality I was expecting.