For the most part we only work with the ATTiny MCUs. They aren’t that common anymore, except with manufacturers that use them specifically to support our firmwares.
In addition to being able to identify and work with other MCUs, we’d have to know how the circuits are controlled by those MCUs - though that can likely be “probed” out by someone with enough expertise
I see… sad to hear that. Would you have any idea where to start learning for that? Most UIs are fine with me just want to tweak it a little. Like the SP10S UI is fine with me just wished the moonlight came first.
For me, learning how to tweak firmware on drivers based on different MCUs is too big of a task. Also, some MCU’s can be locked after firmware flashing so they can not be read or flashed again without going through a lot of hassle, and then you have a some manufacturers that have identification markings on the components scraped off so it’s even harder to figure them out.
It’s much easier to design drivers specifically for lights that I like and use my own firmware for them all. Sure, learning how to design drivers and write firmware takes a lot of time, but once you’re up and running it’s easy to change driver board design to match a light you like rather than figuring out how to hack it to your liking. Some examples: I have a 17mm boost driver and I wanted to use that driver in a Convoy L4 which has a larger diameter and a momentary switch on it. All I had to do was to scale up the driver diameter and add the switch: What did you mod today? - #10885 by Mike_C
Another example, I wanted to run my own firmware in a headlight so I made a board design specifically for it: Project Gemini: Yet another headlamp mod. Not a cheapo this time though.
And here I made one for the ZY-T08: Mod/Driver: ZY-T08 series conversion, MT-G2.
I see, Thanks for the insight… So from an expert’s perspective it’s not worth it then? I guess it is easier to work with something you are familiar with. After a few years in this forum the most I can do is still just swapping LEDs.
I can only speak for myself but as I’m not an expert it’s just so much easier to make my own. I started my driver and firmware development here on BLF without previous knowledge of it before, all with the help of tutorials, the wealth of knowledge and people here that where willing to help. The topic of reading firmware from other MCU types and then debugging them for changes is not something that I’ve seen done here, I think for the same reasons as I stated above… But I don’t really know, I’ve never actually tried it, maybe it’s not as hard as I think but now I’m too far down the rabbit hole of making my own to bother.
I really need to learn how to make PCBs. I’d be fine using the same circuits others develop, but if I could adapt them to a PCB suitable to the particular host I want, that would be the dream.
I would want to learn that, too. First thing I would do is to shrink a MT09R/GT4 driver from 46mm to 30mm.
It’s a good time to try kicad, they released the 6th version recently and it has nice improvements over 5.
Have anyone taken apart the dual channel D4V2? What’s the difference besides the driver and PCB?
I think those are only differences.
Does anyone know the copper plate thickness of the FC11 and FC12?
I asked Hank for dual channel driver and copper board because I was going to reflow emitters anyway. He said it’s too different. I wonder what else was changed.
At least my single channel and dual channel KR4’s seem identical. I have also bought dual channel driver and 2 channel pcb from him separately for my projects, so I don’t know why he didn’t sell them to you.
Maybe you misunderstood each other because I had no problem when making weird requests to him.
Edit : I should have quoted, the comment I was replying to has been deleted.
Sorry about that deletion. I clarified with him, I just spent $5000 HKD ($650 USD) with his wholeseller in HK too. It’s definitely not money related. Seeing the events happening around the world, I think it’s a good time to spend more money on your favourite material things before everything shuts down. Evergrande for ex.
Can somebody explain this apparent paradox? Tungsten or halogen bulb is quite inefficient in terms of converting electrical energy in to light. But ironically, none of the flashlights using them as bulbs ever worried about having huge heat sink or thermal regulation. However, all the of the high power LED bulbs need to dissipate excess heat even though for tungsten or halogen, the emitted light was just by product of the filament burning!
It’s very simple, filament bulbs are made of metal and glass and can withstand extremely high temperatures.
Leds are electronic components, diodes made of silicone, plastic and phosphor. They do not like extreme heat. They need to stay at lower temperatures to last a long time.
Maybe your asking about the heatsinks? Most all older flashlights using bulbs also used low power lead acid batteries that did not draw high amperage. They were all low amperage and relatively dim compared to led. They also didn’t have complicated electronic drivers, they typically had an on/off switch. So if they got too hot you simply turned the light off.
Modern led flashlights using lithium ion batteries can draw way higher amps (100+ watts). Older bulb style flashlights typically drew 2.5 watts. Maybe a bit higher? No where near modern flashlight wattage. Hence, the older flashlights never got very hot. There was no need for heatsinks, especially since the bulbs could easily handle their own heat.
I hope this answered your question.
Good explanation! If I want to get the same amount of lumens as the old incandescent flashlight, there is no need for heat sink then?
Generally, yes… because incandescents are horribly inefficient compared to LED. Incans waste so much energy in the form of heat versus photons. You can seriously burn your hand on the head of some high power halogen/xenon incan flashlights.
