Thanks for these! Good input for further development. :)
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* The way the mode memory works is interesting, and may not be obvious at first. It can take almost three cycles through the main modes before the "hidden" ones are accessible, and the counter resets each time the light is left on more than a second or two. So, it acts like it has just the normal modes unless you cycle quickly through them two (or three) times to reach a hidden mode. After being on for a couple seconds it's possible to advance directly to the next mode during the regular modes, but not in the hidden modes. (so, medium mode, wait, tap-tap the button, and it'll go to high mode... but first beacon, wait, tap-tap, and it goes to low or low-low instead of the second beacon) This lets one skip the other hidden modes, but getting back down to a lower regular mode requires cycling through the rest of the regular modes.
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Yes. That's the original idea of this FW: Combination of normal memory (normal modes) and short cycle memory (hidden modes).
To avoid accessing hidden modes accidentally, you need to have six continuous clicks and go over the last normal mode (= turbo or low, based on stars).
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* The lowlow mode doesn't actually light up my emitter at all. I'm using a XM-L T6 0A or similar emitter (from some cheap old light) on a 8x7135 3.04A qlite driver. Whatever setting it's at is apparently too low for this hardware.
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Hmm.. Weird. The lowlow is PWM 7 in v08. 7 has been reliable in my tests, but I have tested only with XM-L2s.. 5 didn't light up most of them, 6 did light most but not all -> 7 has lighted all emitters I have tested (and it's already quite high for lowlow, I would like to use 6 if that would be reliable..)
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* The strobe is quite obnoxious. I think that's kind of the point though. It seems to heat up the head of the light too, but that's expected since it's a 50% duty cycle with 3A, and 1.5A is plenty to warm up a small host. I'm not really into tactical strobes though, so it's hard for me to say whether this is good overall. I prefer low-duty-cycle motion-freezing strobes.
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The strobe in v08 is (pseudo) randomly alternating between 13 and 19.5Hz, with 40-60% duty cycle. Those values seem to work quite well: very disorienting, still enabling to notice opponent's movements. Having another low duty cycle, lower frequency motion freezing strobe is still an option.. Let's see.
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* The two beacon modes with a background light level are nice. I might prefer something less bright though, for both the background and the flash.
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I have been thinking of having another of those with lower level, and the other with higher. Further experimenting is definitely needed.
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* The no-background beacon could probably use a much, much shorter duty cycle. Like 1ms or so. Depends on if it's designed for locating the light in the dark (very very short pulse) or signalling to people far away (current duty cycle seems appropriate).
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Good idea, but not down to 1ms. Maybe 10-20ms instead of the current 50ms.
[quote=ToyKeeper]
* Not sure why there is both a SOS and an alpine distress beacon. In general though, I'd go for a faster SOS.
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Both have their uses, and as they are at the end of hidden modes, they won't harm anyone.
Faster SOS? The strobe timing is still a bit off in v08, but I was thinking of fixing the timing and also making it a bit slower.
[quote=ToyKeeper]
I haven't tried the stars. I don't really want to solder the stars on my test driver, and pencil hasn't worked.
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You may want to try softer pencil and more strokes. It works well in my tests.