Yep I will be testing before ordering. Of course I won’t bother going further unless I get quite a few people who are interested.
Interested to see the product results, A output, PWM and which lights a newbie could easily replace this driver into…if all is well, 10-20?
Well as for lights it will fit there are quite a few. C8’s 502b’s T20’s C10 C12 and all kinds of other lights. It’s a very good size for many lights.
8 chips is about 3amps usually. 12 should be over 4amps. PWM shouldn’t be noticeable but we will find out.
Put me down for 10,
nice timing, my Kungs driver has just gone kaput, I can use two of these in it for 8.2A :bigsmile:
I know it will be a while, no problems, it will give me some time to mod it for better cooling.
Cheers David
12*7135 chips with $3 shipped (I assume internationally) is good, I am interested in this.
It’s just that I think there is no point to have both 40% and 60% at the same time - they both will look very similar in brightness to our eyes. Keep the 40% level and remove the 60%. The easier way is to just follow the Qlite 4 mode groups.
Also they need to be sure the PWM frequency is very high. Other than these I am fine with this driver. Or what’s even better is to stack more chips and make it 5A on high.
On the other hand to response to someone who has mentioned about the OSHPark project, the BLF drivers are definitely interesting BUT you need to realize that some people may not have the skill/equipment to reflow the components on the board by themselves. Also for non-Americans it’s very expensive to order the finished BLF drivers from USA sellers, the shipping fees is even higher than the driver itself. So spending just $3 and one can get a high current draw driver with good modes I would believe there are still people who are interested in this stuff.
So this is a basically a "pre-stacked" 4.2A NANJG 105C driver. Would save me quite a lot of time not needing to stack the 7135s..
I'm not a big fan of the proposed mode spacing, but that's not a problem if the firmware can be re-flashed.
=> definitely interested if the international shipping won't kill the deal.
Edit: How about asking the manufacturer to flash in one of our "own" firmwares? PM sent.
If everyone decides on another mode spacing we can do that. I’m not firm on it, I just don’t want a bunch of people dropping out or not getting in because they can’t get the one they want. You know how these things go.
Also I don’t think overseas shipping will be bad at all. Especially if you buy enough of them. It would drop the per driver cost down for you pretty good. It wouldn’t be worth it for one or two but for 20 I’m sure the price would still be pretty good.
Yes I do. :)
And it's not only the mode spacing.. In fact the mode spacing is about the easiest thing to agree on.
Some people want L->H, others insists having H->L. Some like to have their lights with memory, others without. And then there's the eternal discussion about Moon/LowLow mode: "Moon mode is a must" <-> "But I want L->H and don't want it to start with Moon".
That's why it would be good to have a pre-flashed firmware that offers some flexibility.
..and if someone needs even more flexibility -> go ahead and flash it yourself.
[quote=18sixfifty] Also I don't think overseas shipping will be bad at all. Especially if you buy enough of them. It would drop the per driver cost down for you pretty good. It wouldn't be worth it for one or two but for 20 I'm sure the price would still be pretty good. [/quote]
Ok, that sounds good! I'll be in for at least 20 pcs, maybe 50.
On the subject of settings, I would rather 1% 15% 30% 60% 100%.
1 = moon
15 = low
30 = mid (double low (not 40))
60 = high (double mid)
100 = turbo
Just my thoughts 
Cheers David
My personal opinion on the number of modes: Five modes is simply too much to step through.
Four is much better, and can cover the 0-100% quite well.
Three is good for usability, but can't cover well enough.
=> based on these findings I started to design the TheStar FW, which has the usability of 3-mode FW, but it offers 5 modes (+ hidden blinkies, but those are not the point here).
Here's how it's done:
- LowLow mode is hidden (can be easily found when needed, but it's not bothering in the main mode cycle)
- Low & Medium are the first two modes
- High is not accessible as a standard mode, just as Turbo rampdown level (-> not in the main mode cycle, but still usable)
- Turbo is the third normal mode
For LowLow, cycle through the modes twice, and you'll find the LowLow after Turbo, like this: L -> M -> T -> L -> M -> T -> LL
For High, set the light on Turbo and simply wait 90s (or whatever the turbo timeout is programmed to be)
For returning to Turbo after timeout, simply half-click and you are there.
The more I use it in this 3-mode configuration, the more I like it. :)
Edit: And if you like H->L mode order better, just short the star #3 => T -> M -> L -> T -> M -> L -> LL
That’s sounds great. I am just going to go with that. I’ll be chatting with them tomorrow to confirm that I can get this firmware on them, but I don’t see any reason why they won’t. They will probably steal it though.
That's very much possible, but would that be a bad thing? Better flashlights for everyone! 
I was anyways planning to release TheStar as "free for all BLF users for non-commercial use", which pretty much means that it will be freely available => will be stolen and used in commercial things too.
If it's NANJG105C compatible (same circuitry except 12x7135) AND that stacking is reliable (a photo would be nice) AND shipping isn't a killer, I'm in for 50. Firmware is irrelevant as I'll reprogram them anyway.
Right on! It would be cool if they did steal it and actually used it too!!
Sounds good, I’ll ask them for a picture and see if it’s nanjg105c compatible. I told them I would have a bunch of questions for them tomorrow. Well you know how it is. Tomorrow for them is early AM for me. So very late night today actually.
Depending on shipping I am in for a few…
OK, I sent them a quick E-mail asking about Flashing THE’s firmware and making sure they are NANJG105C compatible.
The 5A version even better.
40% and 60% are too close. I would toss one of those modes and go no more than 40 on the remaining mode.
As long as they don't lock out the MCU for future flashing, I would be interested in 10.
17mm, STAR firmware, 12chips, I'm in for 10 :-)