TheStar - BLF driver firmware for a GB light - What options do you want to be selectable by stars?

Thanks for the feedback!

The idea of this FW is to provide ease of use of a normal 3 (or 4) mode light, still providing some extra modes for occasional use. The blinky modes are well hidden on purpose, so that they won't harm normal use. On the other hand, having many extra blinky modes don't harm either, because they are not in the cycle. Only the order of blinky modes matters => 2 most often used shall be the first ones..

Number of clicks required to enter the "blinky mode zone" is less in 3-mode driver. Would you please try it out?

The more I use the 3-mode version, the more I like it. I have it now also in my S2+, in which I originally used the 4-mode version. L-M-T are good for most use, and the hidden lowlow can be found every night as the first hidden mode. The light can then be used during the night on lowlow, as it's remembered just like the other modes.

I’m liking this UI better and better the more I learn about it.

I don't mind 9 clicks to get to a hidden mode. It's having to take multiple trips to get to a specific blinky mode, but I didn't realize about the 2 most common blinkies being first.

So the FW will generally take you to the first blinky mode after a certain amount of time passes? I will pay attention to that and reevaluate. I think the modes I was getting were a strobe mode and a beacon type mode. Those do seem like good modes for the first 2 modes.

Not sure when I will get a chance to flash the 3 mode version. It takes me time to set up to flash and time is pretty limited for me right now.

I just lashed v0.9 turbo 1.4a on my hotrod s2, with 8x7135, and T6-3C.

first impressions:
Moon is sufficient, pwm is noticeable. Turbo gets almost to hot before timing out in my s2 8x1735(2 min)

The background for the beacons is to high imho, when using a cone beaon is not that well visible. (it aint pitch black here tough)
i don’t think beacon should be lower lumens.

didn’t try it at night but the 1 sec beacon is pretty fast imho, maybe go to 1.5 - 2 sec ?

Tomorrow i’ll make a p60 drop in, on a 5x 7135 based nanjg 105c , thats my favorite nanjg, well balanced i think between lumens, heat and runtimes.

Edit- i see there is difference between star 2 and star 2&4 connected, is it possible to do something for the turbo dropdown value and timer with star 2 and 3 three connected ?

I’m curious what people think about the firmware I’ve been using on my Convoy S7. It’s vaguely similar to TheStar, but I made it according to what I personally like (and as sort of a test-bed for ideas) instead of trying to make it more generally useful for other people.

The most recent build was a week ago since I’ve been busy, but it has been fun to use. Here is its mode list, and the OTF outputs on my host (Nichia 219B w/ 5x7135 but the reflector sits too high so I lose like 20% of the expected output due to bad optics):

  • Moon / 0.14 lm
  • Low / 7.3 lm
  • Med / 42 lm
  • High / 155 lm
  • Higher / 342 lm (note, no automatic step-down, be careful)
  • Med beacon w/ Moon background
  • High beacon w/ Low background
  • Higher beacon w/ Med background
  • Heartbeat beacon (flash-flash, pause, repeat, at about 1 Hz)
  • ~10 Hz true strobe (motion-stopping strobe, 1ms duty cycle)
  • ~24 Hz true strobe (~0.5ms duty cycle)
  • ~60 Hz true strobe (~0.5ms duty cycle)
  • ~7 Hz to ~18 Hz self-ramping true strobe (smoothly gets faster and slower on its own)
  • ~16 Hz to ~100 Hz self-ramping true strobe

It uses short-cycle memory, so there is no need to cycle through all modes to get back to the beginning of the list. However it also means you must quickly half-press the button a bunch of times to reach the strobe modes (ten quick taps to reach the 10 Hz strobe, for example).

The compiled version is here, and sources are available if anyone wants them.
http://toykeeper.net/torches/s7-2014-07-23.hex

I personally enjoy motion-stopping strobe modes… as you can probably guess. The 10Hz strobe makes me feel like I’m in a bad horror movie, and the 24Hz strobe feels more like living inside a Charlie Chaplin film. Also fun while watching water fall or splash. The variable-rate ones are because clicky switches don’t allow for manual ramping and it’s kind of fun to point at spinning fans and such.

Thanks for your feedback!

Are you sure about this? It should be 18kHz and it's totally unnoticeable in my sample.

90s turbo should be quite ok for 2.8A driver. I use shorter values in hot rods, and even up to 120s with 2.8A drivers.

That might be because the beacon flash is too short in your version. I was testing shorter times and left it to 10ms.

Background in 1s beacon is raised to a level equal to medium mode for testing purposes. I found it quite nice for cycling.. Depends on the usage though.

I agree. 50ms with full power felt better than the current one, IMHO.

Hmm.. Need to think about this..

Maybe, but only if #2 and #4 are also connected (= in single mode config). In other configs the star #3 controls the mode order.

Also, I'm currently out of spare bytes..

I dont know the version you are using for programming, but atmel studio 6.2 solved a lot on the space problems. I assume you compile with the -os flag set allready.
I also believe there is an attiny version with more memory, in the same size and pin layout of the attiny 13 too…

As far as the beacon with background , I wouldnt use it for my bike light, but i can understand your way of thinking and using it.

I would see it as an emergency/warning sign to be used with a red/orange cone.
Maybe you could do the 1sec beacon for cycling and the 2,5 sec beacon for emergency beacon.

Don’t know if you tried it with a cone, if not, i suggest you to try it and especially, look at it from. 100 to 200 yards. That’ll be the lowest distance i would rather be seen when i have a road side emergency or problem. To avoid someone crashing in to you.

For the strobe, i personally find it useless if you have to do more than 2 clicks to reach to it, no atacker would wait to have you go through the whole clicking proces…… I like the option you build to have it on first mode tough! (I have buit a p60 dropin that does that too. Starts on strobe, high med low, no memory.)

Thanks! I need to try the 6.2 at some point. Just have been too afraid of it messing up something -> stayed at 5.x, which has been working very reliably for me.

I hear what you say about the beacon backgrounds. Need to test with cone.. Currently the 1s beacon uses medium mode as background, and the 2.5s beacon uses low mode - maybe could use even lower? Blinks are 50ms with full power (compared to 10ms in your version).

The mode memory works also for hidden modes, so you can set mode to strobe before going for walk -> available with a single click (and low mode available with two clicks). Or just use the tacticool config as you mentioned.

Silly question… has anyone here ever actually used a strobe for self-defense?

If so, did it work? Did you manage to get away unharmed?

L~~H is great if there is no LL. LL first gets extremely annoying to many people who rarely use it, but I do WANT it. The other problem I have with LL first is it is possible to turn on the light in the daylight and not be able to tell its on easily with LL first, then the light gets bumped up to L~~>(M->H) ooops you have a burnt bag/pocket/fried light/dead battery problem. This means Id always have to check and double check LL lights to ensure they are actually off several more times than regular.

A fast access (something like a double press for Turbo and long press for LL) to the modes I think makes the most sense, both have similar individual instant access needs, and are very wanted.

The “is it off?” issue and having a mode with no purpose during the day are a bit less of a problem without mode memory. Simply click-tap to get to low, and it’s always the same action. Or click-tap-tap to get to medium.

I can’t say I’ve ever had a clicky-switch light (or a twisty light) come on by accident, though I can see how some clickies could accidentally change modes while carried in a bag. The bag-activation issues are usually more of an issue for e-switch lights, which makes a physical lock-out useful. I do a tailcap lockout when I carry e-switch lights in a bag, unless it has a particularly hard-to-press switch.

However, for light with an electronic switch, I totally agree about having both moon and turbo immediately accessible from off. I like ZL’s UI for this, quick-press for the highest mode and long-press for the lowest mode. OTOH, another nice UI is short-press for on (last-used mode), long-press for momentary (last-used mode), short-long for momentary turbo.

ToyKeeper, I’ve accidentally turned on clickies in my pocket several times. I’ve definitely done it in an L2P host (with the stock L2P recessed tailcap). Couldn’t tell you which revisions of the L2P I’ve had it happen with - I think the latest generation L2P is one I’ve had it happen with. (I’m counting original -> 2011 version -> version after that) I’m sure I’ve had it happen with other hosts, but that one stands out. It’s almost impossible not to turn on a mini-mag with the Nite-Ize tailcap switch when it’s in your pocket or a bag.

On the strobe for self defense thing, I don’t have any experience with that. I’ll throw this out there: I think LEO’s like to use it to disorient potential attackers who are waiting in the dark to ambush the LEO. To me that’s more of an offensive maneuver (even though it’s against someone who plans to do them harm!). As a trained assailant the LEO really only needs a small window to take the guy down. Getting away seems like it would take a lot more time, depending on the circumstances and any damage you did to your attacker while they were disoriented…

I was thinking more of e-switch lights where it can be a problem. The other problem is hard to see for LL lovers like you. For people who hardly use LL like me, having it always come on first, to go through each time is just as annoying as having a blinkie mode, the difference between LL and blinkie is you probably still use LL sometimes and when you do, you want to go into it directly (and then all other modes become the problem). And LL first people also want direct access, so I think it makes both sides happy.

Also, non-LL lovers may be also like me here: I’m not sure I’d ever buy a LL first driver for me or my friends, the other benefits would have to be very big to compensate for the negative/standard blinkie-like driver, it makes something almost perfect fall into the annoying category instead.

Direct access to strobe of choice is another category completely, unnecessary and “sprinkles on the cupcake” idea, but nice concept idea if you wanted the “perfect” light. Really, if you ever have a “need” fast strobe, you want it to be there in a second, not have a complicated access. Anyways, just ideas :slight_smile:

Well if you ever need to use strobe, you still want it immediately, offensive or defensive. I’ve wanted it on a dog appearing on the trail ahead: defensive. If I see a cougar on the trail ahead I’d want it. If I see someone hiding in wait, I may want it if I’m worried he has a weapon or would attack people with me, and you may call that offensively defensive?

I almost specified “not counting LEOs” when I asked about the strobe, since that’s an occupation-specific use case, and seems more offensive than defensive. I’m more wondering if anyone has used a strobe to actually fend off or evade an attacker of some sort… like getting threatened on a dark street, or having someone break into your home. Sometimes I’ll have a light ready to blast a strobe at someone if I have to walk to/from my car late at night, but I’ve never had reason to use it and I wonder if it might do more harm than good. Perhaps it’d be better to talk my way out of a bad situation instead of just flashing and running.

The most likely situation for me would be if drunken guys left a bar around the same time I’m trying to get to my car to go home, on a night when I drove without friends. It’s dangerous for a girl to walk alone at night.

As for LL/low-low/moon, having an unused mode first is a definite fail. That’s why TheStar’s 3-mode UI is so great; it has great primary modes, but the LL and other infrequent modes are still available and can be memorized if you expect to need one. For someone as photosensitive as me though, low-low is what I use like a third of the time, so it’s a nice default. 0.1 lumens is enough to light my entire bedroom at night, and 3 lumens is painful during a 3am restroom trip.

Yes (sort of) and it worked: dog self defense/fight prevention. I walk with dogs at night, an off leash aggressive dog approached, I strobed it which deterred more advance and held mine back physically till the owner caught up.

This is a question I’ve thought about vs people too: I’ve used turbo/high on a person lying in wait in the bushes, it was an easy “oops, heard a noise in the bushes, I didn’t see you there (I see you there better not try anything)” double message, that gets turned into something which may force an action if I strobed him…? I think its usefulness on people is much more rare.

*edit: of course after I posted this I realized it is so situation specific and person specific. If you were in the same situation you might better use strobe to your advantage and retreat/pass by. I wanted the “I see you there better not try anything” message to get across, calmly walking by while still allowing him to see that I’m a large guy and attacking me would be risky. For females/smaller people, it may have been better to strobe so he did not see your size as clearly and distance yourself. If I strobed him however, I feel it would have been mis-applied, since I did not intend to advance on him or retreat, but to pass by with a warning to him to “leave me alone, I see you and I’m not worth the risk”.

We’re on the same page. The sawed-off shotgun training scene from Lightning Jack (56:40 - 58:40) springs to mind. (The deep link doesn’t play nice with the advert… refresh after the advert if you care enough to watch ;-)) If I were in the situation you describe [right this moment] I think I’d either stick with Turbo or not employ the flashlight at all. I’ll be nearly as interested as you in any anecdotes of using strobe defensively.

I have used strobe several times as a nurse in an ER with psychiatric patients. Over simplified, negotiations have broken down and the patient needs to be secured and subdued for everyone’s safety or they snapped and are on the attack. It catches them off guard and freezes them usually and then they fear distrust me usually afterwards but they don’t get hurt and we don’t get hurt. Also a patient picked up a chair to hit another nurse and I strobed him. He acted like the chair shocked him and dropped the chair and turned away. Another got almost in a position like someone running track and getting into the blocks to run for the door, I strobed him and said his name and no, he jumped onto his bed and said he wasn’t doing anything. Twice they just looked at me. Those two times I was further away. Either the beam was too diffuse or just not strong enough. I am always looking for a better strobe. Strobes do not work on dogs like on people. Solid bright beam stopped one dog attacking me and my family. So a perfect light for me can do both easily with one or two clicks.

Huh. That’s really interesting. I wouldn’t have thought of that. :slight_smile:

Couple of years ago, one tried to kill me, got pretty close to succeeding. I had to learn new ways or do something else. It’s a complex game and punching back is worse than the most terrible form of cheating in this game. They are after all deranged and irrational making it very difficult to get rational responses or actions from them so a bright or strobe light can be more than just a gimmick it can at least get some stand of distance and keep us both safe.