With normal (off-time) memory, a tap cycles through all modes, while with short-cycle (off-time) memory, a single tap restarts at the first mode, and only consecutive taps switch through the modes; i.e. long-off -> memory; long-on, short-off ->mode 0 ; short-on,short-off ->next ; (and I actually found it comfortable to additionally have long-off, short-on, short-off -> mode 0, too).
Okay, that makes sense. I pretty much always prefer no memory on clickies, so I have “long-off -> mode 0” and “short-off -> next”. Or for on-time memory, “long-on,tap -> mode 0” and “short-on,tap -> next”. I haven’t ever felt a need for both.
The main thing I change with an off-time cap is to add a “medium-off” action, which either goes to the previous mode (if mode > 0 ) or to a sequence of hidden modes (if mode <= 0 ). It’s nice as a shortcut to turbo or battery-check.
For e-switches though… memory can be pretty nice. From off I’ll usually do “long-press -> moon”, “short-press -> memorized mode”, and “double-press -> turbo”. I like the instant access to all three.
You can of course just ramp up linearly by incrementing the pwm in a loop with a delay, I might add this. I used an array because I liked the smooth ramping, you can tell when you are near the max or min brightness because it is increasing or decreasing more slowly (also, I just think it looks cool). You might prefer the SQUARED ramp profile. If anyone has any ideas for different ramping profiles I’d be interested in trying them. Or if someone wants a different min or max in the ramp I could add that to the firmware.
On that topic, see ramp_calc.py and Ramping_UI_table.c in my firmware collection:
It implements a few different ramp curves, but it requires an e-switch to work properly. My favorite is logarithmic, but cubic is closer to visually-linear. Also, it can optionally smooth out the lowest few levels by using PFM in addition to PWM, but this extra-low part of the curve has a different shape than the rest and is intensely voltage-sensitive.
I haven’t attempted to do ramping on a clicky switch light, because the interface is awkward and I didn’t like the idea of grinding through eeprom write cycles while it ramps. You solved the eeprom issue, but the UI is still a concern.
Anyway, I’ve been playing with my new no-OTC off-time light (ToyKeeper/s7/brass-edc.c) for a couple hours now and I’m really happy with it. Thanks!
Tested fine compiling with AVR Studio.
Flashed to a 105c, works fine.
Hm, it seems I have to try again on a different driver, as I found it too short when I had tried, and I'm not a slow 'half-press'er :)
Edit: Tried again, indeed works well. Must have tried it with some old drivers with slight differences, don't know. Oh my, I could have had that months ago. /edit
ToyKeeper: Yes, for momentary buttons most of my firmwares allow switching on directly to memo/moon/max, too. For Clickies I like no-memory and short-cycle memory: My EDC (currently the brass, too) I have 2 groups, one for normal use with moon/L/M/H with (short-cycle) memory, so I don't have to click to the right mode every time, and one with moon1,moon2,lower,low,med without memory for indoor night time, always comes on at lowest, so it doesn't disturb anyone.
I'm trying to flash the brass-edc firmware, but I'm getting the following verification error;
avrdude: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x0000
0x00 != 0x0c
avrdude: verification error; content mismatch
I've compiled it, as well as trying your .hex file.
Command line;
avrdude -p t13 -c usbasp -u -Uflash :w:brass-edc.hex:a -Ulfuse:w:0x79:m -Uhfuse:w:0xed:m
I have stars 3 & 4 grounded, but I don't think that would interfere with the process.
Any idea what's going on?
all you coders are AWESOME!!!
Gotta try the ramp on my triple build where I attempted to tweak the code and now the darn thing only starts in moon mode 
You coding genius are incredible!
That sounds like what always happened before I switched from a 5-wire connection to a 6-wire one. I could flash (sometimes), but the verification step would always fail.
I doubt stars 3+4 should matter, assuming they’re on pins 2 and 3. The flashing process uses pins 1/4/5/6/7/8 but not 2/3. However, it could still potentially be an issue. I’d suggest double-checking the other six pins though, in case one isn’t making full contact.
My command line is in flash-noinit.sh:
#/bin/sh
FIRMWARE=$1
avrdude -c usbasp -p t13 -u -Uflash:w:$FIRMWARE -Ulfuse:w:0x79:m -Uhfuse:w:0xed:m
The only differences I see are a space after -Uflash, and a :a after the firmware file.
Thanks. It appears it was a connection problem. I just tried again now, & it flashed fine.
Flashed to NANJG AK-47A and works very nice. Actually first time flashing with arduino and a DIY soic clip.
Edit: Customized modes from H -> L to L -> H and moonlight from 0x04 to 0x03.
Do you plan to add strobes ? I love the blinkies 
I’m glad to hear more people are getting into reprogramming their lights!
I like blinkies too. Depending on what you want, I have some other firmwares available. I’m using this memory-retention offtime trick on my “s7” and “brass-edc” firmwares, which are basically the same as each other except for different moon mode calibration. They do the following modes, in order (but a long press resets to moon so you don’t have to cycle through all modes):
The link is in my signature; source and binaries are included.
Yeah, I have some plans to add some semi-hidden strobe modes soon.
Some feedback after flashing brass-edc.hex to nanjg ak-47a:
- the 12Hz, 24Hz, 60Hz stobes are very dim (low to low-medium) (don`t know if this is intended)
Also wanted to test starry-offtime but doesn`t compile - it`s a few bytes larger.
I meant to ask…does this retain the low voltage warning flash of stock nanjg drivers?
Now in my ignorance I have been searching for a CC/ ramping driver for a 3S MT-G2 (does such a thing exist here?)
I found some reference that the 7135 either is, or can be part of a constant current driver. See I though that the “pic, 7135, 105x,) were all describing linear drivers.
Are we on the verge of having a constant current / ramping / 6v emitter capable driver?
WarHawk-AVG: Stock NANJG/Qlite doesn't have RAM retention; that requires a special firmware. [Edit: I probably misunderstood the question.]
Ronin42: The 7135 is a linear constant current regulator. With a Zener mod or other methods it can be used for 2S and 3S setups. Also a ramping firmware has been available with source for ages: luxdrv. So a ramping 2S CC driver was available all along.
Those strobes are calibrated to freeze motion, not to stun people… so yes, they’re not supposed to be terribly bright. The duty cycle is only 0.3 to 1.0 milliseconds per flash. I find it entertaining to see still frames of fast-moving water and such, so I built it into my EDC. It’s fairly easy to change though, just by editing a few numbers in the code.
The brass-edc firmware used to have short-cycle memory, but I changed it to use the memory retention trick described earlier in this thread. So, the end result is offtime no-memory. (also, I think there may be at least two different definitions of “short-cycle memory” floating around BLF)
The starry-offtime firmware requires an actual offtime capacitor in order to work, which the stock AK-47 driver doesn’t have. Also, it’s designed specifically for drivers with two independent PWM channels, which the AK-47 also doesn’t have. Probably not a good choice for this purpose. When I compile it locally, it works out to 1018 bytes, so it’s almost but not quite at the limit of 1024.
Not sure about the OP’s firmware. I took the flash out of mine to save space, but retained low-voltage step-down and eventual shutoff.
With a zener mod on the driver, almost any common attiny13a firmware should work. The only caveat there is that low-voltage detection might not function… and serial battery configs are significantly more risky than single-cell or parallel configs.
Beyond that, it mostly depends on what kind of switch you use (clicky or e-switch) and what you mean by ramping. I have a smooth-ramping e-switch firmware available (ToyKeeper/Ferrero_Rocher/Ramping_UI_table), DrJones has a clicky switch one (luxdrv), the OP of this thread implements ramping and the memory-retention trick for clicky switches, etc.
Personally, I like ramping with an e-switch and dislike ramping on a clicky switch. The e-switch means I can press-and-hold to ramp, then let go when it gets where I want. To ramp again, just press-and-hold again. Otherwise, you have to enter a specific ramping mode first, wait until it gets to the right level, then tap to select it as a steady mode. I’m not sure how you would enter ramp mode again after that, or how to quickly go to the highest or lowest mode without ramping.
Good points about the different switiches. Now does the “issue” with mechanical switiches apply to all as a class, or only to reverse clicky? I would think/hope/guess that a forward clicky could simply be released hopefully like an electrical switch?
And would a magnitic switch be considered Mechanical or Electrical?
I guess I made an incorrect assumption.
I thought I understood correctly that CC drivers were more efficent and did not produce as much drain or wasted energy in heat. I thought that Zener Diode mods were very inneffiecet at lower power levels(lost of wasted energy into heat), thus I thought that CC and Zener were mutually exclusive designs.
I guess I made a mistake but I dont know where?
There are basically two types of common switches in lights… one type works by cutting power entirely. This applies to basically all clicky switches, whether forward or reverse or other. It’s like a light switch (rocker switch) on the wall, on or off.
The other type works by continuously sending a “high” or “low” signal to the driver (shorted or not), and the power stays connected in both cases. This is the e-switch I was referring to, and can be magnetic or not. It’s like a button on a game pad.
Zener diodes tend to have a constant small drain whenever power is connected, so for an e-switch that means it would keep using power even when the light is off… unless you physically disconnect the power by loosening the tailcap or something. There are more efficient approaches, but I haven’t really looked into the details very much. I think wight has a driver or two specifically for this purpose.
Some lights have both, like the Convoy L4. It has an e-switch near the head and a clicky switch on the tail… so you can get the best of both worlds.
I’m leaving out other types of inputs, like Nitecore’s 2-stage e-switch and magnetic twisty rings like on the Jetbeam RRT01, and lights with multiple e-switches. We don’t have common firmware which supports those.