KronoReview: Eagle Eye X6R

Hhmm. I see what you mean, but if I were you, I would add an e-switch OFF mode: OFF-low-hi, all with single clicks only - no long presses or dbl-clicks needed, as you would like, and solves the charging problem, and more flexible but still easy UI (you can also turn the light OFF on the side switch).

You could do an e-switch piggyback driver to get this functionality, or try to experiment with an MCU replacement - might not be easy or simple - different components than our standard ones (3 legged ones), so might need some serious reverse engineering - probably beyond my scope.

Cheap route would be a 105C or QLite driver with e-switch firmware programmed for the modes - rip off the stock piggyback, replace with this one.

I have a whole different plan with a more robust UI.

I might do press and hold 2-3sec for the soft off. I don’t want cycling through off to be a nuisance, and press and hold should be much easier than double click. Maybe there’s a way to have the MCU detect when the charger is connected? that’d probably take a lot more work with the code though.

I’ve decided not to mess with an MCU swap, i’ll just drop in a Nanjg

The way this light is designed is that the charging circuit is completely separate from the driver - no ability to check/monitor. That's good from the perspective of modding it with a driver replacement and keeping the charge circuit in tact. Only thing I'm not sure of is if the battery is dis-connected or not present, is the charger providing power to the driver/LED. That could be a bad thing if it did for a DD FET driver, not sure.

But, if you are charging and the MCU is alive and sleeping, then theoretically you could monitor the voltage via the LVP resistors and blink charge status or something, independent of the color LED indicators displayed at the switch. Hhmm - I'd have to explore this a little more.

Ohhh - I'm still think'n easier for a non-techy to click thru OFF-lo-hi, then to toggle lo-hi on one switch, then use another switch for ON/OFF. It's different if the switches are right there next to each other, but switching hand/hold positions to turn the light OFF for example, I found to be a pain, but that's me Smile, others may find it easier.

Update: Just realized I got the light with me @work, and sure enough it will work using my FET+1 driver mod with no battery when the USB is connected! That's pretty cool. Looks like 4th and 5th mode (2 highest) are about the same output - the wall adapter I'm using is rated for 1A max output, and that's what it looks like I'm getting.

Any chance we’re going to get a board designed for this using the 3 vias? I’m hoping to design one, but having no idea about Eagle PCB it may be a while before I get to that stage.

For myself, not really interested - doesn't save much time, not much added value. I'd rather have my choice of drivers. If it was involved, tight on space, and required a driver switch mount for example, than maybe yes, like what was done for the Roche/Convoy F6 - that came out really, really nice.

Two of my favorite lights right now are this X6R and the F6: quality, functionality and modifi-ability ... Well you know what I mean Smile.

Edit: Oh boy: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/35177, might be a good time to get in a discount order with BG for another X6R... Adega (Hengyu Electronics Co) may be the real manufacturer, but I only see BamgGood and AliExpress selling the X6R at a decent price, and BG's discount is definitely the best.

Discount code of 'bbbc2c' still working - $24 for either tint, just ordering another.

Oh you bad man. I’ve just ordered one now!

Ok Tom, what if we airwired a line from the raw 5v input to the MCU pin that measures for LVP, then set the firmware so that it turns the led off (sleep) when it senses the higher voltage. That way the light turns off when the charger is connected, and turns back on when you unplug? I feel that code shouldn’t take much room because we already have all the parts for measuring voltage.

I asked and have had it confirmed that the stock X6R does indeed not have a shut-off voltage. It will slowly draw current all the way until the battery is drained. Ok for emergency use, but not quite so ok in terms of safety.

Guess batteries with low voltage protection would be recommended for this light.

I don't know enough about electronics/circuit design, but I think you might need the voltage to come in to 2 resistors, like we do now with the battery monitoring. See: http://www.epemag.com/lib/free_projects/lab_equipment/0200%20-%20Voltage%20Monitor.pdf, as a reference project. I really dunno though.

Btw, our new Eagle Eye friend has a great deal on the X6R, even cheaper on the mobile app

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Eagle-Eyes-X6R-CREE-XM-L2-U2-1000LM-USB-Rechargeable-LED-Flashlight-self-defense-camping-light/32301365158.html

Wow, that is a great deal on the X6R... They have pretty good deals on the other Eagle Eye's as well, including a X6 with an XP-L HI, A6 hosts, etc. Not many pieces sold of anything though - pretty new store, Mr. Eagle eye... Smile

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Here is a better ref: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/voltage-dividers. You can plug in our values for R1 and R2 and see what you get. I believe if you have a 5V source coming in, you need to scale it down to match against the 1.1v reference source.

For our use for LVP now, we want to measure 3V against a 1.1v ref source, so, we use 19000 ohm R1, and 4700 ohm R2, so resulting voltage is 0.59v, which is just a little over 1/2 of 1.1v, correlating to an A-D value of about 130, but have to subtract out voltage for the what the diode takes, so we use a value of 120-125 or so.

To detect the 5V source's presence, maybe a direct wire would work, and maybe it will read 0 or 255 if present, dunno.

If it read 255, wouldn’t that be perfect? It doesn’t need a precise reading, just needs to be able to tell charger vs no charger.

If I test it, 5v direct to that pin isn’t gonna fry it, is it?

Could we not really assign star 3 to any input to that pin would turn off the output?

Have our firmwares used all the pins or do we still have one left Empty?

Might be one pin free. Dunno bout the 5V going direct in, true, might be a problem, but 5V is within the normal range for these MCU's. I'm kinda learning as we go Smile.

Blf-a6 is one of the most advanced firmwares, and it indeed has a a pin assigned to “star 3” as our fellow member already pointed out. Air wire straight from 5v input with a limiting resistor inline, then set the FW to PWM=0 whenever signal is detected on Star 3. Any reason why that won’t work?

My thoughts exactly

I just ordered my X6R yesterday, but I’ll try our theory when it gets here.

I ordered one last week keep up upto date I want to try this out as well. Thinking about using ATTiny45 for this build, thoughts?

Eagleeye=Rayus light.