BLF Kronos X6/X5 GB - Group Buy now closed.

SS/Cu boxed set in the low 100’s arrived yesterday. Slight dings on two of the box corners. Couldn’t be happier with the set. :slight_smile: A huge “thank you” to all who made this happen!

Got my Cu/SS set today. Wow - so beautiful, thanks to all concerned with this amazing GB. Non-boxed set with mismatched serial numbers in basic packaging as described by others. No damage in transit.

I have a problem with the X5 that I can't work out where it keeps stepping down, from lower levels. Just did a quick and dirty tailcap current reading with a multimeter and cheap leads. Times shown below to within a second or two - in the absence of more sophisticated equipment, I simply narrated the observed readings into a voice recorder app.

Starting at level 3 (third lowest of 7) I was reading about 137mA @ 5s

120mA - 30sec

104mA - 40s

91mA - 50s

79mA - 1.00

67mA - 1.12

56mA- 1.21

49mA - 1.30

41mA - 1.38

34mA - 1.47

28mA - 1.57

23mA - 2.06

21mA - 2.18 where it seemed to stabilise.

Battery is a protected 14500 Keepower reading around 4.11V. I haven't sourced any decent IMR cells yet so the highest modes are not possible without tripping the protection circuit. I've tried this with 2 identical Keepower 14500s at around the same voltage.

I also tested a couple of Coolook LiFePO4 14500s with similar observed results. In fact, these were the first cells I tried as they are unprotected and seemed go give access to all modes albeit probably at lesser output than a good IMR due to their nominal 3.2V rating.

The stepdown almost seems somehow thermal in nature but this makes no sense at such low drive currents. If I "rest" the light for few minutes, it then takes a good 90-120sec before it starts dropping again. Ambient temp at the moment about 27C (80F).

The same thing happens starting from Level 4 but from a higher baseline current.

Hopefully one or two of the Gurus in here might have an idea what's going on. I've already used the config menu to perform a factory reset.

Cheers

Potentially it is even worse. She does not work because tomorrow is her birthday :open_mouth: But I think I have much more interesting presents for her than these lights - SHOES :wink:

There was another member who posted that bat check was giving low results on one of his lights. TK suggested that something may be wrong with his voltage divider and monitoring circuit. Can you try this on your light and see what it reports? As I understand the UI, it will step down for two different reasons; low voltage as measured by the ATTiny AND also high temperature. So if the processor thinks it sees a low voltage it will bump down.

Thanks Lazy..

Unfortunately I can't step backwards past turbo to get to the bat check mode without tripping the protection circuit on the Keepowers.

FWIW, with the Coolook LiFeP04 reading 3.339 o/c on my multimeter, the bat check shows 3.4V.

Well we can hardly complain about the accuracy there. Bat check reports within 60 mV of a meter.

Does it seem like the processor is stepping down the light output or is it behaving more like a nearly empty battery in a ‘regular’ light?

Not sure how to answer this. At a guess I'd say processor since the stepdowns are sudden, defined steps rather than a slow gradual drop. I first noticed it happening in visual steps when using the light on a low level in complete darkness. It was then I got out the multimeter to investigate. If plotted graphically it would be a staircase rather than a curve if you know what I mean.

Definitely not a tailcap issue as one possibility suggested for the previous poster. Neither does mine shut itself off completely (yet). Certainly not in 5 minutes.

Sometimes the thermal step down is set to act too quickly. I don’t know that the protected cells would let you get to the configuration menu, but I’d try setting the thermal regulation and see if that helps.

Thanks Dale

I can get into the config menu with the Coolooks. I did the factory reset that way. I'll need to dig around to find out what to do and how, when I get into the thermal regulation menu. I'm assuming this is the correct link: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/blf-x6v2/view/head:/ToyKeeper/bistro/bistro.txt

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to achieve much in the thermal menu really. It is displaying this behaviour at drive currents of less than 200mA, way too low to get any kind of heat into the head. Unless you are suggesting I just try disabling it?

Way too late here now - nearly 2.30AM. I might have a fiddle with it tomorrow.

on the A6 driver, when turbo steps down to high, a short tap will push it back up to turbo. is this UI the same way?

This isn’t the same driver as the A6, this one uses the ATTiny25 which allows for thermal regulation, so the light doesn’t step down like the A6 but instead it ramps down with 64 levels of stops.

Enter the config mode, at the 7th blink break connection during the stutter… it’ll come on in about a med mode, turn it off… this disables it. If you want to set it, wait a couple of seconds after the med mode and it will shift to Turbo where you can run it til the heat is as much or as little as you dare, turn it off at that point and this will be memorized.

I got my ss/cu with box set today. I am beyond happy! Wife thinks I’m insane because I called her into the room for the unboxing. She just shakes her head and searches for the number to a cheap psychiatrist.
My lights were perfect no issues whatsoever. The box had one little ding on one corner that I never would have seen if not for reading about that issue here. For me, no issue at all. Completely satisfied. Ecstatic.
I would like to express my thanks to all involved with this venture. I can never you repay for all your work and efforts. THANK YOU!! I look forward to being able to participate in more of these customs lights.
Cant wait to show these off!
Steve

ok thanks. i thought i noticed small step downs but couldnt prove that it was stepping down. but the 64 step downs make sense.

> Southland … clip … pliers … hammer

Sorry, I can’t figure out whether you’re joking, or describing what you actually did in a way I don’t understand.
Sounds like sticking the pliers inside the bend and hammering on the outside, which would not open up the bend, it’d make it narrower.
Would you add a picture of how you fixed your clip, if you actually did what you’re describing there?

The problem is the old familiar one, the 180 bend is so tight that folded cloth won’t fit into it.

Beam shot of X6 Al

Thanks Dale. I think I disabled it as it now seems to be running steadily in modes 3 and 4. Looks like something weird going on in there.

I'm guessing the same process (break at 7th stutter, then off at Medium) would toggle the thermal protection back ON again? I tried this but it seemed to make no difference. I can't push the light hard enough to heat up properly on the 3.2V LiFePo4 so I can't memorise a setting ATM.

Sorry to be a pain but do you have a link to the firmware instructions for this light. The diagram in the first post is helpful but lacks detail. I know it's probably buried somewhere among the nearly 5000 posts in this thread.

Cheers

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/blf-x6v2/view/head:/ToyKeeper/bistro/bistro.txt

It’s also in the first post, just look at the 1/22 date

Thanks myhken. Ok, so that is the same link I posted in #4983 which means I am looking at the correct instructions. (I mistook Dale's comment about it not being the same as the A6 to mean I was looking at the wrong file.)

This doesn't mention toggling thermal regulation on and off, only turning off or seting manually. If that's the case I guess I'll need to wait until I get some IMR cells to be able to turn it back on when the light gets hot?

The X5 is eating up battery power. Just played a little with it yesterday, set the thermal settings and today, I tested the thermal setting, and noticed that the lights was less brighter then yesterday from the start. Pulled the battery, and it was down to 3.3V
And that’s a protected Keeppower 840mAh. So it’s not using the full power of the light.

So not much runtime with the X5.

Not tested the X6 yet, but there I have 30Q, HG2, MJ1, GA batteries I can use.

My Keepowers are protected 800mAh - maybe 3 years old but with little use. I can't run turbo without tripping the protection. Yours must have a better circuit. Even so, you wouldn't expect "full power" on a protected cell. With such little capacity in a 14500 and this awesome driver, eating batteries will be inevitable in the higher modes.

It's a little gem of a light!