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

Hate to interrupt, but just fyi for those modders/techies interested --

The driver in these lights is effectively a "FET+1" driver, but enhanced by using a more advanced Atmel MCU: ATTiny25 instead of the usual ATTiny13A, like in the BLF A6 lights. The extra memory and temperature sensor built in to the "25" allowed us (ahhh TK) to write more advanced firmware than what we had in the BLF A6.

For the cap on these drivers, we've been using 10 uF cap since the beginning for all our custom drivers, FET or linear regulated. We've seen problems on "25" drivers with high amps and I found that doubling up on the cap, 20 uF effectively, eliminated the flaky problem. So I pulled off the C1 cap on one of these new light drivers and tested it -- it appears to be a 12 uF cap as best as I can tell.

So the bump from 10 uF to 12 uF appeared to solve the problems the manufacturer was having originally on this driver. Kind of makes sense - proably best to keep the cap as small as possible, but still allowing the driver/MCU to function properly.

Not meaning to be at odds, really. I just don’t understand why/how things are happening to you as a noob that haven’t/don’t happen to anyone else. I have no idea what you’re seeing over there across the pond, want to understand, try to understand, if for no other reason than to try to keep it from happening to ME! :stuck_out_tongue:

The reflector and lens fogging could be from something in the thermal paste used heating up and vaporizing. I don’t know. I know the paste used on mine is grey and sort of watery, and very little of it, so I’m cleaning it off and using Arctic Alumina Thermal Paste.

I’m gonna talk to my new buds that make simulated diamonds and see if I can get a disc instead of a faceted cut stone. :wink: Sells by the carat, regardless of cut, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be accommodating. :slight_smile: First I have to financially recover from all these group buys and replacing the engagement ring my wife “lost”. I knew once I put down the money on a replacement, the original would get jealous and rear it’s head… yep, found the lost engagement ring, the new one is being made as we speak. Go figure.

Science named our planets. Science then decided one was just a rock. So every kid that went to school was told we had 9 planets in our Solar System. Then they decided to downsize one, after the fact, and now we have “8” planets. There’s Science for you, always changing, adapting to the new data coming in. So, is anything actual, matter of factual? Or do the scientists simply shift and adapt at will as new things are discovered? Eggs are good for you. No, wait! Eggs are bad for you! Uh, hold that thought, eggs are good for you again unless you have cholesterol problems. How are we ever to really know what’s what?

How many people are on Earth? How many people were in Harvard’s sleep experiment? So the data is based on a minuscule percentage of available test subjects? Once again, subject to change. So, what IS normal? It’s a misleading concept.

Not very long ago, normal was a nicely made flashlight with all the goodies glued inside, no access. :wink: Not so very long ago, normal was 100 lumens. (Surefire still believes in this, by the way… both the glue and the weak lumens high price concept)

Science learns of a lot of really cool and essential stuff. The guys/gals at myth busters blow most of it up. :wink:

Thanks Tom, now I’m wondering if they substituted for the OTC as well…

I posted about my experience swapping these in comment 5156. Happy to answer questions if I can but you’d probably get better answer from PD and the rest of the guys in the lighted tailcap thread.

Slightly better shot of my modded tailcaps:

Yeah, diamond is actually an insulator, not electrically conductive at all, but great thermal conductivity. Basically you could coat whole drivers or such with it, if you can afford.

I have had some “milky/cloudy” lenses in 5 Convoy L2’s and just couldn’t get rid of it. Tried pure water, water with dishwashing detergent, glass cleaner and ethyl alcohol… What else could I try? Don’t want to pay 20$ with shipping for an UCLp lens…

Sharpie, that optics cleaner that you’re using, do you have a link for me, please? thx

It takes a village ...

Here we call that doubt, venom is MUCH stronger. When one person continually has inexplicable issues with items that many have in hand and no one else is reporting such issues, calling BS is highly called for.

And come on, if that UK manufacturer had the BEST bench-rest actions in the world he would NOT have shown up with JUNK! A flashlight tail cap is hardly a rifle action, tolerances are not even in the same ball park. No pressure to speak of to induce this galling effect that grabs and seizes. My gunsmith friend knew better, back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and he was just a small town kid that went to college and learned how to build guns for a living. So yeah, face to face with the guy that built these “exquisite locked up pieces of crap” I’d call BullShi*. I’m not saying this guy can’t build a good weapon, but he failed miserably in more ways than one when he showed up to a trade show with untested freshly machined parts that seized.

There is a game played where a story is told, the players can buy into the story or call Bull Shi*, if they call and the story was legit, there’s a price to pay in the game. Calling BS is not venomous, not lethal by any stretch of the imagination… it’s merely expressing doubt based on experience. Putting the ball in your court, as it were, placing provenance on you… the originator of the statements in question.

When/if the other 398 holders of these SS X6’s speak up on the galling issue, we’ll then have all the data.

So i got my lights and the quality is great, there heavy as hell the light in the tail is cool. my serial numbers dont match and mine are above 253. i have 331 on the x5 and 356 on the x6. the beam on my x5 was good but idk whats the deal with the x6. the led is so badly centered its not even funny. so bad that i dont have a clear hotspot. is bad. and because the reflector screws in i cant do any adjustments. kinda sucks. is anyone checking the beam on these when they are made? im pretty dissapointed about the beam

I don’t mean to be pushy or rude when I ask this, so I apologize in advance if it comes out that way:

What’s the estimated amount of time left for people who haven’t used their codes, to use them? So the wailisted people can get theirs?

Seeing all the great posts on this set is making me pretty desperate to get my own. Haha

I’m glad I’m not your doctor or accountant, that’s the solipsist question nobody else can answer for you (grin).

Seriously, there’s much newly known about how the body clocks work, and why blue light regulates the body clocks, that you’d likely find informs what you do.
A couple of recent examples found with Google Scholar:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/07420528.2015.1119158
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/07420528.2015.1108980

Not asking you to think your own experience is wrong.
Just asking you to consider that other people’s reports aren’t wrong when they differ from your experience.

Thank you, Sharpie.

Someone posted earlier that if you remove the reflector, the 2 screws holding the board down can be loosened and the position of the LED can be slightly adjusted before re-tightening the 2 screws. Not a lot of slack to play with but it might fix/improve you situation.

Wonderful video, and story. Really enjoyed it Jack, thanks for posting! After watching it, I long to be a part of their ‘community.’

i took out both screws and i was able to get a perfect focus with 1 screw. the other screw hole does not line up to get both screws in. Im sure its fine with 1 screw right? does the reflector float above the board or does it press down a little? now im quite happy. i need to get some imr 14500s. i only have 1 trustfire 14500. output is low

Any successful purchase, when public, is going to attract scammers like that.

This is a reason to encourage people to publicly identify problems before hassling the supplier.
(And a reason not to hassle people who do publicly identify problems.
Only workable with minimal drama on all sides, tough as that is)

(It’s also why it’d be useful for someone to keep a moderated list of known problems — that way, a person’s post isn’t treated as pointless piling on — it’s a data point to add to the list, and it’s also a QA/QC punch list to pass on to the supplier as things to watch for)

Many of the little annoyances can be fixed at home, once identified and people contribute solutions.

Examples — the hammer fix suggested for the X5 clip problem, or how to recenter a misaligned emitter — above.

People who buy through a group, behave as members of the group, and work out problems as members, work well enough together (we all have rough edges)

That cuts out the parasites who won’t want to be identified in public.

Got my lights, they are awesome. They are beautiful and bright. I have one issue though with knurling on my ss light. There is a section on the bezel edge where there is knurling where it should not be. Other than that they are perfection. Thanks to all who made this possible, can’t wait to see what team Kronos comes up with next!! :bigsmile:

Alex, based on my observations of my lights, the reflector does press on the board. I have 2 semi-circular marks where contact is made. As for one vs. both screws, I would assume it would hold as long as it does not suffer a bad jolt/drop. I am not sure if there are any other concerns with using only one screw.

Yep, I’ve played that game back in the day and the “penalty” was to drink some more :bigsmile: . Is that the same game Dale?

Got my first of two Al sets today (normal shipping, they are really fast). The X5 is totally fine (except me making some scratches removing the clip), but on the X6, I get a yellow spot in the center of the beam.
You can see here, not the best picture, taken with my phone, but you can see the yellow spot. I do not have that spot on the SS/Cu X6 light.

What can I do, and is this a possible requesting a new light, or something. I can nothing about fixing lights, but maybe there is only a part I can change my self, without any soldering or such thing, since I have no equipment of that sort.