Any way to make the led pulse?
Are resistors needed for MTN’s 17DD FET drivers?
Yes, the 17DD drivers, just like most (all?) common lineair drivers, need a bleeder resistor to leak enough current for the tail circuitry
Full assortment of the smart and latest non-smart boards arrived today… Is there any firmware that anyone has hacked in prep for these boards? If so, where to get it? I may get time to put one together this weekend for testing. I will get one of the new ring boards together as I have a need for one.
You got yours before I got mine! Did Osh cut the middle out of the rings like they were supposed ot?
Yes, they look great!
I got a shipping notification for my oshpark order today, so mine are on the way. I didn’t order the smart boards though. Probably going to regret that when you guys start putting together that new awesomeness and I’m here just building my first “dumb” boards 
I’ve got too much on at the moment so I’m going to wait and see if you guys can get the smart boards working then I will jump on the band wagon.
Good Luck
I got some “dumb” boards today, still waiting on the “smart” boards. Moving the LEDs up and getting rid of the spacer/washer brings a huge increase in efficiency.
Notice my meter is on the micro amp scale = 0.0207ma. So theoretically a 2500mah cell would last 13+ years of constant use before being totally empty. I had to completely max-out a 50k pot to get this brightness.
Don’t worry, an attiny will bring that crazy runtime back down to sane levels. 
Sorry if this has been mentioned (haven’t read every post), but has anyone tried the multicolor led’s that change colors?
I did buy some to try, but they were too big. I haven’t seen any smaller than 5mm.
Now you’re talkin’ - that’s the kind of number I like. 
I got some that are 0805 footprint. Slowly change colors, but stay on red the longest. Looks interesting sitting on a shelf. I think it needs more voltage than the standard LEDs.
On a different note, have you considered putting some more of the consolidated knowledge in the first post?
Typical resistor values that work with different color LED’s, etc? Makes it easier for people who have not been following the thread from the start.
Got most of the smart board built today. But, when I test them onboard with diode check on my meter only the pair 4 will light. Pairs 3 and 5 appear to not be good onboard, if I remove them and diode check them they light fine? I do not have the resistors on the board for any of the LED’s, I plan to solder small wires in place and breadboard it so that I can find the correct resistor values. Not really sure where to start, maybe 2 to 4K. I will also breadboard the power supply to the board so I can get the 560 dropping resistor in-line with out doing weird things to a light.
[quote=jingleberry]
Any way to make the led pulse?
What a GREAT idea!!! I want a pulsing LED on my tailcap! And selectable pulse modulation. Is that the right word, modulation?
Depends. Define “pulse”.
It can blink fairly easily. It cannot fade without an awful lot of extra effort though. The controller needs to spend most of its time in power-saving sleep mode to avoid drawing extra power, and the LEDs are on pins which can only be on or off. The controller can’t do any PWM while it’s asleep.
Very nice! Great job.
Will order those “dumb” boards for 14mm boots soon, although I have only 20K pots sitting here…
The dumb boards have resistor spots anyways, so you can have 20k resistors on the ring and a pot in series down below to dial it in, or just skip the pot and use the resistors. My M6 just had a lot of room in the tail area, so I threw the pot in there.
I try to keep as much of the non-subjective info as possible in the first post. That said, I actually recently removed resistor values from the OP because I’ve found it depends on a few variables, the biggest of which is the person’s preference for brightness, and also what board design is being used. I think it’s better for each user to buy one of the assortments of resistors or some potentiometers and dial it in for themselves.
I added this line to the first post:
“Depending on what LEDs are used, what board is used, and what brightness is desired, the required resistance value can be anywhere from 1k - 50k+”