STAR Firmware by JonnyC - Source Code and Explanation

That doesn’t sound like a match for what flucero28 is asking about. I was under the impression that short-cycle would work with either ontime or offtime, it doesn’t depend on the method of memorization.

Let’s go with offtime for an example though:

  1. Out of 5 modes we switch to 4 and memorize it by turning the light off for a period of time.
  2. We turn the light back on, it is now in mode 4 (as memorized).
  3. Now we do a “short press”. The light should cycle to mode 1.

That’s how I understood short-cycle.

Oh, yeah. Short-cycle with memory is weird, especially if it’s ontime-based. Does anyone like it that way?

I’ve never tried it. Conceptually offtime + no-memory sounds better to me for my uses. With that said, offtime+no-memory can probably be a huge drawback on a light with lots of modes. I tend to run only a few modes, but if I had 20 modes I might want memory + quick access to the first few modes. Short-cycle fits that description.

I haven’t had good luck with the short+medium+long-press stuff. If I was able to use that reliably I think that would be a better solution to the same problem.

If the button timings aren’t calibrated well, it can definitely be a pain. The X5/X6 aren’t calibrated well, since they used hardware three months newer than the firmware and there was no opportunity to calibrate it.

I use offtime no-memory on most lights, including basic nanjg drivers with no physical mods. I prefer to have an OTC though, for a deeper UI with faster ways of getting to the modes I want. It’s nice being able to reach moon, low, med, and turbo all within one second. I almost never use any other modes (except blinkies).

The main exception for me is e-switch lights. On those I like smooth ramping with memory and shortcuts to min/max.

I face a problem with lvp in a zener modder 105c driver. On driver there are the 2 standard resistors plus a 2000 resistor replacing the diode aside led+.
After suggestions from this thread, I used 141 & 151 values for 2s setup.
Unfortunately, after checking with my power supply, I have no lvp, xhp50 is dimming till 5v, without mode step down.
Any ideas?

… flash battcheck.hex onto it and let it tell you what the attiny sees at different voltages?

Measuring is far more effective than guessing. :slight_smile:

The battcheck/README file explains how to measure the voltage range, among other things.

I did this, both in a Attiny25 version (over 1KB code) with more advanced features like luxdrv has - strobes and batt check, and a 13A version without strobes and battcheck. Not posted yet anywhere, but love the 25 version of it - have it in a BLF D80 and a NiteFighter F30B and it works great! Should post it up somewhere - well tested at this point.

I was always a fan of short cycle memory, specially for 3-4 mode levels - phrase probably coined by Dr Jones. 4 mode levels is my favorite for this setup.

I’ve kind of wanted to try out short cycle memory ever since I first heard of it. Sounds like it could be useful.

You get memory of the last used mode but you always know where you will start off if you start clicking. For example if you have ML,L,M,H,Turbo and you need low just tap twice (while pressing the flashight head against your thigh to block any bright mode). Even if you don’t recall what mode you last used, 2 taps will always get you low.

Say you have a light with moon, low, med, high, and turbo, in that order.

If I understand correctly, reaching low mode from off, using “offtime no-mem”, would mean “click, tap”. Using “offtime short-cycle” or “ontime short-cycle”, it would mean “click, tap, tap”. Is this correct?

Let’s say the light was used for a couple minutes in low and you do another button tap. In “offtime no-mem” this would go to medium. In “ontime short-cycle” this would go to moon. What is the intended behavior for “offtime short-cycle”?

Yep, that last sentence is what you get, and why you want it. The main purpose, as I understand and use it for, is to have a light w/memory first of all, but doesn’t force you to cycle thru the high modes, and blinky modes following high modes - high mode is extremely bright on most of my mods, and for general use, is not what you want to flash through.It doesn’t work well with 6 or 7 modes because of the amt of clicks to get to hi, in my opinion, but is pretty darn nice for 3-4 or less, plus blinkies. I suppose you could add long press handling, and add reverse navigation, or long press going to hi, on top of short cycle w/memory - might be a pretty cool combo.

I haven’t had much luck with consistent long presses on a clicky light, or if it works somewhat reliably, it’s timing is quite different from other lights - cold is different from warm, etc., while e-switch lights are rock solid, and easier to use. I got 6 KRONOS lights now running bistro and the long press timing varies light to light, cold to warm, it’s very confusing…

Correct.
Intended behavior for “offtime short-cycle” would be to go to medium, if I’m not mistaken. In offtime mem, short-cycle shouldn’t be come into play for button taps. Only full / long clicks (which discharge the OTC below the threshold for a long click).
Now, I’ve never had or used a short-cycle light so this is just from my understanding of them.

It’s a pain, isn’t it?

Using the best available components helps reduce the temperature sensitivity, and getting drivers from a high-quality source (or building them yourself with a consistent method) helps reduce variation between individual units. But even in the best case it’s still not as consistent as an e-switch.

Two improvements under discussion at the moment are replacing the OTC with a bigger cap plus a resistor (to make the drain more consistent) or attempting to make the MCU detect power-disconnect events, go into super-low-power mode, and keep running long enough to measure button timings. Both are likely to require hardware changes, and the last one might not even be feasible since a 22uF C1 is probably not big enough to run the MCU for more than a few milliseconds.

For personal use, I just calibrate the OTC individually for each light, using a metronome, with drivers from RMM. That gets them about as close to ideal as currently possible.

On the other end of the spectrum, Manker’s drivers are particularly inconsistent and often pretty far out of spec. :frowning:

As for offtime short-cycle, I guess I was wondering which specific conditions should reset it to moon:

  • Long-press followed by an immediate short-press? (yes, I assume)
  • Long runtime followed by a short-press? (not sure)

Or should it behave more like TheStar, which cycles through regular modes but not blinkies? That is, unless the user quickly cycles through all the regular modes twice. So, it short-cycles back to the first matching regular mode, but does not specifically short-cycle back to moon.

The only short-cycle UI I’ve actually used is the ontime version, which is fairly straightforward.

  1. yes. Go to moon.
  2. no. Just go to next mode / normal short-press behavior.

I’m not sure if I understand.
Should short-cycle skip moon, since it’s a bit of a special mode? You could if you want but I don’t know if that is standard in most short-cycle implementations.

Oh, it’s not that TheStar skips moon… it just acts (usually) like a boring 5-mode light with memory. But if you cycle quickly through those modes twice, it’ll enter the blinky modes.

I don’t know what to call that style of memory and cycling.

I found it a bit awkward, personally. If I’m on medium and I want blinky 2, it means tapping a bunch of times to go to medium, high, turbo, moon, low, medium, high, turbo, moon, low, medium, high, turbo, blinky 1, blinky 2. Then after using it a while, getting to blinky 3 will take a bunch of taps too, since the next one goes back to moon.

However, it is rather good at keeping the blinkies out of the way when you don’t want them.

Instead of that, I just went with offtime no-mem. It lets me decide whether to go to the next mode or back to the first, simply by tapping for less than or greater than half a second.

Fixed that for you. :wink:

TheStar is build with an assumption that the hidden (blinky) modes are not used very frequently. Usual TheStar config is 3 modes + hidden extras.

Note that the version in your repository packs in “too many” hidden modes, just to showcase them. An ordinary user can’t memorize them and/or find the correct one when needed => using only 1-3 extras is highly recommended. (for example: Moon, bike flasher, strobe)

Offtime no-mem is good if you usually want to use one of the first modes. (Low, med - or High, med)
The advantage of TheStar (or any FW with ordinary short-cycle memory) is that it allows you to leave the light on a desired mode and turn it on with that mode when needed…

For example:
Click-click-…click-Moon> turn the light off -> wake up at 2am -> turn the light on (moon) => don’t accidentally wake up other family members
Click-click-…click-Strobe> turn the light off -> go to a walk -> face an attacker -> turn the light on (strobe) => STROBE!

Yes. Usual TheStar has Moon as the 1st hidden mode, but it can be (of course) added as a normal mode if used “too often” to avoid two cycles of modes to access it.

Thanks!

It was in kind of a dusty part of my head.

Oh, that explains a lot. I had wondered about that.

Code updates are always welcome. Newer TheStar code is on my todo list and everything. :slight_smile:

I'm not sure that explains it right. Go to the source for the best definition of short cycle memory: http://drjones.nerdcamp.net/

Short-cycle memory is a special UI that allows to have memory and many modes without the need to cycle through all of them.
With classic memory you have a few modes, and if you want to go back to the first mode, you have to cycle through the remaining modes.
With no memory, you always start at the 1st mode and don't always have to click through all the modes, but you have no memory.
With short-cycle memory, a mode is memorized (i.e. if the light is switched off an on again, it comes on in that previously used mode), but when you change modes again, it will restart in the first mode instead of the next mode, so you don't have to cycle through all the modes. This combines memory with the advantages of a no-memory-UI. It effectively hides every mode behind all it's predecessors and is very effective if you have your favourite modes in front and blinkies or other rarely used modes at the end. I call it "short-cycle" in contrast to the classic cycle-through-all-modes memory, but it was actually invented by sixty545 at BLF.

It's a great way to avoid hi and blinky modes when those modes are defined at the end of the mode list.

I am trying like hell to finish my D01, but can’t make STAR Momentary work the way I want it to…

Ok, so I added the tail switch to my D01 and modded STAR Momentary to these modes…

#define MODES 1,39,150,255 // Must be low to high, and must start with 0
#define ALT_MODES 255,255,255,255 // Must be low to high, and must start with 0, the defines the level for the secondary output. Comment out if no secondary output
#define MODE_PWM PHASE,FAST,FAST,PHASE // Define one per mode above. 0 tells the light to go to sleep

When I turn the light on via the tailcap switch, I still have to hit the momentary button to wake it up. After that it cycles through the modes fine and the tail cap of course shuts it off. What am I missing? I really wanted to hit the tailcap to turn it on in low and the cycle the modes… With the 0 levels gone, should not the cpu boot and give me the lowest mode with out a side button press?

I have decided that it takes an interrupt to wake up the MCU, that interrupt is generated by the side switch. How do I disable the requirement for an interrupt and force the MCU to boot with power applied via the main tailcap switch?

I know someone has made this work… I have looked at the STAR dual switch, but it is not built for dual PWM channels. I guess that I could abandon the channel that runs the 7135 and go purely FET and run that code. What are the other options for dual switch code?

Thanks Matt

The first thing that happens when the MCU receives power is what you see in int main(void) - if we take a quick look at that we see that some setup is done, then it drops into a while loop looking for mode changes. If there is no mode change, it does not attempt to set the output. In my opinion, the fastest hack is probably to just change line 411:
uint8_t last_mode_idx = 0;
to
uint8_t last_mode_idx = 1;

This will make it appear that a mode change has occurred every time the light is powered on. The mode change will be from mode 1 to mode 0 and it will set the output to be appropriate for mode 0.