*BLF LT1 Lantern Project) (updated Nov,17,2020)

lol i may stay away from the computer on April 1st

I live in the mountains of East Tennessee, and with lots of trees and power lines, its not uncommon for power outages. I once went three days without power. I have a 6000kw generator, but you don’t run that for a light bulb. I’m interested for a few of these when finished. Thanks for all your work!

I need a new shed light.
I’m in…

it is starting to itch to see what is gong on, so if you do have input, please post is, even on April 1st :wink:

More progress updates on the BLF Lantern project in the lower part of the OP on the first page! :slight_smile:

Looking good! Can’t wait to see this this thing light up. Keep up the good work. Could you add dates on your updates? It would be much easier to follow.

Good point. :slight_smile: i will add dates to the OP.

Wauw! That build looks amazing!

Nice progress! What kind of price point are you reaching for with this lantern? I can think of about 200 uses for this light.

The price of a production model will depend on the manufacturer who builds them, the seller, and what Kronos can work out with them once i have the protype completed, tested, and specifications on paper for the design based off this prototype. :slight_smile:

Interested depending on final price, will be watching this thread.

XP-L 7A3 80 CRI is a nice led for a lantern, I have one of those in my brass CQG 18650 especially for camping.

The 7A3 is my favorite natural warm white tint for lantern use because of its near incandescent light. Its the least glarey of tints i have tested, and gives a candle-like glow on moonlight mode. (there are warmer tints available, but they seem to go to yellow)
my other favorite tint for Lantern use is the XM-L-V3 5D. its a 4000K neutral white with a very slight redish hue, much more pleasing to the eyes than the other 4K tints that have a greening hue.

Other honorable mentions for lantern tints go the 7A4, 8B4, 4C, & 3D (3D being the coolest tint i would ever put in a lantern)

More progress updates on the BLF Lantern project in the lower part of the OP on the first page! now with first Beamshot test photos indoors! / April,3,2016

- and still running on maximum mode. (6.5 hours and counting) I will have to shut it off soon as i can’t stay awake all night to monitor its run time progress. (then restart it tomorrow evening)

I am discovering however the constant running temperature of the XP-L 7A3 on the head at maximum mode has been holding at a constant 44.3 degrees Celsius for the last 6 hours. (running at a constant average of 1.1 amps measured with the three-7135 QLite driver.) ( See IMAGE below:)

- This temperature to an adult hand feels very wrm, ( borderline hot) but if a child touches it may feel to hot) this confirms that with the XP-L it is at its peak running amps versus efficiency for this application, ( remember the head of the lantern is a heavy solid block of aluminum, much bigger than most single 18650 flashlights could ever have) so if a modded driver of higher amperage is used an additional heatsink may be required.
But in this prototype lantern its a good balance of output vs. amps draw vs. heat dissipation for lantern use.

Got to love a GB!

Count me in!

Im getting excited about this project. I love that you will be doing real world testing. I like the faux mantle diffuser.

This is shaping up to be the best led lantern.

really like this idea. IMHO the driver will be interesting - needs firefly/moonlight and multiple other low modes, for long life, and one longish bright mode and something(s) in between. Might be a good candidate for an electronic switch with ramping up and down……

depending on price, I’m in for at least a couple……

I am using a driver already with Moonlight/firefly mode. (the Q-lite Rev. of the Nanjq 105c has those modes with 4th star jumped) though in a lantern for moon light it could be a bit lower. ( maybe a custom firmware reprogrammed. I avoided any electronic switches because of several reasons, it reduces modability for the lantern with other drivers, and will add a parasitic drain. ( bad idea for long term storage with cells in it unless the body is unscrewed every time to lock it out. ramping up & down is not ideal either, as its near impossible to determine run times like stepped-mode drivers. any lanterns i have that had ramping i got rid of the ramping modes with new driver swaps.

You make a good point about parasitic drain. Less sure about your run-time argument against ramping, as it’s likely to be used over a few nights and many wouldn’t remember how long it had previously been used for, so run times will be somewhat unknown anyway.

I guess my point was that having a lot of flexibility at the low end is critical for this sort of application, whereas at the high output end, there’s less need for such a range of options. Very low is critical, very high less so. Simple to use is also important, as it’s likely to be a ‘family’ lantern….