New Convoy C8 – Clearly better

How does one ask for a discount? Is there an entry on the checkout page for a discount code? It’s been awhile since I bought things from Simon and perhaps I missed it. Or is it requested by email?

Thanks

You purchase the light , but you don’t pay .
and you leave a message on the order to have discount for blf member .
And then Simon re-adjust price and you pay

What you do is place your order right up to the point of clicking buy or pay or whatever it says but don’t put in any credit card info. That will generate an order number. Send Simon a message through the Ali message system (you’ll see the links on the left of the page). Give Simon your order number, tell him you are a BLF member and you would like him to adjust the BLF price (15% discount) this is also when you need to tell him if you want to pay through PayPal. He will adjust the price and then you either pay through the Ali system or ask him to send you a PayPal invoice. You can also just send him a payment using his PayPal address and reference the order number. If you go that route make sure you send him another message letting him know you paid and include the order number and any other info. It’s all a little unconventional but it works quite well in the end.

Edit: I see George summed it up pretty well in the post above. I tend to be a bit…wordy. :slight_smile:
EditEdit: So wordy that I got my very first rude mark today. :zipper_mouth_face:

Bet I know which thread it was on… probably which post. :wink: … I got one to…. :+1: … :slight_smile:

Bistro mini, NO I do not like that. Filling up the last bit of space and have it work on this type of drivers is a huge thing IMHO.
I could live with bistro instead of Bistro :slight_smile:
A coffee related name would fit perfect, how many of us will flash it, mod other lights with it or this driver? It is sure to keep some of us awake longer then without it :smiley:

I vote for Biscuit!

Ordered 2… One for myself and one to loan out to friends and family as needed!

So far, it’s here. This URL might change if the name changes:
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/convoy/files/head:/ToyKeeper/bistro/mini/

Name changed. The code is here:
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/convoy/files/head:/ToyKeeper/bistro/biscotti/
It’s also in the main trunk repository now too.


Oh, if I understand correctly, the driver isn’t part of the price change. The difference is the other upgraded components, like a copper DTP MCPCB and AR lens and probably a couple other things. But if you just want the body, he’ll probably have empty hosts available eventually.

I only mention the lack of promo deals because Simon doesn’t act like a typical businessman. Usually sales people have a mindset of price being elastic, trying to get as much money from the customer as possible, playing with margins and loss leaders and other games in an attempt to inflate sales… but Simon doesn’t really do that. He typically just sells things for slightly above his cost, without the usual pricing games.

It makes no difference to me what you do with it. I reflash most of my drivers too, usually even if they shipped with my code on them.

There’s also the BLF discount code, but the process of redeeming it is a little awkward and I always forget about it. I also kinda feel bad using it because it probably reduces his margin to zero.


When it’s in the “mode group select mode”, it writes a value to eeprom every time it blinks. Basically, it flashes once, sets the mode group to 1, then waits. Flashes a second time, sets the mode group to 2, then waits. Repeat this 12 times then loop. If you leave it doing this forever, it could potentially wear out an eeprom cell in under a month. However, if you merely changed the mode group once per day, it should last somewhere between 50 and 500 years. And for most people, changing the config only rarely, it should last well over a lifetime.

So, it’s basically saying… don’t use the mode group select mode as a signal blinker mode. Use it only when you want to actually change mode groups. The battcheck mode works far better as a signal blinker.


Oh, what happened in that revision is that I actually measured it. :slight_smile:

In r217, the numbers were generated by a calculator (bin/level_calc.py).
In r218, the numbers were adjusted manually until my power meter told me the current draw was correct. It was an excuse to use my fancy new ACME Power Cape, and kind of fun because I could script a lot of it, like automating the button presses to change modes and enter config mode and such. I’ll probably measure again after I get one of the new C8s, to make sure the calibration is still good on production samples.

It’s weird that the numbers shifted the way they did, but I guess the 7135’s response curve isn’t as linear as I expected.

So, the values should be pretty close to spec on the drivers Convoy is using, but they might be a little skewed on other drivers using components from other sources.


Is that on a new Convoy driver, or on something else? It’s calibrated based on the hardware Convoy sent me, which had different response curves than I normally see.


It sounds like people are leaning slightly more toward biscotti, so I’ll plan on that for now.

Sounds like a Scottish terrier that’s confused…

That is a logical explanation, thanks TK, 50-500 years will do :smiley:

Biscotti, nice!

Bummer, no stacked chips as an option. Anybody know how many amps they pushing stock? Does not say on description.

Edit:
Hope Simon wants to stack a few 7138 chips for me.

Thanks J-Dub and George. It is a little convoluted but as you say it does work out in the end. The last thing I need is another C8 but this one looks interesting enough to get.

What does he charge for the 4 extra chips? I’ve tried many times to solder them onto a driver but my eyes and technique aren’t up to the task :frowning:

Not to brownnose, but I gotta confess that I’m a newcomer to Convoy goodies, and am suitably impressed. :smiley:

I’ve gotten generic Whateverfire clones (real and fake) just to use as cheap hosts, including my share of C8s. Some were actually pretty good, others a true race-to-the-bottom as far as cheap and shoddy. Finally got a Convoy host (type 2) from FT, and man, it’s like night and day.

By the time you replace the dinky featherweight Al pill, scratchy tailswitch, plastic(!!) reflector, etc., it’s just cheaper and less aggravating to get the genuine article.

I just have issues with the UI (most lights, not just the C8), else out-of-the-box would do me fine. But with the type 2, if I don’t have to actually solder/desolder anything, tweaking might be easy.

My personal druthers? For a true flexible EDC (’502, S2, etc.), I’d want F/L/M/H (roughly fractional-lumen/5%/10%/50), quick doubleclick to 100 from anywhere (“hidden turbo”; another doubleclick to revert). Say 5 fastclicks to toggle mem/nomem. For a nice throwy pencilbeam C8, 30%/100% with memory would suffice. Same 30%/100% with mem for a zoomie or mule.

I love the C8, don’t get me wrong, but for me it’s not an EDC kind of light. It’s my “What in Hell’s making noise in that tree?!?” light. One of my faves is a ~4500K XP-E2 driven pretty lightly at 1A (3x7135). The XM-L2 and even XP-L can belt out more lumens, but not as tightly as a smaller-chip XP-E2.

Got some XP-L HIs on order, that’s my next project. :smiley:

Copper…

That makes me want to cry inside… in my special Angry Place.

All my emitters are on Al MCPCBs, and I really want them on copper now. Feel like back when ceedees came out and I had to rebuy all my fave albums that I already had on vinyl… :stuck_out_tongue:

Are these the stars used in these C8 ?
Or these in the link are non-dtp ?

Free shipping 20mm*1.6mm copper plate for CREE XPE XPL XPG
http://s.aliexpress.com/73eMnEBz

This new driver already has 8 chips correct? I don’t think Simon offers chip stacking services, it takes a lot of time and patience…

I certainly think that a stock 12*7135 version would sell well. Approx 100k lux in a stock C8 would be impressive!

That works well on e-switch lights, but not so well on lights where the switch actually cuts power. Every time you touch the switch, it physically removes power then reboots the driver, so inputting multi-press button sequences is rather awkward.

For e-switch lights, I normally do the double-click-for-turbo thing, with a single click to turn off or simply holding the button to adjust brightness. But the hardware in this C8 can’t do that.

Anyway, I agree about the C8 not being an EDC. I’ve tried to carry one, but it’s a bit too large for that. I do sometimes carry a Kronos X6 though, when I expect to need something throwy. It’s just small enough to fit in my purse if I take out my sunglasses case (daytime, carry sunglasses… nighttime, carry a compact thrower :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: )

No. Those are the stars that were going to be used in the new C8 until a week ago.
They’re good copper stars I’m sure, but I asked Simon if he could source good DTP copper stars in time for the release of the clear C8. He did. :slight_smile:
As far as I know the DTP boards are not available for sale outside the new C8 yet but knowing Simon it’s quite likely that they will be available soon.