Astrolux MF02S NW review (XHP70.2, 4x18650)

lexvegas · 2018-08-23T20:38:43.000Z

I had a go at removing the bezel today, took a mini butane torch to the bezel and got it pretty hot. No Joy. The strap wrenches just twist eventually. I even checked if it was a sneaky left hand thread!

I’m not giving up, but it certainly is on there tight. I’m willing to ding the finish, especially on the bezel, as the light really does need a new UI.

Mark_M · 2018-08-23T21:27:36.000Z

I put my flashlight head in a vice and used an oil filter wrench. I folded a few paper towels to protect the stainless steel from the oil filter wrench and the finish on the head from the vice. I also had to grind down a spot weld on my oil wrench so it would not damage the head. It still took considerable force.

lexvegas · 2018-08-23T21:39:31.000Z

That’s what I’m thinking I’m going to do, too. Did you still have to heat yours? I have a 3000K 80+ CRI 70.2 on the way from mtn, and i’m planning my own custom buck driver for Narsil/Andruil.

Mark_M · 2018-08-23T21:59:46.000Z

No heat.

lexvegas · 2018-08-23T22:55:35.000Z

Just finally got it off! Had to mount it in my vice with terry cloth, jaws across the switch/mounting hole. Took some serious effort. Red loctite.

lexvegas · 2018-08-23T23:03:13.000Z

Yeah, totally marred the F out of the head. Guess I’ll just file it down and move on. I’d rather have a functional UI with a good emitter than a shelf queen I dislike using.

lexvegas · 2018-08-23T23:04:36.000Z

Is there anodizing fix paint available? Lol.

Mark_M · 2018-08-23T23:34:04.000Z

Ugh I should have mentioned my vice jaws have no teeth. Eek. Black sharpie or reanodize?

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T00:00:21.000Z

I’m thinking I’ll just sand it down and maybe do a “contrast” plasti dip in orange where I dug in. For those in the future. I’d recommend a thin sheet of plywood as a guard. My vice didn’t have teeth, it was just that stuck.

Does anyone have info on the MCU on the driver? Markings say 8208SRBN and 1715 below that. I can probably find an Atme chip to swap if not. I’ll probably end up doing a custom driver anyways, but a 4-ch buck driver isn’t bad as is.

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T00:53:38.000Z

According to This it may be a MC96F8208S. The page appears to have a link to a data sheet.

Mark_M · 2018-08-24T01:04:12.000Z

Sorry about your light, I used a lot of force and I did not mar mine. I feel horrible.

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T01:31:59.000Z

Don’t worry about it! This is going to be a more utility light after I’m done modding it. It’s going to get banged up anyways. Besides, I think an orange contrast band wouldn’t look bad either.

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T01:37:07.000Z

One final spam, what’s the etiquette on BLF for the sort of stuff I’ve been posting? Should I start a new thread?

Mark_M · 2018-08-24T02:54:22.000Z

I think at this point since me and you have become so off-topic it would be better to move to a new thread. Although I would guess this will still be useful to other users.

maukka · 2018-08-24T03:44:03.000Z

It’s okay guys. BLF is about modding and that’s exactly what you’re doing. Great job on the bezel. I think I’ll leave mine alone after already pulling some muscles on my neck while trying to open it

Banggood: please don’t glue things.

SKV89 · 2018-08-24T06:21:46.000Z

Those lumen numbers are pretty insane for a single XHP70.2.

I’m surprised Astrolux/Bangood still use glue on their flashlights after so much protest from BLF.

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T16:23:43.000Z

Here’s the link to the MCU datasheet: http://www.abov.co.kr/data/datasheet/DS_MC96F8208S_V1_15_eng.pdf
and user manual for the MCU: http://www.abov.co.kr/data/manual/UM_MC96F8208S_V1_15_eng.pdf

I’m curious how much work it would be to port andruil over to this platform. From a cursory look, it would take at least gutting all of the atmel references and replacing them with the 8051 CISC and the specific registers for this device. It does look like there is at least one free GPL compiler for the 8051 core, SDCC.

One final thing I noticed, it does appear that the programming pads are passed through to the back side (spring side) of the board, so if we are ever able to get a working firmware for the driver as-is, it should be relatively simple to program with pogo pins, as the sop package won’t work with the clips most of us have.

LichtAn · 2018-08-24T17:12:08.000Z

SKV89:

Those lumen numbers are pretty insane for a single XHP70.2.

I’m surprised Astrolux/Bangood still use glue on their flashlights after so much protest from BLF.

The MF04 I recieved could be unscrewed by hand with very little force. So that they glued again now is really strange.

wstrachan · 2018-08-24T17:36:39.000Z

I don’t have a means to check output. I have the CW version received last week and I believe it to be every bit of 6,000 lumen plus. It blows away the Haikelite MT07S. Overall very satisfied with the light. I don’t know why light MFRs can’t get their numbers right except the obvious embellishment to sell as you said EasyB. In this case maybe they tested a prototype version or a different tint…

lexvegas · 2018-08-24T19:44:26.000Z

http://www.abov.co.kr/en/index.php?Depth1=3&Depth2=1&Depth3=1&Depth4=1&Item=MC96F8208S

Here’s the mfg page for the MCU. They seem to have something called “VPE” that does code generation for setting ports and such, and does seem to have some definitions of ports so it wouldn’t be all bit-shifty mess. I was able to get it running with Wine on Ubuntu. When I’m home I’ll look at spinning up a windows VM and playing a bit more. Need to get the desk cleared off first, though, as I’ll need to get a flashing setup working.