It looks like he already carries the driver. The BLF A6 driver is a 17mm single sided FET + 7135 Driver with Toykeeper’s firmware on it.
FET + 7135 Driver - 17mm - MTN-17DDm
The soldering on some of the pictures of BLF A6 drivers, :weary: I don’t know. Either they aren’t doing proper reflow or they are using mud as solder. Though really, I’m sure it’s just they rushed production too much trying to avoid a quantity shortage.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I know he has the driver but I didn't think he was offering TK's firmware flash. Maybe I'm not fully understanding the info in the above link? The high-current turbo is great but the awesome UI is what has everyone talking.
I would ask him, he does have an option for “custom” in the firmware dropdown selection box.
Also I see there has been talk about the BLF A6 firmware in RMMs MTN Electronics sales thread. And Toykeeper confirmed RMM can use it.
I just ordered a couple of kits, and asked for TK’s firmware - we’ll see. I think that there was some mention that the firmware might need to get tweaked to work with something other than the A6?
Seems like a fair price. How much is an A6 host of this quality worth? $10. Shipping is the key. Have to buy with other bits to make it worth it.
I build these drivers all the time, just did 6 yesterday (4 17mm's, 1 15mm, 1 22mm) but with the more advance ATTiny25 (not the 13a), and built up a couple with the BLF A6 firmware as well. I am not efficient at it though, so would not be interested in doing it en masse for others. There are several of us doing this the same way. I really dunno how Richard can do this and make money at it to boot. For me, I'd have to charge a lot more or lose money with every board (I'm a consultant - work and get paid hourly).
For the firmware tweaking, it all depends - the FET's we use are different from the A6, and with slightly different parts and tracing, there may be variations that the stock settings for timing and LVP may have to change. In addition a 45 sec turbo timeout might not be what you want for a driver like this installed in a HD2010 for example, might want a 2 minute time out instead because it handles the heat so much better.
I can tell you though, to answer the OP, Alex Wells (wight) has not given approval for a Chinese source to manufacture and sell these, based on his design, so, it may never become available at a cheaper cost. Doesn't mean he dis-approved it, just didn't approve it. Bugsy repeated it over and over again that it will not happen -- it's always been this intentionally vague topic that no one publicly knows the full story or is unwilling to state it, but the "why not?" has never been publicly answered as far as I know of. Since wight is no longer active on BLF, we can't ask him either.
If some rogue Chinese manufacturer made and sold these, I would not have any faith in them anyway, just like these group buy A6 ones with the QA issues. If Convoy Simon or IOS Hank oversaw the manufacturing and sale, that would be a total different story.
The links for the boards and parts:
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/7sNNyipn - the wight design the A6 team was given to copy and mass produce just for the group buy A6
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=531 - Richard's equivalent version
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_104&product_id=526 - the parts required to populate either board above
If you look at qty 5-10, Richard makes the cost very reasonable.
The Assembled driver at MtnE - this is where is gets a bit pricey, but again, the work/time involved is crazy, so still a great deal
My #1 recommendation: learn to build and flash your own!
It’s really not that hard, just a little time consuming. When I started this hobby, I only bought a single pre-assembled driver before I decided to learn to build my own. I worked a desk job and had no electronic or soldering experience, I just had the will to learn.
Your modded flashlight can’t be perfect until you have the ability to tailor mode levels, UI, turbo timer, etc to each individual light. And if you don’t like a configuration? It only takes a few minutes to change with a USBasp.
I mod a lot but have no interest in building drivers. I may get into flashing them eventually but not yet. That said, I have no problem paying for the driver. Richard’s driver seems like a great value.
Vs a stock qlite it may be $10 more. Seems worth it to me. I have the paid $65 for custom programmed drivers before (gdup). Not sure about that value but $15 seems fine.
I am offering 5 pre-built and programmed driver in this thread. The catch is that you’ll be getting drivers with different MOSFET devices and must be willing and able to test them for amps and lumens.
ToyKeeper has been very helpful and I will be offering the FET+7135 drivers with the A6 firmware. I sent her a test driver and she is going to tweak the values to her liking then let me know. Should be available soon.
Great news Sir :)
She is very helpful is she :)
Awesome!
+1
And put that in a Blue Convoy S2+ with a XP-L V6 3D and a 20mm AR Coated Glass Lens for the win. :heart_eyes:
That's great news Richard! Time to start saving up for drivers.
Great news Richard, this driver with TK's firmware could become a great 'standard' driver, like the 105C, the Qlite and LD2 !
And now I'm thinking about reasonable availability outside the US: I do not know if you want to go that way, if it would be against your interest, and if it would raise the costs or reduce it , but how about a cooperation with IOS and have this driver produced instead of making them yourself. Availability through IOS would seriously help folks outside the US.
Yeah! Will buy one to mod a my BLF X6-SE :)
quote djozz “Great news Richard, ……………And now I’m thinking about reasonable availability outside the US.”
The main thrust now seems to be if, or when, we can get these parts imported to a more local builder / seller in the EU.
Thank you all for sharing so much of your experience and knowledge on this subject 
Yes, that would be just about perfect for me.
And a Red one too, oh, and one with a warmer tint emitter, and …………………………… :bigsmile:
Good News!
Many Thanks for answering in this thread.
I’m sure we all look forward to a High-Quality version of this.