I’ve built some lights with pilotdog’s tailcap boards. As long as they implement it properly it is a fantastic addition to this already amazing set of lights. Anyone who is unhappy with the brightness can adjust the resistor value in the tailcap to adjust it, or remove the resistor to get rid of it completely and still have a great PCB for the switch.
Add 2 more set for me in ss/cu NW. That makes 9 sets for me total.
Anyone who wants to sell their copper X5 can contact me. I’m willing to buy a few extra, as I think they will be well liked by a few of my friends.
It looks like I got a duplicate in the AL section. My order is for 1 set of SS/Cu-CW in 177, and one set of AL-CW no 78. I got duplication in the AL section - no 78 and 87. Please remove the 87- NW. Thanks.
Can’t resist anymore. Please put me down for one Al-set, NW. I’d vote for XP-L HI…
I really like the lighted tailcap. The fact you implemented that makes me guess you also changed the design of the driver. Although a bleeder resistor could be soldered onto the original driver designed by wight, I think you went for a driver with designated pad for the bleeder resistor, maybe something like PD’s DoubleDown… Another wild guess: MCU with more space and bistro or some kind of similar firmware from Toykeeper…
By the way, it is possible to implement a blinking, voltage-indicating solution in the tailcap. mash.m did just that in his beautiful mod of a Sunwayman V10R. He used a additional MCU in the tailcap. That brings some advantages over the resistor-based-always-on-design. Lower power consumption, programmable blinking, etc… Of course, it’s hard to implement it just like he did. Best thing would be a special PCB design. Maybe even two PCBs in the tail. My dream would be a tailcap with µC-based voltage indication, that you can simply turn off by lock out. That way the LED at the tail, would have three functions at least: locator, voltage indication, lock out indication. Another nice feature I’d like to have in a tailcap is a smd-fuse, that acts as a short circuit protection. That way it’d be somewhat safer to run unprotected high drain cells in some crazy high-current-builds. LegolasGT came up with the fuse-idea. I don’t know if you can read the thread in german TLF, without beeing logged-in. Anyways here’s the link. He designed his own tailcap-PCB for using 1206-sized smd-fuses.
Without any of these great ideas coming from me, I thought I’ll show them to you, for those who didn’t know. It would be so great to combine both of these neat ideas in one tailcap-design, with nice through-holes for making spring-bypasses easier. I have no idea what it takes to realize all that, but I think it’s possible, maybe two PCBs in the tail would be required to fit in all that…
Even the brightest tailcap in post 1484 takes half a year to drain the battery, but perhaps if you loose the light (with battery in it and not locked out) and find it back a few years later there might be a problem, but even then, the led needs a minimum voltage to light up at all so the cell will not go to zero. Thinking about that, a blue or green led (or white) is safer in this aspect, a red led will drain the led further down because of its lowr Vf..
Can’t really answer questions until the lights get here, because the answers simply aren’t available yet.
The tailcap design is pilotdog68’s, so the tail is on when the head is off, and the head is on when the tail is off. The tail has no MCU so it cannot blink or otherwise do anything fancy except glow.
Disabling the glow is done either by unscrewing the tailcap a little (anodized aluminum models) or by swapping in a non-lighted switch or by pulling a component on the PCB to break the circuit. Regardless, the switch PCB is an upgrade due to its really thick traces for higher current capacity.
Brightness and current draw aren’t known or finalized yet, but the goal is to have a nighttime locator with as little current draw as possible.
In general, if you’re going to store a light, it’s not a good idea to leave a li-ion cell long-term in an unused torch. Especially if it’s in a glove box or garage where it’ll get really hot and/or cold. Especially if the cell is unprotected. Use lithium primaries for that. For that matter, it’s not a great idea to store li-ion cells with a full charge, since they’ll permanently lose capacity a lot faster than normal — they’re meant to be stored at ~40% full.
Questions about the host and threads and such can’t be answered until samples are here and tested.
I really like the idea of the lighted tail cap and the inclusion of uniquely BLF notions to create a truly special BLF SE light. Go, go, go! You are obviously a good group working well together to cover the bases. The positive vibe I’ve gotten from this particular BLF collective is the single biggest reason for overcoming my hesitation and stepping up to get a set.
What happend to the SS switch button? Sure, the lighted tailcap is also a nice idea, but I’ve hoped for the “Convoy S2+” style button design in both the SS/Cu and Al sets…
Maybe I’m too cynical, but I’m not making any promises until I’ve verified everything myself. … which will happen after samples arrive. I hope all the internals will be fantastic, like immaculate threads and a high-amp spring and perfectly-tuned focus for optimal throw, but I haven’t seen it yet so all I can say is I honestly don’t know yet. There’s a long list of improvements (and common-sense basics) to verify.
As for the idea of a metal switch cover, I don’t think it was ever more than an idea tossed around early on. The S2+ metal button looks nice but it’s not waterproof. I’ve had metal-button lights on me in the rain, and the results weren’t good.
:bigsmile: I saw that I hope they have found a nice one. And I also hope you means springs, for both the tailcap spring & the driver spring, why not if they have a low resistance spring sourced.
H) :face_with_monocle: 
