Blue is a good choice, it’s a higher VF than red or orange LED’s so the drain should drop faster with cell voltage.
Wow! I haven’t kept up with the developments in this thread, but they look very nice. If the list is still open, sign me up for a set of the HAIII Aluminum version in NW.
KuoH
Tint?
See how that works? Any color in these tails OTHER than blue and I’d be popping the leds off the board. I won’t have red or amber, probably not even green.
The samples with the very pale pink boot and one resistor make a very soft pale blue light in the dark. I have many trit vials that are brighter.
Neal, these are AWESOME! :bigsmile:
Okay… measurements with a relatively weak cell, the Sanyo UR14500P, at 4.18V. MtnElectronics describes it as “Unless you need a constant discharge rate above 3A, the UR14500P is the best 14500 cell currently produced.”
- Moon: 0.3 lm
- Low: 5 lm (TBD)
- Max: 970 lm
With a common low-amperage cell, no mods, and springs which aren’t as nice as the final product, the little X5 should get near a thousand lumens. But with high-drain cells and spring bypasses, Dale got nearly 1500 lumens from it.
So, those are the ballpark figures for what to expect.
Is NW no longer available? If so, then WW or anything warm-ish.
KuoH
Also, about tailcaps and turning the glow on and off… I tried a few combinations. The standby current can prevent or slow the off-time capacitor discharge:
BLF A6-style drivers (no bleeder installed):
- No-bleed driver w/ no-light tail: Works well.
- No-bleed driver w/ 1-resistor lighted tail: Timing is way off, > 30 seconds for a “long press”.
- No-bleed driver w/ 2-resistor lighted tail: All button presses are “short”. No med/long is detected.
BLF X6v2-style drivers (bleeder resistor stacked onto C1):
- Bleeder driver w/ no-light tail: Works well.
- Bleeder driver w/ 1-resistor lighted tail: Works, but long press is about 2.5s instead of 1.5s.
- Bleeder driver w/ 2-resistor lighted tail: Works, but long press is 5-10 seconds and varies per unit.
So, to make both “lighted” and “plain” tailcaps work, I think it would be best to use a 1-resistor tail and put the bleeder onto all drivers. That way it works for either preference, and the only difference is a slightly longer or shorter timing for “long press”.
I was seeing around 1200-1250 lumens with the Efest Purple IMR14500 and no spring bypasses. So there’s the middle ground. 
The contemplated changes would only affect the SS/CU sets, right?
The AL sets can be left alone, I hope. 
The Aluminum sets are the same lights internally as the SS/Cu set. Same driver, same lighted tail cap pcb and switch. The difference is that the Aluminum lights are anodized so the tail can be unscrewed slightly to “lock-out” the lighted tail cap.
I just realized I got so caught up in the pretty copper and glowing tails that I forgot to mention the part I added to this light.
I squeezed out some new firmware… it was kind of like this:
[dramatic re-enactment]
It’s called “bistro”, like a little shop with a big menu. So what’s on the menu?
The manual has full details, but here’s the short version:
Entrees:
- Your choice of 1 to 8 regular modes, plus an optional moon mode.
- Your choice of mode order: low to high, or high to low.
- Your choice of mode memory (or not). Works for hidden modes too.
- Your choice of short/med/long presses (with reversing) or short/long only (no reversing or hidden modes).
- Thermal regulation on all non-blinky modes, with the ability to configure the temperature ceiling yourself to suit your preferences. Also, you can shut off regulation entirely if you want.
- Low-voltage protection with multi-level fade-down and eventual shut-off.
Appetizers:
- Three hidden blinky modes (reverse from first mode to access):
- Police-style alternating strobe.
- Battery check, volts+tenths style to show actual voltage.
- Bike flasher.
- Additional “muggle mode” which makes the light safer and easier if you want to let someone borrow it:
- Low / med / high modes only.
- No moon, no memory, no medium presses, and the only config setting is “exit muggle mode”.
- Highest mode is about 50% power to reduce risk of mis-use.
- Returns to your preferred config after exiting muggle mode.
- Soft start on regular modes, and gradual slow ramping (64 levels) for thermal regulation.
- Quick access to maximum output when configured with no mode memory.
- Config mode is greatly extended and a bit more intuitive to help navigate the options. It will quickly blink 1 to 8 times to show which option is next, then “buzz” for a bit to indicate when you should click to activate the setting.
By default it comes in “Dale mode” like the BLF A6: moon plus six levels, low to high, no mode memory, and medium-press enabled. This config (including the original thermal calibration) can be restored at any time by using the factory reset config option.
You will probably want the manual in front of you while configuring the light, as a reference for what order the config options are in.
I don’t have a UI diagram yet… with so many options it’s a little tricky to show in visual form.
is it optimistic that we will have these in hand in 2015?
So, the changes TK is talking about is only for the SS/CU sets? (The AL sets can rely on the tail lockout to cut the parasitic drain and/or disable the tailcap lights.)
Or are the changes proposed to be done on both sets, for the purpose of keeping the lights (as you say) internally the same?
TK STRIKES AGAIN 
Is it a bit like this?
Will the new T-Shirts have to come in Only XXX-L?
-Chuck
How exactly is the “BLF Special Edition” being applied to the SS and Cu lights? The Cu X5 appears to have been coated after having the lettering applied. Is that the anti-corrosive coating?
Funny! :bigsmile:
I was thinking that we’ll be needing a micro-USB connector to configure the flashlight on our PC’s.
Well shoot. I hadn’t been paying attention to the 25/45/85 thread.
Looks like I need to order some 25’s!
Great work, TK. That FW sounds like something for everyone, but still simple in everyday use.