Super stoked about this one!
Not to go too far down a rabbit trail….but curious how much size and weight would be required to incorporate BlueTooth speaker capabilities on the next version?
In for another — total 3.
The populated valley below us endures grid failure a few times a year due to summer and winter storms. If we notice the valley has gone dark we sometimes turn on a few extra lights to illustrate the independence solar can offer. But I do have to temper the side of me that wants to flaunt our power as I do have the expense of keeping equipmemnt spares on hand and have had to replace hardware because of lightning strikes. All is not rosey all of the time. We had another lightning strike a couple of weeks ago. Even with all the air terminals and earthing plates and rods a spike got through our defences and fried one of the GFCI breakers. Every so often I need to replace one of the strike supprssors, or have one rebuilt. But I like being off grid all the same.
You’re so mean! :smiling_imp:
The neighborly thing to do would be to shine a few GTs downhill into their windows. :partying_face:
I’m living in very cloudy/rainy area.
Would this 60W Solar Panel ( for which Fin17 just posted discount code ) be too powerful for this lantern?
Or maybe this 30W Solar Panel would be good enough?
Most any good quality solar panel over 20 or 25 watts will produce sufficient power to charge the LT1 even under cloudy days, though the 40 watt would be the best option as most panels efficiency drops off quite a lot in over-cast skies… While my Eceen 10-watt struggles to trickle charge the LT1, it still does, barely. my much larger 40 watt PowerAdd folding panel can charge the LT1 with no problem on cloudy days.
Cloudy overcast charging Video below of the 40 watt:
same below with the 10-watt:
Regarding two of these:
It currently has “sunset” mode. From off, click 3 times, it will start blinking out the battery voltage. Click twice, and it switch to a constant mode that gradually dims to off over the course of an hour. I think Toykeeper is planning to in the future allow the initial brightness and the timer to be adjusted by the user.
Also, I sometimes leave a flashlight on in minimum mode overnight for a night light. The LT1 should be able to run for months at minimum brightness.
It actually has a flickering candle mode and a fun lightning mode already. Candle mode defaults to regular on, but with 3-clicks, it switches to a 30 minute time, and you can add 30 minute increments with additional triple-clicks.
It also has a party strobe mode. I think it is only at maximum brightness, but you can ramp the speed up or down to do tricks like freeze the apparent motion of a fan.
Is the firmware on this lantern able to be flashed later on to upgrade it with new features, or is it burned in at the factory and can’t be changed?
If it comes out of the minds at BLF it should be easily modded; though that is a good question.
last I heard there would be programming pins accessible when the battery tube is removed to change the firmware. They were still there as recently as June 2019, I would be surprised if they disappeared somehow. DBSAR could confirm.
Hey @DBSAR
I was originally on the list for 1 light. Can I get on the list for 2 now instead? Thanks a ton.
I’m not DBSAR but I added you 
Yep there are programming pins for modders to work with.
Complete noob here, what is the benefit of desoldering 2 channels instead of lowering the ceiling via the firmware?
@sc00ts19, you get higher LED efficiency, lower cost, and the option to mod for higher output if you want.
Sigshooter is the boss of that department! but he added you for another. :+1:
I am interested in one lantern if there is still time to get in on the group buy. Thanks.
Stupid question but I searched the first few pages and didn’t see anything about low voltage protection which I’m assuming is built in like other BLF lights. Just curious because I have plenty of unprotected cells.
Not exactly accurate though, as the light, like the Q8, has a brass ring for the cell positive terminal. Ideally one would use button top cells, but there are ways around that which have been discusses on many other threads.