UPDATE:-Barry contacted me, asking that their engineers need a 3D cad drawing of the lantern prototype. Do anyone here know of a good member who can help us with that or can source that?
You could probably achieve a similar result using a windscreen for a personal camp stove.
After reading the comments on the power bank/charging debateā¦
If the lantern has one the circuitry must:
- Add roughly $5 or less to the final cost.
- Be able to use solar panel input, meaning potentially unstable and lower power input currents.
- Be able to charge external devices at a useful rate (these days, generally 2A @ 5V).
- Not add significantly more bulk to the design.
Reasons to not have the extra circuitry:
- Reliability- more components= more points of failure
- Durability- Extra potential for water/dust ingress (port covers also break/cease sitting properly)
- Cost
There also seems to be a bit of speculation on where this type of lantern would be used. Iām no ultralight enthusiast, but when backpacking Iām not going to bring a brick like this with. Iād be far more likely to bring a good headlamp and maybe one other light as more of a thrower, and if Iām worried about charging Iād bring an extra cell and a Liitokala Lii 100 or similar to use with my small solar panel. If Iām camping or at some outdoor event, Iām not far from charging capability (via car battery+inverter, or sometimes even outlets are available), not to mention my small army of powerbanks that I stash everywhere.
Obviously thatās only my experience and opinion, but I just donāt see the power bank feature as being key to this light.
Just to toss in my 2Ā¢, I would never use the power bank function on this. I would primarily use this hanging from a lantern hook, so plugging a phone in doesnāt make sense.
I do love the reflector idea, even if itās just a pair of magnets top and bottom on one side to attach our own reflector to.
Iām also unsure if we decided on e-switch or physical, but if itās an e-switch, Iām definitely going to try to hack in a wireless remote for dimming/on/off/turbo.
5AR is making great Draws.
He was making the first BLF GT draws ( the best for me )
Maby he will allow to help.
I will but in the same 2 cents fee as lexvegas and render my opinion.
I realize this is very late in the process, but I would actually prefer no holes going into the lamp. Just the waterproof switch. For the switch I would like to see something like the switch in the Q8. Very very low stand by power consumption.
I think the USB (whatever size) is inappropriate. Every penetration for power will eventually leak. I have had too many assorted devices where the cover just fails.
I really see no reason to use the lamp for a charging device (with cover). Same with recharging the lamp batteries; take them out and put your fresh spare set in. I completely disagree with charging external devices from the lamp. If you have a phone you want to recharge, bring one of the relatively inexpensive boxes designed to charge phones. You can stick them into a pocket or pack.
There are a number of comments here that say āwe are not going to carry this large heavy beast while backpackingā. Makes sense.
So, what is left. Original lamp with a waterproof low drain switch. That is rather where this started. And it is exactly what I have been hoping for when I signed up for 3 very early in the process. It is A LAMP! And from the photos at the front of the thread - it is great. Lamp perfected. I never anticipated even going camping when I signed up. My purpose is for making life better when we lose power. My Q8ās are not really a good solution for that. So I just want the great lamp, with very very low standby drain. And if you can get the low power performance of the power switch on the Q8, I would choose to allow the light to run continuously. Easier to find in a dark room. And the Q8 actually emits enough to be a decent night light. Although I might go for a lower spectrum LED.
Add on comments about the idea of removable shields on the lamp. The reason I specified removable shields is configureability. You can have several of the shields, and apply them as desired. So you can shield a variety of places at the same time. Not a burden to carry them in the home or campsite. Use a thin metal and just move them around to provide custom light control. And they donāt require screwing something into the tripod hole. Making something like this need not interfere with the lamp project. It could be an add-on. Although it would be handy to have the top and bottom ferrous metal built in. A possible approach that might work, would be to use Velcro. I am not sure the heat at the top would be tolerable. That material would probably let a bit more light leakage occur. And the reflective metal shield may not tolerate the force needed to remove it.
Just glue magnets on the head where you personalty want them - won.t add cost or inconvenience for any one else
K.I.S.S
DIY idea: A strip of epoxy around the top with magnets would provide decent mounting, and you could slide metal into a groove to be held in place letting no light through. For the metal, strips of aluminum cans are already curved, flexible, and easily obtained. Then you just add iron foil so it can be held by the magnets.
Edit: Oh, and you could use a thin fuzzy velcro strip or something to let it rest better at the bottom.
Short and to the point.
A small firmware suggestion for the switch LED: when itās being used as a locator, it would be nice if it first started flashing or otherwise warning the user at half charge.
That way, people using the BLF lantern as an emergency lantern would be warned to top up the charge while the light still had a useful charge in it.
It might save someone from picking up the lantern in an emergency and only having a 10% charge left because the switch LED had mostly depleted the cells over a long period on the shelf, but the conventionally-set low battery warning hadnāt triggered yet.
Good idea. As you noted there would need to be a lip to keep light from leaking. The reason I was doing distributed magnetics was to allow a light tight seam when a panel was on.
It would be helpful for our thinking about this if we could get the temperature around the top edge after some time at full power. Some possible materials may not withstand the heat. I am not sure how much the magnetic strips can take. I would put the strip of metal on the lamp and the magnets on the outside of the shield. Magnets can be damaged by high temperatures. I donāt think the lamp will get hot enough to cause them a problem. But any glue that is not high temp could be a problem.
And with the magnets in the shield, you can just stack them on each other for transport and storage. And they will be harder to misplace and be eaten by a bear (for the packpackers).
Regarding the question if the lantern should have usb charging and a powerbank funkion I would also say that probably not many will use them, but it is defenitly nice to have if you need it und would not cost much more.
But I also think that we should discuss the option to use a normal 12V input instead of USB for charging, because these are generally more robust and would give us much better charging times which eleminates the need to take out the batteries and to carry an additional charger (or even buy one in the first place; remember that also non flashaholics could want to buy this lantern) .
I would love the lantern to have a electronic lighter built inā¦ now thatās a true camping lantern!
wishful thinkingā¦ would be nice tho, huh?
Definitely interested in one.
Welcome to BLF kuzuna, I added you to the interest list at number 940.
interest list sorted by entry number
interest list sorted by user names
The user name list often as the last few entries not sorted in, so if you donāt find your name in alphabetical order just look at the end of the list.
Based on the number of emitters and since they arenāt being driven hard, Iād imagine the heat shouldnāt be too much of an issue. Plus, the diffuser is plastic and would need to not warp or melt. Based on those two assumptions a good epoxy should do the trick, I think (JB WaterWeld epoxy putty is what I was thinking). Iād be more worried about leaving it in the car in direct sunlight (Iāve seen pens melt and other crazy things in those conditions).
Also I figured putting neodymium magnets inside the epoxy. Small ones. They are quite powerful and likely overkill, but that would also mean the reflector itself wouldnāt need a magnet. That means flat and easy to store. 
miniUSB has been replaced within 3-4 years completely, so i expect this will happen to microUSB too. 2023 there will be only a few devices left with microUSB.
It will be the next thing for sure, all smartphone brands will switch to USB-C in the next years.
The are more endurance, allowing more inserts than microUSB. An physical USB-C plug costs less than 70cent.
I guess everyone wantās to have a long lasting lantern which will be compatible to the standards used in 5 and even ten years. This doesnāt include microUSB.
Great to know this
Would two different versions of the lantern do make sense (one with integrated charging and USB-C, one without any USB at all) ?
That could be possible depending on the manufacturer on their thoughts of offering different models of it.
Or, usbc with an optional mini usb adapter. Lantern would have native c, and adapters are cheap.
Type C USB-C Adapter 8-Pack, FANISY Micro USB to USB C Adapter,Data Syncing and Charging for Samsung S8 S8 Pluas,MacBook,ChromeBookPixel,Nexus 5X/6P and Other Type C Devices, OTG Compatibility-Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WGYJ8F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_8R5xBb8DB3D84
Hereās 8 for$8, and thatās retail price
Maybe you missed my last comment, but what do you think about using a normal 12V input instead (or in addition) of USB for charging?
One of the design objectives is to allow charging the lantern from a solar panel, and just about every plug-and-play portable solar panel I see nowadays is intended to charge USB devices.