I have to get confirmation from Barry if they are 2700K or 3000K. 2700K high CRI LH351D’s are planned if they are available for the number that will be needed. The cool side is 5000K high CRI LH351D.
2700 would be ideal an would give a really nice tint range combined with the 5000k. I hope they manage to go that route but even with 3000k this is shaping up to be an awesome light.
Currently running tests on the built in charging system, i’m getting a 1.39 to 1.44 amp draw at average 5.2 volts & 4.8 volts respectively with my USB amp & volt tester. So far i tested it with 2 different wall adapters, my portalble off-grid power supply, a 12-volt USB car adapter, and my pocket X-Dragon power-bank folding solar charger. all these chargers performed well charging the sample lantern with four Samsung 20R cells in the lantern with the cells depleted down to a voltage of 3.4 volts. Tomorrow i will test four different solar chargers, including the 10-Watt USB Eceen portable, 40-watt larger folding solar dual voltage ( 5 volt & 12 volts) charger, a 12-watt Ebay generic USB solar charger, and a 20 watt 12-volt solar panel for ability to charge the lantern in remote areas.
One issue battery chargers can have when using Solar Panels is some of them wont resume charging if power is lost, like if a cloud passes by. I found this out when looking for a small 18650 charger to use with my solar panel. I was supersized most of them suffered from this issue.
Can you check to see that the charge circuit will resume after a loss of supplied power?
Will the charging circuit be two ways, meaning can we use the lantern as a battery bank also?
This lantern has the newer TP5100 chip, which has a vast voltage range for the input, (between 4 to 18 volts DC) and has great control over the input fluctuation, (especially if its designed like its older predecessor the TP4056 chip, which i have extensively tested & used with various solar panels, charging sources, etc. with no problems at all with current drops as they seem to regulate for the current they receive. The weather forecast sadly for Thursday, May,9,2019 calls for rain & cloud, so i can;t really do a full solar charger test of the LT1 sample’s built-in charger circuit. ( but i may do some over-cast day charge testing using a 10-watt, 12-volt Amorphous Solar panel i have, (Amorphous type solar panels work better on cloudy days than the Monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon solar panels do. ( I have all three types in various sizes.) I will be testing & monitoring the charge rate over various outdoor light conditions and the characteristics of the TP5100 performance.
Thank you. Designing & developing this BLF LT1 lantern project with the help of a great team, have been a long time in the works to fill a void in portable area-lighting/lantern that the market just didn’t provide has been extensive, and hope it serves everyone well for those who want one.
UPDATE: -The LT1 lantern test unit just finished charging my set of four EVVA protected 3500mah cells to 4.19 volts across all four from a 2 amp wall charger test tonight. I observed the amperage from the meter taper off slowly as it approached the full charge, and the red light switch to green when it reached 4.19. Another successful pass for the charger regulation.
This X-Dragon (with 10 claimed amp-hour cpacity) power bank with built in folding solar-panel charger, can charge the LT1 lantern sample each day, every day, after using the lantern on a medium mode, (the 3rd, middle-mode of the stepped-5 mode setting in the lantern’s LT1-variant of the Andruil firmware developed by Toykeeper) ( also two of the seven 7135 AMC chips were disabled, (unsoldered) setting the lantern in the 5-AMC chip per channel current limit range) while after the lantern has been used for 3 hours per night. (its been doing so for the last 4+ days, proving the LT1 can be a viable long-term permanent, completely off-grid area light using the right setting & off-grid charging source.
I’m pretty happy with the LT1 even just as a battery charger. I got lucky and mine stops charging at 4.17V, which is right where I want it. I prefer not to go all the way to 4.20V, and definitely not higher like some chargers do. So this prototype is now what I use to charge 4 cells at a time.
The charging progress display is a bit coarse for my taste, but it does at least work. Just turn the light on in battcheck mode while it’s charging, and it’ll show how far along it is.
BTW, I don’t recall if you’ve used an Anduril light before so I’ve been meaning to ask: Is the UI working for you? Does it suit your needs? Any trouble with remembering how to use it?
I like it! it just takes some getting used to same as the UI for the Q8 & BLF GT did. as long as the production models are set for easy basic user interface for buyers to access the standard tint ramping easily & brightness modes, its great. Then as people learn the other features and procedures to access them all is good. as you mentioned though some tweaking will make it better, (as in add a blink when it reaches the limits of the tint ramp peaks, and adjust the variation so the ramping output remains constant through out the ramp from warm to cool in all brightness settings.
OK, here is a short test of the charging ability of the LT1 test unit, using the 40-watt Poweradd folding solar panel, on a overcast (cloudy) day. The larger 40-watt Solar charger was able to reach close to the full amp-load of the LT1 test unit’s TP5100-based charging circuit on a cloudy day, ( 1.5 amps) while the smaller folding solar chargers provided less current, but the lantern still was accepting a trickle charge even with the 7-watt generic Ebay panel. I will do another solar charger test on the next sunny clear day. Also a full chat about the LT1 test lantern coming soon.
- the other panels i tested in the cloudy conditions, and the outputs were:
> 7-watt generic folding Ebay solar charger – 4.13 volts DC, at 0.17 amps. (lantern was still accepting a “trickle” charge.
> 7-watt generic folding Ebay solar charger with added 10-watt panels – 4.24 volts, at 0.31 amps.
> 10-Watt Eceen folding solar charger – 4.2 volts at 0.51 amps.
Below is the short video of the Eceen test today, ( cloudy conditions)