Thanks, TK!
This also works if you want the stepped ramp to top out at max 14 x 7135:
1, 100, 7
(1, 17, 34, 50, 67, 83, 100)
If you simply want a lot of steps, considering the wide range of outputs the D18 is capable of:
1, 125, 11
(1, 13, 25, 38, 50, 63, 75, 87, 100, 112, 125)
I actually have my ROT66 set at 10 steps currently (one of the options to get steps at the fully regulated levels for that light). When I originally calculated that option, I thought it would be too many steps, but it’s much more natural than I expected because of how quickly and smoothly Anduril advances through the discrete steps; the shortcuts to min, max, or memorized ramp levels; and the good spacing designed into the ramp.
Those are good options as well, thanks. By the way, I saw an earlier post of yours where you mentioned transferring TK’s Python script for step calculations to MS Excel. That sounds useful to me. Is it possible to share your Excel formulas here?
Me too.
I received my two replaced D18’s, and now they are with the latest firmware (at least level 50 and 100 are PWM-less).
The two lights are of SST-20 3000K and 4000K. Though the emitters are different, their runtime on the regulated levels are pretty much the same.
My preliminary measurements show that it’s ~104 mins on level 100, with Samsung 30Q’s (or ~120 mins with Sanyo GA’s).
And my (inaccurate) integrating results on level 100 are ~1200 lm (SST-20 3000K) and ~1450 lm (SST-20 4000K).
I’m on a trip so no further information can be provided in a few days.
I have non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder as well. 
Months ago I was telling BLF member Bort about how I sleep strange hours, and he explained to me what I have.
Now that I have taken caffeine mostly out of my life, I sleep more regular hours, but my schedule is still weird.
Because of this, y'all can catch me on BLF at all hours of the day and night.
I wish caffeine would keep me awake :weary:
Damn, the second little one is almost here and I’m still tired with 7 hours nights…
I sleep about 50% of the time, and just 50mg of caffeine will keep me awake for a good long time.
Because my sleep schedule is out of whack, I sometimes have to take caffeine to be awake at the right time.
It is 9 leds instead of 18, but a few years ago I used the hotplate for swaping them on a big board, I even had a shaky day:
Djozz, your heating those individual leds from room temp to peak in like 10 seconds. That’s way faster than recommended. Doesn’t that hurt the led or it seems to be fine?
Maybe I’m overly cautious, but I’d rather heat them up much slower.
Is that a hot plate? I’ve never seen one like that.
Wait, is that a thing? I definitely use the cowboy “hold a lighter under the mcpcb” method lol. I need a hot plate.
Also, on the sleep front, I normally sleep fine. But caffeine? Can’t have it or I’ll be up for days. Cardiologist says no caffeine because my heart condition, so I literally never have any. So if I even take a couple mouthfuls of Coke or coffee, it screws up my sleep for a day or two.
Since I generally keep a lot of data, I can actually graph and measure it. So here are some sleep or activity charts. Each row represents one day; days flow from top to bottom. Each column represents 5 minutes; a single 24-hour period flows from left to right on each row. Every white dot shows that the person was awake and active in a way which showed up in my logs during that 5-minute period.
First, this is what a normal person’s schedule looks like. This is someone who keeps very regular hours:
… and this is my typical schedule:
Basically, I’m on moon time instead of Earth time.
Here is the reflow chart for an XPL. All the leds I’ve seen have a similar curve with minor differences.
There’s nothing wrong with a lighter. It’s not much different that blowing hot air under the mcpcb. Both use distance to control the temperature. Hold it far underneath to do the preheat then start bringing it closer up to increase the temps.
I haven’t done too many led reflows nor do I do them very often so I try to do it as correct as possible, similar to above. I do a slow build up to preheat both mcpcb and led then after a minute or two I’ll bring it up to “liquid” and take the led off. I try to minimize the time I have the solder liquid.
That's way more data than what I keep track of!
Since 2016, I just log when I go to bed and when I get up.
Do I need to put solder on top of my flat top batteries if I want them to work with this light?
Yes.
But be very quick. Try to solder the button top in less than 3 seconds preferably.
x3, raccoon, tk: have you tried melatonin? worked wonders for me and my son. it’s a natural sleep aid. of course i work 18 hours a day mostly so i can’t use it anymore. i also put a lavender satchet under his pillow, and a scoop of peanut butter and a glass of warm milk helps before sleep. don’t remember what the peanut butter does, but the glass of milk fools your body into thinking it’s full so you burn more calories during sleep and you don’t wake up craving a midnight snack.
of course i don’t bother getting sleep anymore, and don’t do any of that stuff
Yes. I’ve tried basically every sleep-adjustment method known to man. Nothing really worked.
Eventually I decided it’s better to just run with it. I’m much healthier that way.
Not recommended at all, but I did that for years, and I will never know if the leds do not make the promised 50,000 hours :innocent:
Yes, that is a hotplate, in fact it is a block of aluminium that I clamped over the tip of a 12V solder iron, with a power supply I can set the temperature (with me as the feedback loop, 10.7V gets me 220 degC, I found). I use a different heatblock now but it basically works the same.
Nowadays I place a ledboard on a piece of aluminium and put them together on the heatblock so that the temperature rise of the led is much slower.
I suspect that the speed of temperature rise causes less damage than a too high reflow temperature, the flame method gets you easily over 300 degC.
I take Melatonin every night before I go to sleep.
I generally sleep well, but I don't have 24 hours in a day.