Thanks TK, this theory lines up perfectly with what I’m observing. So you can’t think of any way to get around that issue? I suspect voltage is also dropping along with current when the switch is ‘off’, maybe the FW could recognize that low voltage and somehow……? Or do you think if I can get enough light while limiting the current to under 0.3ma that would shut down the mcu and work properly?
I also have a firmware which does nothing but dump out the raw voltage reading… you could use that to check what level it’s running at in “off” mode versus regular operation. And if the “off” mode is lower than the usual LVP cutoff, it’d be easy to detect which mode it’s in.
Look under ToyKeeper/battcheck/ to find that. There’s also one to show the OTC values, which would answer any questions about whether OTC is going to be usable.
I’m thinking the Batt Check FW won’t work because the main LED doesn’t light in ‘off’ mode so there won’t be any blinks, right?
The tail LED leads are exposed currently, would measuring voltage across those give an accurate reading?
Oh, duh. It’s too early in the morning to think. 
Yeah, it wouldn’t work because the main emitter won’t light up. But using a DMM might be close enough. (though measuring at the driver might be better than measuring at the tail LED, if possible)
The battcheck thing at least can be used to get the normal ADC operating range though, and anything below that would be considered “off” mode.
Using the number above I calculate the voltage at the driver to be ~0.4V much too low for operation.
Given: 1k in series with the LED and 1k across the driver = 2.2mA
Voltage across driver = Battery voltage - red LED Vf@2.2mA - series resistor voltage (R x I).
Voltage across driver = 4.2V - 1.6V - (1kOhmx2.2mA = 2.2V) = 0.4V
Of course all this can be measured with a meter.
It certainly looks like the charge on the OTC may be the reason. When the switch is turned OFF the voltages on both the MCU and the OTC begin to decay. This extra led current seems to be messing up the critical timing between them. (or something else entirely...)
Lowering the resistor at the driver to 500 or even 330 ohms will drop the driver voltage down lower, but I'm not sure that is the right approach. Using a blue or white LED (higher Vf) and a higher series resistor (lower current) may be a better approach. Obviously, the driver works when there is no tail LED, so reducing the tail LED current as low as possible seems like the right direction.
...but I've been wrong before too...
Ok I grabbed a blue led and a green one, and i now have 3 values of resistors: 560, 1k, and 4.7k. I’ll play with those later tonight.
I measured the voltage across the tail led with the two 1k resistors: 1.6v. I’m not sure what that means, but maybe someone else does.
When you say "two 1k resistors", where are they? One in series and one across the driver? or...
The 1.6V is exactly what I would expect to measure across the LED itself.
Yes, 1 on the driver, and one in series with the led. I haven’t changed it (yet) from my results in my previous posts.
I’m very curious to know what the OTC reading says after the light has been off for a while, compared to after just a short tap.
I’m not sure how to measure exactly, but I let it sit overnight in medium mode and in the morning it came on in high mode.
PZL driver, Nichia 219b, green 5mm 2.1v led in the tail. 560ohm resistor on the driver, 4.7kohm in series in the tail.
I don’t know why it works, but it does.
Driver is behaving normally. Off-time, no memory, always starting on moon.
The green led is a little dim, so I’m going to swap in the red ones with the same resistors to see if it still works.
I did it using green 3528 led. 805 size led would be better but I don’t have it.
I use 1K resistor with led. led is light up to see in night (with 1/4 of tail cap rubber)
current - 100uA
Note: reducing resistor value made no noticeable current increase due to driver.
So what we need is place another resistor paralleled with driver board +/-
then current will flow though it led current increase
here results with parallel resistor and 1k led series resistor:
4.7K - 210uA (enugh to see even day time)
2.2K - 560uA
1K - 1.1mA (bright)
I will post some pics soon.
What driver are you using? Mine only functions properly when the driver resistor is a lower ohm than the led series resistor.
560ohm driver and 4.7k ohm series also works with the red flashing led, and so does a 560 and 1k combo.
Oh, to measure it, just install the offtime-cap firmware and then turn it on. It’ll blink out the raw ADC value for the capacitor.
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/trunk/files/head:/ToyKeeper/battcheck/
The idea is to check the value after being off for like 0.1s, 0.5s, 2s, 5s, whatever. Overnight is way more than necessary. Then, using the values for different timings, plug in the one you like and that will be the boundary between a long and short press.
If it always reads out the same value, the OTC will be useless. But if there’s a difference between 0.1s and 2s, for example, you can still use off-time measurement for mode changes.
I haven’t read all your thread, but i think www.cnqualitygoods.com should have some clear boots, i believe i remember cereal killer mentioning that a while ago. The reason i say “should” & “think” is that for some reason the webshop is so slow i cant browse it today at all, not even the google cache works properly, i don’t know why & i cant check for sure but i distinctly remember they had a good selection of boots.
Yep thanks. After I asked that I found CK’s post with a link. Ordered some yesterday.
I have used glowon, stuff is hard as nails…would NOT be good on a flexible clicky…
I painted some on a pull string I use on my bedroom light (double coated the little lightbulb w/ the glowon paint)…used my Roche F6 (my normal bedside light right next to my bump in the night sock em in the puss w/ light C8) and light soaked it for about 15 seconds…darn thing glowed all night, so bright that after I turned out the lights had a green glow in the room almost bright enough to see by.
Even put some on my sights on my 1991A1…came off on the front sight due to it being so smooth….but the rear sight paint is still there, just a blast of light from my EDC and all I do is line up the glowing front site in the rear site and badguy catches an ashtray.
This is my “dummy proof” ceiling fan pullstrings…(ask me why 
)
Neat idea. Making replacement tailcaps with the illuminated button would be a good addon for lights lacking a moonlight mode built in.
I have a few ebay fake-solarforce tailcaps in the scrap bin.
If you haven’t already, check out this newer thread