Morse code paddle integration with BLF A6 FET+7135

Rowe · 2018-06-04T07:34:59.000Z

Okay I’ll start by saying I have ordered this flashlight blf A6 but I’m still waiting for it to come in so I don’t have hands on experience yet. I also ordered the USB interface so I can reprogram it if necessary.

What I’m trying to do is interface it with my Morse code paddle. A morse code paddle is basically a fast way to type Morse code. I’ll try to attach pictures; but long story short there’s two paddles, hold one down and it goes dit-dit-dit hold the other down and it goes da da da hold them both at the same time and it goes dit da dit da dit da ( dit = the shorter or . sound and da = the longer sound or - ) when it alternates it starts with whatever paddle you touched first. If that doesn’t make sense and easier way to say it is there’s two levers and with just two movements you can type any letter. I built this myself I’m not an electronic genius or anything I followed YouTube blindly soldering together what I was told and lo and behold it works. I also had help from Friends.

You’ll see a schematic below basically the paddles make a buzzer beep the morse code out there’s also a connection for headphones which is labeled external speaker and there is also a mosfet it is labeled U2 BS170 there is an auxiliary cable just like a headphone connected to that mosfet there is a picture I’ll attach that shows what it out puts on the cable for when it is keyed and when it isn’t that is making sound and not making sound.

What I’m hoping to do here is make the flashlight flash the code as I type it this is going to be sort of a niche novelty thing not every day so I really don’t want to majorly modify the flashlight or the paddle as it’s normally used connected to my radio for international coms.

What I’m wondering is can I connect the output cable from the mosfet to the driver and it just work that way or do I need to come up with something more complicated like figuring out how to connect the pic leg that drives the mosfet on the paddle directly to the mosfet on the board? I have a magnetic connector ordered I’m hoping to put it on the side of the head of the flashlight and use it to connect whatever wire I have to use so I don’t compromise the waterproofness. I can send more pictures if anything would help let me know and if anyone knows who would be able to help me with the driver interface here please tag them or let them know this is my first post so I really don’t know anyone. I want to thank you all for your help just by existing and sharing your knowledge led me to this moddable driver and the tutorial on how to flash it and that’s why I chose this light and this forum for this project.

Thanks for any help.
Rowe

PS if there are major modifications necessary to the paddles I can build a second board and dedicate it to the flashlight exclusively but it was kind of expensive mostly in shipping of everything so I would rather have something reversible or preferably just using the mosfet driven output switch that is already connected to the auxiliary cable.

Update: as per ToyKeepers suggestion I’m moving this to its own topic out of the A6 main thread.

Also had a thought about a different route to go about it and that would be dumping whatever is on the pic that controls the paddle board off and trying to load it as a firmware onto the flashlight and then just control the flashlight with the paddles and place of the tail switch I’m thinking that wouldn’t be the best route to do though as it would probably require some software engineering over my head. There are also a set of buttons on the board that the flashlight wouldn’t have so it would require a pretty total rewrite most likely.

skinny_tie · 2018-06-05T08:45:21.000Z

I know next to nothing about electronics, but I suspect you might need to change the driver in the A6 as it would probably interpret the taps as mode changes. If you don’t need brightness control a single mode regulated driver would be cheap and easy to install.

Besides a the driver swap I’d look at modifying a FET based tail switch. Check out the design from BLF member loneoceans:

GFS16 - Battery Indicator Tailcap Light & 1mR FET Tailswitch! (Rev B) Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts

Hello BLF, TL;DR: I built a tailswitch system comprised of two PCBs, called the GFS16 System. First is a 18mm Taillight board which provides the regular taillight, and also features a battery sensing system to change the LEDs colours when the battery voltage is low (Rev B features 5uA standby current!). Second is a 16mm Tailspring/FET board, which allows replacement of the switch for a super low resistance FET, allow for the best performance in high current flashlights. All PCBs are up on OSHP…

I think I saw a read-made FET remote switch for sale a while ago - it might have been from BLF member Lexel.

Rowe · 2018-06-05T09:06:06.000Z

Thanks for your reply it’s late at night here in the states so I’ll review that in the morning. I don’t think I’m going to have a problem with it interpreting the signals as tell presses and changing modes I’m not planning to tie it in at the switch but tie it in to the driver I’m thinking they’ll be a way to tie the mosfets together or to bypass the mosfet and use the one off of the board. The mosfet is basically a switch it’s essentially a tiny relay.

That said if I can’t tie it into the driver I could just flash new software to the light one of the Muggle mode firmware that’s simply turns on and off and that’s it and then just use the paddle as a switch. I should have my flashlight in hand in the next day or so so I can do some poking and prodding and see exactly what would be involved in the different solutions. As much as I’ve been trying you’re the first person to offer a comment and I really appreciate it… it will get the ball rolling Maybe.