This isn’t the infinite variable style control ring. It’s the one with low, mid, high, strobe.
Like this driver-
I wonder if the individual magnetic sensors could be wired to separate inputs on the Atmel.
thanks!
Im having iy shipped to a US address 
Is the light current regulated on high or direct drive? Thanks!
xed888;
So picking it up on your next trip to the USA?
Richard or a more knowledgeable owner needs to answer the drive question for High mode for sure. Can you have direct drive with “Low Voltage Rampdown & Cutoff, Protects Your Batteries”? Per my interpretation true direct drive means minimal control electronics in that mode. Certainly based on the Small Sun ZY-T08 description of the Mod Package 3 virtually all electronic controls are eliminated in direct drive it looks like to me.
If it has 5 sensors then you’re getting into a bad situation for an ATiny13A: the Tiny13 only has 6 in/out pins. One must control the LED, one is for LVP… and now you are down to 4 already! I’m not sure what the most simple solution to this problem is. If the sensors can be treated as logic (1/0) then maybe a parallel-in/serial-out shift register would work… but no matter what I’d say you are looking at both hardware and software which is different from what we conventionally use.
Or does the Darth only use 4 Hall Effect sensors?
If I understand correctly, there really isn’t much difference in this case… the discharge and output curves will look about the same either way. It’s not going to hold the maximum output for long, even if the cells can handle it, because it causes too much heat. It’ll step down after a little while to avoid damaging itself. Even if the batteries don’t sag, there will still be plenty of thermal sag. So, the regulated/direct distinction probably doesn’t matter.
The M6 is what we refer to as direct drive. There is no current or voltage regulation. See my post #2 in the ‘How to get max amps out of one li-ion cell’ thread for a little more detail, but still not a ton of detail.
Correct, current regulation will not help maintain the output: first the batteries are too weak and then there are the other considerations you mentioned. It’s important to know though, because in an actual regulated design you do not depend on sag. In this design you do.
If a person were to feed the light from a high-current power source which provided much over 4.2v the LEDs would likely poof. They might poof even at that voltage after a little bit, given that increased temperature drops Vf… actually yeah, I think they’d almost certainly poof at a constant 4.2v in an M6 or SRK.
I have a light that pulls 16A from one of these “weak” cells. My M6 has 4 of the same cells. So how are these cells so weak? 18A pulled from 120A offered. Essentially 4.25A per cell, not a lot to ask of one of todays high discharge offerings. 10V of draw from 16V of source, again I wouldn’t think that would be a weak supply. The main enemy here is heat, of course.
As far as the question about direct drive, yes, these are considered direct drive. The FET allows all available current to flow in Turbo mode, there is no regulation.
You’re touchy about that term!
ToyKeeper said that there would be no marked difference between DD and regulated here. She’s correct.
- In the DD setup light output will fall as the cells discharge. The resting voltage and the load voltage are both lower than what is required to get maximum light output.
- In a regulated setup it’s typically even worse. The cells still provide a relatively low voltage, but now we have a sense resistor dropping 0.1 to 0.2v also! At the high drive currents being discussed (such as 18A) the cells cannot maintain a high enough voltage for the driver to stay in regulation. This lack of ability to maintain voltage is what I’m describing in simple terms as “weak”. A strong PSU, such as a bench PSU, is a different story. It will maintain exactly the voltage it’s set to even at high current draws. A strong bench PSU set to the max charge voltage of a Li-Ion will poof a DD setup. It would also (hypothetically) allow a current-regulated 18A driver to maintain 18A output at a low Vin such as 4.2v, but of course that’s when the other factors Toykeeper mentioned come into play… light output would still go down and in an SRK or M6 the device would become too hot at some point.
(not touchy, just curious)
There are 3 emitters in the M6, with a Vf at up to 3.6Vf if pushed hard. There are 4 cells in the M6, with 4.21V on tap to begin with (when using high discharge IMR cells) I’ve tested these with a massive load from an MT-G2 and these cells can fall to 3.81V with load, IF the load is big enough. With 3 emitters pulling 6A each at the 3.6-3.7Vf range, there is about 18A pulled from these 4 cells, not enough to drag em down that hard. Not even enough to really drag down a 3400B for that matter.
Just trying to understand how the IMR cells are “weak” in a light like the hard driven M6, with 4 cells feeding 3 emitters. Seems to me there’s ample overhead and in use, it seems to play out that way. I’m probably missing something, as usual.
You are missing something important. 
- I was not referring to any particular cells, but all 18650’s.
- All 18650 cells are much too weak to maintain a high enough voltage for regulation at the drive currents we are discussing. That’s why regulated drivers are not made for this scenario. The context of my use of the word weak was specifically in regards to maintaining a high enough voltage for regulation. They can’t do it.
Also worth thinking about: I think your Vf estimates may be low. Both djozz and Match show much higher Vf numbers than what you mentioned.
EDIT for a little more info.
In order to maintain regulation Vin must be higher than Vout PLUS the sense voltage. Let’s call the sense voltage only 0.1v, although it’s often going to be even higher! With Efest IMR18650 2500mAh (Purple) 2014 you’re looking at an instant drop to 4v at 5A (closest graph to 4.5A per cell). Consider that you’re dropping that down to 3.9v because of the sense voltage. You’re already out of regulation and you haven’t even started!
Hi Richard,
Are you still accepting international orders via PM?
Not sure if mine made it through to you a couple of days ago.
Cheers.
Hi Richard,
Are you going to stock the new cree xp-l emitters?
Thanks for all the replies!
I have read about how to change modes but how does one swtich it off and on?
Is there memory for the modes?
Thanks
With the STAR firmware “Off” is just a mode. Short presses take you forward through the modes and long presses take you backwards through the modes.
Thanks wight, you’ve been very helpful.
Does this mean that to switch it off, I have to scroll trhough all modes ala Sky Ray King? Or unscrew the head from the body for lock out?
This seems to be a deal breaker for me….
Offhand I can’t confirm the body lockout (I clearly haven’t used my M6 much). I’m pretty sure the M6 has nice anodized threads and body lockout is fine.
You do have to scroll through the modes, the idea is that you are never more than a couple of clicks away from off - and even if you overshoot you can go backwards with this firmware to get back to off (long presses). I haven’t got STAR on my M6 - I haven’t used the momentary STAR firmware at all yet. So I can’t put in my 2 cents about how it works. Other seem happy with it, the majority of the people asking for “direct off” seem to be people who have not used it yet. That said, I’m sure there are those who have it who are unhappy!
Lol that’s definitely me! thanks again.
I’ll wait for Richard to chime in about the software. I read Richwouldnt is asking him for direct off from V2.0?
I've been using it, and I want direct off too. Covering up a light with your hand or leg or something works fine for smaller lights, but this thing gets surprisingly warm just in the few moments it takes to get back to off.
I have asked Richard to include the “Direct to off” feature and the mode memory he described as having tested in my new M6 light. In a PM to him I pointed out that the new features are not yet listed on his order page so it is unclear what version of the star firmware is now standard. I included the new firmware request in the comments area of my order and do not want the new light without it. When the new light arrives I will have both UI versions to compare in otherwise identical lights but I am pretty sure already which I will prefer.
With the older firmware the mid brightnesses are only approachable from min or max, then there were multiple switch presses to turn things off, while with the new version if there is a mode you commonly use it is the one that you get at turn-on if it is the last used when the light was turned off. When on the direct to off then allows single switch press “off”. A total of two switch depressions to use the light in a mid mode compared to the multiple presses required with the older firmware version. At least that is my understanding of the new firmware.
When the new order arrives I will have four M6 lights, a stocker, Richards Mod 1 and two of his M2s with the different firmwares. I consider the modification option 1 for $10.50 to be a best buy.