I don’t disagree. I was quite bummed too. It is fixable if you can flash drivers but of course it shouldn’t have to be fixed. The revised version should be in progress by now but of course it’s CNY now so it will be a month or two before we see anything. Personally I don’t find it as bad as some people are making out since I pretty much hate blinkie modes of any kind. I haven’t had any problem with configuration mode or selecting the group I want. Yes, it is faster and you have to make your selection quicker but there is no reason for anyone to fear trying to change mode groups. Sure it might take you a couple tries but that’s the extent of the problem at least for me.
If you have/had the ability to flash the mcu then your problem would be solved in a matter of minutes. The flash program uses encoding to determine the speed of operation for the MCU, they simply used the wrong code when flashing the UI to the chip. It’s a few numbers in a line, and so the speed is too fast.
AVRDude is a free download, the clips to use and the USBAsp adapter is quite cheap as well. There are some modifications to the clip that can be confusing, a bit of a learning curve on the software, but man if I can do it virtually anyone can. Perhaps it’s time to take a bold step forward? 
Edit: It’s not even completely necessary to do the AVRDude thing, simply purchasing the clip and USBAsp adapter can let you flash the hex file any of us that build drivers can supply. The adapter is really dirt cheap, plug it in and re-flash your drivers and you’d be good to go.
Will this help with my problem, too (Post 734?) Or do you think it is a physical issue? I’d really like to fix that as the light is not really useable like this.
Thanks
Most likely as it would be a re-placing of the UI on the MCU.
Unless you specifically require a blinky mode at a specific speed then the overclocking in biscotti doesn’t make it unuseable. You need reasonably fast reactions when changing mode groups, but it really isn’t that difficult, and if you get it wrong, just try again.
Dale, there’s challenges of a different magnitude for me once I decide flashing MCU’s, and it starts with obtaining a windows computer and that never in my life I was confronted with any form of programming software, etc, etc… 
Thanks guys! I don’t know why, but right now it is working again. I will just put my battery in the charger to see whether it is somehow voltage related. I do not have any other explanation so far…
It can be done in both windows and linux and I am sure there is a mac version to for the “special” people among us.
As far as flashing the firmware, flashing a pre-compiled Hex file is super easy, all you need is $5 in hardware and you don’t even have to install anything (with windows anyways). You simply run a small program and it flashes the firmware. Takes all of about 10 seconds for the actual flash, you will spend longer getting the clip on correctly in most cases.
Probably someone already made a flash program for Android as well
Newb ignorance alert
I followed the link to AE from the first post and found “Spring Festival holiday” for a month with no C8’s available. I ended up ordering the light from GB, but I would have liked to have supported Simon.
The money was burning a hole though and I really “needed” the light now… :person_facepalming:
The USBAsp can be picked up on the cheap, this was the first link in my search.
You plug it into a USB port, with the ribbon and clip attached so you can snap the clip on the MCU, Then you click on the .hex file (with a flash code directed towards it) and badaboom it’s done! Simple, really. One of us can give you the hex file and the flash file, all you’d have to do is plug in the device, attach it to the MCU and click the file. (Well, mostly. The ribbon is usually wired wrong to the clip so the wires have to be pulled and put in the right places, that too is relatively simple with a diagram to show you exactly what goes where)
Just confirming - is this “pin 5 connected to ground” still a problem that needs checked into and corrected? Or was the problem simply the fuse settings used during programming alone and leave the trace alone?
Thanks,
-Garry
You need to cut the lane with a knife and you can program it
If the pin is connected with ground programming signal is short curcuit
Ok, thanks!
-Garry
So guys, what exactly is the problem with Biscotti? I don’t exactly have time right now to peruse the whole thread to find its “teething pains”.
When the engineers built the driver they used the wrong code in the flash coding line, it sets timing faster on the MCU and as such, the blinks and the configuration mode are running fast, difficult to set the configuration mode.
There’s also a continuous trace from pin 5 to ground that shorts the MCU against re-flashing it. Cutting this trace at pin 5 allows the MCU to be re-flashed with proper coding.
That’s… pretty bad. :zipper_mouth_face: Now I’m re-considering the month-long wait for Convoy to re-open so I can pick up a Biscotti S2+.
^ What he said.
The fix is being implemented but it will be a while before it hits the shelves. Tom E did some investigation for me and found that the fuse values were wrong, which was what TK suspected and during that investigation he also figured out why people were having trouble re-flashing the new driver. This was a pretty big step for Convoy as well as their driver people so I suppose glitches are to be expected with something so new. I’d of course be happier if it all went off perfectly but at the price point Convoy lights sell at there is not really a budget for troubleshooting and testing pre-production. Even with this glitch it’s still a nice driver if you don’t care about blinkies and it will be even better going forward. I’m keepin on keepin on with doing what I can to help Simon advance Convoy.
Of course, of course, I don’t think anyone ever meant otherwise.
My thing with the blinkies is that I’d like to set to mode 8 (0,1, 1, 10% and 50% in crescent order) just once and that’s it.
And what are the correct fuse settings? I flashed some lights with biscotti ant they are fast too.