[NLD] TiCu D3AA w sw45k

[jon_slider]

Received TiCu D3AA w sw45k with flat switch bezel, and tail magnet. Its a good looking light.

I like the flat switch bezel (I tried both previously), the rubber button sits below the edge of the screw in flat bezel.

some quirks:
The tailmagnet is marginal, works fine on a horizontal surface, with the light hanging straight down. But not strong enough for the weight of the light held horizontally. If attached to a vertical smooth surface, the light can slide downward. The Aluminum version stays put better.

sublumen moonlight illuminates the LEDs differently

Preflashes and a Blink in the ramp:
There is a slight preflash of about 0.8 lm, when turning on the light at moonlight, on any level below 20 of 150, which is 0.8 lumens.

From 1 lumen (level 21/150) up to 10 lumens (level 40/150), there is no preflash when first turning on the light.

There is a slight blink when going up the ramp past 11 lumens.

From above 11 lumens, up to 45 lumens there is a slight preflash when first turning on the ligh.

Default Aux will drain the battery in less than a week:
The light arrived in Advanced mode with Aux on High Brightness… fun but I changed them to low, to save battery.

Default batt check blinked the Main LEDs, I changed it to blink the Red Aux.

I marked changes of defaults in Turquoise on this flowchart… I added thin line black boxes to indicate defaults, for example the default memory is 24 lumens, with a 10 minute temporary last mode memory. Default Simple Ceiling was level 130 = 670 Lumens, I lowered it to 100/150= 300 lumens. etc:

Low mode Aux can last about 4 months, depending on choice of color (I calculated the days values for a 1000mAh LiIon battery):

[zoulas]

Love it.

[ThePX]

@jon_slider

Low mode Aux can last about 4 months, depending on choice of color (I calculated the days values for a 1000mAh LiIon battery):

here worth mentioning is that LOW is actually quite high (I’ve regular D3AA) and when standing on table near bed is too high so I’ve turn it away from my eyes

[jon_slider]

@ThePX

here worth mentioning is that LOW is actually quite high

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree the Low Aux brightness could be lower… 5 months is not very long for a standby drain.

I dont find the Red too bright in actual use, but it IS brighter than the Very Dim Aux on the TS10.

what color do you use?
Green is brighter than Red (both lights on Low Aux):

[ThePX]

I’m using aux for showing voltage so everyone a little bit Sometimes red in lockout mode in high for kinda red illumination.
In general I wanted to say that this runtimes are so long, even when low is quite high. So personally I don’t bother of this aux drain on low

[dmenezes]

@jon_slider

If attached to a vertical smooth surface, the light can slide downward. The Aluminum version stays put better.

I can confirm my aluminum D3AA’s magnet tailcap works perfectly in all inclinations I’ve tested it so far: on the vertical, horizontal and even at 45 degrees. Having a magnet tailcap option is one point where my D3AA is distinctly superior to my TS10.

But I agree, Hank should have used a stronger magnet with the heavier Ti version.

[dmenezes]

@jon_slider

Preflashes and a Blink in the ramp:
There is a slight preflash of about 0.8 lm, when turning on the light at moonlight, on any level below 20 of 150, which is 0.8 lumens.

From 1 lumen (level 21/150) up to 10 lumens (level 40/150), there is no preflash when first turning on the light.

There is a slight blink when going up the ramp past 11 lumens.

I can confirm both the pre-flash and the ramp-up blink.

The ramp-up blink doesn’t bother me too much, but the preflash drives me crazy, specially since it’s brighter than the lowest moonlight, which I have configured as my D3AA memorized brightness, so it always turns on at moonlight, and then I can ramp it up – by simply keeping the button pressed – to whatever brightness I need for each case. It’s really disturbing,

I made a movie of the effect, here it is: https://i.imgur.com/e70UrIV.mp4

This is certainly my biggest complaint about the D3AA, and the main reason it won’t be replacing my good-old 3-year-old TS10v1 as my main EDC light.

[jon_slider]

@dmenezes

This is certainly my biggest complaint about the D3AA, and the main reason it won’t be replacing my good-old 3-year-old TS10v1 as my main EDC light.

I feel the same way. I continue to edc my favorite TS10…

otoh, I prefer to use my D3AA if it is going to be on for a long time, such as when ceiling bouncing.

I believe the lower flicker index of the D3AA is more soothing.

Im suprised you were able to capture the D3AA preflash on video… well done

I find it a bit strange that in order to get the benefits of thefreeman’s multifuel driver, that we need to look past the little startup and ramping flashes…

otoh, once the light is running, it is very stable…

btw, I placed an order for a couple of TS10 V2 mcpcb for 3535 LEDs from Zwerglein02… hopefully you and I will both manage the swap without drama

congratulations on having a Real Life, that does not rely multiple doses of BLF… lol

[dmenezes]

@jon_slider

I find it a bit strange that in order to get the benefits of thefreeman’s multifuel driver, that we need to look past the little startup and ramping flashes…

Disappointing is more like the word I’d use: it’s a great driver overall, and that preflash thing is like the proverbial fly in the ointment. I waited until the second batch of the D3AA to buy mine, exactly to avoid ‘first batch woes’ (and managed to avoid the o-ring eating issue) but then got bitten by that.

I’d really like to see this chased down and fixed: even if our particular D3AAs turn out to be unfixable, I’d easily but another one (or at least a new head) to get rid of that preflash thing.

Is the preflash an unavoidable feature of the driver? Is it something that happened because of component tolerances in our particular D3AAs? Have we just been jinxed by the Dogs?

What’s the word from @thefreeman, can you please (ahem) illuminate us on this?

[horzuff]

Wow that’s harsh :O. Mine only does a little “flutter” on lower brightnesses but at the same brightness. That was especially annoying with the soft start/stop as it happened regardless of memorized lvl but happens only on moonlight or very low now at startup, I mostly don’t even notice it then

[jon_slider]

@dmenezes

I’d really like to see this chased down and fixed: even if our particular D3AAs turn out to be unfixable

there is no fix… its just the way the driver is

@horzuff

Wow that’s harsh

yeah… Im used to the smooth startup and power delivery of the TS10…

I had high expectations for the D3AA and the little flash at startup on the D3AA, that dmenezes captured on video (so I know Im not the only one that sees it), is disappointing. Same for the slight blink when ramping up through the 10 lumen level.

basically, when I say there is a flash, others say, its not that bright, and not that bad… OK… at least we all agree the slight flash and the blip in the ramp are there.

Im glad most people are not aware, or bothered by them.

[Mandrake50]

@jon_slider

Im glad most people are not aware, or bothered by them.

I am (was) one of these. For the first time yesterday I noticed the blip while ramping from low levels. I guess it is not a big deal for me. Having not seen it before…but the D3AA just doesn’t get that much use. Like @dmenezes , I use my original black V1.as my go To EDC light. It has been in my pocket pretty much every day for around 3 years by now.
The D3AA definitely has advantages, but they don’t make up for the benefits I find in using the TS10.

[dmenezes]

@jon_slider

btw, I placed an order for a couple of mcpcb from Zwerglein… hopefully you and I will both manage the swap without drama

Yep, I certainly hope so – my TiTS10 does deserve better LEDs!

I got my MCPCB from @Zwerglein02 a couple of days ago, and it’s a work of art – Lucas certainly knows what he’s doing!

Also got a new soldering iron (the Sequre S99, highly recommended and capable of running opensource IronOS to boot) which should be more than up to the task.

In the last few days, I’ve been practising soldering/desoldering with the S99 on a couple of scrap PCBs (from broken electronics, etc) I had around, so I can be up to the task too. I should be ready to proceed in a couple of days more.

Here’s to everything going according to plan

[dmenezes]

@Mandrake50

Like @dmenezes , I use my original black V1.as my go To EDC light. It has been in my pocket pretty much every day for around 3 years by now.
The D3AA definitely has advantages, but they don’t make up for the benefits I find in using the TS10.

TBH I was still forcing myself to EDC the D3AA – waiting for it to complete 3 months so I can offer a complete assessment of it vs the TS10v1.

In fact I just noticed I completed those 3 months a couple of days ago – so now I can go ahead and finish my assessment.

Will post it here in BLF when it’s done, and then the D3AA will go to the shelf and the TS10 will go right back into my EDC kit.