[Review] 77 Outdoors D25 Headlamp (18650)

gchart · 2019-04-24T04:12:13.000Z

Thanks for the heads-up, Barry. That UI sounds a lot better. It would be nice if Low could be lower than 70 lumens, but still a big improvement.

Also… Any news on the upcoming SP40A/B?

pc_light · 2019-05-01T00:21:37.000Z

gchart:

JasonWW:

Gchart, what do you charge for an MCU with RampingIOS?

Should I take my D10 apart and verify what the driver looks like? …

…The only thing I have done is swap the MCU. Since it appears that the D10 driver is slightly different, unsoldering the MCU and snapping a decent pic of where the traces are running would help confirm if and changes are needed for the firmware (pin reassignments).

Here is a photo of the latest driver (with original MCU still soldered) from a D10 I recently purchased. This particular D10 uses the same driver version as the D25 I have. The only differences being the current limiting resistors used (1 vs 0.68 Ohms)

It would seem that the circuit and MCU difference are as a result of the headlamp release versions (ver:01 vs ver:03) rather than the headlamp model (D25 vs D10) itself.

The good news, as far as I can tell gChart’s MCU RampingIOS upgrade works fine with this D10! The bad news, there’s no way of telling externally whether a given D10 (or perhaps even D25) will work with a new MCU.

FWIW, both of the headlamps that worked with the MCU upgrade (T02-A VER:03) were purchased within the past 2-months.

Edit: The D10 with ver:03 driver that works with the gChart MCU upgrade was from the Official Boruit Store on AE.

gchart · 2019-04-30T04:17:46.000Z

Interesting! Thanks for the update. And glad the MCU swap is working well for you

So if it’s just a matter of driver versions and not D10 vs D25, that does make things a bit less predictable. But on the plus side, the driver is labeled where you can see it by just removing the switch cover. No need for a full tear down to find out which version you’ve got. Also worth noting, Flail’s “VER: 01” also seems to have physical debounce resistor+capacitor on the switch side. They must have eliminated that (using firmware debouncing?) in later versions.

Edit: link to where you got your D10? I know there’s plenty around, but it might be handy to know who is selling one with the newer driver.

pc_light · 2019-05-02T00:43:06.000Z

Just for the heck of it, here’s a video of the D10 Ramping (I’ll remove if it gets annoying or takes up too much bandwidth) -

The reason there’s no blue or green tint shift in the beam -> the emitter’s a Nichia 219B 4000K

gchart · 2019-05-01T01:45:03.000Z

Nice!

gchart · 2019-05-01T05:16:57.000Z

After chatting with pc_light a bit about this idea, I added switch LEDs to the D25 tonight… quick and dirty style.

The switch detection pin is pulled high at the MCU using the internal ~35 kOhm pull-up resistor (at least on my transplanted attiny412). So… I just piggy-backed that and stretched 0805 LEDs across each side of the tactile switch.

At first I tried green LEDs, but it acted like the switch was constantly being pressed, which I was concerned might happen. I think the vF of the green was low enough that the MCU was detecting the ground. I switched to blue LEDs and voila! It’s currently acting like it should. Who’s to say if it has any long term effects.

PS - stretching the solder to the 0805’s was tedious. If you have slightly larger ones available (1206?) you might try those.

PPS - the clear tailcap I used is 14x6mm, item #S024947 at Kaidomain.

pc_light · 2019-05-01T05:15:00.000Z

gChart you are turning these D10/D25’s into must have budget headlamps

What’s the mA draw?

gchart · 2019-05-01T05:20:02.000Z

I haven’t measured yet, but with the resistance being around 35 kOhm, I would suspect that the LEDs themselves are only sipping around 0.05mA.

Edit: look there, I just hit 1500 posts. Woohoo!

skinny_tie · 2019-05-01T08:01:00.000Z

gchart:

After chatting with pc_light a bit about this idea, I added switch LEDs to the D25 tonight… quick and dirty style.

The switch detection pin is pulled high at the MCU using the internal ~35 kOhm pull-up resistor (at least on my transplanted attiny412). So… I just piggy-backed that and stretched 0805 LEDs across each side of the tactile switch.

Sofirn should have hired you to design their improved D25.

Wieselflinkpro · 2019-05-02T10:01:10.000Z

Its a pity.
Yesterday I wanted to solder the Attiny from gchart. But I have Rev1 and it didn’t work.
Once I connect the battery it switches on at low level. After (not while) I pressed the switch it dimms down to lowes mode. And there is no way to make it brighter or switch it off.

Some Quotes for reference:

gchart:

Uh oh. Glad you pointed this out, Jason. Glad I haven’t sent out too many MCU’s… they’ll need to check which version of the driver they have.

Here’s mine (D25) with the MCU removed. It appears to be the same layout as Tom_E’s

JasonWW:

Wow, this is a good thread. I wish I had found it earlier.

Someone said earlier that the D25 and D10 had the same driver.

Here is Tom E’s stock D25 driver. - - - - - - Here is Flail’s stock D10 driver.

Note the dot on the chip.

The pcb layout looks the same. Maybe these are different chips and the dot has a different meaning for each chip? I really don’t know.

JasonWW:

The pin on the upper right in the driver pics looks like it goes to Batt Neg on both drivers.

Tom’s D25 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Flail’s D10

Different revisions

alpg88 · 2019-12-08T18:48:06.000Z

i’m glad i found this thread, i have several d10s and d25s, i know this thread is mostly about modding the driver, d25 seems to me is completely out of focus, i removed reflectors, and installed a poly window instead, turning it into a mule, works great, would be better if it was not so blue, but i can live with it, i think d10 is much better light, focuses right, does not heat up as much, needs no thermal regulation, with stock driver, and you can easy replace a led… but i have a question about the bracket itself, i lost mine, (actually i did not, my cat chewed it up) i tried one from ZL and skilhunt, the light can be forced it, but they flex, you can’t turn it so it stays in that position , not without 1 hand holding a bracket and another twisting the light, and they have no ability for light to be removed in half a second, as original does. anyone knows where to get spare? i’d 3d print one, if i could design a stl, i can adjust an stl file, but can’t make one from scratch. a can do a blueprint on paper easy.

gchart · 2019-12-08T18:54:30.000Z

Short of buying a new headlamp with a strap or using a generic rubber-ring strap, I’m not sure what to say

I have a 3D printer as well and am pretty decent at design, but I just got rid of my D25 so I can’t measure dimensions.

alpg88 · 2019-12-08T18:59:10.000Z

this is my d25 mule.

if anyone needs spare reflectors i have 2.

alpg88 · 2019-12-08T19:16:12.000Z

gchart:

I have a 3D printer as well and am pretty decent at design, but I just got rid of my D25 so I can’t measure dimensions.

in that case i have a business proposition for you, i’ll send you a brand new d25, i have one nib. (i got several, they make decent presents) would you be willing to make an stl, and post it here so anyone can download it, and print one if they need? make one with your name on it so everyone who prints knows who designed. brackets are identical for d10 d20 d25.

gchart · 2019-12-09T02:44:46.000Z

I’d be up for that, but if you have calipers, how about we call that Plan B?

If you can, take a couple good pics of the holder and a few dimensions (tube diameter, distance between, ring opening gaps, finger thickness, etc). I could take a stab or two with that and if worse came to worse, then pass one along

alpg88 · 2019-12-09T03:24:21.000Z

Excellent. i’ll send you a caliper too. i think this will benefit many on this forum.
Now there are 2 types of holders, older one was holding better, newer one is loose, its grips are thinner, base portion of the old one had double curve, newer one is single, which is perfectly fine, after heating grips with a heat gun, (got to be careful not to overheat or they start bubbling, still works thou) and bending them in tiny bit, they hold as good as old one, if not better than old one, i may still have 1 old holder somewhere, if i do i’ll post pics so you can see the difference. we’ll probably better off opening new thread for that, once you get my package. pm me where to send it, and i’ll drop it off in a few days.
i like this design a lot better than silicone holder of ZL, or skilhant, and others, you can pop the light out in half a second, and just as fast put it in. ideally i’d like to replace my zl, and h02 holders with these. but will talk about it more in dedicated thread.

gchart · 2019-12-09T04:08:40.000Z

Woah, sorry… I meant if you have calipers, how about you just send me some measurements for now to see if we can get one created that way. I’ve got a decent set of calipers. I’m just looking for pics and dimensions

alpg88 · 2019-12-09T05:22:57.000Z

I took all measurements, but not all are critical, as you see they made some parts thinner, and hollow, i guess to save on plastic, no need to do so in our case. also it is made of molded abs i assume, not sure if printed one will be just as strong, maybe some thin parts need to be thicker, idk.

alpg88 · 2019-12-09T05:26:19.000Z

oh and the radius of the bend, of the base is around 150mm, i compared it to a 1 foot diameter circle, curves match, but that isn’t critical dimension,

pc_light · 2019-12-09T05:34:21.000Z

Maybe add a third loop/slit for optional over the top headbands?