Designing an LED flashlight for Kickstarter
- Thread starter jashhash
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stephenk
Enlightened
The updated first page information and photos are great. Looking forward to this. Will deliveries be ready by Xmas?
Jannojj
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2015
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I would take one like the blue trit's in it and the Ti clip too , can wait for this one !
SA Condor
Enlightened
Alright folks,
I received a new LED driver today and put together another flashlight assembly. I discovered the source of the short now, it wasn't the solder pads like I had once thought, actually the short is caused by the reflector back making contact with the 4 front corners of the XM-L2 LED, apparently the front corners of this LED are electrically active. To resolve this I used tape to electrically isolate the reflector. I have 3 more LED drivers which will be hopefully coming in the mail tomorrow. Henry at Manker lights made a slight tweak to this driver again to get the firefly mode even lower, I would say the light output now on firefly mode is between .3lm to .5lm (with all battery types). I would like to send out this first sample to Gunga tomorrow for review. Here is a photo of what Gunga's samples look like, note that the switch boot is still glow-in-the-dark green though I will be having a batch of black ones made for the kickstarter campaign, so this is a slight difference between the prototype and final product. Gunga will also receive a dummy light with a titanium clip bolted on so he can review the clip for the CPF community as well.
Looking really good! Now I'm looking forward to the reviews to see how it performs in real life.
When do you think you'll launch on Kickstarter? Are you considering doing any kind of CPF Early bird special for those of us that have been following along since the beginning?!
jashhash
Enlightened
Hi Everyone, I have some good news and some bad news,
Bad news
I just had a chat with Henry from Manker and it seems making the sample LED drivers by hand is extremely time consuming. I just happened to ask Henry how long it takes to make a driver and his reply was that it takes 4 hours to make and program each driver sample. The driver board is really packed with chips and is a double decker board design so I can see how it might be so time consuming to hand solder each one. Anyways I felt bad about taking up all his time (he does have a business to run after all) making so many samples so I told him to just make 3 review samples. What this means is I can't accommodate all my reviewers here with a sneak peak sample. 1 sample has already been sent to Gunga and he should receive it in 4-5 days by DHL. That means I have 2 more samples that I can send out, one I would like to send to Harold_B since he has access to an integrating sphere, and the last one I will choose at random from my list of remaining reviewers. If the Kickstarter project looks like it's going to make the funding goal I will have Henry tool up the driver for production and have the remaining 3 review flashlights sent out mid-way through the campaign.
The Good News:
I have the video and layout ready now and will be launching the Kickstarter campaign at 12:00pm (NY time) this coming Tuesday (10/20/15). The campaign will run for 40 days and hope to see reviews here on CPF before the campaign is over. Please note that I can cancel the campaign at any time if there are any major problems discovered during the reviews. Canceling a project is free of charge to me and I can re-launch again at a later time if necessary. Also the content of the Kickstarter campaign may change slightly depending on what is discovered in the reviews. If there is any conflicting data such as lumen output or runtime I will be using the data provided by Harold_B. There will be 80 early bird specials available at the launch of the project so sign up quickly to reserve your discount. Just because you pledge doesn't mean you are committed however, so if after the reviews are out you decide the Firefly doesn't meet your quality standards you have the option to cancel your pledge. You are able to cancel your pledge at any time up till the last minute of the campaign. I hope your all as excited as I am, I just can't wait to finally get this project up and running.
Bad news
I just had a chat with Henry from Manker and it seems making the sample LED drivers by hand is extremely time consuming. I just happened to ask Henry how long it takes to make a driver and his reply was that it takes 4 hours to make and program each driver sample. The driver board is really packed with chips and is a double decker board design so I can see how it might be so time consuming to hand solder each one. Anyways I felt bad about taking up all his time (he does have a business to run after all) making so many samples so I told him to just make 3 review samples. What this means is I can't accommodate all my reviewers here with a sneak peak sample. 1 sample has already been sent to Gunga and he should receive it in 4-5 days by DHL. That means I have 2 more samples that I can send out, one I would like to send to Harold_B since he has access to an integrating sphere, and the last one I will choose at random from my list of remaining reviewers. If the Kickstarter project looks like it's going to make the funding goal I will have Henry tool up the driver for production and have the remaining 3 review flashlights sent out mid-way through the campaign.
The Good News:
I have the video and layout ready now and will be launching the Kickstarter campaign at 12:00pm (NY time) this coming Tuesday (10/20/15). The campaign will run for 40 days and hope to see reviews here on CPF before the campaign is over. Please note that I can cancel the campaign at any time if there are any major problems discovered during the reviews. Canceling a project is free of charge to me and I can re-launch again at a later time if necessary. Also the content of the Kickstarter campaign may change slightly depending on what is discovered in the reviews. If there is any conflicting data such as lumen output or runtime I will be using the data provided by Harold_B. There will be 80 early bird specials available at the launch of the project so sign up quickly to reserve your discount. Just because you pledge doesn't mean you are committed however, so if after the reviews are out you decide the Firefly doesn't meet your quality standards you have the option to cancel your pledge. You are able to cancel your pledge at any time up till the last minute of the campaign. I hope your all as excited as I am, I just can't wait to finally get this project up and running.
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
If I get chosen for the last review sample, I don't mind sending it to the next person after a short period. I'll put it through its paces in a short time, so more of us get a chance to give feedback
monanza
Flashlight Enthusiast
Glad it is 12 PM and not 12 AM. 
I'll be there for my fix. Nice job and hope you hit your funding goals and add Ti PVD perks! That is a gazillion options for the campaign and I see why you had to knock off a few.
I'll be there for my fix. Nice job and hope you hit your funding goals and add Ti PVD perks! That is a gazillion options for the campaign and I see why you had to knock off a few.
jashhash
Enlightened
Here goes... I'm going to roll a dice right now to see who gets the review light. If the roll ends up 1-2 then Amellia gets it, 3-4 then Nfetterly, lastly 5-6 KuanR:
And the roll is ................................................. 2!. That means Amellia has first dibs at the light. So Amelia would you like your sample light with or without trits, I still have Green, Yellow, and Orange available. Also since KuanR you live so close, perhaps we can meet up so you can take a look at the firefly before I send it off to Amellia, what do you think?
And the roll is ................................................. 2!. That means Amellia has first dibs at the light. So Amelia would you like your sample light with or without trits, I still have Green, Yellow, and Orange available. Also since KuanR you live so close, perhaps we can meet up so you can take a look at the firefly before I send it off to Amellia, what do you think?
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
That works, it would be easier to meet in Hong Kong if that works for you. Give me a date and I'll try to work around it.
I definitely want to see this in person loaded up with trits and play with the ui!
I definitely want to see this in person loaded up with trits and play with the ui!
jashhash
Enlightened
Hi KuanR,
I would like to meet with you soon but still haven't heard back from Amelia about what color trits he would like. I will just go ahead and install green trits in this one, hopefully he will be alright with this sample. My wife and I were actually thinking of going to Macao this Thursday or Friday since we've never been and were planning a visit soon. You live in Macao right, or would HK be more convenient? If HK is more convenient for you then Saturday would be the best time for me.
Also I'm still waiting for Kickstarters approval for the launch so I may have to delay a day untill I get that approval. If the project doesn't launch Tuesday at 12:00pm NY time then it will launch on Wednesday 12:00pm NY time.
I would like to meet with you soon but still haven't heard back from Amelia about what color trits he would like. I will just go ahead and install green trits in this one, hopefully he will be alright with this sample. My wife and I were actually thinking of going to Macao this Thursday or Friday since we've never been and were planning a visit soon. You live in Macao right, or would HK be more convenient? If HK is more convenient for you then Saturday would be the best time for me.
Also I'm still waiting for Kickstarters approval for the launch so I may have to delay a day untill I get that approval. If the project doesn't launch Tuesday at 12:00pm NY time then it will launch on Wednesday 12:00pm NY time.
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
I live in Macau right now. If you come to Macau on Thursday or Friday it would be best. My sister's wedding is on Saturday so I won't be able to make it to Hong Kong till next weekend.
I don't want to hold up the light from being sent out so I too would like to see is as soon as possible and give my feedback. I'll bring along some IMR 14500 to really fire up this light:devil:
I don't want to hold up the light from being sent out so I too would like to see is as soon as possible and give my feedback. I'll bring along some IMR 14500 to really fire up this light:devil:
jashhash
Enlightened
I will be putting a link to the kickstarter page once it has launched. Here is a preview link so you can see what the whole campaign looks like before it officially launches: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2112614854/1491490907?token=061ad766
jashhash
Enlightened
Hey Onthebeam, how long are you staying in HK?
As far as pricing after the kickstarter campaign, It's hard to answer a question like that. If this light doesn't meet it's funding goal there will never be an after kickstarter sale.
Alright folks, the approval process is finished this project goes live in 1/2 hour.
As far as pricing after the kickstarter campaign, It's hard to answer a question like that. If this light doesn't meet it's funding goal there will never be an after kickstarter sale.
Alright folks, the approval process is finished this project goes live in 1/2 hour.
SA Condor
Enlightened
What is the early bird special pricing going to be?
jashhash
Enlightened
Alright folks, the project just went live you can find it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2112614854/firefly-flashlight
If you scroll down towards the bottom you can see all the early bird price tiers.
If you scroll down towards the bottom you can see all the early bird price tiers.
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