I am slowly starting to like the touchscreen operation without additional toggles when I think about it. It might be the smartest way to go with no extra design hassle. Anyways, you guys should decide it without listening to me too much. I don't have the same level of knowledge of the design. Just throwing ideas.
The Nightsword project
- Thread starter get-lit
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get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'm certain that a physical switch would be required for a MIL-SPEC light, which I will make at some point. What I'd like to assess is whether or not we want the CPF version to be geared for MIL-SPEC or for clean streamlined design and ease of use. Can we get a consensus on this either way?
Non-Mil-Spec, clean lines, high techno-look for me.
HKJ
Flashaholic
With an external battery pack I would not worry that much about an master switch, if something goes wrong you can always disconnect the battery pack.
What I am missing in your description is some sort of off mode, where the power consumption is very low and the display is off.
I do not know the hardware you are using, but would it be possible to turn the display off and put the processor into sleep for a very low power consumption, then each other second wake up and check the touch, if a hand is detected, then turn the display on. The buttons on the display will not work before you have removed the hand from the display.
This way you have to place a hand on the display for a few seconds, when you take the light, to activate the user interface.
What I am missing in your description is some sort of off mode, where the power consumption is very low and the display is off.
I do not know the hardware you are using, but would it be possible to turn the display off and put the processor into sleep for a very low power consumption, then each other second wake up and check the touch, if a hand is detected, then turn the display on. The buttons on the display will not work before you have removed the hand from the display.
This way you have to place a hand on the display for a few seconds, when you take the light, to activate the user interface.
get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Makes it very easy when everyone agrees like this.
There's not much need for an off button for the display. There will be two separate user-configurable delays for the display to shut off on its own... one delay for when the light is on, and one for the delay when the light is off. When the delay is tripped while the light is off, the display's controller board will also go into a deep sleep mode, able to just conduct touch signals to the main controller board. The main controller board will have to remain on, and it consumes .25W. Like I mentioned, the ballast also consumes 2 to 3 watts. I was told that and haven't checked it myself. I would need to make a solder connection to put it into sleep mode and that would made it more difficult for the tests I was doing. I'm optimistic that 2 to 3 watts was a rough guess, and the actual consumption could be much less.
I also agree with going with the sleek design. A mil-spec version probably wouldn't even have a display, but rather the uber expensive physical controls from Otto.
There's not much need for an off button for the display. There will be two separate user-configurable delays for the display to shut off on its own... one delay for when the light is on, and one for the delay when the light is off. When the delay is tripped while the light is off, the display's controller board will also go into a deep sleep mode, able to just conduct touch signals to the main controller board. The main controller board will have to remain on, and it consumes .25W. Like I mentioned, the ballast also consumes 2 to 3 watts. I was told that and haven't checked it myself. I would need to make a solder connection to put it into sleep mode and that would made it more difficult for the tests I was doing. I'm optimistic that 2 to 3 watts was a rough guess, and the actual consumption could be much less.
I also agree with going with the sleek design. A mil-spec version probably wouldn't even have a display, but rather the uber expensive physical controls from Otto.
get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've removed the sliders for the settings and ignite buttons. Also made the fonts as bold as possible while still fitting, and added a border around the thumb slider...
With housing (top view)...
EDIT: I updated the colors of the meters to give them more color contrast to distinguish them more, while still keeping with warm colors.
With housing (top view)...
EDIT: I updated the colors of the meters to give them more color contrast to distinguish them more, while still keeping with warm colors.
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I'm just barely keeping up with all the updates here but I think it would be really nice without physical button as well.
P.S. I really like that border around the slider switch too. Nice touch Get-lit :thumbsup:
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get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks Patriot.
Here's the settings menu, it navigates through multiple pages to accommodate all of the settings while keeping the buttons large enough to use with gloves. I chose to go with the menu navigation buttons centered on the bottom for ambidexterity. All pages other than the home page will have the same bottom navigation, with NEXT and PREV displayed where appropriate...
EDIT: I've attempted to place the more frequently used functions toward the beginning of the list.
Again, sticking with warm colors, blue will be reserved for alerts.
Here's the settings menu, it navigates through multiple pages to accommodate all of the settings while keeping the buttons large enough to use with gloves. I chose to go with the menu navigation buttons centered on the bottom for ambidexterity. All pages other than the home page will have the same bottom navigation, with NEXT and PREV displayed where appropriate...
EDIT: I've attempted to place the more frequently used functions toward the beginning of the list.
Again, sticking with warm colors, blue will be reserved for alerts.
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Looking really great!
get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've updated the colors... the various objects are hopping around the compliments of blue to give more color contrast while sticking with warm colors, and will nicely compliment the blueish tint to the beam.
EDIT: Images updated.. Some minor tweaks to accommodate the display program... The text on the display that the controller board needs to update isn't anti-aliased and looks bad when italicized without anti-aliasing, so the time will not be italics.
Update-able text also needs more space around it than static text, and so now the watts won't fit under the 100%. I don't want to shorten the gauges to make more room because I want to keep them at 100 pixels high so that they move in unison with the percentages.
The point is, I've had to make the word "POWER" a button that can be clicked to interchange between displaying the power as a percentage and as a wattage.
EDIT: Images updated.. Some minor tweaks to accommodate the display program... The text on the display that the controller board needs to update isn't anti-aliased and looks bad when italicized without anti-aliasing, so the time will not be italics.
Update-able text also needs more space around it than static text, and so now the watts won't fit under the 100%. I don't want to shorten the gauges to make more room because I want to keep them at 100 pixels high so that they move in unison with the percentages.
The point is, I've had to make the word "POWER" a button that can be clicked to interchange between displaying the power as a percentage and as a wattage.
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get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Ok so here we go again... I wanted to keep the operational buttons (STROBE, ANIMATE, LOW) grouped away from the SETTING button, so I located the settings button on the other side. I made more room by removing the words SPOT and FLOOD since that's not really needed. I wanted to keep the main screen clear for the operational functions, so that you're not inadvertently touching other crap. So I removed the brightness slider. That freed up just enough room to add the settings button to the right.
I renamed SETTINGS to SETUP because it's shorter and can be a larger font for legibility. Same with ANIMATE, now PLAY. Same with STROBE, now FLASH. It's technically more of a flash frequency anyhow. The additional room for FLASH, PLAY, LOW allows them to be larger and more individually isolated. It's much easier to vertically navigate three buttons with the thumb than four buttons, especially if you want to do it without looking. Overall less cluttered and easier to use.
I renamed SETTINGS to SETUP because it's shorter and can be a larger font for legibility. Same with ANIMATE, now PLAY. Same with STROBE, now FLASH. It's technically more of a flash frequency anyhow. The additional room for FLASH, PLAY, LOW allows them to be larger and more individually isolated. It's much easier to vertically navigate three buttons with the thumb than four buttons, especially if you want to do it without looking. Overall less cluttered and easier to use.
London Lad
Flashlight Enthusiast
I think the display / controls look great now.
I do have to say that I would prefer them to have a physical switch too but I'm just old fashioned.
I would probably buy a Mil-spec version with no display if it were available. Displays and touch controls are just more to fail or get damaged IMHO but I'm obviously in the minority
I do have to say that I would prefer them to have a physical switch too but I'm just old fashioned.
I would probably buy a Mil-spec version with no display if it were available. Displays and touch controls are just more to fail or get damaged IMHO but I'm obviously in the minority
get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
I would have felt the same but one of my favorite little devices is my Garmin Edge 800 GPS for cycling. It uses a resistive touch screen and it's rock solid.
Grr.. I ran into another issue. I printed the display on paper and taped it above the handle. Found out the thumb needs to be able to extend to the top of the screen, and the thumb gets less comfortable sliding past 2/3 the way down the screen. The thumb prefers a shorter sliding distance than I had thought. At least my thumb anyways. So I re-arranged the display in order to have the thumb slider at the top and to shorten the slider height. I used an inverted triangle in the space below to help signify the slider as a flood adjustment. Inside the triangle is the degrees of beam spread. I will have to create a setting for entering whether or not the lamp is a super short arc version or not for this reading. It makes about a 1/2-degree difference, not very significant in flood, but more-so in spot. The run-time is moved to the bottom.
EDIT: I notice the triangle seems to have a mirror effect with the warning symbols on the opposite end of the handle.
Grr.. I ran into another issue. I printed the display on paper and taped it above the handle. Found out the thumb needs to be able to extend to the top of the screen, and the thumb gets less comfortable sliding past 2/3 the way down the screen. The thumb prefers a shorter sliding distance than I had thought. At least my thumb anyways. So I re-arranged the display in order to have the thumb slider at the top and to shorten the slider height. I used an inverted triangle in the space below to help signify the slider as a flood adjustment. Inside the triangle is the degrees of beam spread. I will have to create a setting for entering whether or not the lamp is a super short arc version or not for this reading. It makes about a 1/2-degree difference, not very significant in flood, but more-so in spot. The run-time is moved to the bottom.
EDIT: I notice the triangle seems to have a mirror effect with the warning symbols on the opposite end of the handle.
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Looking good! Can you refresh us on the Super Short Arc lamp versus a non-Super version. Will it be an option and if so, what will the differences in Lumens, arc gap, minimum beam degrees, lamp life and other differences be?
Don't take this negatively. I'm just curious in your thinking of the inverted triangle. I like the fact that you slide forward for the narrowest beam but with my brains' initial interpretation of the triangle graphic, I would tend to think that I would slide to the back - towards the triangles' narrowest point, to get the narrowest beam.
What is the anticipated "flash" rate and will it have a negative effect on lamp life?
Don't take this negatively. I'm just curious in your thinking of the inverted triangle. I like the fact that you slide forward for the narrowest beam but with my brains' initial interpretation of the triangle graphic, I would tend to think that I would slide to the back - towards the triangles' narrowest point, to get the narrowest beam.
What is the anticipated "flash" rate and will it have a negative effect on lamp life?
get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Tough crowd, love it! Will have to get back to you on the super short arc. I've been advised flash mode does not have negative affect on the lamp to be a big concern, but it may have some affect on lamp life if used all of the time. I also do not know the frequency as of yet.
Here you go... the height and angle of the triangle animates with the slide action.
The animated triangle is not to scale with the actual beam angle.
The angles are emphasized to help illustrate the widening of the beam in flood.
Full Spot...
Mid Flood...
Full Flood...
Mid Flood w/Housing (Top View)...
EDIT: By the way, it's important to note that the beam spread touch slider does not have to be used just as a slide action. It can also simply be touched at any point within the slider and the beam will quickly go there.
Also, to include the ability to maintain time when the light is unplugged, as well as include known date and time functions, I would have to use a Real Time Clock add-on board with a lithium watch battery. I don't think this is necessary, so I'm probably going to forgo the recording "Last Air Flow Fault: Date/Time" and "Last Fan Fault: Date/Time" and as well as setting [Time Limit To Restore Master Password].
Here you go... the height and angle of the triangle animates with the slide action.
The animated triangle is not to scale with the actual beam angle.
The angles are emphasized to help illustrate the widening of the beam in flood.
Full Spot...
Mid Flood...
Full Flood...
Mid Flood w/Housing (Top View)...
EDIT: By the way, it's important to note that the beam spread touch slider does not have to be used just as a slide action. It can also simply be touched at any point within the slider and the beam will quickly go there.
Also, to include the ability to maintain time when the light is unplugged, as well as include known date and time functions, I would have to use a Real Time Clock add-on board with a lithium watch battery. I don't think this is necessary, so I'm probably going to forgo the recording "Last Air Flow Fault: Date/Time" and "Last Fan Fault: Date/Time" and as well as setting [Time Limit To Restore Master Password].
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Now THAT is really getting fancy!! I love the changing angle of the bar. But....always gotta be a but...my brain is telling me that if i move the slider forward, the beam angle will get wider even though i know differently. What if you inverted the bar so that the front of the bar would get narrower as the slider is moved forward. I guess that would require the rearward part of the bar to get narrower as the slider is moved forward. Im actually having a hard time seeing the animation in my mind. Maybe this....in full flood the bar is a short and blunt triangle. As the slider moves forward, the triangle gets longer and has a sharper angle until it becomes a narrow straight bar at max focus.
It's been an hour now and what you show above is making more sense to my brain now.
For my use, i would not need any real-time/date data
It's been an hour now and what you show above is making more sense to my brain now.
For my use, i would not need any real-time/date data
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get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Look at the animation below. Think of the yellow being the actual beam in the sky. The top position on the slider is full on spot. The bottom position is full flood. As the thumb slides from top to bottom, the beam widens and throws less far. It's like your pushing the beam down, covering less distance, but with a wider field of view. As the thumb slides back up, the beam narrows and throws further. It's like your extending the beam up covering more distance, but with a smaller field of view...
EDIT: Here's with the changing spot diameter highlighted in white, dimming as it widens...
EDIT: Here's with the changing spot diameter highlighted in white, dimming as it widens...
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get-lit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here's the inverted you mentioned...
This is as if the beam is pointed downward. I don't like how the beam in this diagram is facing opposite the direction the light.
Ideally this beam diagram would be above the slider, so that it could be pointing in the direction of the light. Because of this limitation, I have a tendency to prefer the first two animations. But I'm completely open to other opinions. Let me know what you think..
This is as if the beam is pointed downward. I don't like how the beam in this diagram is facing opposite the direction the light.
Ideally this beam diagram would be above the slider, so that it could be pointing in the direction of the light. Because of this limitation, I have a tendency to prefer the first two animations. But I'm completely open to other opinions. Let me know what you think..
