Hexbright Open source flashlight

AardvarkSagus

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Hey, I just found out about an interesting concept flashlight that looks imminent. It's called Hexbright. Their major claim is to be an open source flashlight. I've got a little idea what that would end up looking like, but what are the thoughts of this expert community?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-open-source-light

Kind of a cross between the Nextorch MyTorch and the ArmyTek Predator, but with more customization?
 

Cataract

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Very interesting. I'm not crazy about PWM, but hopefully he'll go for a high enough frequency. I've been thinking about something like that for a while now...
 

ma_sha1

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nice flexibility concepts, I am not crazy about the design, looks kind like a certain section of the intestine...
 

hexbright

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Thank you for looking at the Hexbright and for your opinions,

We are in the development process of the open source design and would am interested in any and all feedback regarding the light. You are correct about the PWM light control but we can easily keep the period high enough for it not to be an issue. And because the software will be completely open source that is something that could be adjusted by the end user as well up to the maximum timer resolution on the uC.

We have been kicking around the exterior design continuously. There are tons of trade-offs to be made in order for the light to accommodate the necessary electronics to make it USB rechargeable and programmable. Also, like someone said we want this light to be set apart from an all ready diverse market.

Please keep the comments and suggestions rolling!! We are taking them all into consideration on the final design of the Hexbright Flex light.

Thanks again,
Terry Cooke
Mechanical and Electrical Engineer
Hexbright
 
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I tried to make a pledge in support, but couldn't connect to the pledge server from my company internet address. (There may be some site blocking going on here.) I'll try again at home, later tonight.
 

Greta

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I'm curious what will happen to the pledged funds should the goal not be met and the project doesn't go forward? Will pledgers get their money back? I'm sorry folks... but I cannot condone this... not with all of the information out there regarding pre-paids gone bad. This is creative, I'll admit... but it just doesn't set right with me. Of course you are all free to do as you wish on your own but I cannot let CPF support this.

Thread closed.
 

robzr

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Hexbright

I'm considering investing in a Hexbright Flex, and was curious what the thoughts of those "in the know" on this forum are, regarding the quality and spec's of the LED, regulation & charging circuits, form factor etc.

I've avoided 18650s in the past, but since this light has a built in charger that charges off any USB source, I can overlook the 18650. I would be worried about water resistance given that there must be a USB port on it.

I believe it has PWM which is inferior to current regulation from what I understand, how big of a drawback would you guys consider that?

I don't keep up to date on LED tech, they claim 500 lumens on a XM-L-T6 bin 1C driven at 1.6 amps - is that realistic, or is that marketing/overestimating?

Any other thoughts on how this light may compare with the competition in the $60 price range? Personally I don't really care about the programming, just want something well made and bright.

Rob
 

Greta

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Re: Hexbright

I have re-opened this thread for the discussion of the flashlight. The merits (or lack thereof) of the method used to fund this project (Kickstarter) are not up for discussion here on CPF and it should be noted that CPF does not support or condone what amounts to fundraising and/or pre-pay programs such as this. Should this project go awry and/or problems arise, CPF will not play mediator or be liable for any transactions that may or may not take place between the parties involved in the project.

Any subsequent threads started on this topic will be merged with this one.
 

jhc37013

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Re: Hexbright

*Contents removed by Greta...

Please address questions of this type on the Kickstarter website blog. I will reiterate what I posted in my post directly above this one...

"for the discussion of the flashlight"
 
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the.Mtn.Man

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Re: Hexbright

Releasing an open source product into the "wild" is a noble enough concept I suppose, but unless a critical mass of people adopt the light and have an interest in designing software for it, you could very well find yourself in a year with a programmable flashlight with stock settings because nobody bothered designing any new or interesting firmware for it.
 

houtex

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I like the desisn, reminds me of a kubaton. I'm also a sucker for color variations.
Still, I could see myself owning one.
What type anodizing? Lens material? reflector type?
 

robzr

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Re: Hexbright

Releasing an open source product into the "wild" is a noble enough concept I suppose, but unless a critical mass of people adopt the light and have an interest in designing software for it, you could very well find yourself in a year with a programmable flashlight with stock settings because nobody bothered designing any new or interesting firmware for it.

Yeah, the term "open source" is a bit ambiguous, they don't really clarify on their website. Completely open source would mean (to me), the controller OS would be released in source form, so perhaps other manufacturers/hobbyists could use it along with some off-the-shelf microprocessors (PICs maybe?) to control their lighting products. Doing this would really help ensure a lot of people would use it, and give the OS a lot of traction, and I'd imagine could be very popular. It could become a very cool platform.

If by "open source", they just mean a program profile which can be created and shared, then it sounds neat but I'd agree, once you program it once or twice, people are probably going to get bored and move on.

Personally I'd like to see something like a RS-232 over USB text based interface, as it would be cross platform, wouldn't require any special software, yet could interface with software easily.

Rob
 

AardvarkSagus

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Re: Hexbright

Yeah, I really hope that something like this will be a flashlight OS that keeps getting used down the line or it will really be just a niche system limited to this one generation of lights. USB Chargeable and programmable though is something that I am quite intrigued with, which my fascination with the Nextorch MyTorch shows.
 
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Cataract

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Re: Hexbright

I have thought about such a light no more than a year ago and I'm glad someone is doing it for real. I do agree that once you set it up the way you want you might not reprogram it again, but it means that everyone ends up with exactly the modes they wanted in their preferred order. I wish that once the product starts moving, he comes up with different interfaces (control ring, head twist, etc.) with even more advanced programming possibilities, like combos (ex. turn it on lossen/tighten bezel and off/on then tighten or lossen or whatever combo). I don't know if this guy knows about CPF, but he definitely should open a manufacturer account on the market place.
 

jorn

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Re: Hexbright

One way to make people reprogram it, is to make a light that can swap emitter's with no soldering. Something that clamps a led+star down directly on the host and gives it power. Make it able to deliver hi amp + easy, no tool emitterswap. It will make cpf users go nuts everytime a new more powerful led arrives:party: Something like this might beat the popularity of the p60 standard and get the ball rolling. Lumenjunkies will burn alot of small overdriven led's for sure, but it would be fun with total control on the "amp button" :devil: Pepole that dont want to program or experiment with their new led+star will serch for a safe program.
 

hexbright

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Thank you everyone for all of the feedback!

This is a quick response to a few of the questions raised in the post.

1) The light will contain a USB->Serial converter and a serial interface to make it cross platform compatible as robzr suggested. The serial interface will allow you to change some constants and add/subtract modes. But most of the flexibility will come from completely reprogramming the light.

2) The microcontroller will contain a boo-tloader which will allow complete reprogramability via the same USB->Serial interface with no extra tools.

3) The tools used to program will be completely open source. Most likely the Atmel Atmega/Attiny tools such as WinAVR for windows and AVR-GCC for linux/mac.

Thank you for your questions and feedback and keep them coming!

Terry Cooke
Mechanical/Electrical Engineer
Hexbright
terry[at]hexbright.com
 

robzr

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I'm not familiar with Atmel / AVR, but some quick browsing looks like that would provide a C compiler. Does that mean you guys would release a full working controller source code to the public that we could modify as we wish? That could be very cool, and far more accessible than pure assembler.

- Would there be a way to read the temperature and control output of the light based on that, or would the overheating protection be hardware based?

- Any chance of a GPIO (or two) either over the mini/micro-usb that could be broken out with a cable, or as a dedicated, perhaps 3/32" plug? If so, that would really make the programmable nature of this popular, as one could devise third (or first) party accessories that do all kinds of things, like motion triggers, alarm interfaces, macro or high speed photography camera interfacing, etc. If the rear cap unscrewed and the power button worked on GPIO, then it would just be a matter of offering different rear caps with different sorts of triggers, twist on, push, motion detection, sound detection, etc.

A sound detection cap, combined with multi colored LED and programmable response could make these very cool devices for partys/clubs/raves :)


- Is it going to support "enhanced" USB based 1000ma or 2000ma current ala the iPad? There is documentation online that explains how Apple does the negotiation to see if the host can supply that, based on resistance on some of the pins I think, and I think it's done without breaking the USB standard. But given all the (well designed, and compact) Apple chargers on the market and in peoples hands already, it would be nice.

Hey and while you're at it, maybe the iPhone can dock with it too and then you guys can write a GUI IDE on the iPhone for programming & flashing. Thats not asking too much right???? :D Just kidding. Sorry to bombard you with questions, but this is interesting.

Rob
 

Cataract

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Excellent ideas right there! I like the motion detection, and why not timer control (internal and/or external)? I would also love to see a flashlight on which I could program the color(s) I want along with the modes.

I'm not expecting any of this in your first production batch, but that would definitely be a first :huh:
 
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Thujone

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Not sure how I missed this one. Just decided to jump on board, seems like it could be a fun project. Here is to hoping for a high PWM rate...
 
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