Owner’s Manual SPY 005 STFu MK1 V1 Driver (P4, XR-E)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Data

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
3,298
Location
PA, USA
Owner's Manual SPY 005 STFu MK1 V1 Driver (Seoul P4, Cree XR-E)


Quick Notes
introduction of STFu microprocessor controlled driver
titanium, Damascus and SS head and knob





2413783405_219073f727.jpg

Upper left is Seoul P4 emitter, Upper right is Lux 3 (not included in this type of SPY)





1) Quick start guide
2) Changing batteries
3) How to use the 005
4) Care and cleaning
5) Programming & the back door
7) Lanyard hole
8) Holsters
9) Run time chart
11) Battery Spring, O-Rings, and Tritium Markers
12) Technical Specifications
13) Problems
14) Warranty




2414608516_3d3df46b5e.jpg





1) Quick start guide
If your light came with batteries installed, you can simply turn it on by twisting the little round knob. Never look directly or let anybody look directly into such a powerful light - it gets very bright and can hurt your eyes.

The SPY knob (switch) clicks into 7 discrete locations. They are positions zero through six. Looking at the knob from the front of the light (the LED end), the knob functions like a standard volume control, rotating the knob all the way in the CCW direction till it stops, is the "Off" position (zero position). Rotating the knob CW turns the light "ON". The off switch setting is referred to as position 0. Switch setting 1 is the lowest power setting, setting 2 is higher, and so it goes all the way to full power with setting 6. There is a stop at Off and a stop at full power, meaning you cannot spin the knob all the way around 360 degrees.

If you tried to turn the light on and nothing happened, then it is because the light does not have batteries in it. Please see section 2 on how to change batteries. All SPY flashlights are shipped without batteries installed.


2) Changing batteries
If your light has batteries in it and you push on the tiny battery release pin with the pointy lead end of a pencil or pen, the battery cap will pop off! Please hold your finger over the cap as you push the pin so it does not go flying.

If your light does not have batteries in it and you push on the tiny battery release pin, the battery cap will DO NOTHING. It will not come off. You have to pull it off while pushing on the pin at the same time. Please be careful not to drop the battery cap in this process. It helps to have three hands when doing this. The battery cap goes on smoothly when it is aligned with the two hook pins on the body. It becomes easy to do if you play with it. There is a mark on the body by the lanyard hole to show you how to align the battery cap (if you take the battery cap off the light and rotate it 180 degrees and try to put it back on, it will not fit on).

After you have been using the light for some time, if you notice that power level 6 (high) and power level 5 are at the same brightness then it is time to replace the batteries. The SPY uses CR-123 lithium primary batteries. Cool Fall recommends that you use Surefire batteries in the SPY. Only use two new batteries in the SPY (two bats that have the same voltage level). Never use one old battery and one new battery; never never never. The SPY will operate on rechargeable RCR-123 batteries.

When you are putting the batteries in the light please observe that they have polarity. On the battery that goes behind the LED, please put the "+" end in first. The other battery goes in with the "-" end in first. The battery cap must be pushed straight on. If it gets crooked it will stick and you have to take it off and start again. You can not hurt the light by putting the batteries in the wrong way. When changing batteries use power-up-0; the switch set to the off position by turning the knob fully counter-clockwise when facing the flat top of the knob (see Section 5 for more info).

The SPY005 comes with two small beads which can be put on the lanyard and used to open the battery cap. To install a bead, first remove the lanyard. Then using dental floss, string the bead on the lanyard loop and slide it all the way up till it hits the plastic. Then using the floss again, string the lanyard back into the light. The bead will always be there when you want to pop the battery cap pin. Just place the bead right on top of the release pin and push.


3) How to use the 005
The multiple power levels let you rapidly choose the amount of light you need for any given task. Picking a lower light level will prolong the battery life.

Getting the light out and rapidly spinning or flicking the switch to full "ON" is not only fun but it is a very fast way to turn on the SPY. We claim that it is the "fastest light in the West".

We can't say what is the "best" way to hold the SPY, there are several common ways. Some like the knob down with your fingers wrapping around the light and others like the knob on top. Some use fingers to spin the knob and others use the thumb. In either case it only takes one hand to use a SPY.

Battery consumption
Power levels 5 & 6 will use up batteries quickly. Therefore, if you are on a long trip with only one set of batteries, use the lower power levels as much as possible to conserve battery power.


4) Care and cleaning
Anodized aluminum is a hard surface but not so hard that it can't be scratched by just about any other metal. If you want your light to stay relatively new looking don't ever put it in a pocket with any other object especially another metal object. A simple and effective way to clean the light is to use a wet paper towel with a little dish soap like Dawn. Dry it with a soft cotton cloth like a T-shirt.


5) Programming & the back door
When you put batteries in the SPY and then snap the battery cap on, that will "power-up" the STFu processor on the converter board. We will refer to "powering-up or power up" many times in this tutorial. So to power-up the converter, simply replace the battery cap. Power-up does NOT necessarily imply turning on the LED, it simply powers the internal electronics. What position the switch is in when you power up the light, determines what mode the light will be put into. Normally you should keep the switch in the off position when changing the batteries. In this case the light works normally. This power-up-0 mode is the normal operating mode.

The back door to the light lets you into its various features. Any power-up other than power-up-0 is going into the back door. These features are described below. However, none of these things are required reading, if all you want to do is use the light as is, please skip to the next section in this manual.

So as an example of how to perform a Power Up 3 (PU-3): Take off the battery cap and set the knob to position 3 (that is three clicks from off) then replace the battery cap. That is it, you just did a PU-3.

For those of you interested in changing the power levels from the factory defaults, you will be learning to use the power-up-4 mode (PU-4). See below. The default factory power levels 1 to 6 are: 3mA, 30mA, 90-95mA, 240-250mA, 500mA, 1000mA.

Once the user levels are set the uP EEPROM saves the data and it never needs to be redone, even if the battery is removed or drains completely.

The Seoul P4 and Cree XR-E STFu 005's run firmware versions Rel 1.0

Quick guide to the various modes:

power-up-0 = normal change of batteries
power-up-1 = easter eggs
power-up-2 = candle flame easter egg #7
power-up-3 = factory reset and calibration
power-up-4 = lower a power level
power-up-5 = raise a power level
power-up-6 = full power on

power-up-0 : normal startup
This should be used for changing the batteries. When you perform a power-up-0 the LED will flash one time and then shut off.


power-up-1 : easter eggs
Hidden in the STFu are a few toys. This is intended for fun only. To get to the Easter Eggs on power-up-1, just play with it.

Execute a power-up-1 and then select level:
Lvl 1: SOS (too fast for Coast Guard code)
Lvl 2: Slow Blink
Lvl 3: Slow Pulse
Lvl 4: Locks Hz from set from lvl5 or lvl6
Lvl 5: Decreases Hz
Lvl 6: Increases Hz


power-up-2 : easter egg
to get to the Easter Egg on power-up-2 you should read these 4 hints. They were posted one a day for 4 days in a row. (July, Friday the 13th, 2005) gave the final Easter Egg hint #4.
Hints:
1) The easter egg is on power-up-2. :candle:
2) It rhymes with "SPY 00 5 midgets". :candle:
3) Don't forget your Euclidean plane geometry. :candle:
4) Baseball, hot dogs, apple ___ and Chevrolet.
BTW, the rhyme hint was "__ to 5 digits". Well there you go! :grin2:
Having trouble with the Easter Eggs? :p click here for the spoiler :p


power-up-3 : factory reset & calibration (CAL)
Perform a power-up-3 if:
-you have changed a power level and want to put the light back to its default settings
-your light is acting strangely
-you have modded the light and put in a new LED

When you perform a power-up-3, the LED starts a quick up and down sweeping for 10 seconds. This is just to let you know that it is about to run the CAL. After 10 seconds, it turns the LED on at about 100mA and starts getting dimmer. It will dim all the way down to the level 1's 2mA and then start raising the LED's output. It slowly records information as it converges on each power level. Once it gets to power level 6 it will start the quick up and down sweeping again for 5 seconds and then come on at power level 3.

When the CAL slowly sweeps through the power levels it records the Vf data and rates for your emitter. This calibration takes a couple minutes and requires new or strong batteries ( batteries that can run the light to the full 1000mA of power ). If you are performing a power-up-3 and the light appears stuck at a level and is flickering pick up the light and hold it in your hand for a few seconds. Remember, when the calibration is finished the light will sweep a few times and then come on to PL3. During a calibration the light does not read the switch position. So if you want to stop it you will have to pull the battery cap off.

power-up-4 : lower a power level
Once you do a power-up-4, you have nine seconds to move the switch to the power level you want to modify. During that nine seconds the LED is sweeping, it sweeps nine times. It does this just so you know you have time to move the knob. So move the knob to the power level you want to modify and wait for the rest of the nine seconds to pass. Watch and you will see the sweeping will cease and the LED will be on steady except every second it will flicker. Each time it flickers it will be a little dimmer. See the chart below to know how much dimmer it gets each time it flickers. When the LED gets to the power you desire simply turn the knob to the off position. At this point the light is back to the normal operating mode.
If after you adjust a few levels, you are not happy with how the light functions, perform a power-up-3.
FYI, Power level one is a voltage source level and can be adjusted all the way down till the LED appears off. it can be lowered till the LED light cannot be seen unless you are in a dark room and look directly into the reflector. It is dim even when compared with a micro tritium vial. In a pitch black room this is a fun thing to play with.


power-up-5 : raise a power level
The power-up-5 mode works the exact same way as the power-up-4 mode except each time the LED flickers, it is getting brighter.

As an example: Say you want to reduce the power of level 3 from the factory 90mA to a new value of 75mA. You take the battery cap off, then you set the knob to position 4, then you put the battery cap back on and then quickly (within nine seconds) move the knob to position 3. When the LED quits sweeping, it will be powered with exactly 90mA of current. Then count the number of times it flickers. When it has flickered 15 times, turn the knob to the off position. You are done.

If after changing a power level the light does not come on when you turn the knob, perform a power-up-0. If you get confused and the light is not doing what you think it should be doing, perform a power-up-3. This will reset the light to factory levels and do a calibration.

This chart shows how much each level changes each time the LED flickers and what range of adjustment you can perform:

Power______Level+/-_______Range
===================================
1__________<.1mA_________off to 100mA
2__________1mA___________5mA to 100mA
3__________1mA___________5mA to 100mA
4__________5mA___________50mA to 1250mA
5__________5mA___________50mA to 1250mA
6__________5mA___________50mA to 1250mA


power-up-6 : full power on
If you power up the light with the switch in position 6 the light will come on at full power. This is in case you do not remember where off is and happen to have the switch turned the wrong way. This would be called a power-up-6 and this mode is in all other ways, identical to the power-up-0 mode.


7) Lanyard hole
The concept is for this lanyard to aid in handling the light when it is in your hand. While holding the light and the strap at the same time you reduce the likelihood of dropping it. If you carry the light in a pocket the lanyard will last for at least a year then it may need to be replaced. If it does not look frayed, it is still very strong. When it starts to fray, replace it.

To put the lanyard on the SPY, you need 18" (40cm) dental floss. Put the floss through the hole in the light and then through the loop on the lanyard and then back through the hole in the light. Grab both ends of the floss in one hand and the big end of the lanyard in the other hand. Pull tight so that the lanyard loop pulls into a tight point. With the lanyard loop like this it will slide through the hole in the light with almost no effort. Make sure the lanyard loop is aligned properly to fit through the rectangular hole in the light; it only goes in one way. If you get it right it will not hurt the small loop end on the lanyard at all. To finish, thread the big end of the lanyard through the small end.

The supplied lanyard was designed to be minimalistic in your hand and your pocket. Besides the stock lanyard that is included with the SPY 005, there are many other options available, including buying pre-made lanyards from online stores or CandlePowerForums builders, or making your own.

If you want to tether the light around your neck, you are going to have to use a split ring. My recommendation is to use a small split ring and then put the para-cord right through the split ring.

lap1.jpg






8) Holsters
If you are going to use a holster make sure it is fixed to your belt in a way that it can not come off. Tether the light to your belt if need be.

The following are some options for holsters:
-RipOff's Holsters : www.ripoffs.com - The CO-192 or BL-192 for Belt loop is a perfect fit.


9) Run time chart
CandlePowerForums member chevrofreak's runtime plots for the SPY 005 (Luxeon III LED). It should be close to what the 005 would give for runtimes.


Spy2005level206.png




Spy2005all.png


11) Battery Spring, O-Rings, and Tritium Markers
Battery Spring
To replace the battery spring if it falls out, put the bottom half (end closest to the release pin opening) in first by twisting the spring in a counter-clockwise direction.




O-rings
Knob o-rings: The o-rings are very easy to take off with a wooden toothpick, just dig right under the o-ring and pry it up so you can roll it off. Putting them on is easy with the following trick. Wrap several inches of thread or dental floss around the outer groove to fill it up. Then put the first o-ring right on top of it. It will then be easy for the o-ring to be pushed/rolled over to the inner groove because it can't fall deep into the first groove. Take the thread off and put the next o-ring in the outer groove.

O-ring sizes:
Knob - Size 011, 5/16" ID and 1/16" diameter
Tailcap - Size 020, 1" English Size

Tritium
There are two slots where tritium markers can be epoxied in some of the 005s. The size of the markers should be 5mm x 1.5mm. Use a strong epoxy to glue the vials in - the most-used is Norland Optical Adhesive No.61, available from Edmund Optics, and occasionally available in smaller portions on CandlePowerForums. It's totally clear, very durable, and extremely strong. Another method used is nail polish - nail polish remover a.k.a. pure acetone will dissolve the nail polish and it will wipe right out, if there is anything left. Or, simply use superglue. Whatever the case, be cautious with tritium and take any measure you can in making it securely adhered to the SPY 005.



12) Technical Specifications

Material: 6061-T6 Aluminum
Weight: `100g w/ batteries
Dimensions: Approx. 3.05" by 1.55" by 0.95"
Batteries: Primary (3v) CR123A Lithiums, Lithium-Ion (3.0-4.2v) RCR123
LED: Seoul P4 -or- Cree XR-E (depending on which model SPY 005 you own)
Reflector: Seoul P4 - modified McR-18; Cree XR-E - McR-17 XR
Case: water resistant only, do not submerge
Off State: In its off state the STFu Driver Board consumes only ~5.8uA. This is so low that batteries can be left in the light for many years without being completely drained.


13) Problems
First and foremost, if your light acts up you need to replace the batteries with two brand new primary lithium batteries - preferably Surefire. Secondly, execute the CAL sequence (see power-up-3 in the programming section). Even if you did not think you changed the power levels (it can happen by accident). Thirdly, make sure there is no moisture inside the light. To do this open the light and set it in a warm place for 12 hours. A good place is on top of your computer monitor. If these steps do not remedy the problem please contact Cool Fall Inc.


14) Warranty
The 005 will have a 5 year warranty to the original purchaser of the light. There are a few exceptions due to abuse and leaking batteries. My intention is for the purchaser to enjoy the 005 and appreciate what went into its creation. If you like it, don't hesitate to EDC it, as the SPY is engineered to last.
The 005 is intrinsically designed to live through current LED technology and be upgradeable to newer emitters . Cool Fall does not offer upgrade services but a few of the CPF modders do. Please be advised that modding the light voids its warranty.





2413784481_9255860d40.jpg
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top