5 ms·
The thing i see with flashlights is that the physical object is pretty complex and has to face thermal, power and environmental constraints that would destroy a
by nico_h 3y ago
The thing i see with flashlights is that the physical object is pretty complex and has to face thermal, power and environmental constraints that would destroy any keyboard.
Maybe it could start as a gut replacement for an existing cheap flashlight and grow from there.
- dotancohen 3y agoAm I underestimating how complex a battery, bulb, and switch are? What complexity is in a modern flashlight? I remember proudly making a flashlight in 1984 or so from scavenged components, including silvering my own reflector.
- OJFord 3y agoIt's simple at the low end, GP's talking about much higher power & light output gear than you get in a Christmas cracker. Marine applications, cycling, caving, etc.
- petsfed 3y agoA pretty common feature is single-button dimming. For LEDs, that actually requires a microcontroller and a more sophisticated power regulation scheme than just a current limiting resistor. There's also custom colors, flash patterns, etc
- dotancohen 3y agoWouldn't an additional button be simpler than a microcontroller. Button A turns on ~30% of the lights, Button B turns on the remaining ~70% of the lights. That also adds a bit of redundancy if a connection fails. I've only been caving twice. Dimmer lights are great - but they don't need to be on a single switch. Quite the opposite, putting them on a single switch means that one _has_ to cycle through the bright option when that is not wanted.
- petsfed 3y agoFlashlight design is neither my hobby nor my profession. But I own a bunch of flashlights, and single-button dimming seems to be table stakes for a lot of commercially available head lamps and lanterns. Also, with the right micro, a second button (with relevant environmental protection) may well be more expensive than putting that micro and voltage regulator under a big blob of black epoxy.
- eternityforest 3y agoNitecore uses half-press to cycle modes and full press for on/off. 2 modes really isn't enough on a modern light, the nice ones have a very dim mode, a few normal ones, and a turbo with 1000+ lumens. Buttons take up space, and cost more than electronics(Not counting craptastic ones that will break in a hurry), plus you'd still need all the other driver electronics like the switching converter and the lithium protection chip. The microcontroller is probably the most reliable thing on a flashlight, simple doesn't always mean cheap and reliable.
- eternityforest 3y agoI think that's the easy part, it's just a really simple(by embedded project standards) PCB and firmware. They have premade modules, but I'd have to do my own, since most of the point of making yet another type of light would be Bluetooth so you never lose it, can customize the modes, and it can also serve as a a motion sensor that pings your phone if someone is messing with your stuff
- eternityforest 3y agoThere's definitely strong thermal concerns with a flashlight now that everything is LED with lithium cellsand the chips want to stay cool. Unless maybe there's a demand for simpler lights somewhere? I tend to forget that non-LED light sources are actually a thing, but that it's pretty cool to make one from scratch at the level of hand silvered reflectors! I'd probably be putting LED and battery temperature sensing in anything I made, so I wouldn't be too worried about safety, but it would be a mechanical challenge that would likely take some iteration to get right on the mechanical side.