Mini flashlight with better circuitry/software
Added 2025-05-06 17:52:24 +0000 UTCThis unit has jammed a lot of circuitry into a small case. It has one oddity - the LED current limiting resistors for the small LEDs are on the emitters of the transistors, suggesting perhaps a crude current regulator approach?
It has a few modes that I show in the video and document in the description. And it does store the last mode for the main beam.
Most notable thing is the intensity control with no obvious PWM, so it may be using high frequency PWM done by a module on the chip.
If the main beam is selected at its highest level it gradually sinks down to just 10% of that in tiny three-second steps to avoid overheating the LED.
Comments
A proper USB-C socket’s supporting circuitry costs money. These devices are built to the lowest price point possible. So they fall back to the default ~500ma charge current like the original USB-A standard. As you wrote, that requires a “dumb” charger that doesn’t negotiate when plugged in.
Brian Deschene
2025-05-06 23:55:48 +0000 UTCThese are great little flashlights. My only issue is that some models use cheaper USBC charging circuits that won’t charge from sources that can supply high power USBC charging for laptops and such, only from 5V supplies.
The Griffiths Family
2025-05-06 18:13:37 +0000 UTC
