MBI #3 - Codename: HF

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Update:
First some HF Tiny pics
Some new, some from earlier prototypes.

Busy as a bear hunting salmon in a river, the action is non-stop!

The HF-Tiny PCB is done and on its way to me shortly.
The proofs looks good and now just have my fingers crossed the new mechanism works to plan.
As long as it does, it will be a real modern marvel, a miniature 2 mode light.

The Production batch of PCB's for the charger are done and now verifying the final fit against the machining samples, so far so good.
End of January is looking a little tight but hoping to have a first proof batch around end of Jan and the main batch by early Feb. Really looking forward to these myself and as soon as they are done, I'll be working on the circuitry for a 3rd ultra compact version.

HF-R are almost underway. Just needing a little more time to finalize some checks and some restraint to stop trying to build the entire modern museum of portable lighting all at the same time (one by one).

There's quite a few things I've been working on in tandem..
A booster circuit (to allow usage of 1.5V batteries)
A push button switch for the tail
An electronic switch for the tail.
An even more compact rotary tail switch.
I want all of them NOW, but every minute detail needs to be designed, refined, checked, spec'd and wow do these things take time. We'll get there.

Generally, electronics development is actually going so quickly now, I'm having trouble keeping up with the results (need to make prototypes of each circuit, then test) but I at working at balancing my time to ensure the supply lines can stay open (more of everything) whilst I keep dreaming up crazy ideas.

Tgwnn

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Charger has very nice and useful design/options.
I think you are doing a great job!

Thank you twl. Now its mostly waiting

Woo-hoo! Looking amazing. FYI, I'll be headed to Pittsburgh and then to St. Croix this weekend. Look forward to some more amazing updates.

Thanks Alex,
As always, keep flying!
One more for the tribe.

LOL!

I can tell anyone curious about that HF Tiny that it is not only tiny, but surprisingly so! I mean, how many lights do you have that you can actually hide behind the end of your little finger? They are small, and a necessity for any and all MBI fans out there! Not bright, but especially in copper, so damn cool!

Thanks kaichu :thumbsup:

Awesome news on all fronts Guy! Looking forward to all of it!

th8tredude,
Thanks very much and sorry its taking a little time (a lot actually) but if good things take time, well then.…
some great things take a little more time

That's Fantastic progress Guy!

. . . Rats. . . Well it was worth the try .


Do either of the tubes have a way to stow the USB cap?
If not, could we get one :candle:

GL

Thanks GL.
Great point about the stowage.
I had considered adding a thread to the end of the tube but it spoils the smooth, silky, rounded finish at the bottom. What I did consider though was ensuring the keyring lug is on the cap.
So if you have the charger attached to a keychain, unscrew the body from the cap and the cap will stay secure on your keychain whilst you charge or grab your spare battery which I thought would come in handy in a dark place (you don't have to fumble and less risk of dropping small parts).

Tgwnn

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

ok where do i sign up for the appollo charger.. lol

Hi Captain,
Apollo Charger... hmm have you been reading my notes again

Any chance some one can fill me in with a quick resume of what is on offer here? I am after a small zoomie, from thin narrow beam.ideally 5 degree , up to a wide flood. needs to be small to fit clip to an aviation headset..but form what I have seen here, so far. it is great for size. I am happy with up to an 18650 body so these look like they take 14450 so all good.
Thanks

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the post (and mail too)
The flood with the ZoomHead is floodier than a standard reflector but nothing as floody as the standard HF/HF-R head.
No standard clip yet but its on my list of "todo" options.
As mailed, let me see if I can dig up the beam degrees etc..

I have been using mine without the zoom and attached to my tactical vest with velcro and working fine-I hope to find a peter jones klick fast dock suitable at some point or a wider canister... though if you order from guy he does an option with a wider canister and the zoom head is available as an optional extra. not sure if any one has done a review with the zoomhead but it may be worth while checking guyys face book page out or one of his links to his MBI web site... mbi stands for match box instruments if you need to look for him on facebook or google...

by the way he also does it with a momentary button which might fit your needs too... i would have to see a picture of the headset to see how you might attach it.. ... though your in with a good bunch here so sure some one can help if this is or is not the light for you.....

Thanks very much for helping out Capt :twothumbs

I draw the line at soldering SMD's

I think that's the secret to staying sane!!
Only soldering parts you can see :thumbsup:

Niel,
You bring an excellent suggestion and idea to the tribe . . .

Guy how about a Remote 18650 battery tube with a clip?

As far as your zoom request, look at MBI here. Just Brass in stock right now, but you can subscribe for notification when a product comes back in stock.

GL

Hi GL,
hehe.. that's a weird but kinda cool idea.
I've got just the thing but its waiting inline (1 or 2 steps behind the Torpedo PCB).


Tgwnn

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

How about a Red Led zoomie?

GL

Sure. Just choose the LED and I might be able to add it to the next batch of ZoomHeads next month.

Just yesterday morning, I picked up a Titanium HF switch and Ti Zoom Head (Nichia 219) that Guy was so kind to send me during this busy season. This allows me to use one body with the original head, and the other body with the zoom head.

As others have mentioned, it is such a treat, what with all the nice packaging and personal touch (love the torpedo label) AND the product did not disappoint. While the tint is rather different (in a good way, my opinion) from my standard HF Nichia head (less yellow/brown) and a little bit different than the nailbender P60 Nichia 219B 5000K dropin, it is very, very pleasing, very natural. Thank Goodness, and Thank You MBI.

It is an aspheric setup and has those elements, in the type of beam it projects. In the flood position, it does not spread the light as much as the original reflectored head (which is great for lighting a room and the forest near you). The tight beam position is impressive. It will throw enough for standard flashlight use. With further experience I can describe and compare more accurately, and discuss it's use as a lightweight headlamp as well.

Regarding the new charger: So many of us are looking forward to that project coming to fruition. The addition of a back-up light on the charger unit is a great idea. I am wondering if the charger itself would continue to function if the LED, switch, or related components, were to be damaged, fail or wear out? While the CottonPickers charger works great, it will be really nice to have this new option; one that can also store a battery (10250 or 10440)!

Thank You, Thank You MBI ! The journey you have begun is so interesting, and the results delight.

Thanks KITROBASKIN.
My pleasure entirely and very much appreciate the kind feedback. :bow:

>>I am wondering if the charger itself would continue to function if the LED, switch, or related components, were to be damaged, fail or wear out?
That's a few questions but let me answer what I can...
1) The white LED + Switch
These are designed as a stand-alone circuit independant of the charging circuit for the exact reason you mentioned. I didn't want them to have any impact on the charger function.
2) The charger indicator LED (red). I don't imagine that one failing but I accidentally scraped one off of an early test unit and the charger did still function. I should double check that to confirm for the production circuit.
3) The charger switch.
This selects the charging output current (85mA / 250mA).
If the switch failed (I think its rated for 10K or 20K operations from memory), it might still work on the last mode it fails at but you could just rip it off and solder a fixed wire to connect either the 85mA option or the 250mA option though I don't think the switch will fail anytime soon.

The nice thing about the modularity of the charger is that its easy to replace just the charging unit and keep the same body,cap,etc..

Still hoping for some HF Tiny pics guy!

Hi Zoinks!
Posted

Any word on when any of the HFs will be back in stock?

Hi rpm00,

I might have a few in SS.
HF-R next batch is looking like February right now and HF to follow that (perhaps a couple of weeks behind).

Do you know if you every have any free time to talk to another flashoholic at Cozy Corner or elsewhere? or will that be 2016?

Hi ChibiM,
Sure that would be fine
Possibly this year but early 2015 is definitely a go!!

Tgwnn

 

[Gadgetman7]

I posted a while back that I purchased a HF that I didn't like. In fact, I intended to sell it. I never got around to it and on a whim one day carried it again but with the 10440 extension. Okay, I was WRONG. This is a fantastic light. I've had not more issues with accidental turn ons or with charging the battery. I may get one of the new chargers and try the 250 again. Guy you did a great job and I'm sorry I judged the light too hastily. Looking forward to new products!

 

[NeilP]

Niel,
You bring an excellent suggestion and idea to the tribe . . .

Guy how about a Remote 18650 battery tube with a clip?

As far as your zoom request, look at MBI here. Just Brass in stock right now, but you can subscribe for notification when a product comes back in stock.

GL

I'll keep an eye on it all

I sonly like 18650's for one main reason..I have hundreds of them pulled from old laptops so they are free and usually get 2.0 Ah out of them..OK, so you can buy better..but 2.0 Ah for free is good for me

 

[th8tredude]

Merry Christmas and a happy holidays to Guy and all the members of the MBI Tribe!


Sent from my iPad using Candlepowerforums

 

[bltkmt]

Happy New Year, Guy - I hope you had a great one! I might have missed it, but did you give any estimated release date for the charger? Very interested in this to go with my HF-R. Thanks.

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Happy Happy 2015 to everyone

I've been taking a bit of quiet time over the holiday season and just getting back up to speed.

I'll be back to post more and catch up on questions, threads tomorrow.

Wishing all the MBI tribe a wonderful year ahead!

Tgwnn

 

[Heywood Floyd]

Thanks Guy.
Well deserved quite time.
A Happy New Year to you and your family and all my fellow MBI tribe members.

 

[climberkid]

Here is a gift for the tribe. Most exciting moment of my career so far.

 

[th8tredude]

That is awesome, Alex!

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Getting back on top of things now and ready to throttle into the new year :thumbsup:
Thanks to everyone for your patience and it sure was good to have a bit of time off.

Updates:
MBI Charger
Barring any surprises, the current ETA is approximately first week of February at the soonest and last week of February at the latest.

There will be two models:
Extending Body Charger (lets call it the EBC)
Open Body Charger (lets call it the OBC)

I'll have both models in Titanium, mostly EBC's, a small number of OBC's, and some spare OB (open bodies) for those who want to be able to interchange for home use / carry.
The Aluminum version will only be the OBC version to begin with and see how things evolve.

HF-R
I've ordered a huge batch of components and parts for HF-R in titanium and copper with both UTT/STT tails.
The new head, didn't work out so well mostly due to there not being enough space to mount the head shell onto the drop-in securely enough so for now, I'm going ahead with the existing head design as I have a mountain of requests for more HF-R's and after some thought, it seems silly to hold off production for an indefinite R&D schedule.

ETA is late February.
Emitters will be Nichia219 & XML2 (or XPL)
Using XPL let's me streamline the number of PCB types I need to make as the Nichia/XPL/XPG all share basically the same footprint.

I have updated the trit hole sizes for UTT to allow use of a more standard 1.5mm (diameter) trit and the STT to allow use of a 2mm (diameter) trit as the thinner 1.4mm trits were a bit of a headache for people to get a hold of. I'm going to keep experimenting with some more head designs but space is the biggest limitation.

I have a booster PCB design ready for testing now too (to enable 1.5V battery usage) so I'll spend a little more time on working out how I might be able to implement that as an option into the head and take it from there.

ZoomHeads
More Nichia219 ZoomHeads due later this month.
The first small batch vanished really quickly and the combo of the 219 and the ZoomHead is a very nice match.

HFTiny
My PCB samples got trapped in new years schedules but should be here any day.
Just have to confirm it works as expected, then I can move to production which should be smooth as pre-production samples were very good.
I'll be making these in Ti, Cu and perhaps another material and the plan is to offer 2 modes (low/high) or dual color (red/white). Tighten a little for mode 1, tighten a little more for mode 2.
I've ensured plenty of threading length and a firm feel to prevent accidental separation of the head/tail.

I posted a while back that I purchased a HF that I didn't like. In fact, I intended to sell it. I never got around to it and on a whim one day carried it again but with the 10440 extension. Okay, I was WRONG. This is a fantastic light. I've had not more issues with accidental turn ons or with charging the battery. I may get one of the new chargers and try the 250 again. Guy you did a great job and I'm sorry I judged the light too hastily. Looking forward to new products!

Hi Gadgetman7,

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback and really pleased to hear you are enjoying it. :twothumbs
I've been working on an adjustable tension mechanism for the tail to try and enable user side tweaking of the rotational torque. Its tricky but I think I'm close to solving the riddle.

I'll keep an eye on it all

I sonly like 18650's for one main reason..I have hundreds of them pulled from old laptops so they are free and usually get 2.0 Ah out of them..OK, so you can buy better..but 2.0 Ah for free is good for me

Thanks NeilP,

Free is always a good price

Merry Christmas and a happy holidays to Guy and all the members of the MBI Tribe!

Thank you th8tredude,

Hope you had a happy season and looking forward to a wonderful year

Happy New Year, Guy - I hope you had a great one! I might have missed it, but did you give any estimated release date for the charger? Very interested in this to go with my HF-R. Thanks.

Thank you bltkmt,
Happy 2015 and I did have a peaceful new years break.
Estimates updated above

Thanks Guy.
Well deserved quite time.
A Happy New Year to you and your family and all my fellow MBI tribe members.

Hi HF,
Thank you and wishing you a great year ahead, full of growth I'm sure

Here is a gift for the tribe. Most exciting moment of my career so far.

That is awesome, Alex!

Agreed!
Congrats Alex on that stunning photo. :twothumbs
I didn't know you and the team were flying over the moon's surface these days but sure glad you did!

Tgwnn

 

[Got Lumens?]

That's some welcomed new years news.
Thanks Guy
GL

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Update
HF Tiny:
Magic PCB arrived.
It fits perfectly and the function looks to be spot on too.
I'm making a small adaptor of sorts that sits between the PCB and battery so I can test it fully installed but so far, looking good.
I'll post some photos once I have it fully installed and working.

MBI Charger:
Some minor dramas with incorrect PCB diagrams but all worked out now.
The first Ti sample should be here by next week.

In the meantime, some more quick renders...

I did try out the mini-emergency light source...
It works though it's not very bright so I've lowered the resistor value a little to increase it somewhat.

Other minor things...
The PCB/USB color is MBI Black.
The actuator of the switch, is also black which makes it impossible to see in low light conditions (for changing modes or switching on the emergency light).
Fortunately, I was able to track down a switch with white actuators (though I had to buy the whole reel) and though its a very minor thing, I think it does make a difference when you're trying to use it.

For the moment, its looking like early February for the first official batch.

HF-R:
Some updates and news on the new head design but I must run right now...
so when I get another moment, I will be back

That's some welcomed new years news.
Thanks Guy
GL

Thank you GL :twothumbs

Tgwnn

 

[invisible_kid]

Want one in ti

 

[Got Lumens?]

:thumbsup:

 

[jonwkng]

Awesome update, Guy! :thumbsup:

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

:thumbsup:

Want one in ti

Awesome update, Guy! :thumbsup:

Thanks very much :twothumbs

Some more updates (I know you'll like)....

First up, the HF-R Drop-in and the very first Copper HF-R (These are protos)

The very good news is that the drop in performed just splendidly in terms of heat transfer and I didn't see any noticeable loss in performance rather I think it may actually improve it due to having a thermal path to 2 separate body parts.

Unfortunately the outer shell doesn't allow for the existing reflector to fit so either I need to make a new one or adjust the outer shell which I've mostly completed. The next more important thing is that I want to add more threading and drop-in length to the connection between the drop-in and the head shell as well as to the bottom of the drop-in where it screws into the body to ensure everything is solid and will handle a fall here or there (I'm really good at dropping mine).

As long as I'm redesigning the whole head section, I do also want to somehow squeeze the booster circuit I've made into the head also (which will allow for AAA/1.5v battery usage). It may mean I'll need to add ~1.5mm to the length of the head shell over the existing version but I think that's a reasonable tradeoff and it could of course be optional.

So whilst I've rushing on the design front, so I can put in an order for more HF-R parts, I've been holding off until the new design was ready and that means I have kept quite a few folks waiting so as mentioned in an earlier post, rather than wait, the new batches are under way and once I nail this new design, I'll be happy to offer head/drop-in combo's as option…

One more enhancement.... a 5 mode switch
This is very experimental but I've ordered some proto PCBs for the HF/HF-R switch with 5 modes.
I've reduced the spacing between the modes to almost nil, and increased the OFF spacing to 95 degrees, so you can essentially ramp up from low to high or high to low.
Not sure how it will work out but I'll post when its ready.

After that, I'm toying with the idea of a slight click for the OFF position (on both sides of it) but that will be at least a few months away.


HF Tiny
The new PCB assembly landed.…
Essentially the same photos, with the only difference being what's in focus

In the center of the PCB is the miniature momentary tact switch with 2 modes.
half press for low, full press for high.

My plan is for the rotary action of twisting the tail to engage the switch (somewhere between 1/8th of a turn to 1/4 of a turn between low/high). I need to make 2 more miniature parts to sit over the switch, between the batteries to prevent permanent ON and complete the circuit between the PCB and batteries but once that's done, having an option of either a 2 mode (low/high) or a 2 color is looking quite good.

I've printed one of the parts already on my 3D printer, now waiting for some more batteries (can't find the last batch) to arrive and I should be able to have the first hack ready for testing. Once confirmed, I can get the miniature parts made and we'll be ready to roll.

Tgwnn

 

[Zoinks!]

Awesome progress Tgwnn! Could you give estimates for when the prototypers (lucky cpf members) and secondly the market will see the Torpedo and HF Tiny? I'm a student getting a job next semester and there's nothing I want more than to spend money on your insane lights.