Bernhard,
Thanks for the effort you have gone to here!! Well since all of the boost drivers are trying there best to boost the current as needed, it isn't real surprising to me that there would be some anomolies when these drivers are intentionally starved of voltage.
From a builder's as well as user's standpoint, the question becomes what is an acceeptable level of misbehavior and is it consistant enough to work around and/or accept?!?! Bottom line: Is a certain package viable and worth building or consideration?
My preliminary experimentation with the new Wiz2 was such that I came up with one resistor value that gave you an iffy low level that was definitely prone to flickering and not advisable. One could argue that something (unstable low level in this case) is better than nothing but damn it's pretty ugly!!!
Now with the NexGen, I personally have been more than satisfied with my particular samples and was taken back with the first report to me of a problem! Since my use of these one cell lights is almost always intermittant and not in any constant on mode, I have never encountered the problem but then again, it seems that my samples don't misbehave anyway.
The BadBoy boost circuits don't seem to be plagued nearly as much but then they are not as efficient as the NexGen nor can they provide the high output on a single cell like the NexGen can.
One option that I don't recall whether I have mentioned here on the McE2S as it always seemd like a goofy option is that the two stage switch can be assembled in such a maner that you only have access to the high mode. This assembly can easily be done with a resistor PCB and does not require a special 0 ohm PCB or shorting across the resistor path.
There is a spring in the assembly that usually goes betwen the metal button and the PCB and it forces the PCB away from the button. If you take the assembly apart and place the spring on the other side of the PCB so that it is pushing the PCB into the button, you will have a switch that only allows access to high and the switch behaves similar to the original SF LOTC.
For those of you with NexGens who don't want to give up the high levels of output along with efficient driving offered by the NexGen but do find the low level unacceptable, you can re configure your switches accordingly.
From a builder's position, I am currently at a loss as to how to proceed in any offering of the NexGen. Do I only offer it and configure it in single, high mode? Do I offer it in two stage but with some caveat that low level may be unstable at some or all times and your mileage may vary???
As a user, I would opt for the two stage option and see if the particular LE I had was viable or not in two stage function and then make the call personally.
As a builder of custom configurations with already too many options to discuss on a case by case level, adding the uncertainty of the 2 stage function of the NexGen is not welcome, to say the least. I refuse to try to navigate a
" Well build me a NG750 but if it doesn't work right in low after *you* have tested it exaustively in all conditions, I don't want it and then let me know what my options are" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
My inclination at the moment is to offer and sell the NexGen in the single stage configuration with the information here on the forum somewhere that the user *can* reconfigure the build for two stage operation with possibly a reasonable degree of success and acceptance. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif
In the meantime, have I mentioned how well the Down Boy shifts effortlessly and elegantly from high to low without any disagreement? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
And now finally, part that really makes me cringe, some of you have NexGen LE's that presumably were fine and acceptable as I have not had any feedback to the contrary. Now this may have changed. Do you now want to return these for a refund? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/aaa.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif
