osCommerce Notification question???

[dat2zip]

Question for those of you who frequent the shoppe.

Do some of you have notification of any new products or changes enabled?? Or am I dreaming...

Seems some of you find the stuff I enable right away (like sharks swimming waiting for chum!).

Just wondering how you find out something is being offered so fast.

Wayne

 

[ResQTech]

Repetitively hitting the refresh button works well... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

 

[metalhed]

Constant vigilance, my friend....constant vigilance.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

Okay, bookmarks, lack of a real life, and a twitchy mouse finger may play some part also.

 

[TLU]

Hello Wayne,

as a newbie /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif I was anxiously waiting for new drop-in modules to be available and was loooking at the page several times a day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Yes, like a shark... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif because I desperately would like to have one to upgrade my mini mag. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/santa.gifI find it very nice to find so many flashaholics here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif

I was reading all about the modules in the forums and on the webpage, but because of the variety my choice is not easy.
Could you recommend one especially for the use with NiMh-Batteries? I think anyone of the modules would serve very well, but I would rather go with the MadMax Lite with a T-bin emitter because I think this will give me much brightness for a longer period of time, maybe up to 4hrs. I expect.

Will the emitter be W0-white (I mean not wide-open)?

An answer I have not found yet to the question (proably a newbie question): is there a difference to be observed between a voltage- or current-regulated circuit with respect to brightness over time and hence with respect to the detection when the NiMh batteries are almost below the capacity? I would like to avoid to discharge them completely.

When would you rather choose a voltage regulated other a current regulated one?

Sorry, for all the questions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sick.gif

Paul.

 

[dat2zip]

paabel,

Good questions. Kinda tough to answer.

I was just looking at the bottom of the line a MM lite with a 1W. Man, it was nice. Plenty bright and way better than the stock lamp. All the current ones are white with some minor tint, but, not objectionable as it was just a year ago with such diverse mix of bin codes.

Yes, I would suggest a MM lite Lux3. I think this is a great combo for a first timer. Plenty of light and good run time.

I am no longer going to give out bin codes in certain cases. It really doesn't matter as long as they are not way off tint. The new bin coding and screening done by Lumileds are producting all the bin codes in a very narrow tight bracket around white. White is relative anyway, and white to me might be yellow to you. Even using the color temp 3000, 4000 is meaningless with these LEDs. Your just going to have to buy one of each and find you which one is best for you /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. J/K

A semi-voltage regulated converter like the MM will be brighter with battery voltage and get dimmer as the battery gets used up. NiMH perform very well and simulate a constant brightness since the voltage on NiMH do not change that much from full to dead. A current regulated module like the Badboy will maintain constant brightness over the battery life. If you plan on using this in a work environment and need the light then a Badboy might be a better fit for you. Knowing that when you turn on the light it produces the same brightness irregardless of battery state is a sometimes a desired and manditory requirement.

The Badboy converters will drop into moon mode when the battery voltage drops below 1.6V. That's basically 0.8V/Cell and well below the accepted value of 1V/Cell is dead. Constant use the Badboy drops into moon mode fairly rapidly and this drop in light level is an indication that the batteries are basically dead and need to be re-charged. Many would suggest you just top them off and not worry about when they die.

The Madmax on the other hand will run down to 0.8V and below. Be aware that this is dead-dead condition and at 0.8V is 0.4V/cell. Not much juice is left if any at this point. Once you take the cells out, they will spring back above 1V and maybe misleading you to believe the converter has stopped above 1V. Believe you me, the batteries are very dead at this point. I have tested the Madmax converter boards and they will run down to well below 0.8V and I have seen them run down below 0.5V. Mind you that the light coming out of the Luxeon is very dim, but, very amazing anything comes out at all.

All the modules work great on NiMH and the Madmax is the most efficient of the converters on the shoppe.

Hope this helps.

 

[Flatscan]

Well, it was a matter of refreshing every 30 minutes or less last night, since the new modules were announced ahead of time.

Now I have global notifications on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[balrog]

I just happen to check the page out every now and then for new stuff.

I guess if there are just 1000 flashaholics who visit the Sandwich Shoppe from all over the world, then you might get 1 hit on the web site roughly every 3 minutes. This is assuming that on average people visit your page once every three days. How many hits a day do you get at the Shoppe?

Jeff.

 

[dat2zip]

balrog,

The one time I was able to get statistics, it had a high hit count and it was continouus over the 24 hour period. Seemed to be fairly even every hour of the day.

 

[TLU]

... thank you very much for detailed answer, Wayne. Now, the difference between BB and MM with respect to practial aspects is much clearer to me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

After what you are saying, I think I better go with the BB, because I def. would like to use NiMh. The drop in light output can be used as a clear indication for me to turn of the light and recharge the NiMhs. Even though they will be 0.8V/cell instead of the 1.0V/cell as recommended for their best lifetime, the 0.8V/cell will only affect the NiMh's lifetime, I believe. If I just get out 100 cycles, this will be much more economically than buying several alkalines or killing some NiMh's packs by driving them below 0.5V/Cell accidentially. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif

If I'd use batteries I would definitely go for the MM or MM+, because they would suck them dead till their last drop.

But I still have an open question: As you say the BB is current-regulated (const. mAmps) and the average cell voltage is 1.2V for NiMH (due to their characteristics) and the nominal voltage of the emitter is ~3.0V which is > 2*1.2V , could this give me less brightness as compared to the MM Lite using NiMh's? Does lightout of the emitter behave linear in current regulated situation with respect to input voltage?

Thanks for you help, I will soon order such nice piece of equipment ,
Yours
Paul.

 

[dat2zip]

paabel,

more good questions.

OK, I just wrote a big long reply and I think I mis-read your message.

Take 2...

The nice thing about the Badboy is you choose the output drive curent which sets the brightness. You want a brighter light, get a higher BB. Less light, get a lower BB number.

I think the MM light compares similar to the BB300 or BB400 when used with two NiMH cells.

There is a linear relationship of LED current to Light output. Doubling the LED current is appoximately 60% more light. For a Badboy the LED current is constant with respect to input voltage. For example A BB400 will drive the LED with 400mA from 1.6V to 3V input voltage.

The BB will drop out of regulation when the input current demand is approximately 1.5A. For the BB750, that's around 2.2V or so. Below 2.2V the BB will deliver the maximum power it can generate which is still a lot (2.2V * 1.5A = 3.3W). It will continue max'd out down to 1.6V. If you were operating this light, you might not see the drop in brightness at the 2.2V level.

 

[TLU]

... I see. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

So, the BB is probably delivering a constant voltage to the emitter next to a constant current (=constant power to the emitter causing constant brightness over runtime), whereas the voltage-regulated MM delivers a constant voltage to the emitter with a current that the cells can are able to deliver (up to the maximum power of the emitter).

I decided to go for the BB 400 Lux3S as my first module and just ordered it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Thanks for your answers.
Paul