THE LOUNGE 2023

[Skylumen]

2022 was the worst year ever! Looking forward to 2023. 2nd baby Nam Nguyen is due mid February. Hope to release DriverVNX4 1st quarter of 2023 ;-)

 

[Skylumen]

2023 New Year Sale

2023 New Year Sale

Just order and I will manually refund discount after. MUST PUT “2023Sale” in checkout note. Sales Ends January 14, 2023. Weltool T13vn $54 OFF Weltool T5 $10 OFF Weltool T5vn 15% OFF Weltool T7 $10 OFF Weltool T19vn 10% OFF Weltool T2vn gets 2 FREE 18650 Weltool T11vn gets 2 FREE 18650...

skylumen.com

 

[Skylumen]

I am really looking forwards to releasing DriverVNX4 soon. If there is anything you really think should be included in a Driver with an E switch please let me know here and I will try to have it added.

 

[SKV89]

Buck/boost? That would make the lights so much more efficient and the output regulation allow the lights to be tools rather than just toys. After using Olights and Fireflies recent lights with the LUME1 driver, there's no going back to direct drive or 7135 drivers. Loneocean's LUME1 driver is buck/boost + FET with super high efficiency.

 

[Skylumen]

Buck/boost? VNX4 UI can be put on Buck or boost drivers.

That would make the lights so much more efficient and the output regulation allow the lights to be tools rather than just toys. After using Olights and Fireflies recent lights with the LUME1 driver, there's no going back to direct drive or 7135 drivers. Loneocean's LUME1 driver is buck/boost + FET with super high efficiency. That is true but the goal of my lights are EXTREME Peak performance. 7135 chips actually causes UI to glitch sometimes with my extreme builds. Simple FET drivers are the the most reliable. Take Scylla for example with 6 FET chips handling anything thrown at it without overheating. Factory buck drivers driving Multi SBT90.2 or 70.2 lights out there tend have one weakness and that is low Turbo runtime. Several minutes only in a very large light in most cases. The Driver have to step down way before the host is hot just to protect itself. For a powerful light I think the main goal should be to only step down heat to protect the LEDs/User and not having the driver being the weakest link. However if you have a need for buck/boost driver I can build it for you also.

For now Driver design is aside from the point. I am hoping to get inputs on UI which is the software part of the Driver.

 

[Skylumen]

Here is what VNX4 might be:

DriverVNX4

UI

• Quick Click turns ON or OFF
• Click&Hold advance sequence
• ADD From OFF Press&Hold = Low

UI Hidden Features

• Double Click = 100% Turbo
• Triple Click = Strobe
• Four Click = Beacon (Roadside Caution Signaling OK) Change to .5hz Slow Blink
• Five Click = Voltage Blinks

Note* Hidden Features can be activated from ON or OFF
Note* While in Hidden Features Quick Click revert back to last mode used

Config Mode

• 8 Quick Click enters Config Mode. Light will blink ON & OFF if activated or does nothing if Config Lock
• Each setting has 4 group of Clicks
• Example: 8-1-3-2 = 8 Click, then 1 Click, then 3 Click, then 2 Click (Blinking confirmation between each set of Clicks)

Discrete Groups Selection
8-1-2-1 = FF – 50%
8-1-2-2 = 5% – 50%.
8-1-2-3 = 20% – 50%.
8-1-2-4 = FF – 20% – 50%.
8-1-2-5 = FF – 5% – 15% – 40% – 70%.
8-1-2-6 = FF – 5% – 15% – 40% – 70% – 2Hz – 1Hz – 1/2Hz
8-1-2-7 = Single Mode 100%
ADD if possible 8-1-2-8 = FF – 20% – 50%. With Hidden Features Deactivated

FireFly Config
8-2-1-1 = Dim FireFly
8-2-1-2 = Medium FireFly
8-2-1-3 = High FireFly
8-2-1-4 = Bright FireFly

Turbo Timer
8-2-2-1 = TT OFF
8-2-2-2 = 30s
8-2-2-3 = 45s
8-2-2-4 = 1min
8-2-2-5 = 1.5min
8-2-2-6 = 2min
8-2-2-7 = 3min
8-2-2-8 = 5min
8-2-2-9 = 8min Change to 10min

Temperature Sensor
8-2-3-1 = Activates 50% Power
Quick Click in the first 10s (Change to 5s if possible) = 120C Change to OFF if possible
After 10s, (Change to 5s if possible) light turns on 100%. Quick Click when desired temp reached.

Battery Insert LED Start-UP
8-2-4-1 = OFF
8-2-4-2 = ON 100%

Night Locate Indicator LED DELETE if memory is needed
8-2-5-1 = OFF
8-2-5-2 = ON (Activates after 5s OFF)

Override # of cells detect DELETE if memory is needed
8-2-6-1 => 8-2-6-30
1 Click for each 4.2V cell

LockOut Toggles
10 Click with 10th Click&Hold

Config Lock Toggles
16 Clicks with 16th Click&Hold

 

[Skylumen]

Should I still post here on CPF?

 

[KITROBASKIN]

I think you should but really I am only one person. We do have many visitors on CPF.

 

[Skylumen]

I think you should but really I am only one person. We do have many visitors on CPF.

Activity here is not the same as before. Editing abilities have also been removed. I love CPF but something is different.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Got that right.
Don’t you think the flashlight market is different as well?
Can’t help wondering how many flashlight manufacturers looked at your mods, then adjusted their product to compete with you.

Many of us remember when there was so much activity in your section; people gushing about throw numbers and output (even when the difference visually was really not that much), How some batteries would yield more lumens and such… You were responsible for a major chunk of CPF views at the time.

Seems like you were very fashionable, you were a focus for camaraderie, but now maybe some folks went the way of shallow social media, maybe some got what they wanted and stopped buying. Stock flashlights have become serious performers, don’t you think?

You are a pioneer/leader and the flashlight world is better because of you, and the assistance of your fine parents.

 

[LaGgY_42o]

^ Well said. Just wanna chime in with a word or two. I may be fairly new here, but I purchase from you, and enjoy checking your section here on CPF often. We would miss ya if you go dark ☹

 

[Skylumen]

Got that right.
Don’t you think the flashlight market is different as well? The nature of technology (and everything else really) is to continuously evolve. Of course we need a much bigger hit now for the same high. I am actually OK with that 🙂 Once in a while I just slow down and enjoy the more simple things in life. Makes me feels some type of way to pick up one of my older lights with a SST90 or MCE LED. I feel I enjoy them just as much as the most recent cutting edge.

Can’t help wondering how many flashlight manufacturers looked at your mods, then adjusted their product to compete with you. I doubt that they do at all. I am irrelevant. I am not saying that to be humble or anything but times has changed and the tech has marched on.

Many of us remember when there was so much activity in your section; people gushing about throw numbers and output (even when the difference visually was really not that much), How some batteries would yield more lumens and such… You were responsible for a major chunk of CPF views at the time. It was memorable times...I wont ever forget. Since the death of my Father, Sky Lumen Cofounder, birth of my first son, and the rapid health degradation of my Mother I have not been innovating. Sky Lumen Nguyen successor project got stalled indefinitely. DriverVNX4 never got released...

Seems like you were very fashionable, you were a focus for camaraderie, but now maybe some folks went the way of shallow social media, maybe some got what they wanted and stopped buying. Stock flashlights have become serious performers, don’t you think? Oh yah. Stock flashlights are doing crazy things alright. There are always room to push the edge a bit further but it does cost so much more for just a bit more gain.

You are a pioneer/leader and the flashlight world is better because of you, and the assistance of your fine parents. To be honest I am still in many ways injured from their passing...I will need sometime to pass before I can start to innovate again.

 

[Skylumen]

^ Well said. Just wanna chime in with a word or two. I may be fairly new here, but I purchase from you, and enjoy checking your section here on CPF often. We would miss ya if you go dark ☹

Thank you! I did plan to drop involvement here at CPF if there are not enough interest. We will see how things play out in the coming days.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Your continued honesty and openness is much respected. No longer having one´s parents is beyond-description difficult, and will no doubt take much time to become more fully what your parents would like you to be; a loving husband, father, contributing individual, and still walking the path God has offered you.

 

[Chauncey Gardener]

Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

[kashmir]

When I check in here at CPF, the first sub forum I check is always Vinh's. Been following for many years. Would miss ya!
As a side note, I'm retired, and don't do facebook, twitter, etc.

 

[b8llzblue]

I also don’t do Facebook, IG, etc. It would be very sad if you stopped posting here in all. Or worst yet, shut down the sub. I honestly check the sub multiple times a day everyday incase I miss something exciting. I sure do miss those days when it was crazy active. Good times for sure. I still have faith that it will come back like that. Maybe when the economy gets better… we love you and your awesome work Vinh, don’t leave us.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

So many times you, b8llzblue would post something and I would think how that is the way I see it also. What do you think changed from the heyday where 25% of CPF traffic was generated in the land of Vinh, to now? Other social media is where people went? Changing market? Fashions change? Cult of personality dissipation? People looked at the 10 Skylumen flashlights they have already in their collection and decided that’s enough?

Anyone else have a valid perspective without being rude?

 

[b8llzblue]

Has to be a combination of things. I don’t know which other social media platforms skylumen is posted at, but maybe there’s a lot more traffic and posts goin on over there. So majority people probably stopped visiting cpf and do all their reading and talking over there?

Anduril ui came along… made vn driver not as special. Vn driver is still miles ahead of anduril but before anduril, most stock lights came with horrid ui with no options.

Stocks lights are now released with more powerful emitters. Back then, it was basically xml2, xpl hi, and the other common ones. If you wanted osram, xhp, sbt90, etc. you needed it custom with Vinhs work. But now more and more companies are dropping these emitters in their lights stock form. But if you still want a specific light done with your preferred emitter, skylumen is still the place to have it done. And it’lll have more amps squeezed than the retail shops. Plus you can have skylumen awesome warranty and repairs can be had for very reasonable price. Those to me is what makes me stay.

I just know that right when COVID hit, the sub became quiet. And more quiet. And it just stayed this way.

 

[SKV89]

I also feel like after COVID, the flashlight scene quiet down tremendously. Nowadays, everyone rather play on their phones, tablets, or computers instead of flashlights. I wish more people are into the flashlight hobby, which would give manufacturers more incentives to R&D even better flashlight tech but the way technology is progressing, seems like the younger gen will quickly forget what a flashlight even is. You see abundant. Developed countries are getting brighter and brighter by the day with LED lights polluting even the skies so flashlights have very little use cases now.