The new D2FLEX dimmer

[Hamster]

I was reading the user guide for the new D2FLEX.
It seems that the new board does not have the infinitely variable (or 256) levels that the D2DIMM had.
Do I read correctly?
This was my favorite feature of the D2DIM.

 

[Aircraft800]

no infinitely variable mode. Much more like the MaxFlex UI.

 

[Hamster]

Thanks for your reply.
That's too bad.
There is nothing like the ramp up and ramp down of the old D2DIM. It really is awe inspiring to casual observers.
My guess is, it is only one subroutine with a few lines.

I am building a 4D mag with 4 Kai D Lions, on an FM3V2 head with a moby **** quad P7 heatsink. (two magnificent works of art!)

I guess I will simply wait in the hope that ramp up and down will be available soon.

 

[Aircraft800]

Thanks for your reply.
That's too bad.
There is nothing like the ramp up and ramp down of the old D2DIM. It really is awe inspiring to casual observers.
My guess is, it is only one subroutine with a few lines.

I am building a 4D mag with 4 Kai D Lions, on an FM3V2 head with a moby **** quad P7 heatsink. (two magnificent works of art!)

I guess I will simply wait in the hope that ramp up and down will be available soon.

I'll bet you can find one in the Custom BST if you ask, someone will have a spare.

 

[f22shift]

i dont think he'll make more of the variable ramping kind.

the d2flex does have the heat shutoff feature and all those bike features..

i too like the d2dim for it's simplicity in that mode. it's much like a d10/ex10.

 

[Hamster]

Perhaps, I will offer to trade a D2DIM for a D2DFLEX, while the last free ones still exist.
Does anyone want to trade one or more D2DIMs for new D2FLEXs straight from taskleds?

 

[Mike Painter]

I guess I will simply wait in the hope that ramp up and down will be available soon.

My three cents worth is that the only type of dimmer is to use a pot with no more than 3/4 ths turn from high to low. Mine is located just above the switch and I can "flick" it in either direction rapidly.
The main reason I want this is because I can determine what level I want my light *before* I turn it on. That has been so useful over time that I will not go to anything else.

When I very cleverly put the batteries in backwards, I carried two light with me for a while.
One with high-low-off and the other with low-high-off.

(Normally I'd blame my dog for that but he's watching me)

 

[-LightOn-]

I was wondering if the pwm output pin of the new d2flex was positive or negative logic? i.e. when the pwm is turned off, is the output at 0V or VDD??

Thx

 

[f22shift]

the uif mode allows an 8 level ramping. you dont get the momentary on though. you can in that level choose to shortcut to min or max with the light off.
8 level is sort of variable and to be honest, it's hard to control the infinite variable in the d2dim. so it's actually more practical.
in exchange for the push momentary, you get a push-release min shortcut or push-hold max shortcut from off.

it does lose that infinite variable but you do get a hole bunch of other features.
temperature cutout
mulitple time options for the autoshutoff
fixed lighting (uif), portable lighting (uip, same as d2dim), and the bike lighting (uib)
uib also has a constant or strobe(which is more like a flash, not a tactical dizzy strobe) in 2 mode or 5 level.

there's a ton of new features which can be overwhelming but if you just memorize the one you are using, you don't have to memorize alot. or set it and forget it.

i was a little apprehensive at first but now i can use my mag1dp7 as a hiking light and a biking light.

can i also say that the aftersales service from taskled is fantastic. :twothumbs
2 yellow thumbs up.

 

[f22shift]

My three cents worth is that the only type of dimmer is to use a pot with no more than 3/4 ths turn from high to low. Mine is located just above the switch and I can "flick" it in either direction rapidly.
The main reason I want this is because I can determine what level I want my light *before* I turn it on. That has been so useful over time that I will not go to anything else.

When I very cleverly put the batteries in backwards, I carried two light with me for a while.
One with high-low-off and the other with low-high-off.

(Normally I'd blame my dog for that but he's watching me)

a pot would be awesome in terms of simplicity and user friendliness or what i like to call wifeproof.
the negative would be that you would lose the ability to dunk the light in watera. although i've never found myself swimming with mags.:naughty:

 

[Mike Painter]

a pot would be awesome in terms of simplicity and user friendliness or what i like to call wifeproof.
the negative would be that you would lose the ability to dunk the light in watera. although i've never found myself swimming with mags.:naughty:

True, but there are few light that can be dunked without problems. The pot can certainly stand up to rain and a good bit of water.
Once you get past a foot or to you need special switches and seals in any event.
A rotary or slide switch is always the easy solution as the pressure on a push switch can mean you can't turn it off. A reverse clickie would go off in about three feet.

 

[-LightOn-]

I got a d2flex to control my buck-converter. I thought the pwm-pin would give out the control signal, but how wrong was I? http://www.taskled.com/d2flex.html
I measured the pwm-pin with an oscilloscope and basically there is no signal at the pwm-pin, what is it used for then? I solved the problem by soldering a wire from the Q1 gate to my dim-control on the driver side. And everything works great :twothumbs

The user manual is not quite up to date and there is a error in the manual. It states that the d2flex is shipped in UIB2-mode, but mine was in the UIF-mode. It was very confusing because the light behaves so differently from what you expected. (Later I noticed in the menu-part that in the mode-selection it states that the UIF/UIP-mode is the default)

 

[georges80]

I got a d2flex to control my buck-converter. I thought the pwm-pin would give out the control signal, but how wrong was I? http://www.taskled.com/d2flex.html
I measured the pwm-pin with an oscilloscope and basically there is no signal at the pwm-pin, what is it used for then? I solved the problem by soldering a wire from the Q1 gate to my dim-control on the driver side. And everything works great :twothumbs

The user manual is not quite up to date and there is a error in the manual. It states that the d2flex is shipped in UIB2-mode, but mine was in the UIF-mode. It was very confusing because the light behaves so differently from what you expected. (Later I noticed in the menu-part that in the mode-selection it states that the UIF/UIP-mode is the default)

The manual has been updated, thanks for pointing out the typo.

d2flex does use PWM for dimming, but the FET is wired Gate to uC, Source to ground and Drain to LED-. If you have no load (or just the control input to another circuit) then the Drain is essentially floating - kinda/sorta like an open collector transistor. That's why you didn't see any PWM signal. If you had a pullup resistor on the Drain then the PWM signal would have appeared...

cheers,
george.

 

[-LightOn-]

The manual has been updated, thanks for pointing out the typo.

d2flex does use PWM for dimming, but the FET is wired Gate to uC, Source to ground and Drain to LED-. If you have no load (or just the control input to another circuit) then the Drain is essentially floating - kinda/sorta like an open collector transistor. That's why you didn't see any PWM signal. If you had a pullup resistor on the Drain then the PWM signal would have appeared...

cheers,
george.

I am not talking about measuring the LED- pin, which works as you described, but the pin labeled PWM on the pcb. What does that pin do and where is it attached to?

 

[Alan B]

I believe he has different firmware to activate the PWM output. It can be paired with a HipCC to control it this way. Saw that in another thread around here somewhere.

I too miss the D2Dim UI.

 

[dan1million]

Hi Georges80,

Just purchased a D2FLEX, and the Cutter electronics site says it has voltage sensing
Which i hope it does.... however the manual on your site (1.02) does not list voltage sensing.

i was hoping it had the same firmware as the HIPFLEX???

-Dan