A pleasant surprise

I spent a whopping £9 on a Convoy S2+, which turned up dead on arrival. Fixed that by using sandpaper and O-Ring grease. Kinda worked after that, a bit, sort of.

My initial thoughts were that this light is a piece of total garbage and the factory button user interface is the worst thing ever. Hmm, nothing to lose then, eh?

Took it to pieces and... a bit of googling and an hour later, now running SS's kickass Biscotti firmware.

Now the click / semi-click button is a dream to use and the UI system is absolutely fantastic for casual daily use.

It seems like upgrading to Biscotti has doubled value of this light.

Summary

I'm amazed. I bought it on a whim, expecting very little and getting very little. After the upgrade I have a very solid and inexpensive light that I can lend to my friends without worrying too much about it, because I can replace it easily. The firmware changes this light into a powerful, reliable light that lends itself to almost any situation.

I've almost always stuck to US made lights but this is interesting. Can you tell me about the UI?

Tell me, what sort of gear do you need to change the firmware?
Thanks,
P

There's another chat board we're not allowed to mention here that discusses modifying Convoys and other budget lights at that forum kinda like we speak of modifying P60 style lights.

LOL!!

bykfixer said:

There's another chat board we're not allowed to mention here that discusses modifying Convoys and other budget lights at that forum kinda like we speak of modifying P60 style lights.

Click to expand...

bykfixer said:

There's another board we're not allowed to mention that discusses modifying Convoys and other budget lights at that forum kinda like we speak of modifying P60 style lights.

Click to expand...

Or you could just look it up on...nevermind. I'll be nice

aginthelaw said:

Or you could just look it up on...nevermind. I'll be nice

Click to expand...

I tried to look it up on "nevermind" but can't seem to find it [emoji23]

peter yetman said:

Tell me, what sort of gear do you need to change the firmware?
Thanks,
P

Click to expand...

The bare minimum would be:

• soldering iron
• needle-nose pliers
• very thin hook-up wire
• ISP programming tool for Atmel ATTiny13A or 85

If you have an arduino you can use that to program the ATTiny.

I just used my AVRISPv2 programmer and Atmel Studio to burn the Biscotti firmware hex file into the chip.

I definitely think it is worth the effort because the stock firmware is unusably terrible. Plus you can always customise the code to your own preferences.

I will probably trim down the Biscotti code a bit to remove any modes I'll never use and add a few features like a slow beacon and add a small piezo buzzer (inside the brass slug, there is plenty of room) to give an audible battery / thermal warning when needed. Might also put in a red LED as second output. I'm going to pimp it out basically

Wow, thank you. I had no idea it was so accessable.
P

I have several S2+ with stock firmware and these are some of my favorite lights,I do not understand the issue with the firmware?

It is hardly "unusually terrible"?