Hello all, just joined the forum

Hello, I bought my ARC4 Premium une mounth ago, now I couldn't go without it... I use to walk around when I'm back from work...

I'm really in love with this little miracle, though there is some feature I would like to be there: a simple flashing function...

I often have to signal my position in the dark, it could be nice to have a light source capable of strong very short light bursts, something like a strobo with one or two second repetition rate... that would make a man walking on a road in the darkness very visible by car drivers, and due to the short lasting of every flash it could be a reasonably power-saving solution.... does this feature exist in any firmware version? if it does then I will purchase the software update!

thanks in advance

That capability is there is SOS mode.

Hello and thanks for reply... no, sorry, the SOS mode is not what I mean...

First of all I don't intend to send an SOS, I just would let people see where I am, in order to avoid beeing killed by a car

Second point, the SOS pattern spends a lot ov energy, the
"dididi daaadaaadaaa dididi" message involves the LED to be in the ON state for a relatively long period, nearly 50% of the total time, it's easy to calculate, the Morse-coding obeys to a rigid rule in terms of length of dots, dashes and pauses.

Whet I'm looking for is a sequence od short-yet-powerful photograph-like flashes, they should consist on ....say....
1/15 of a second, max 1/10, at maximum brigtness, something similar to the flashing lights glittering on the aircrafts ..

To be visible by a human eye a short-yet-strong pulse is sufficient, and it saves a lot of energy as well, if you think...say.... 1/10 second at 1 WATT power followed by 2 seconds (20/10) of dark, you have a STRONG pulsating light, well visable, woth only 1/20 of a watt power consumption!!

I think ARC should take this into coinsideration, I would write my own routine if I only had some info about the internal CPU and architecture

only one more note (the last one )
Just to give a better idea of what I mean, the nearest feature I've seen so far is the auto-locate (find me)funtion.... it shoots out short pulses exactly as I meant, unfortunately they are not strong enough and they should repeat every 2 secs inthead of 3, try to imagine how useful such a feature could be for all the people who want to signal their position in a dark place, for safety reasons or whatever....

The 'Find me' function is probably not bright enough....

But actually there are lots of cheap red flashers available ...

Please, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif This wonderful toy is also a VERY EXPENSIVE toy, moreover, if they made it firmware-upgradable they may have thougth that sooner or later they're going to improve and/or adding some new facility... so why not express my whishes and desires? (to die, to sleep, maybe to dream /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

After all, it would be a real pity if I had to buy a €7.50 redlight flasher because my €195.00 hi-tech flashlight will neve have such a feature... isn't it?

Yes, Adolfo, you are right (our previous two mails crossed each other), the Arc4 should do that. We are eagerly awaiting the next software release....
MAybe the next generation tint control can make it red (just kidding)?

that's also a good suggestion...

ARC R&D, please, take note /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

How about putting an Arc AAA RGB around your neck? It surely attracts attention with its flashing.

Just an opinion from another newbie.

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voltus said:
How about putting an Arc AAA RGB around your neck? It surely attracts attention with its flashing.



[/ QUOTE ]

True.

Ciao Adolfo ,

welcome !

I think that the ARC5 will have the "strobe func." you want .

JAI on CPF /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

Welcome onboard Adolfo bello, you guys remind me good times in the "little Italy" in Formentera in summer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif