CF v4 + Phoenix default config... wacky??!

[Novastar]

I'm opening this thread because it appears Obi-Dar and Eastern have run into some issues with the defaults for:

* CF v4
* Using Phoenix Font

For some weird reason:

* Poweron light stuff works
* Poweroff light stuff works
* Idle light--fades out and doesn't return!!
* Clash light stuff works
* Lockup light stuff works

Ummm... I've got to be honest here folks: I don't get it.

BUT... I'll have Erv and myself look into it!!

[eastern57]

I'll put this here too (I sent this to obi-dar and Nova)




Here's my thoughts and observations:

1) The phoenix pyre is special because it seems to eat up a LOT more power - I've noticed this consistantly, when I have a relatively low battery, this sound font triggers the Low Bat flashing LED, but not the other fonts.

2) In addition, with a full battery, phoenix pyre will flicker/pulse normal, but after a few minutes will resort back to "pulses all the way down and only lights up on impacts or other triggers".

3) My understanding of the "flickerp" setting was, if set to 5 (as in pp font) the blade will pulse between 95% and 100% of brightness - but it seems that at 5, it varies between 5% and 100%. This is also the same with the other sound fonts.


So in summary, I believe that, yes, the V4 still works as intended, but the specific combination of the Phoenix pyre sound font, low battery, and the [perhaps] misunderstanding of the flickerp setting, the overall power of the LED is just not enough to keep it alive - unless forced to by means of clash, blaster, etc.



eastern57

[erv]

this font does not eat more power, I'd even say less power since it's not constantly on.
It looks like a bug in my algorithm, like the destination value of the current control to get it back to 100% is getting wrong after a while.
About flickerp : It's being bad explained in 3.0 manual I think, now I guess that with the 4.0 it's better.
The value is the "dig". The bigger, the deeper the "dig" is.
With 80, you dig between 100% and 20%, you have a 80 span. We finally stayed on that cause it easier to remember, big number, deep pulse.
Now, to trouble shoot this one. I've notices that in some case, if you put 100%, combine with too much flicker you can get negative somewhere, I haven't got the time to really debug this one.
So, a combination of 95 for the pulse (100-5%) + heavy flicker can lead to this bug, but... I can't see why it would happend all the time.

low battery thing : when pumping back and forth the brightness, the battery cannot follow in a relevant way, and the voltage has ripples instead of being quite stable (dim down, less current, battery "breathes", voltage is climbing up etc). I'm also thinking that using the pulse mode with a version prior to 3.0 might lead to strange things since the low battery indicator isn't working the same way. I haven't thought about that. So, about the post above, if you have a 2.63, it's sort of normal that you have this low bat thing going on. Sorry for not having seen that before.


Trouble shooting & debug : set flickerd to 0 and see how it goes. If it's the same, change flickerp and turn it to 50 instead of 95.
Make sure the batteries are fresh, and let us know, it's an interesting bug.
The weirdest thing is that I've personnaly tried this font on li-ion batteries and it worked fine. Nova too.
so...
1 billion $ question : what battery setup are you using in those sabers ???

[Novastar]

I wouldn't be sorry for any of this Erv... I'm constantly *AMAZED* at how few bugs are in CF!!!!

Great job!

And hey--thanks to Obi-Dar, Eastern and myself and yourself... we CAUGHT THAT LITTLE CREEPY CRAWLER!!!!

Now, we just take time to figure on how to smash that little guy, heheh

[erv]

*evil voice*
HAMMER TIME !!!!!

[Mad Hatter]

I'm having strange results with the default pulse as well. (Not just phoenix pyre.)

I haven't seen the blade turn dark and stay that way, but the pulse does drop all the way off on several fonts before coming back up. It's also different with different LEDs.

Episode II font looks great with the 10W red. (2 dies in series @ 1A on the main, and the other 2 in series driven by a 1 amp buckpuck controlled by the shimmer/clash outputs and 2 power extenders.) The red has a nice steady pulse that doesn't go too deep.

However, if I switch to blue or green 10W (wired the same way), the pulse drops all the way off on the low end. Other fonts with pulse drop off all the way with every color LED.

It isn't a matter of battery power. (7.4v 2600mAh li-ion.) The novastar font, which doesn't pulse, works great on all colors. And the battery has no problem with the extra 1A shimmering/clash effect (which looks spectacular btw!).

I was able to tweak the blackstar font to have a low depth pulse with the red, but even that drops off all the way with blue and green. I'll play with it a bit when I get a chance, and see if I can get a functional pulse on the green.

[erv]

pulse mode relies on the LEd you're using, ie the forward voltage. PWM output from the luxeon driver will change from a led color to another, leading to different timing and "digging" results for the pulse mode. Those have to be tune depending on the color of the LED.
If it does not get deep enough, increase flickerp. This is going to slow down the pulse too. Increase a bit flickerg (grain) to balance that side effect.

and...
welcome to the world of Multidimensionnal parametrization !


if I was a really bad bad guys, I would say that it's SO complicated in express purpose to force the user to edit his config files... Not true (but nice try)

Erv'

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks Erv.

The problem that I'm seeing is that even a very low flickerp will dig all the way down to nothing.

I know that I'm dealing with higher than normal forward voltages. Have you had a chance to play with the 10W blue or green with two dies in series on the main output?

Using the red 10W, EpII font (32 flickerp) looks great. With the same LED, blackstar (10 flickerp) digs all the way down to nothing.

Hmmmm.... the flickerd is much higher on blackstar... I think I just don't understand the parameters....

[eastern57]

1 billion $ question : what battery setup are you using in those sabers ???

4.8V 2600mah nimh (4AA) - now where's my money?

seriously, thanks for setting me straight. Apologies if I put out bad info - I'll stick to observations only - diagnosis we'll leave to the experts. I'll keep changing the setting - to see if I can sense any disturbances.

But that whole bit on multidimemsional parametrization...

whoa...

[Eandori]

Episode II font looks great with the 10W red. (2 dies in series @ 1A on the main, and the other 2 in series driven by a 1 amp buckpuck controlled by the shimmer/clash outputs and 2 power extenders.) The red has a nice steady pulse that doesn't go too deep.

However, if I switch to blue or green 10W (wired the same way), the pulse drops all the way off on the low end. Other fonts with pulse drop off all the way with every color LED.

Mad Hatter... what LED's are you using? 10 watts?

Red Luxeon III is about 3.4v at 1.5A for 5.1 watts of total power.
Green\Blue Luxeon V are about 7.0v at 1.0A for 7 watts each of total power.

What is the 10 watt LED's you are using? What is their forward voltage/current?