LuxLibre

FlashKa v0.7 vs RovyVon Aurora A2: sources of every number

The pictures comparison_beams.png, comparison_size.png, comparison_output.png, comparison_combined.png and comparison_combined_dark.png in this folder are made by tools/compare/compare_a2.py. Rerun (needs Rust/cargo for the FlashKa firmware simulation, VTK, cadquery, trimesh, numpy, scipy, Pillow, matplotlib and an X server or xvfb-run):

cd hardware/flashka-keychain-v07/tools/compare
xvfb-run -a python3 compare_a2.py ../../cad ../../assets/v07

FlashKa Keychain v0.7 has not been built. Its light figures are simulated: the FlashKa firmware 0.7.0 thermal simulation gives the LED current and the head temperature over time, the Luminus SST-20 Gen 2 datasheet gives the LED’s lumens, and the LEDiL datasheet (LEDiL’s own simulation) gives the optic’s efficiency, beam width and intensity. Its size comes from the CAD; its mass is an estimate. Every picture of it is a render. The RovyVon Aurora A2 figures are the maker’s data (retail listings) and the independent measurement published by 1lumen. Labels: simulated, datasheet, model, CAD, estimate, maker’s data, measured.

Which RovyVon Aurora A2

Generation What is known Used here
Gen 1 (2018) Cree XP-G3, 550 lm, 980 cd, 80 m, 130 mAh, micro-USB, 53.9 x 14.5 mm, 28 g (BudgetLightForum review) no: older design
Gen 3 (2022) Luminus SST-20 cool white, 650 lm, 2,500 cd, 110 m, 300 mAh LiPo, USB-C, 57.3 x 15.6 mm; measured by 1lumen (September 2022) the measurement: light output, intensity, throw
Gen 4 (G4, sold in 2026) SST-20 6500 K 650 lm (or Nichia 219C 420 lm), High 650 lm stepping down to 100 lm after 60 s, 110 m, 300 mAh LiPo, USB-C, 57.3 x 15.6 mm, 33.9 g (Adventure Carry, Kapuga, Mukama) the maker’s data: size, battery, weight, step-down

Gen 3 and Gen 4 share the LED, the 650 lm rating, the 110 m beam distance, the 300 mAh cell and the 57.3 x 15.6 mm size, so the Gen 3 measurement is the best public stand-in for the current light; no independent test of Gen 4 was found. That the two generations perform the same is an assumption. The official rovyvon.com product page could not be opened from the machine that made these pictures, so the maker’s figures are taken from the specification table that 1lumen copied from the maker (Gen 3) and from the Gen 4 retail listings above.

Numbers in the pictures

FlashKa values are for the Balanced profile (the default) at 25 °C in still air with a full battery; “switch-on” is the first simulated second.

Number FlashKa v0.7 Source / kind RovyVon Aurora A2 Source / kind
Light output at switch-on (out of the front) 1,045 lm simulated: 1,201 lm at the LED (datasheet model 1,111 lm at 2,850 mA and Tj 85 °C, x 1.081 for Tj 36.4 °C) x 0.87 optic 633 lm measured, 1lumen, Gen 3
Maker’s rating - - 650 lm maker’s data (1lumen spec table, Adventure Carry)
Light output at 30 s (the ANSI FL 1 time) 1,019 lm simulated: 2,850 mA (thermal regulation from 58 s), Tj 52.6 °C, x 1.054 394 lm measured, 1lumen
Light output with the LED at Tj 85 °C (datasheet reference, turbo current) 966 lm datasheet model 1,111 lm x 0.87; the simulation never gets the LED that hot (highest Tj 60 °C) - -
Light output after 10 min 325 lm (turbo at the start), 331 lm (High at the start) simulated 118 lm measured, 1lumen
Sustained output, 25 °C still air (mean of 15-25 min) 296 lm (about 622 mA, Tj 52 °C; 281 lm with the LED at 85 °C) simulated - -
Peak intensity 6,605 cd at switch-on (6,440 cd at 30 s; 6,110 cd at Tj 85 °C) 5.5 cd per LED lumen (LEDiL datasheet, simulated) x LED lumens 3,775 cd at switch-on (2,750 cd at 30 s; maker: 2,500 cd for Gen 3) measured, 1lumen
Throw (ANSI FL 1: distance to 0.25 lx = 2 sqrt(cd)) 162.5 m at switch-on (160.5 m at 30 s; 156.3 m at Tj 85 °C) from the peak 123 m at switch-on (105 m at 30 s; maker: 110 m) 1lumen’s published value; maker’s data
Illuminance at the wall centre, 2 m 1,650.7 lx E = I0 / d^2 (d from the optic’s exit) 943.8 lx E = I0 / d^2 with 1lumen’s 3,775 cd
Size 99.2 x 20.0 x 18.0 mm CAD (cad/FlashKa_tray.stl) 57.3 mm x 15.6 mm diameter maker’s data, confirmed by 1lumen
Weight about 62 g (62.3 g: breakdown below) CAD + estimate, not weighed 19.5 g (1lumen page) to 33.9 g (Gen 4 listing at Adventure Carry; 34 g for the stainless version at Mukama) 1lumen / maker’s data
Battery 1,500 mAh typical, 1,150 mAh minimum (both at 0.2C): one Vapcell INR14500 F15 Li-ion cell, 14.0 x 49.0 mm, 3.60 V nominal, 3 A maximum continuous, about 22 g; the firmware’s runtime estimates use 1,400 mAh, the simulation 1,500 mAh maker’s data; firmware board.rs; simulation 300 mAh LiPo, built in maker’s data
Extras Class 2 laser, Bluetooth presenter mode design none listed by the maker maker’s data
Runtime from turbo (not in the pictures) 137.1 min to the ANSI end point (10 % of the 30 s output), off after 235.0 min simulated 1 h 04 min to the ANSI end point, off at 1 h 07 min measured, 1lumen

Mass (estimate, not weighed): parts in the housing CAD 32.84 g (tray 22.487 g, lid 8.426 g, rf_window 0.166 g, antenna_spacer 1.164 g, key_main 0.134 g, key_side 0.064 g, key_side_prev 0.064 g, key_stiffener 0.087 g, key_stiffener_prev 0.087 g, laser_sleeve 0.156 g; housing_interface.json, 6061 aluminium 2.70 g/cm3 and the other materials’ densities); optic 0.575 g and copper LED board 1.126 g (same file); cell 22 g (one Vapcell INR14500 F15, about 22 g: maker’s data); electronics 5.75 g (estimate: main board with the ESP32-C3 module 2.70 g, key board and pogo pins 0.70 g, laser module 1.20 g, LED 0.05 g, lid and key-board screws 0.60 g, wires (24 AWG power, thin signal) 0.50 g). Not counted: tape, foam and the cell’s nickel strips (a fraction of a gram).

FlashKa: simulated output

The FlashKa firmware’s own controller (firmware 0.7.0 for the v0.7 board) drives a thermal and battery model of the light in a host test, hardware/flashka-keychain-v06/firmware/flashka-core/tests/thermal_v07.rs: head 7.06 J/K, body 21.07 J/K, the cell as a third node of 22 J/K coupled to the body by 8 K/W (estimate), head to body 2.2 K/W, body to still air at 25 °C 13.20 K/W, temperature sensor following the head with a 4 s time constant; one cell of 1,500 mAh with a generic 3.6 V open-circuit curve (no F15 curve is published), 0.10 ohm from the cell to the board and, when the cell sags and the buck runs at 100 % duty, at most (V - 2.80 V) / 0.31 ohm for the LED, LED 2.80 V + 0.15 V/A, 87 % from the cell to the LED, 30 % of the LED power leaves as light, 20 mA for the controller and radio. The boards, keys and optic store no heat in the model and nobody holds the light, so the times are on the short side. This script runs it (the build folder stays outside the repository):

cd hardware/flashka-keychain-v06/firmware/flashka-core
FLASHKA_SIM_CSV=<dir> CARGO_TARGET_DIR=<tmp>/target cargo test --offline --locked --features board-v07 --test thermal_v07 -- --nocapture

It writes one row per second; the scenarios used are flashka_v07_balanced_turbo (Turbo, 2,850 mA, 60 s timer, then High) and flashka_v07_balanced_high (High, 1,530 mA), both from a full cell. Turbo runs at full current for 58 s, High for 210 s; then the thermal regulation holds the head and both settle at the same level.

Time Turbo: LED current head Tj factor LED lumens out of the front High: LED current out of the front
1 s 2,850 mA 26.1 °C 36.4 °C 1.081 1,201 lm 1,045 lm 1,530 mA 655 lm
10 s 2,850 mA 33.4 °C 43.7 °C 1.069 1,187 lm 1,033 lm 1,530 mA 651 lm
30 s 2,850 mA 42.3 °C 52.6 °C 1.054 1,171 lm 1,019 lm 1,530 mA 647 lm
57 s 2,850 mA 49.6 °C 59.9 °C 1.042 1,157 lm 1,007 lm 1,530 mA 643 lm
59 s 2,731 mA 50.0 °C 59.8 °C 1.042 1,120 lm 974 lm 1,530 mA 643 lm
60 s 2,651 mA 50.2 °C 59.7 °C 1.042 1,095 lm 953 lm 1,530 mA 643 lm
90 s 1,530 mA 48.1 °C 53.3 °C 1.053 727 lm 632 lm 1,530 mA 640 lm
2 min 1,530 mA 49.6 °C 54.8 °C 1.050 725 lm 631 lm 1,530 mA 637 lm
3 min 1,027 mA 50.1 °C 53.5 °C 1.052 521 lm 454 lm 1,529 mA 630 lm
5 min 880 mA 50.0 °C 52.9 °C 1.053 459 lm 399 lm 977 mA 435 lm
10 min 685 mA 50.0 °C 52.2 °C 1.055 373 lm 325 lm 700 mA 331 lm
15 min 632 mA 50.0 °C 52.0 °C 1.055 346 lm 301 lm 638 mA 304 lm
20 min 620 mA 50.0 °C 52.0 °C 1.055 340 lm 296 lm 623 mA 297 lm
30 min 611 mA 49.8 °C 51.8 °C 1.055 335 lm 292 lm 613 mA 293 lm

Highest simulated temperatures: head 50.5 °C, body 46.5 °C (the surface held in the hand), cell 46.7 °C, LED junction 60.0 °C (Tj model below).

Turbo and the cell’s charge

One Li-ion cell sags under load: below a certain charge the buck runs at 100 % duty and the LED gets less than the 2,850 mA asked for. From a half-full cell (flashka_v07_turbo_half_cell) turbo starts at 2,139 mA = 848 lm out of the front (junction factor; 780 lm with the LED at 85 °C) instead of 1,045 lm. Turbo 30 s after switching on, by the charge at switch-on (LED current printed by the simulation test; lumens out of the front with the LED at 85 °C, the firmware’s model, and with this script’s junction factor; head temperature from the full-cell and half-full-cell runs, for the other charges interpolated in LED power, estimate):

Charge at switch-on LED current at 30 s Out of the front, LED at 85 °C Out of the front, junction factor
100 % 2,850 mA 966 lm 1,019 lm
90 % 2,780 mA 948 lm 1,001 lm (estimate)
75 % 2,658 mA 916 lm 969 lm (estimate)
50 % 2,119 mA 775 lm 828 lm
25 % 1,696 mA 651 lm 700 lm (estimate)

FlashKa: LED lumens and junction temperature

FlashKa: optic model (no front window)

Assumption Spill share sigma Spill brightness at 25-45 deg (base = 1)
base: edge 50-70 deg, cos spill, 20 deg FWHM, 5.5 cd/lm, 87 % 15.5 % 8.43 deg 1.00
spill edge 35-55 deg 16.8 % 8.39 deg 1.39
spill edge 60-80 deg 15.1 % 8.44 deg 0.85
spill shape cos^2 16.2 % 8.41 deg 1.08
FWHM 19 deg 24.9 % 7.97 deg 1.46
FWHM 21 deg 5.4 % 8.90 deg 0.53
peak 5.5 cd/lm - 5 % 20.5 % 8.41 deg 1.27
peak 5.5 cd/lm + 5 % 10.5 % 8.45 deg 0.73
efficiency 85 % 13.1 % 8.44 deg 0.85
efficiency 89 % 17.8 % 8.42 deg 1.15

The FWHM and the peak decide the split most: one degree of FWHM moves the spill share by about 10 points, so the spill in the picture is uncertain by a factor of about 2; the hotspot is not.

RovyVon Aurora A2: beam model (TIR optic)

How the beam picture is made

Checks run with every picture

Not verified