Hi all,
Thank you to the new Flite owners for sharing your pics and impressions! I am VERY glad you guys are enjoying it, and I am sure you'll reach out too me if you run into any issues or have questions. Thanks for your support, and thank you for your patience while I completed the heaters for batch #3! You guys rock!
Let me answer a few questions and share some updates.
To the best of my knowledge, I have now shipped all of the heaters from batch #3, except for two people that asked to wait for the new cases to get here. I'm expecting a hundred of the new cases to arrive by the end of the day today (colors expected: black, raw, purple), so I hope to have an update on this in several hours. The remaining cases will probably be delayed at least 3-4 weeks.
I'll be very clear about which colors are presently available before I post the next batch for sale.
If your order was part of Flite batch #3 and you have not received a shipping notice (and you aren't either of the two folks mentioned above), please contact me for tracking info. Unless there was some serious error w/my store, I believe your order has shipped.
This is very much about maintaining a good electrical connection between the cap and the contacts. The glitches won't damage the circuit, but they are annoying. There is some technique to making this work this consistently, especially if your cap's surface is dented or uneven.
If you are having some glitches w/the cap-as-switch contacts, try this: rotate the cap until the digger is at the 12:00 position, then try it. If it glitches, rotate the digger one "hour" and repeat. Continue trying it with the digger at each "hour" position, and make a mental note of which one works best. Return the digger to that position each time for more consistent results. Each cap is likely to have a different sweet spot.
The reason why it behaves this way, especially in PWM mode, has to do with the way the PWM circuit's reset timing works. This circuit's timing relies on charging and discharging a capacitor, and when the electrical connection is wonky that charge/discharge happens instantly, which we see as a glitch. It's annoying, but the 555 chip is a very robust chip and it will take this in stride.
Thank you, and sorry for not having inventory continuously available.
I will have more heaters for sale in my store by the end of the week, likely Thursday or Friday.
Here's what's ahead this week:
Flite batch #3.5, e.g., 'Flite heaters I've discussed with a few of you via email or PM': I am building heaters for a few of you, as we've discussed via email or PM. These heaters did not make it into the last batch for one reason or another. I will be building these Flite (and a few Flix) today and tomorrow. If this sounds like you but you aren't sure, please check in w/me and we'll confirm things. More heaters will be coming to the store by the end of the week, so if this isn't you, please sit tight for now. Thanks!
Repairs: I have three heaters on my bench for repairs or upgrades, and I intend to get through these today, if possible.
Flite Batch #4: Coming to my web store either Thursday or Friday, most probably Friday. More info coming soon.
Flix v2 batch #1 and Flix v2 upgrade info, etc: Also coming to my web store either Thursday or Friday, most likely Friday! I'll have more info ready to share soon.
Thanks, all! The last week was kinda crazy for me. Thank you for your patience!
Cheers,
