georges80
Flashlight Enthusiast
Announcing the availability of the uFlex driver board.
Edit: New V1.00 firmware allows the user to reconfigure uFlex from 1W to 5W or back again.
This is the driver board that will also go with the FlexiLED (originally Stalklight) - CPF FlexiLED thread.
Technical details of the driver can be found at FlexiLED/uFlex Page . There you'll also find a PDF document that describes the interface and features.
Refer to the PDF for all the details, but a quick summary follows:
uFlex runs from 3V to 20V and can drive 2 series connected 1W luxeons, 2 series connected 3W Luxeons or a single 5W Luxeon. If the input voltage drops below the Vf+0.5V (approx) uFlex will go into direct drive mode.
Drive current is a nominal 380mA for 1W and 760mA for the 5W configuration. The drive current is set in the firmware and can be set up to 1000mA. It is not user programmable since it is in the firmware.
There are a total of 8 brightness levels, ranging from very dim (5-20mA) all the way to full brightness. The current brightness setting is stored in EEPROM for next power-on. Autosleep mode is available so that the unit will start dimming after 45 minutes and turns off about 2 hours after that - autosleep can be user disabled (mode is stored in EEPROM).
The board is rectangular 1.6" x 1.25".
uFlex is intended to be offer a driver solution for reading lights, maplights, tasklights and other fixed or semifixed lighting. I've used it in semiportable FlexiLED prototypes and found the variable light output to be a great feature. Of course being a switching powersupply, the battery life is increased dramatically when the Luxeon is dimmed.
Each brightness level appears equal step sized (approximation of human eye response), unlike other products I've been told about, i.e. you WILL see a distinct light output change as you cycle through each level!
george.
Edit: New V1.00 firmware allows the user to reconfigure uFlex from 1W to 5W or back again.
This is the driver board that will also go with the FlexiLED (originally Stalklight) - CPF FlexiLED thread.
Technical details of the driver can be found at FlexiLED/uFlex Page . There you'll also find a PDF document that describes the interface and features.
Refer to the PDF for all the details, but a quick summary follows:
uFlex runs from 3V to 20V and can drive 2 series connected 1W luxeons, 2 series connected 3W Luxeons or a single 5W Luxeon. If the input voltage drops below the Vf+0.5V (approx) uFlex will go into direct drive mode.
Drive current is a nominal 380mA for 1W and 760mA for the 5W configuration. The drive current is set in the firmware and can be set up to 1000mA. It is not user programmable since it is in the firmware.
There are a total of 8 brightness levels, ranging from very dim (5-20mA) all the way to full brightness. The current brightness setting is stored in EEPROM for next power-on. Autosleep mode is available so that the unit will start dimming after 45 minutes and turns off about 2 hours after that - autosleep can be user disabled (mode is stored in EEPROM).
The board is rectangular 1.6" x 1.25".
uFlex is intended to be offer a driver solution for reading lights, maplights, tasklights and other fixed or semifixed lighting. I've used it in semiportable FlexiLED prototypes and found the variable light output to be a great feature. Of course being a switching powersupply, the battery life is increased dramatically when the Luxeon is dimmed.
Each brightness level appears equal step sized (approximation of human eye response), unlike other products I've been told about, i.e. you WILL see a distinct light output change as you cycle through each level!
george.