defeat

[terrik_zion]

I just finished my p7 magmod. I switched it on, and great bright light! Two seconds later, it started flickering at different frequencies, then died altogether.


All that time and effort, for basically nothing. I'm not even sure what is wrong with it.

This is quite a blow to my ego.

 

[roguesw]

Hey dont feel bad. Welcome to the world of modding. Think of this as the first lesson in trouble shooting.
I had the same experience the first time I modded. Ended up shorting the driver and it was toast. Had to wait 2 weeks for a replacement. But after that arrived and I changed it, It was all good and it's still working 5 years later.

So the light lit up, then flickered and died. After turning it off, can you turn the light on again? Does it even light up ?
It could be you have a short somewhere in the light, you didn't insulate the heatsink or there is a wire rubbing somewhere. Take it apart, check it for shorts.
Are you using a driver board? Check the board, was it properly heat-sinked, does it have a short somewhere, is a piece of wire soldered onto the board touching metal?

To check if you have killed the LED or not, take a 3 volt battery, and apply current to just the LED itself, does it light up? If it lights up, it could be you have burned out something somewhere else.

The first thing to do is to just take things apart and check your wiring. Could be a loose solder joint too.

Hope you can get it working again.

Des

 

[terrik_zion]

Don't have a 3v around, but I put two d cells in series and jumpered to the led, it still works, but it seems to be sensitive as to where the jumpers clamp on... it seems the solder left behind on the star's connection 'pads' is a poor conductor somehow!?

At least I know the Led is not fried. I was using a dx driver, designed for the p7 (3.7v, 2.8a cc,cv driver).


Disasembly is going to be somewhat challenging as I used a very tight fitting heatsink...

Thanks for the input/support, I put so much into this so far, its nigh crushing to have such results.


Especially since I'm nearly certified in auto tech/diagnosis/repair, electrical is supposed to be one of my strong suites.

 

[Th232]

Since you've noted that the LED still works but appears to be sensitive to where the connection points are, my first order of business would be to resolder every join, and after that check every wire.

Is the driver board capable of surviving an open circuit?

 

[waddup]

led still works =

test everything with your d.m.m.

10 minutes diagnostics and some solder may make the light perfect.




personally i wouldnt use a cheap driver, lots of very reliable drivers available, but theyre $20 not $3.

 

[BVH]

I have found over the years that by using a very tiny bit of extra liquid flux on each piece to be soldered, all my solder joints have turned out excellent. The solder literally jumps to all the parts you want to bond. I apply very tiny amounts with toothpicks or similar tiny pointed instruments.

 

[terrik_zion]

I now know the error of my ways. ($5 driver from dx)

I am looking at the TaskLED hipcc driver ($24) as my primary choice for a prebuilt/tested driver. Does anyone have advice or experience regarding this driver?

I am already invested in this project and will see it through; I have high hopes that this board will suit my needs.

Thanks, all cpf members!

 

[kz1000s1]

Another tip is that I test to see if the light works before pushing in the heatsink. I also use the flux.

TaskLED drivers are excellent. Well worth the money.