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Sold/Expired Discussion - Programmable Hotwire Regulated Driver drop-in for D-M@g

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My personal vote is the 3xA123 + 5761. I currently have a 2xLi-Ion D 64275 and a 3xLi-Ion D 5761. Both are great lights. You'll need an additional cell to run the 1185 at 11.1V, so the light will be longer, but you'll have longer runtime.
 
donn_ said:
5761 vs 1164 vs 1185?

That's the choice I'm having trouble with right now.

One of the regulators will be a '623, for sure, with whatever parameters you've found best.

One will be for the Battle Lantern, and I'll wait for that one.

But one will be a low-power hotwire, using one of the 3 listed above. I currently have all of them in a variety of configurations, ranging from AW's soft-starters to AWR's regulated switch.

I like them all, but tend to grab the 1164s more often than the others.

How about other user's opinions. Which of these would benefit most from the regulation offered by Alan's Sled? I'll probably use 26650 A123s most often.
Click to expand...

Really an excellent question, donn_

I also have all three:

5761 in 2D fed by KD D Li-Ion
1164 in bored 2D fed by 8xAA NiMH
1185 in 3D fed by 9xAA NiMH or 3x KD D Li-Ion

They are all nice. I like the shorter lights at this power level, so the 1185 drops out of the competition.

Between the 5761 and 1164 it is a harder choice. The KD Li-Ion cells have a lot more energy, about 30 watt hours compared to 20 watt hours for 8xAA Eneloops. So the 5761 runtime is a lot longer. The really clean 1164 glass envelope has a slightly cleaner pattern, but the difference is small. Reflectors matter more and I don't have a lot to choose from there.

At the end of the day I think the 5761 has a slight edge for me due to the longer runtime, lack of need to bore the light, lower cost bulbs and not needing an expensive cell carrier. With the regulator and the lower power settings we have a really practical incan here. On full power it should run more than 45 minutes at about 1400 lumens, and at less than full intensity it can go for several to many hours.

Note that the A123's are a bit low in voltage with 2 of them, so that pushes it up to 3 cells. Really the A123's are better suited to high current than these lights. Three of them is about 23 watt hours, whereas 2 of the KD D Lions are about 32 watt hours.

But any of them would be excellent choices.
 
High Voltage Regulator model

for 12S Li-Ion

Some folks are interested in a higher voltage version. There are three components that need to be upgraded for higher voltage. Two of these are straightforward. The third is the 5V regulator. It appears to me from the spec sheet that the existing regulator may work at the very low current level the CPU requires. It has to be tested to find out. I don't have 12S or a power supply at that voltage, and my schedule is pretty full for quite awhile.
 
Alan B said:
High Voltage Regulator model

for 12S Li-Ion

Some folks are interested in a higher voltage version. There are three components that need to be upgraded for higher voltage. Two of these are straightforward. The third is the 5V regulator. It appears to me from the spec sheet that the existing regulator may work at the very low current level the CPU requires. It has to be tested to find out. I don't have 12S or a power supply at that voltage, and my schedule is pretty full for quite awhile.
Click to expand...
My bench supply can go up to 50V (52V at low current). Can I be of assistance? I believe I have an LM2936Z regulator somewhere. Would an 8mA LED running on a 52V input be sufficient? It says it's rated for 40V but will survive 60V.
The power dissipation of the to-92 case is 0.4W @ 80C. 50Vin/5Vout=45Vdelta, 45V*.008A=0.36W. So dissipation looks OK.
 
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It is interesting that the 5V regulator spec shows 40V operating and 60V survival (and that was why I mentioned this possibility). This means it won't fail due to voltage punch-through which is very important. The other failure mode for devices is dissipation. I would estimate that if we keep dissipation low enough the regulator would survive. Perhaps it won't meet spec in some way. 5V output stability might suffer, for example. So the 5V should be monitored for voltage and noise.

8mA is more than we use with the regulator.

12S at 4.2V is about 51V so 52V is probably enough. My supply may go that high as well, have to check on that.

A successful test with an LED at 8ma would probably be useful.
 
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Alan B said:
It is interesting that the 5V regulator spec shows 40V operating and 60V survival (and that was why I mentioned this possibility). This means it won't fail due to voltage punch-through which is very important. The other failure mode for devices is dissipation. I would estimate that if we keep dissipation low enough the regulator would survive. Perhaps it won't meet spec in some way. 5V output stability might suffer, for example. So the 5V should be monitored for voltage and noise.

8mA is more than we use with the regulator.

12S at 4.2V is about 51V so 52V is probably enough. My supply may go that high as well, have to check on that.

A successful test with an LED at 8ma would probably be useful.
Click to expand...
I'll give it a shot tonight with scope screen caps at 40V Vin and 52V Vin.
 
The current consumption is basically resistive with this design, so it goes with voltage. Difference from 40V to 50V is not large. Most of the current is in the voltage sense resistors.
 
LM2936 test results at 51.1V Vin.
5.97mA load
Vin......Vout
11.8....5.0002V
20.0....4.9995
30.0....4.9964
40.0....4.9958
51.1....4.9940
No appreciable temperature increase. Maximum deviation from 5.0000V = -0.12%

So lets see how it does under a heavier load.
13.85mA
Vin= 51.1V, Vout = 4.995, but fell steadily as temperature increased. It was very hot to the touch at Vout=4.9520 and still falling. But output increased as my fingers cooled it.
After it returned to room temperature, output voltage returned to 5.0050V under the same 13.85mA load with a Vin=13.5V.

Sorry, I don't have an IR temometer to record actual component temperature.
 
JimmyM said:
LM2936 test results at 51.1V Vin.
5.97mA load
Vin......Vout
11.8....5.0002V
20.0....4.9995
30.0....4.9964
40.0....4.9958
51.1....4.9940
No appreciable temperature increase. Maximum deviation from 5.0000V = -0.12%

So lets see how it does under a heavier load.
13.85mA
Vin= 51.1V, Vout = 4.995, but fell steadily as temperature increased. It was very hot to the touch at Vout=4.9520 and still falling. But output increased as my fingers cooled it.
After it returned to room temperature, output voltage returned to 5.0050V under the same 13.85mA load with a Vin=13.5V.

Sorry, I don't have an IR temometer to record actual component temperature.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the test. The next step is to put a higher voltage FET into a regulator and try it under load. It looks as though it may work. The higher voltage FET has higher gate capacitance but not by a lot. I'll have to order some FETs. for a test unit.
 
Alan B said:
Thanks for the test. The next step is to put a higher voltage FET into a regulator and try it under load. It looks as though it may work. The higher voltage FET has higher gate capacitance but not by a lot. I'll have to order some FETs. for a test unit.
Click to expand...
What gate series resisance are you using?
 
Software Update - have been cleaning up the code for release. Also added a feature that allows the user to control how many steps are in the stepped interface - from 3 to 7. If neither the variable nor the stepped interfaces are selected (at programming time) the interface becomes on/off.

Just to review, there are two 'ramping' modes - continuous and stepped. The continuous mode is really many tiny steps but it appears continuous. That is called VariLevel. The newer stepped ramp was previously just 7 steps, constant in voltage difference per step from VLO to VHI. The new mode allows the user to select 3,4,5,6 or 7 steps which will be distributed in voltage across the range from VLO to VHI. This is MultiLevel mode. If both VariLevel and MultiLevel are selected then a quadclick will switch between them. The program can include one, the other, both or neither.

Have partially added the calibration method using battery voltage and duty cycle which can be measured by a scope or by some meters. A bit more work remains there to finish the code.

Also added a feature allowing selection of the battery shutoff voltage calculation. It can be either ncells times min cell voltage, or (ncells minus one) times typical cell voltage plus min cell voltage. A third choice is to choose a fixed voltage for this value.

Last night I tested soldering the spacer onto the pc board to simplify assembly but didn't have much luck with solder sticking to the spacer itself. More spacers are coming that are supposedly solderable. The spacer does not strictly need to be soldered, but trying to position the screw, washer, spacer and pcboard at the same time during assembly is a bit tricky.
 
Right now the interface has the ability to switch between two modes - the ramped and the stepped interface modes. Should we add a third option to this - an on/off mode? Using the memory level, this would allow the light to become a simple on/off light at whatever level was last ramped to. A QuadClick would switch between the interface modes enabled in programming. One, two or all three modes could be selectively included in the code.
 
Alan B said:
Right now the interface has the ability to switch between two modes - the ramped and the stepped interface modes. Should we add a third option to this - an on/off mode? Using the memory level, this would allow the light to become a simple on/off light at whatever level was last ramped to. A QuadClick would switch between the interface modes enabled in programming. One, two or all three modes could be selectively included in the code.
Click to expand...
It is always nice to have many options and being able to turn the on or off in the software.
 
My new favorite light is my LF2XT. I thoroughly enjoy the very complex (but logical) UI. You have my vote to create something just as monstrous.
 
Alan..I just finished testing several heads with the 623 sled, using the short (10mm) legs.

Delghi 3"
FM3V
FM3H
FM3V2
FM3H2
FM 2.5" ThrowMaster

The Delghi is a Carley reflector, and FM's may be as well, but I'm not sure.
 
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